ronman

Oh, the Cummins parts guy told me to drop test the bolts; hold it by the threads and drop head-first onto bare concrete. If the bolt rings it's good, and if it thuds, it's bad. I checked them all this way and then I found the length gauge in the upper gasket set box. All checked out, both times,

Did mine a few months ago. 237k, it popped between the #6 oil return and water passage. You don't need the injector tool, just a bolt that fits. I watched Mike's video on YouTube and got it pretty quickly. My machine shop charged me $150 to check straightness and vacuum. It was 0.003 out ( well within spec) and had no leaks. Valves and seals all looked great. I bought a heated ultrasonic cleaner and used Purple Power at 140F to clean the injectors after disassembly. I didn't have the money to buy the adapter to build a pop tester, so I just put the injectors back together as they came apart. My exhaust came off amazingly easily. Granted my truck has lived in central Florida its entire life, but I've never seen 14 year old exhaust bolts in such good shape. Pull the two down pipe bolts, unplumb the turbo oil feed and return, and lift the manifold and turbo off as a single piece. It took me about 5 hours to disassemble and another 4 to put it back together, with numerous breaks for beer.

Hey Mike, did you ever replace the hinges? I've got a similar problem with my truck, the gust swung the door backwards hard enough that the front edge has two little pinches in it from hitting the hinge itself....

I bought a set of cheap housings, baked them open, and cut/pasted a set of 2.5" HID projectors. There's no comparison between before/after...

Wow those pressures are WAAAAAAY off what I've been seeing. Last charge I did at 91 ambient with 66%RH saw like 190/35 and 44* outlet temp.

Kool Vues on my truck. Mine had heated power "sport" mirrors when it left the factory, and the dealer installed non-power, non-heated tow mirrors and removed the "joystick" and replaced it with a light grey plastic plug. That was always annoying with my charcoal interior. Anyway, once some jackwagon busted my driver's mirror off in a parking lot, I ordered the Kool Vues and got a joystick from eBay. It was a 100% plug and play installation, really easy to do, and makes a big difference on Florida mornings when its 100% humidity and the mirrors are completely fogged.

Mike, did you have any discoloration of the wiring at the plug? Last time I replaced my blower (I'm on #4 from Autozone with their lifetime warranty) I noticed the connector had browned considerably, and 2-3" of wire insulation in either direction was similarly browned. I pulled the connector apart, filed the pins and resoldered them, and put it back together with dielectric. It doesn't get nearly as warm as it used to...

On your 98, yes, you have to pull the nut. On my '01 with '05 brakes, I just pull the caliper bracket and slide the rotor off the sealed hub.

There are sniffers but I'm not sure where you'd be able to rent one... maybe find a small mom-and-pop AC shop and see if they'll do a cheap diagnosis using theirs? I've got a leak on mine as well, and I'm 99% sure it's coming from the low pressure fitting. It shines like a lighthouse under UV... Fortunately the entire hose assembly is only $55 with Prime next-day shipping, so I'll be getting a vacuum pump Thursday morning...

Thanks guys. I'll head down to Fastenal in the morning and grab a set along with some lock washers.

Noticed some abnormal noise going down the highway yesterday, so I stopped and popped the hood, only to find that both my downpipe bolts had gone off and joined the bleedin' choir invisible... So, now I need to replace them so I can put my exhaust back on. Does anyone know what size they are so I can go down to Fastenal and get some good brass replacements and proper lock washers?

Those are the dual-material ones, right? I wonder if I can get them at the Dodge dealer a couple miles up the road from the house... anybody have the p/n??

New oil cooler gets here Wed.

So... I'm fairly convinced that's a failed oil cooler. But I'm not an expert... The only good thing is this: I've discovered this leak at the very back of the head: It's not fuel (though there is a very small seep at the return line that I'm hoping I can fix while everything is apart) and I'm pretty sure it's oil. The other side is clean. My dilemma now is, do I actually pull the head, take it to a machine shop, and order a gasket from Cummins?

So this isn't my video (because I didn't get any) but this is *exactly* what it looked like when I took the radiator cap off:

I pulled everything off today (valve cover, exhaust manifold/turbo, intake elbow, fuel lines) and there's definitely been some water in the valvetrain. There was a great deal of condensation on the underside of the VC and several spots of surface rust forming on the rockers. I also found a pretty significant oil spot at the head/block interface at the back of the head on the exhaust side. I drained the oil and it was a uniform black, and didn't feel compromised/emulsified at all. I'm ready to pull the head Thursday when I can get the loader to push it into the garage so I can use the crane, unless you've got better ideas. The heater core was replaced about 8 months ago (along with the evaporator while I was in there.) What do I have to do to remove the injectors? I don't have Cummins Tool No. 2193493247... Regarding the batteries, I haven't had to boost it except the other day; the starter has more than enough amps to spin the engine over fast enough to crank. The fact that I cannot turn the engine using a 3' breaker bar on the alternator bolt (again, the belt just slips on the pulley if I turn it CW, but it turns CCW.) I'll replace the p/s battery when it's absolutely necessary, for now it'll be OK.

No knocking, no smoke, nothing out of the ordinary. That's what has me confused...

Old WP impeller was in fine shape, the bearing was crunchy though. The hottest the truck has ever gotten was about 220 when the radiator got clogged about 4 years ago before I learned about the puke bottle... Never figured out what was causing it to lock, once I put more juice to the starter it turned over. I definitely have a questionable battery, on the pass. side,

Hmm.

But what the hell would have caused the HG to fail on a bone-stock truck? And if the HG was blown, wouldn't you expect it to go both ways, i.e. water in the oil as well as oil in the radiator?

Yeah, exactly... I just towed 8K almost 700 miles last weekend and everything was just fine. It started up just fine this morning when I noticed the water pump leaking, too. I'm really hoping it's the oil cooler (not that $350 for a replacement is desirable, but it beats a gasket set and a set of ARP studs. :/

OK, after hooking it up to the jump box for a half hour, and opening 4 of the 6 injectors, it finally cranked over and started up. Now, though, I've got a new problem: the radiator is full of oil, but the dipstick is nice and black. I let it idle for about 15 minutes with the radiator cap open, then closed it and let it idle for another 15 minutes or so. I shut it down because I wasn't getting any heat in the cab even though the temp was sitting in the bottom end of the "normal" range. The radiator cap was cool and the upper rad hose was not hard, so I popped the cap to the first position and noticed some black gold puking out... I'm going to dump the oil and pull the lower rad hose. It's not smoking and it started right up when I shut it off the first time, so I'm hoping it's just the oil cooler...

Truck is an '00 2wd auto with 229k, I just drove it this afternoon to go pick up a replacement water pump because I noticed water leaking out the pee hole this morning. Got home, shut it off, and let it cool for a while, then pulled the old WP off and used the water hose to flush the radiator and the block. Got everything buttoned back up, put the belt on, filled it up and hit the key, and it turned part of a revolution then stopped. Hit the key again, and the same thing happened, but this time the check gages light/tone came on, because one of my batteries is weak and it doesn't like cold cranking. So before I drag the jump box out, I think to check if the water pump is turning, so I pop the belt off and give it a spin. It's fine, so I put the belt back on and try again. Same thing, spins probably 1/4 revolution then quits. This time I break out a 7/8" socket and try to turn the alternator. It'll turn counter-clockwise, but clockwise just slips the pulley on the belt. So thinking maybe somehow it's gotten itself hydrolocked (which would make zero sense to me, but hey, who knows,) I crack a few injectors to see if it makes a difference. It does not. So, now I'm inside searching forums and posting this, while the truck sits on 20A charge. Any help is greatly appreciated!! edit: everything electrical seems to be working - all lights/etc work fine. Bumping the key does not run the FASS, though, just shakes the truck as it tries to crank the motor over but encounters resistance.

Thank you very much!

You wouldn't have the FSM adjustment procedure handy, would you?