Bsmith720D
New member
- 14
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- 3
- Location
- Napoleon Ohio
For the past year and a half, when I get the time, I’ve been rebuilding the engine in my Deuce, a Continental LDT465-C. I’ve finally got everything back together and in truck ready for a first run! Started it up and all the injectors were puffing from the compression. I got the truck to run for about 10 or 15 seconds before I shut it down. I then pulled all the injectors out to look at them and the copper washers were all Carbon sooted. These were brand new copper washers. So I went ahead and annealed them and flattened them in case they were work hardened from the manufacturing process, and then tried again. This time I tightened the injectors more than what the TM calls for, I went to 200in lbs. I was able to get two of the injectors to seal but the other 4 still leaked compression as the engine turned over. The only other thing I could think of was the bottom of the injector pocket wasn't flat. So I made up a tool on my lathe to reach the bottom of the pocket and sand it flat. I made the mandrel a snug fit in the hole to make sure I didn't leave a step in the bottom of the hole. I glued a sheet of sandpaper to the bottom of the mandrel and stuck it in a battery drill. Once I started I could tell the holes were not perfectly flat, but it didn't take much to straighten them out. I thought for sure that would fix the leaking but when I put everything together and tried it, still leaks
As a last ditch effort to get them to seal, I bought a new set of copper washers, annealed them, made sure they were flat and then sprayed them with copper head gasket spray and stuck them all in. I tightened the injectors down as evenly as I could to 200in lbs. Hit the starter button and was able to get the first 4 injectors to seal (for now). But for the life of me, I cant get injectors 5 and 6 to seal. I'm to my breaking point now with this engine rebuild. I've had the truck for 7 years now and never had any problems with the injectors. And I have never had an engine rebuild give me as many problems as this one has.
A little backstory on this Deuce... Ever since I've owned the truck it always mysteriously lost coolant. Couldn't ever figure out where it went. One day I decided to replace the oil pan gasket since it always leaked. When I had the pan off, I noticed that there was coolant droplets on cylinder 6 connecting rod!!
So me being me, I had to investigate. Every oil change I did on the truck there were no signs of coolant in the oil. I decided to investigate and pull cylinder 6 sleeve and that's when I noticed a crack in the block on the back cylinder wall closest to the firewall. That's when it dawned on me where the coolant was going and why I never noticed it in the oil. To me, the truck always seemed to have a lot of "blow-by" but it was just the coolant burning off. And my valve covers always accumulated this thick, grease like, sludge on them. That's when I decided to buy 2 used parts block off of marketplace that just so happened to be close to me.(which turned out to be a disaster going to get them!! A 16 year old kid slammed into the back of my trailer on the way to get them) I was able to get these blocks at a Good price, but they were ROUGH!!! looked like they sat outside for several years. All I wanted out of them though was a good block. And I was gonna use all the parts off my cracked block because I knew they were good.
And this is where the engine rebuild started!! Of the 2 parts blocks I picked up, one was a LDS motor, and the other a LDT made by White. I chose the LDT bc it was stamped "TD" on the side. I First had to use my press to push out the pistons and cylinders since they were so corroded with mouse pee and moisture. As I tore it apart it was apparent why the motor was pulled previously. The bearings were completely melted and the crank was scorched. That motor was ran low or out of oil all together! But the block was good! Took it to the machine shop and had them hot tank it, verify the oil journals were clean and clear, and check it for cracks. The block came back with a good report. And while the block was there, I had the heads checked out, machined flat, and a valve job done. After I got them back is when I realized that the heads were cleaned up once before. They were both stamped on the side: ".005." The machine shop I took them to took another .005 off one and .003 off the other. The TM says a max .005 can be taken off but I chose to use the heads anyways. There isn't any clearance issues with the valves and pistons and I just paid the money to have them done.
I was able to source a brand new crank for pretty cheap so I went that route instead of having the crank out of my cracked block turned down. Used the connecting rods, Cam, lifters, push rods, oil pump, rocker arms, and oil pressure reg. out of my cracked block. I made sure to verify all NSN numbers for the internal parts. Picked up a nos gasket rebuild kit off of evil-bay. One thing I found really hard to believe and went back and forth on for a long time was when I had the Crank, Cam, Cylinder Sleeves, Rods and Pistons in, the pistons at top dead center are about .025" above the deck of the block. That didn't seem right to me, so I read and searched through all the TMs and Steel Soldiers threads I could find about engine rebuilds and couldn't find an answer. So I assumed it had to be right since all the NSN and Part Numbers match for the LDT blocks. I measured the thickness of the head gasket before I put the heads on to verify that the pistons wouldn't make love with the heads
After I had everything together and torqued, I rotated it by hand and everything rotated smooth. I bought a cheap injector tester off of amazon and went through my injectors. Went ahead and rebuilt the turbo while I was at it and took it to a local diesel component shop and had it balanced. And I even painted everything up nice since it was all different colors of green.
And that pretty much leads me up to now, and the first paragraph. I'm not really sure what to do or try next. I've talked to friends and they say to throw in two copper washers but I don't want to do that because that will throw off the height of the injectors. I haven't checked the compression with a tester or anything but I thought maybe that might be the problem. Too much compression? Knowing what I know now, I wish I would've never taken the oil pan off and looked around!! Any Suggestions?????
Coolant on bottom of piston and Con rod.
Crack towards top of cylinder
Accident going to pick them up. Called a friend to bring tools to fix on side of road and still picked motors up
Parts blocks
Goodbye to cracked block
As a last ditch effort to get them to seal, I bought a new set of copper washers, annealed them, made sure they were flat and then sprayed them with copper head gasket spray and stuck them all in. I tightened the injectors down as evenly as I could to 200in lbs. Hit the starter button and was able to get the first 4 injectors to seal (for now). But for the life of me, I cant get injectors 5 and 6 to seal. I'm to my breaking point now with this engine rebuild. I've had the truck for 7 years now and never had any problems with the injectors. And I have never had an engine rebuild give me as many problems as this one has.A little backstory on this Deuce... Ever since I've owned the truck it always mysteriously lost coolant. Couldn't ever figure out where it went. One day I decided to replace the oil pan gasket since it always leaked. When I had the pan off, I noticed that there was coolant droplets on cylinder 6 connecting rod!!
So me being me, I had to investigate. Every oil change I did on the truck there were no signs of coolant in the oil. I decided to investigate and pull cylinder 6 sleeve and that's when I noticed a crack in the block on the back cylinder wall closest to the firewall. That's when it dawned on me where the coolant was going and why I never noticed it in the oil. To me, the truck always seemed to have a lot of "blow-by" but it was just the coolant burning off. And my valve covers always accumulated this thick, grease like, sludge on them. That's when I decided to buy 2 used parts block off of marketplace that just so happened to be close to me.(which turned out to be a disaster going to get them!! A 16 year old kid slammed into the back of my trailer on the way to get them) I was able to get these blocks at a Good price, but they were ROUGH!!! looked like they sat outside for several years. All I wanted out of them though was a good block. And I was gonna use all the parts off my cracked block because I knew they were good.And this is where the engine rebuild started!! Of the 2 parts blocks I picked up, one was a LDS motor, and the other a LDT made by White. I chose the LDT bc it was stamped "TD" on the side. I First had to use my press to push out the pistons and cylinders since they were so corroded with mouse pee and moisture. As I tore it apart it was apparent why the motor was pulled previously. The bearings were completely melted and the crank was scorched. That motor was ran low or out of oil all together! But the block was good! Took it to the machine shop and had them hot tank it, verify the oil journals were clean and clear, and check it for cracks. The block came back with a good report. And while the block was there, I had the heads checked out, machined flat, and a valve job done. After I got them back is when I realized that the heads were cleaned up once before. They were both stamped on the side: ".005." The machine shop I took them to took another .005 off one and .003 off the other. The TM says a max .005 can be taken off but I chose to use the heads anyways. There isn't any clearance issues with the valves and pistons and I just paid the money to have them done.
I was able to source a brand new crank for pretty cheap so I went that route instead of having the crank out of my cracked block turned down. Used the connecting rods, Cam, lifters, push rods, oil pump, rocker arms, and oil pressure reg. out of my cracked block. I made sure to verify all NSN numbers for the internal parts. Picked up a nos gasket rebuild kit off of evil-bay. One thing I found really hard to believe and went back and forth on for a long time was when I had the Crank, Cam, Cylinder Sleeves, Rods and Pistons in, the pistons at top dead center are about .025" above the deck of the block. That didn't seem right to me, so I read and searched through all the TMs and Steel Soldiers threads I could find about engine rebuilds and couldn't find an answer. So I assumed it had to be right since all the NSN and Part Numbers match for the LDT blocks. I measured the thickness of the head gasket before I put the heads on to verify that the pistons wouldn't make love with the heads
After I had everything together and torqued, I rotated it by hand and everything rotated smooth. I bought a cheap injector tester off of amazon and went through my injectors. Went ahead and rebuilt the turbo while I was at it and took it to a local diesel component shop and had it balanced. And I even painted everything up nice since it was all different colors of green.And that pretty much leads me up to now, and the first paragraph. I'm not really sure what to do or try next. I've talked to friends and they say to throw in two copper washers but I don't want to do that because that will throw off the height of the injectors. I haven't checked the compression with a tester or anything but I thought maybe that might be the problem. Too much compression? Knowing what I know now, I wish I would've never taken the oil pan off and looked around!! Any Suggestions?????
Coolant on bottom of piston and Con rod. Crack towards top of cylinder Accident going to pick them up. Called a friend to bring tools to fix on side of road and still picked motors upParts blocksGoodbye to cracked block