Motorhome Life

[ChEFF]

The mechanic called yesterday with news. He put in a new Injector and it's still mis-firing. He said the valves are ok. Says he needs to pull the head to see if the ring is damaged. Happens with all these high mileage motors. I explained to him that's a new motor with only 25k miles on it. So My question was: What do you need from me? He said "Do you want me to proceed it'll take me 2-3 days to remove the head, or button it back up and you can drive it home" My question was, Won't I blow the motor? He said, You shouldn't. It's just a misfire. I talked with Lonnie who put the motor in and he said to have them do a compression test. The mechanic says he can't do that. I explained to him how he can (Thanks Lonnie). The mechanic is going to check with his specialty dept if they have that device to do it. So.....Looks like I'm going to have a fight on my hands with CORP CAT?

I know, I know............. "Your Warranty expired after one year" I get it. BUT.....................Really?? Your engine can't handle 25,000 miles over a 3 year period. And I'm sure the dealer in Albuquerque don't want that thing sitting in his parking lot very long. Neither do I. Hope it works out for the best. Not a fan spending another $10k on this motor. 

Peace

[ROBERT L]

Damn that sucks. Seriously how does a dealer not be able to do a compression check? Another reason to NOT call them “techs”.  More of a parts changers. 

[2dasand]

42 minutes ago, ChEFF said:

The mechanic called yesterday with news. He put in a new Injector and it's still mis-firing. He said the valves are ok. Says he needs to pull the head to see if the ring is damaged. Happens with all these high mileage motors. I explained to him that's a new motor with only 25k miles on it. So My question was: What do you need from me? He said "Do you want me to proceed it'll take me 2-3 days to remove the head, or button it back up and you can drive it home" My question was, Won't I blow the motor? He said, You shouldn't. It's just a misfire. I talked with Lonnie who put the motor in and he said to have them do a compression test. The mechanic says he can't do that. I explained to him how he can (Thanks Lonnie). The mechanic is going to check with his specialty dept if they have that device to do it. So.....Looks like I'm going to have a fight on my hands with CORP CAT?

I know, I know............. "Your Warranty expired after one year" I get it. BUT.....................Really?? Your engine can't handle 25,000 miles over a 3 year period. And I'm sure the dealer in Albuquerque don't want that thing sitting in his parking lot very long. Neither do I. Hope it works out for the best. Not a fan spending another $10k on this motor. 

Peace

This sucks....such a bad situation.  So sorry for you ChEFF!!!

[r3meyer]

So only 27,000 on this new motor?  

[ChEFF]

21 minutes ago, r3meyer said:

So only 27,000 on this new motor?  

 

Approx 22,000-25,000 on it. I blew the old one at 162,000. I think I saw 187,000 last I looked. Peace

[Cookie]

You said it was white smoke right, not white blueish stinky smoke?

[ChEFF]

11 minutes ago, Cookie said:

You said it was white smoke right, not white blueish stinky smoke?

 

It was white. Not an oil smell. If anything a semi sweet smell. Which had me (Robert L) thinking Head Gasket. Peace

 

[Realbadlarry]

Too bad Romans9 doesn't jump in here....

[Cookie]

42 minutes ago, ChEFF said:

 

It was white. Not an oil smell. If anything a semi sweet smell. Which had me (Robert L) thinking Head Gasket. Peace

 

That is what I thought, surprised they went the injector route.

[raspadoo]

48 minutes ago, Realbadlarry said:

Too bad Romans9 doesn't jump in here....

There's a great resource if you can look him up somehow Cheff.

[ChEFF]

Just talked to the Tech. He said they can't do the Compression test. Everything checks out fine so far. He needs to pull the head and see why the cylinder isn't firing completely. I asked him what the white smoke was he said most likely fuel. The cylinder isn't getting enough compression to burn all the fuel. I asked him about the Head Gasket and he said if it was a Head gasket then the other cylinders would spill over. Something like that. I'm not too smart with this but I gave him the approval to pull the head. He thinks the ring/rings are damaged. I'm half way across the pond with one Orr. Spinning in circles. As the Cash Register Turns. Peace 

[Lord of the Dunes]

22 minutes ago, ChEFF said:

Just talked to the Tech. He said they can't do the Compression test. Everything checks out fine so far. He needs to pull the head and see why the cylinder isn't firing completely. I asked him what the white smoke was he said most likely fuel. The cylinder isn't getting enough compression to burn all the fuel. I asked him about the Head Gasket and he said if it was a Head gasket then the other cylinders would spill over. Something like that. I'm not too smart with this but I gave him the approval to pull the head. He thinks the ring/rings are damaged. I'm half way across the pond with one Orr. Spinning in circles. As the Cash Register Turns. Peace 

If it was white smoke from unvaporized/unburned fuel, it would burn your eyes and smell really bad, stinging your nose. If it doesn't burn your eyes or sting your nose, but instead has a kind of sweet smell to it, that sounds more like a coolant leak into a cylinder.

On a Duramax, there is coolant surrounding the injector cup, so if it comes loose (somehow), it can leak into the cylinder on the intake stroke but it should pressurize the coolant system on a power stroke, so you should see excessive pressure in the coolant system and detect exhaust gasses in the coolant with a chemical. A bad spot in a head gasket is a more common, universal source of engine coolant.

I don't know anything about CAT engines specifically, but the exhaust gasses in coolant test is universal. 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Lord of the Dunes

[ROBERT L]

The other issue he had was condensation was on the inside of the oil cap.  That’s when I thought head gasket.  He also said the smoke lingered in the air out of the engine breather. Start it up in the morning smoke was coming out of the exhaust then that would quit when it warmed up.  But it was a sweet ish smell. Seriously what dealership can’t do a compression test. 
 

@ChEFF contact @Grease Monkey maybe he still has @Romans9 number and talk to him.  

[richard h]

40 minutes ago, ChEFF said:

Just talked to the Tech. He said they can't do the Compression test. Everything checks out fine so far. He needs to pull the head and see why the cylinder isn't firing completely. I asked him what the white smoke was he said most likely fuel. The cylinder isn't getting enough compression to burn all the fuel. I asked him about the Head Gasket and he said if it was a Head gasket then the other cylinders would spill over. Something like that. I'm not too smart with this but I gave him the approval to pull the head. He thinks the ring/rings are damaged. I'm half way across the pond with one Orr. Spinning in circles. As the Cash Register Turns. Peace 

Your doing the best you can in this given situation. Also from my experience you will never convince a repair person/tech that you just might no what's going on. They will stick to there chosen path to the end and never admit even if the end is what you claimed to start with. Hope they get you repaired and on the road soon. 

[Cookie]

29 minutes ago, richard h said:

Your doing the best you can in this given situation. Also from my experience you will never convince a repair person/tech that you just might no what's going on. They will stick to there chosen path to the end and never admit even if the end is what you claimed to start with. Hope they get you repaired and on the road soon. 

This annoys me so much.  Took my Moho in and they treated me like I have never even driven the moho before.  I hate service writers and techs that think they know everything...........In most cases, I don't have the tools or interest in doing the job.

[ChEFF]

I can sense the tech when I ask him specific questions that he's not very comfortable answering my questions. Not trying to question his decisions or trying to doubt his credibility. BUT.....He don't know y'all are behind my questioning. And da chEFF appreciates Y'ALLS Help. Let's see what he has to say tomorrow. Peace   

[ROBERT L]

Hell ask to talk to his supervisor and get some answers.  He has to be reporting or at least filling in his daily work sheets. 

[Grease Monkey]

Loss of compression will raise crankcase pressure if it's rings. If it's a cylinder that's low on compression, you will see smoke but it will have a pulse to it. That one cylinder will not fire and blow a puff. If it's not obvious then the tech can loosen the exhaust manifold from the cylinder head, start the engine and determine which one is causing the smoke.  If it's coolant then that could also be seen by laying over the exhaust manifold a bit then starting the engine.

Any moisture under the oil cap and or valve cover will be a problem. Especially as you've just come off the fwy and any water in the oil from sitting would have been cooked off already.

The tech can do a cylinder cut out test with the Caterpillar ET software as well. 

So many different directions to go prior to pulling the cylinder head.

I'd ask for the supervisor and get these answers before approving the head removal.

 

[Grease Monkey]

And with Johnny. Romans9, he's gone underground on me. Tried calling and left a few messages with no reply.  Not uncommon for him to drop off the radar then come back blazing and then gone again. 

[ROBERT L]

10 hours ago, Grease Monkey said:

And with Johnny. Romans9, he's gone underground on me. Tried calling and left a few messages with no reply.  Not uncommon for him to drop off the radar then come back blazing and then gone again. 

I figured if anyone would be able to get ahold of him it would be you.  Hopefully he’s living his best life. I really wanted to see how his sons truck came out.  

[ChEFF]

12 hours ago, Grease Monkey said:

 

I'd ask for the supervisor and get these answers before approving the head removal.

 

 

Too late. I gave him approval to pull the Head. The person who wrote up my work order was Joe. He's the supervisor and I wasn't impressed with his ability to take Info down. Scary to think my MOHO sitting in Albuquerque NM is being fondled my nimrods. 

 

21 hours ago, richard h said:

you will never convince a repair person/tech that you just might no what's going on.

 

I can sense that in our conversations too. Peace

[Rorschach]

It’s easy to check if or which cylinder isn’t firing you just check the temperature of the exhaust manifold at the head. Working/firing cylinders will be hotter than dead cylinders. Swapping the dead cylinder Injector with another cylinder would tell you if it’s the injector or the cylinder. At some point the head does have to come off but doing a cylinder leak down test before pulling the head would tell you if it’s losing compression from the valves or past the rings. 

[Lord of the Dunes]

I'm afraid this "tech" ranks right down there with most of the Chevy techs I've encountered. 

One headlight on my new truck was pointing at the moon. The "tech" cranked the elevation screw and it came down maybe 20*. Still pointing at the sky, he said that was the best he could do. I turned off the headlights, popped off the rubber boot, checked the bulb and it wasn't seated in the mount. I turned the bulb, it popped into the mount and I put the clip and rubber boot back on. I turned on the headlight which was now pointing at his shoes and asked him to align it properly.

Pretty sad what passes for a "tech" for the last 15 yrs or so. I would hate to see him try and diagnose a real problem.

[EmpirE231]

Sounds like its time for a new rig.  Either way, gotta fix this one.... might be the best time to fix and sell it, given used RV values. 

[jailbird141]

3 hours ago, Lord of the Dunes said:

I'm afraid this "tech" ranks right down there with most of the Chevy techs I've encountered. 

One headlight on my new truck was pointing at the moon. The "tech" cranked the elevation screw and it came down maybe 20*. Still pointing at the sky, he said that was the best he could do. I turned off the headlights, popped off the rubber boot, checked the bulb and it wasn't seated in the mount. I turned the bulb, it popped into the mount and I put the clip and rubber boot back on. I turned on the headlight which was now pointing at his shoes and asked him to align it properly.

Pretty sad what passes for a "tech" for the last 15 yrs or so. I would hate to see him try and diagnose a real problem.

I'm just curious, if it was so easy and quick for you to fix, why did you have a tech take a crack at it? Seems like it was an easy enough fix that you could've just handled and avoided the wasted time?