On my way to elk camp I developed a whine from the engine. I presumed it was the vacuum pump failing and removed the belt to install my non-vacuum pump belt. While the belt was off I started the motor to verify the noise was belt driven, it wasn't, pointing to a gear noise. Due to my remote location I drove the truck 15 miles to camp, 45 miles closer than town. I shut the truck down and waited. Two days later I started the truck and the noise was present instantly and got much louder when the oil pressure came up, I have a real gauge. This further led me, and my mechanic, the believe it was the gear train. We decided I should have it towed, and my insurance covered the tow (what a PITA) 255 miles to the shop. The truck got delivered yesterday and the mechanic got the timing cover off today, and it's amazing I made it to camp. The oil pump housing broke right where the idler gear is. The broken housing caused the gear to contact the housing and allowed the gear to run crooked and damage the crank gear. Somehow the cam gear also has a broken tooth, probably from a piece of the broken housing contacting the gears. The oil filter was full of metal, some of which was copper colored. The magnet in the pan had some metal on it, but not overly fuzzy. The big questions are how much metal got thru the filer? I run a 15um filter vs the OEM 40um filter. How much contaminated oil splashed up on the crank and cylinders while I was driving after the failure? I probably put about 45-60 minutes of run time on it from when I heard the noise. Before hearing the noise I was doing 30-50 on a dirt road with mud tires, the noise could have been masked for several miles. What else is damaged that we cannot see?The engine is coming out this week.. time will tell how far we tear it down. But probably all the way if it's out. I will be rebuilding it with QSB early CR pistons and nozzles. I have 93k miles and 2800 hours on the motor, surely no where near soon enough for this kind of failure. I bought a Cummins because they don't this!!Have any of you seen this before? My mechanic hasn't. Sorry, no photos yet. I wasn't thinking about that when I got to the shop. On a positive note I had a great week with my dad and brother, and filled my elk and deer tags.

Like I posted before, you should be there documenting the tear down as that is where the learning comes from, knowing what failed and why and how.Are you or the shop going to get high quality picks of the broken stuff?

I agree with Bill I would rather be the one to tear down the engine looking at all the damages one piece at a time and documenting everything. Then have a shop look it over as well and between the two make a judgment call on what needs to be replaced, repaired, etc. I know on the assembly process I would do my own if all parts had been machined for me to fit. But usually its just easier for a shop to assemble it for you. Something about taking the time and effort into making this kind of repair really gives you a big learning curve and then being proud of being capable of doing the job as well. As for me I've done a few V8 360's and 318's and even a 383 out of the Charger in my days.

The motor is out and apart. It looks like a piece of the timing case is what originally broke. The is a big piece missing from the inside of one of the bolt castings. 2 of the broken pieces, there were many, went thru gears. One broke the cam gear tooth, and the other broke the oil pump (probably the bigger of the 2 pieces). On the good side the motor looks great, no issues with other parts. It will hit the machine shop this week and we go from there. I should know in a few days how the injectors test. So the parts being replaced, on top of standard rebuild items. Water PumpThermostatVacuum PumpOil PumpPilot BearingThrowout BearingSerp BeltRadiator is being cleaned inside/outPistons (QSB 03-04 style)Injector Nozzles (03-04 spray angle, +50hp)Balanced at 2200 rpmsI will paint the block once it's back together.I didn't get any photos today, but will soon.

There are no pins that could possibly back out like the 2nd gens were plagued with are there? I know it was supposedly remedied when they went to the 3rd gens, it just seems strange to have a failure such as thisSent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

There are no pins that could possibly back out like the 2nd gens were plagued with are there? I know it was supposedly remedied when they went to the 3rd gens, it just seems strange to have a failure such as this Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

The KDP is not an issue on 3rd gens. It it is still very odd. There was no indication of cross threading or excess silicone in the hole to cause a failure.

So the oil filter did its job huh?

The filter did a great job, far better than anticipated. I run an ELF7349, which is unmatched in ratings, so I am not sure another full flow would have done as well. Without taking it apart there was no way to know, filters aren't designed to hold catastrophic failure, just normal wear. I probably could have gotten away withou a full rebuild, but it's out, apart, and getting improved. Going into the the teardown we knew it might be fine, but how/where I use the truck and who I use it with deemed a full inspection necessary. At least now I know what shape the internals are in, have some stronger components, and can continue on...

Maybe I missed it, but what is the reason you are replacing the pistons if there was no damage to them? It just seems to me the pistons are one of the components that are capable of a million miles. Rings would be a no brainer to me if I were in there. From what I remember seeing you are still at a relatively low mileage... Not questioning your logic just curious what your aiming for.JR

The stock 04.5-07 piston is the weakest piston ever used in an ISB, the spray pattern and bowl design are emissions based and suboptimal. The design was changed back to the 03-04 style for the 6.7, and all QSB's use the 03-04 style bowl on HPCR motors. It's just a more robust design, so if you tear a motor apart there isn't a good reason to stick with the OEM pistons.

Can't help but think that this failure had something to do with your cam swap, since a portion of the timing cover is what is believed to be the root cause. Just saying.

The break is odd, and the cover has been off but the last time was 33K miles and 3 years ago. That's a long time for a break to manifest, and looking at the break there is no evidence it was caused by the bolt. That's looking at the threads, looking at silicone in the hole, and all of it in general. What was also odd is it broke out the thick side, and if it was from installation it should have been the thin side. It's cast aluminum, over torquing won't break out a chunk .5" wide and 1" long and show no damage to the threads. Trust me, it would probably be cheaper for me if it was from removal/installation errors.

The break is odd, and the cover has been off but the last time was 33K miles and 3 years ago. That's a long time for a break to manifest, and looking at the break there is no evidence it was caused by the bolt. That's looking at the threads, looking at silicone in the hole, and all of it in general. What was also odd is it broke out the thick side, and if it was from installation it should have been the thin side. It's cast aluminum, over torquing won't break out a chunk .5" wide and 1" long and show no damage to the threads. Trust me, it would probably be cheaper for me if it was from removal/installation errors.

I have the info to disprove or prove you right and or wrong as I gave a wee teaser a few posts back. We will not know without me seeing pics so I can help determine the cause of it. BTW...............................just as many breaks in metal happen slowly and over time as do they break from impact, shock loads, excessive torsional loads ect. I gave a couple pages of info about gear breaks.....................I have books of metallurgy and others to determine how and why metals in general breaks as well.

I'll get some pic's when I collect the broken pieces. The gears certainly broke from the pieces of the timing case going thru them, we just can't see anything that would cause the timing case to break.

The Nefla Oracle demands photos!

I'll get some pic's when I collect the broken pieces. The gears certainly broke from the pieces of the timing case going thru them, we just can't see anything that would cause the timing case to break.

Could it be 180* reversed??? Meaning that the timing case broke because of the gear tooth hitting it!!! Was the case broken near or around the cam gear???

The Nefla Oracle demands photos!

I think you mean knoephla. Guess you need German blood running through your veins to get it right but I won't hold it against you.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/knoephla-soup

Could it be 180* reversed??? Meaning that the timing case broke because of the gear tooth hitting it!!! Was the case broken near or around the cam gear???

They are all in close proximity, but the broken tooth on the cam gear is only 2/3 broken and would have to have grown over an 1" to hit the case. Also we found 2 pieces of the case that went between gears, pretty much says it all right there.

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So here is a look at the front, sorry for size and quality.

The crank spins clockwise when viewed from the front. I don't recall which one it was so I marked two with red dashes. You can see where the broken piece would fall onto the CCW cam gear and get drawn down to the crank gear. One piece rode thru the cam/crank and one got sent over to the oil pump idler gear/pump gear. I previously thought that a piece went between the crank/idler but that would defy gravity (unless the piece from the cam/crank was stuck to the crank).

Too bad there isn't any pictures of the front of the engine at tear down.

There will be... just need to find time to take them.

The parts are apart, pun intended, but it doesn't change much. It was too hard to see everything when bolted up anyhow.

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And yet once again my subscription to this thread (and most of them) changed to control panel only....

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But for an update.

The block, head, and rotating assembly are at the machine shop and should be done next week.

The injectors showed up two nights ago, so all I am waiting for, parts wise, are the starter and alternator to be done getting freshened up and possibly an oil pan.