i cant afford to pay a shop to do it so i am thinking of doing it my self. i know my way around tools and i have rebuilt gas engines but never a diesel. what i need to know is what rebuild kits are good out there? i seen dap offers one. or should i just go to cummins and get one. i found a machine shop in my area that is supposed to do diesel engines so i am gonna go there tomorrow and see what they charge to do the machine work. the reason i am gonna rebuild is i am getting really bad blow-by it even popped my tappet cover i installed and is blowing oil out there. the truck has a little over 200,000 miles on it but i bought it used. any tips or advise would be greatly appreciated.  

well i finally got the engine out. gonna call the machine shop tomorrow to see when i can bring it down and  ask if he wants me to tear it down before i bring it. i do want to take the head off to see the pistons. i wanted to ask you guys. my brother told me a trans shop told him to change his stock torque converter to a HD one on his dodge. that the stock one takes a dump. have you guys heard of this and if so what converter should i use. i don't want to have to separate the motor and trans again. also if this was your motor what rebuild kit would you use and is there any mods you would do to it. i only plan on pulling my car trailer, camping trailer, and dump trailer. 

Yes definitely replace the converter with an aftermarket this is the weak link that kills the tranny, also go with an aftermarket valve body right away too, this will help the overall performance of the tranny and make the new converter a lot happier too in the long run.

any recommendations on a torque converter and valve body kit? i was looking as BD diesel products 

BD has good stuff, that is what I ran in my 02, I had their VB and single disc converter and it held my 560 hp 989 tq for many years until I sold it with no issues even though the converter was rated at 450 hp and 750 tq it did good for me while power pulling for several years and running the drag track a few times.

any recommendations on a torque converter and valve body kit? i was looking as BD diesel products

If you order the VB online, make sure it's tested before it gets sent out. I know Goerend tests them and I think BD does as well. Or you can get one like I did that was never tested and didn't work out of the gate and my local tranny guys had to configure it, so I paid twice for a VB. If you have good a local tranny shop that knows dodges, proximity is better, you don't have to worry about shipping and core charges and it saves time and money. I haven't used them but Goerend seems to be tops.

I only run goerend trans parts

well i finally got the head off and it looks like #2 is toast and i seen a valve is chipped. #1 looks like it got a little scored too 

Hey Socal, take a look at the Diesel Stop channel on youtube he's got some great videos of multiple builds including a 1000 HP build!!

By the looks of that piston, your engine ate something. You need to find out what and where it came from.

A bearing from the turbo? Maybe a fastener from something. Can a grid heater fail and break up?

How about a pic or 2 of the head.

Chris

Out of curiosity, what engine performance mods were on your truck? BTW filling in your signature isn't a bad idea!

well i finally got the head off and it looks like #2 is toast and i seen a valve is chipped. #1 looks like it got a little scored too 

 

Ouch... Time to tear it down and get it sent off for rebuilding.

i am hooked on that youtube channel . i wish he would finish the latest build he started. there's really no mods to my truck. its pretty much stock. just rv injectors. Yeah Mopar i hear ya. i already started. all i have left is to remove the crank. other then that piston the rest of the engine appears to look in great condition. but i'll take some pics to show you guys 

heres some more pics

Do you know why any of this happened??

no i was having problems with it when i bought it. it just got worse. maybe he didnt back off on a grade, no pyro meter in it. or he got some dirt in the intake with that cheap air filter. maybe i am wrong but the rest of the engine looks like there is hardly any where. truck only has 195,000 miles on it. and from what every ones tell me, it hasn't even been broke in yet. theres no sign on the stock torque converter to show it got hot. there is a jasper sticker on my door pillar but they didnt circle what was replaced. 

..now you are gonna have a new motor to break in for another 200k miles.

Jasper??? 

 

Did  Chrysler  stamp the   block  with  the  vin  sequence  # ?     It'd  be  fun  to  see if  it  was   the  original  engine.   

You could  go to   cummins.com  and   run  the   cummins  #   and   see   what  vehicle it  was assigned to.      

 

That  'chip'  on the valve,   does it look  like  it  was   broke..  (ususally  will bend the  valve stem, but  not  readily visible  when valve is  closed)   or   flame  cut?   

Pull the turbo & inspect it for FOD

 

Ed

That looks a lot like an injector was not spraying properly. That would be why the rest of it looks so good. As far as "Not even broke in yet"..... That is one of the biggest BS comments that anyone could make in my opinion. That engine wad broke in a long time ago.

what other years of block can i use, if i can find a bare block or do i have to find a 99. 

Seems you could use a newer block., Maybe just use the 99 crank shaft in it that has the is made for the sensor.

 

I wonder if a newer crank is made to use a sensor also, but the sensor was just omitted from being mounted on the side of the block .

 

 

.

well i finally took it into the shop and he said what MnTom said. looks like a bad injector. hes gonna bore it it and sleeve it and then hone the rest. he said the valves on #2 looks ok but hes gonna tear the head down check everything he said he will probably do a head job and resurface it. which is fine with me cause i want a complete fresh engine not just a fresh short block. i was gonna try to assemble it but one i don't have the time and to i want this done right so i don't have to pull it again, to much damn work. it's gonna cost me $1,400 and some change for him to do the machine work and assemble it. he's gonna install everything and i just have to put it back in the truck and install the rest.  i just have to furnish the parts other then the sleeve.   he told me to buy my parts from this company http://interstate-mcbee.com/  their like a hour away from where i live, or i could go to cummins which like 20 minutes away . he said allot of diesel customers he has, buy there parts from them and their cheaper then cummins. anybody ever use them? i don't know if that's allot that he is charging but he was the machine shop that the diesel shop i took my truck to was gonna use and i could only find two other shops that would do machine work on a diesel engine. one wanted 3.500 and the other didn't look to promising. thanks again guys for your help and info. i hope this motor work out great when i'm done.