LMTV Alternator Disaster, engine now catastophic

olly hondro said:

This thread freaked me out when I read it, so I asked Jack to make sure the alternator bolts are tight and should I get the drive lines balanced? His reply:
"The factory fixed the vibration problem years ago, they put all new drive lines on and changed the flywheel housing on the first batch of LMTVs, the Military wasn't allowed to drive them over 35 mph until that was fixed."
I'm ok with that.

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I'm not sure who "Jack" is, but that is poor reasoning. Yes, the government applied an upgrade to the all of the trucks in the late '90s, and yet we're seeing these problems so it clearly isn't a permanent fix. We have several users, including this thread and myself, that have destroyed their engines due to the driveline vibrations. It's a small portion of owners that experience the problem, but if it happens to you, the result is fairly severe ($7500 and 100 hours of work for me). It's good insurance to have the driveshafts checked and repaired (min $100/ea).

The details are all here in the guide in my signature, if you want to learn more.

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone but PMCS is really key. That's my take-away. If I had taken the time to go over the truck more thoroughly there's a chance I would have caught the problem - I had in the past, maybe twice in 25,000 miles. I guess cars kind of spoil a person in a way, because it's easy to develop this notion that you can drive them for 100k with just changing the oil. But like the old days of you really have to keep up on everything before they become big problems...

Haven't heard about the truck but they were thinking this week maybe. After 10 months or whatever it's been I'm really looking forward to driving it again.

Well FINALLY picked the truck up and it's running strong, took it around Bellingham, WA today. Going to get it cleaned up, get a load of cargo, and it'll be back down to Phoenix this weekend. Fingers crossed...

aleigh said:

Well FINALLY picked the truck up and it's running strong, took it around Bellingham, WA today. Going to get it cleaned up, get a load of cargo, and it'll be back down to Phoenix this weekend. Fingers crossed...

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my truck has been pretty reliable I had one drive shaft that didn't take lube in the splines so I had to replace it than this weekend I had a side wall blow out. thank god it happened before hooking up to the 45000 pound dozer trailer combo I towed back to Nome. the roads were slick with a fresh dusting of snow so I traveled slow and safe. as soon as I find my data cable for my phone I can put up some photos. I hope you now get many years of enjoyment out of it now these are some of the nicest trucks I have ever driven especially on the gravel roads out here in the bush.

Glad you persevered. May you have many good miles ahead of you.

Safe travels. Hopefully it's an uneventful trip home.

So back in WA before I left I ran the truck around for a couple hundred miles, around Bellingham and down to Seattle and back and everything was great. Loaded up and headed out Friday morning for Phoenix.

Problem #1: Made it until somewhere in OR and the truck was leaking oil. All over the bottom, hard to pinpoint where it was coming from. About a dozen drops on the ground every time I pulled into a place for gas. Blowing up the side of the truck. I couldn't tell if I thought it was blow-by and the engine above the oil pan gasket is mostly dry, including the usual suspects like the oil filter gasket. So I zip-tied a baggie with a hole in it to the breather tube to see what it would collect, and it did collect a thimble or two of oil by 1500 miles, but was not the leak. I am still not sure where it's leaking from, but it sure is leaking. Went through maybe 4 gallons during the trip.

Problem #2: Get about mid-day Saturday, somewhere north of SLC, and pull into a rest stop and there's that smell. You know the one. And green fluid on the ground. Tip the cab, mysterious leak #2. Green fluid sitting on top of the alternator but all the hoses, waterpump, thermostat seemed dry although I think it's going to turn out to be the waterpump. Went through maybe 4-6 gallons on the trip, I lost count. Just kept pouring it in and nervously watching the sight glasses and checking the heat.

Problem #3: This is the "hilarious" one. I pull into the truck stop south of Provo UT, pour in all the various fluids of diesel, oil, and coolant, and note wryly to my girlfriend as we watch an 18-wheeler get towed out that she should get the number of the tow guy because we might need it soon. No sooner do I get in and try to start the truck and nothing, won't turn over. I swap all the relays around, nope. Go in the store, buy some wire and a crimp kit and build a jumper and bypass K1, sparks but nothing, no start. I'm low on air by this point and I deleted my manual pump (want that back now...) so I called the local diesel guy and he came out with a truck. Plumbed air and lifted the cab and it jumped right off with a screwdriver on the starter solenoid.

It's evening and I was hoping to stop and rest but nope, so I figure, FIDO right. So I drove it all the way into Phoenix without turning it off, just pulled in and fueled it hot, poured in coolant, oil along the way. Get the truck in, huge hassle, we miss dinner, rest, etc, although I guess we could have parked, tipped the cab, and left it like that for the morning but with everything else we just wanted to get it home. Did get it home, do the little errands to get it parked where it belongs. Breath a huge sigh of relief. Turn the truck off, flip it back on and...

It starts perfectly.

4 times in a row.

Any recommendations for a diesel mechanic in PHX? I'm out in deer valley. I may just take it out to cat and be like make this thing stop leaking.

Hope it is simple. Start with oil line in following thread. Lines like this are known to vibrate harden and crack.

https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?171852-Blew-oil-line-engine-now-toast!-Cat-3116-HELP!

I'd love to but unfortunately down here in AZ I don't have a place to work on the truck, so it's going to have to go into a mechanic. I may take a run at the wiring myself though re: the start issue, since I know shops seem to hate doing that kind of thing.

aleigh said:

I'd love to but unfortunately down here in AZ I don't have a place to work on the truck, so it's going to have to go into a mechanic. ....

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Advertise on craigslist, facebook etc.

"Seeking off duty CAT experienced mechanic, military CAT vehicle prefered but not required for engine diagnosis repair FMTV. Place to perform work required

... or something to that effect.

aleigh said:

I'd love to but unfortunately down here in AZ I don't have a place to work on the truck, so it's going to have to go into a mechanic. I may take a run at the wiring myself though re: the start issue, since I know shops seem to hate doing that kind of thing.

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Maybe you can post some photo's of your engine, especially the driver side ... the Air compressor area. There are not that many places where the oil can come from and there are tell tale signs .
Then you can go from there.

Could be a lot of things. The dreaded crack in the timing whatever cover, maybe just the oil pan gasket, I don't know. The way I look at it it's either going to be something simple (and therefore cheap) or something complicated (and therefore I don't have a place to do the work), hence, I think I'm just going to find a shop to take it into. Probably just have them start with the water pump and take a look and see where the oil is coming from. The whole truck needs to be steam cleaned at this point is part of the diagnosis mystery. Not just from driving 1,000 miles in this condition but also oil everywhere from the last engine dumping. I really haven't had trouble finding mechanics that will work on it. Any commercial diesel place you just roll it in and they laugh a little and work on it just like it's a dump truck, rv, loader. The heavy guys they really don't care, and they don't care when you show up with your own parts either. There's really nothing special about them. Driveshaft place didn't even flinch when they rebuilt my shafts. I don't even think they knew what the shafts were off of, for that matter. Found parts for them find, new yolk, etc.

To that point, I didn't notice any reduced vibes or anything with the balanced shafts (per this now epic thread debate about whether or not driveshafts caused my problem). It ran pretty smooth before and it runs pretty smooth now. That said, worth the money to get it checked off, and get all new ujoints in the process. Better safe than sorry. No problems with the tires I recently replaced, or hydro valves either. So despite all this, making forward progress on the truck. Hopefully right as rain for the show in Jan, I missed the last one.

A few selected photos from the drive up... The rest are at hhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/adventioneering/albums/72157700352689352

I like that LMHC you have installed on your trucked. How much do they sell for?

I drank a lot to forget the cost, so you have to factor the booze into the total cost of ownership, but I want to say I paid something like $3500, new in crate.

Thats salty.

aleigh said:

I drank a lot to forget the cost, so you have to factor the booze into the total cost of ownership, but I want to say I paid something like $3500, new in crate.

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If you got another bottle of booze and extra 4K. Seen another one on the inter webs. Looks similar to yours.


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pontiac62 said:

If you got another bottle of booze and extra 4K. Seen another one on the inter webs. Looks similar to yours.

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Ha! I just needed the one. What is taking a daily effort is not buying one of those PRC-138s from Murphy's.

319cssb said:

I like that LMHC you have installed on your trucked. How much do they sell for?

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There was one on eBay for $1500 Buy It Now last year, also new in crate.

It works well, the crane. The big problem with it is that if you want to move taller loads, like a FMTV wheel, you have to tip the boom up. Learning to do that solo is a kind of a thing because it's heavy and awkward and the pins suck to drive in, especially when it's new. The real problem with it though is that if you tip the boom up then it doesn't clear the truck canvas if you have it installed. So with the cover on the truck, its utility is more limited.

It was just the treat though when it came time to replace the radiator. Moved it to a front pocket and bob's your uncle. Old one came right out, new one went right in. It sure is handy, especially since my forklift is up in Seattle, back when I had actual space for that kind of thing.