Newbie with a money pit

[PTwin]

First DMax, 02 LB7 bought for cheap. Runs (rough) a touch of white smoke, leaks a little oil ( I think I saw it drip 1qt in a day) needs clutch, coolant leaking around oil cooler area, may need head gasket(s), injectors or both! No coolant in oil but have not gotten around to pulling valve covers just yet.

I intend on doing all the work myself to bring this rig back to life as a factory-mild-wild build. Not sure how far I want to take it just yet. Need to get her named, pulled apart and see what the condition of the internals are before I start buying/ ordering parts.

Don't know much about diesels but am ready and willing to learn. I'm in Aircraft Maint. School working toward my A&P so am doing this the feed my itch to work on a project as well as get familiar with something I've had little to no experience with.

First question.. Can the injectors be tested after they have been removed from the truck? I know most suggest testing them warm/ operating temp. If so, something I should take to stearlership or out-source?

Any and all input and advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Big Block 88]

I'd start with balance rates EFI will tell you that. Then run a fuel return test. That will narrow down the injectors.

Is the overflow tank bubbling when the truck is running? Strong smell of anti freeze? 1'qrt in a day??!?!! That not a leak... That's a geyser

 

[PTwin]

BigBlock88

Haha, she's wet for sure. Pretty sure it's an oil pan gasket leaking or worse a rear main. No bubbles in the coolant tank/ reservoir just a little white smoke. I've not ran in much other than to see if it would even start. I'm working on identifying leaks I consider critical for moderate safe operation.
I need to see if I can find someone in my area that has EFI. Trying to get her running before I invest in tuning.

 

[lifteddirty]

The balance rates and fuel return test is definitely the first choice for injectors. is it pushing coolant out of the overflow tube? and put a good clutch in the first time, if you don't want to go dual disk right away you could put a good single disc in it.

 

[02greysixer]

Balance rates and return tests are a start but won't totally check out your injectors. If all 8 are bad your balance rates will look perfect. And a return test doesn't test for tip leakage which sounds like what you have. Best bet would be to pull them and send them to a good Bosch injector shop so they could run them on the stand. You sure it's not leaking oil because the crankcase is full of fuel from a leaking injector?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[02greysixer]

I agree on the clutch thing as well, I cheaped out on my old zf6 trucks clutch and hated myself for it. Go with a double disc if you plan to do anything at all performance wise

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[dmaxbowtie]

Balance rates and return tests are a start but won't totally check out your injectors. If all 8 are bad your balance rates will look perfect. And a return test doesn't test for tip leakage which sounds like what you have. Best bet would be to pull them and send them to a good Bosch injector shop so they could run them on the stand. You sure it's not leaking oil because the crankcase is full of fuel from a leaking injector?

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Agreed, I feel you have bad injector(s) and you might be getting fuel in the oil?

 

[PTwin]

basket-case

All,

I'm trying to find a place in San Antonio that can bench test my injectors once I get them pulled.
Anyone know of any body in this area by chance?
My goal this weekend is to at least get the lower oil pan pulled, check for any metal from component failure and replace the pan gasket to see if there is oil coming from anywhere else. From there I am hoping I can determine if fuel is leaking from the injectors down into the crank case. Also need to spray some penetrating oil on the oil cooler hardware so I can get gaskets replaced on it when I make time to order parts from Merchant-Automotive.
I did have to pump the plunger on top of the fuel filter assembly before I started it for the first time and again a couple of days later just to see if it was holding pressure. Is this normal?
Most would laugh or cringe at the mess from the oil leak under this truck. I'll see about snapping some pics and getting them uploaded after the next time I get under it.
I did notice the exhaust manifolds are "sweating" around the exhaust ports where the manifold attaches to the head. To me, it seems like a pretty good indication of moisture in the exhaust. Again, I'll see about taking some pictures to share what it is that I'm seeing.

I intend on doing a basket-case build thread once I determine how far I'm going to have to dig into this wench.

Thank you all for your input and advice.

Also, looking at Southbend for clutch, flywheel, etc. Have not decided if I am going to go with single or dual yet. I want to replace the slave cylinder while I have it apart but ACDelco is on back order. Is there an alternative I can or should go with or just wait until ACDelco is available?

 

[TLyons90]

Welcome!

 

[dmaxbowtie]

Have you tried to check balance rates with efi live or a tech 2 yet?

 

[bevi]

Welcome to dd

 

[adeso]

Check for fuel in the oil.
The manual trucks won't hold a lot of power beyond what a stock lower on the engine can handle. You can upgrade the clutch but the auto is way out in front as far as performance.

 

[Big Block 88]

Check for fuel in the oil.
The manual trucks won't hold a lot of power beyond what a stock lower on the engine can handle. You can upgrade the clutch but the auto is way out in front as far as performance.

Mehhhhhh... Caleb nailed 11's, and sled heads seem to do pretty decent with manuals, got some big dog dodges with the old zf stronger a g56 from what I've seen here

 

[superswamper003]

Welcome! I was wondering, how many miles are on the dmax?

 

[PTwin]

I'll check for fuel in oil this weekend.

Any ideas or suggestions for a name for this wench?

She's got 213,000 mi

 

[PTwin]

trying to post pics need 10 post

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[PTwin]

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