Thomas

yes they did indeed. At least that's what they claimed, they applied the torque procedures in accordance to the ARP head studs instructions. I was not there unfortunately. Never again I let someone else touch this truck, I would much rather do it myself that way I know for sure what was done to it. Right now I am back in the limbo, and other than pulling the engine and have a highly rated builder rebuilt my engine, I don't know what else to look in the meantime. My plan now is to buy the most cheap oil brand to top off when needed, which by the way I founded to be the tractor supply brand "traveler 15w40" the cheapest. I would continue to drive this thing until something major happens. With all the money I have spent on this issue, I would have had enough money to get an overhauled engine and leave this problem in the past once and for all. What a nightmare this thing has been. yes sir they did. According to them all 12 valve guides and 2 intake guides were replaced. They also installed all new valve seals and a marine head gasket. While they were there they did compression and cylinder leak down test and nothing came abnormal. Reason why I did not opted to overhaul the engine just yet.

I have only drove it about 2K, truck only have 92K on it. I thought it was the turbo but it was fine.

What's strange to me is that I just did all that. The head was completely overhauled. I even pulled the valve cover gasket to double check if any valve seals worked themselves out few thousand miles post repair but they were all secured. They did not looked like the picture you shared with me. Only option I have left is pulling the engine and have someone overhaul it. Yes. Although I did not had an opportunity to see the head being cleaned before work, I hope is not old oil residues. Totally makes sense with regards to the assembly fluid, may be it is just residuals from when the new guides were installed. I went through all vacuum lines and triple checked them before committing to the head overhaul. I did not find anything questionable. Now I am noticing excessive blue smoke during acceleration, clears out once warmed. But I have not blow-by and the compression check checked ok on all cylinders. Lots of power and not rough idle.

Hello everyone, I am back on this thread for further advice, as mentioned before, I had to rebuild the entire head cylinder as result of an abnormal oil consumption I been experience for some time. The whole verdict led to “bad valve guides”. Despite the repair, I am still yet to see any improvements. Last week, I pulled the exhaust manifold to investigate any further anomalies and founded a weird looking “black-sticky residue” on the upper walls of #1, #2, #3, and #4 exhaust ports. It was verily visible on #5, and #6 ports. Can someone please comment, or shear your experience if you have seen this before and what might have led to this condition? I'm still trying to diagnose this oil consumption condition. Please see attached pictures. Ty

Yes sir am gonna have to take the valve cover off and look inside. But what is strange to me is that I just got the truck back from the repair shop getting head work done. And they founded all 12 exhaust, and 2 intake valve guides bad. They replaced them new guides and seals, no additional damage to the head founded during the pressure, magnafluxed test. Even the turbo was good. Unless am looking at a potential oil control rings being stuck now? . But yet, compression was good. On additional note sir, the blue smoke tale noted happens only during acceleration with low engine temperatures, after engine warms she seems to hold well with no blue smoke. I am running out of options here. Unless I try premium blue restore oil to try to get some of that carbon eliminated. Any thoughts on that approach sir, using premium blue restore to loosen things up around the pistons? Ty

***UPDATE-REPAIRS DONE-STILL DRINKS OIL-HELP NEEDED*** After a tedious and painful search for a valuable-trustworthy diesel repair shop in my area, I finally founded one and commended them to work on my truck. The final verdict pointed to multiple bad valve guides and steam seals being bad. So, a complete cylinder head overhaul was needed. Of course, I told the tech to ensure that the aforementioned was the only real problem causing the issue and that nothing else such as a bad turbo, abnormal compression readings, leak down test, signs of cylinder wall wash down, gouges, and nicks were not the real cause of the problem. Well, everything was checked ok (even the turbo). The compression and injector bench pressure test came back and founded within OEM spec as well. Other than carbon built over time above the pistons, everything else looked great. They ended up sending my cylinder head to the machinist for work, and in the meantime, I opted to upgrade the head gasket and replace the head bolts for APR head studs instead. After re-installation, they test drove my truck for about 500 miles and claimed that the oil level held for entirety of that time, which I had no doubts to not believe. They would even send me pictures of the oil dipstick every morning to confirm no oil usage. Well, here I am disappointed once again. Drove my truck from Miami to Virginia, about 1600 miles just to find out that it had used almost 1.6 qt of oil. Is not as bad as it used to, but you would think that after doing all that work and paying a good amount of $ the problem would had disappeared. You could notice a small tale of blue smoke in the morning during light acceleration then clears off. Same symptom as before but much less evident. I call them up and explained them the situation, they seemed puzzled about it and that the only thing left they could think of is the piston oil control rings being stuck. Good thing is their work is under warranty (just the head work though) for another year, or 15000 miles. I do not know what to do next since I am afraid that it might require overhaul and that would be another huge bill. Might as well order a new crane engine and install it myself in my next duty assignment, saving me big $ on labor. Truck just passed the 90K mark on the odometer. I am using Valvoline premium blue 15w40. What you all thing about this scenario, is it viable what they are claiming, oil control rings stuck ? Please advise and thank you.

Does anybody here knows if there is a thread on this site that points out how to conduct the Cummins recommended nanometer compression check task? That would help a lot. Ty

You think it would be wise to conduct a compression check just to discard any possibilities of a bad ring, if so, what method would you use either nanometer test, or regular compression test gauges ? Ty

Did you noticed the blue smoke coming out soon after you started her up, or you had to depress the gas pedal to able to see the smoke? My truck smokes black when it first start, then blue smoke starts to come out only under throttle load, then clears out.

Yes it’s very frustrating, given the fact that there is no oil leak anywhere. The truck only smokes blue during first start, under light load and clears away soon as temperatures rises. I’m rooting for valve seals first, then I guess am gonna have to pull out turbo and rebuild.

That leaves me with only two options there, Valve seals and turbo. Everything else have checked ok, and truck doesn’t have any leaks anywhere. It sounds economically logical to start with valve seals, then turbo if valve seals don’t fix it. Which of those two can go out first, turbo or valve seals? Ty

Just the normal, 4 inch exhaust, edge comp box, air intake, big bank waste gate, 90 degree elbow on turbo, fass 150. I don’t know if I have bigger injectors though, for what it seems yes. I wish there was a way to tell other than removing them. Thoughts?

Good day everyone, Wanted to discuss with you guys alternative methods before a complete engine torn down. In a nutshell, I have been dealing with an abnormal oil consumption since I purchased the truck with 80K. I’m considering using the Valvoline Premium Blue Restore oil treatment as a final solution before parking out the truck for rebuild. I have my doubts about this oil, though it was designed for ISX Cummins engines to fix some of their new engine oil rings carbon buildup and is 10w30 viscosity. Please advice if you have used this product. I cannot think of anything else other than stuck oil control rings resulting in adding 1qt-2qt of oil every 1K. Truck doesn’t seem to have blow-by, just normal white steam with no pressure to blow away the oil cap. Oil cap remains steady when conducting the test. Truck has great power and doesn’t idle rough. In addition, I have check both inner and outer turbo housing for oil residues and none were founded. I even took the entire turbo to look closer onto the housing but everything was bone dry. All my vacuum lines were checked and found ok. No oil leaks either. It does seem to smoke a little during light acceleration first start in the mourning, but clears out after warming. I have tried different oil brands, but none seem to help. Although seafoam treatment showed signs of progress, 8k later I still have this frustrating oil consumption. Please share your thoughts and recommendations. Ty