oil out the dipstick??

[Wild and Free]

The only thing I can think of that would reduce compression numbers would be...

[*]fuel washing the cylinders down from bad injector(s)

[*]Dusting the engine (washable filter used like a K&N)

[*]Poor lubrication (wrong oil, fuel dulition, poor filtration)

Bad valve or valve seat an cracked or broken rings or worn rings among other things.

For those that think free revving a diesel is bad need to quit stirring the pot. it will hut nothing They are designed to run at a rated speed safely thet is why the speed is governed.

You all need to go to an auto dealer like GM and watch an engine go through a block relearn sequence after replacing a crank or cam sensor. You would think the engines are going to blow as it needs to see max goverened rpms several times on a gasoline engine I am talking. Most dealers will not let customers in the shop to see this procedure done.

As a diesel tech for the last 20 years most diesel engine manufacturers state engine life is most accurately determined by the gallons of fuel it has burned over its life rather than hours or miles.

Example, rather than thinking a cat engine should have a life expectancy in hours "say 20K hours" they have worked out formulas over the years determining that every engine given standard maintenance and not figuring in mechanical failures "Its metal and it can and will break weaken or fail at some undetermined point"is most likely going to have a life of say 100K gallons of fuel burned. As far as cold starting and going to work I call bogus. Here in the north counrty if an engine has run for as little as a couple minutes in sub zero temps even, I have never seen it shorten the life of any engine unless there are underlying conditions. Internal cylinder temp is more important than coolant temp and the internal cyl temp is going to rise to normal levels within a couple minutes usually.

[JOHNFAK]

man whens this head coming off and pics coming on ?

[mopar440cu]

Ok for you that are still with me and interested here are some pics of the head off. I did not have any burnt pistons! The cylinder walls look good except #1, as far as I can see of it, without turning the motor over. Sorry it got too late and had to get up at 4:00 a.m. for work.

[Wild and Free]

Is there any crosshatch left in the cylinder bores? Looks to be a bit carboned up so at this point I am leaning towards bad rings from excessive idle time and or poor quality oil or having been dusted from a bad air filter. But will hold final judgement until I see more of the pistons and better cyl wall pics.

[mopar440cu]

Is there any crosshatch left in the cylinder bores? Looks to be a bit carboned up so at this point I am leaning towards bad rings from excessive idle time and or poor quality oil or having been dusted from a bad air filter. But will hold final judgement until I see more of the pistons and better cyl wall pics.

Wild and Free Yes there is crosshatching in all 2 thru 6. They look great. I have not turned the motor over, due to time, on number 1 yet. So, it hard to say on that cylinder for sure. As for the poor oil, excessive idle time, or poor air filter. I, again assure you these are not the case! I am anal on maintaining my trucks. I personally change the oil and filters at 6,000 miles. Or if the filter looks dirty I change that more. As I go along I will send more pics. I got another gentleman that is wanting me to ake the valve springs out and check the valve guides and seats first. I might do that first then the piston removal.

[Wild and Free]

OK, It was hard to tell from the pics if it was just a single cylinder or more. That is why I said I am holding off on judgement. Just spitballing ideas thru the keyboard.:lol:How many miles are on it again and how long have you had it or how many miles have you put on it? How long have the BD injectors been in it?

[mopar440cu]

OK, It was hard to tell from the pics if it was just a single cylinder or more. That is why I said I am holding off on judgement. Just spitballing ideas thru the keyboard. How many miles are on it again and how long have you had it or how many miles have you put on it? How long have the BD injectors been in it?

I have had it since i drove it off the show room floor in 2001. I believe it has 325,000 on it, but dont qoute me I forgot! The BD injectors have been in it since 2003. I personally cleaned them and had them inspected before re-installing them in the new motor i have in the truck now. The diesel shop they were in great shape. The motor I installed is running great, I have no complaints. It had under 200,000 miles on it. Thats what Im doing to is basically spitballing ideas, as well as listening to others advise. Trust me I appreciate them. This is why my next step will be to remove the valve springs and check guides and seats, like someone suggested. I did notice that some of the head bolts were not that tight. I think the shop I took it to screwed me on replacing the head gasket. Also I found a couple of the, what I call valve bridges, going from the valve springs to the rocker arms were installed backwards. The indentation on them should be all on the outside not the inside. I will have to take a pic to actually show you what I mean.

[hd99fxr3]

What's going on with this piston? It's awful clean, and the areas I highlighted don't look right, could be just the light. Which hole is that?[ATTACH=CONFIG]3723[/ATTACH]

[mopar440cu]

What's going on with this piston? It's awful clean, and the areas I highlighted don't look right, could be just the light. Which hole is that? [ATTACH=CONFIG]3723[/ATTACH]

Nothing wrong with any piston! Except #1 oil deposit

[hd99fxr3]

Nothing wrong with any piston! Except #1 oil deposit

Ok so it was just the way the light was reflecting. It looked like maybe some detonation going on because of the light. Piston is still awfully clean, doesn't have any carbon build up from the way it looks in the picture. You mention possibly loose head bolts, and a replaced head gasket. What happened?

[JOHNFAK]

Any update on cause of low #1 compression ?