Shop project...

[Pullstart 62,831]

The cam is in.  I’m soaking the lifters in fresh 5W30 Mobil1 Synthetic oil before I drop them in.

 

The clear-ish plastic bottle allows me to monitor the bubble action.  No more bubbles = saturated (primed) lifters.

[Pullstart 62,831]

 

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by Pullstart

[ebinmaine 67,397]

Lifters get coated in any assembly lube or just the oil?

 

[Pullstart 62,831]

6 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Lifters get coated in any assembly lube or just the oil?

 

The cam was granted plenty of lube for dry start.  I’ll probably drop the lifters in as is, then dab some assembly lube on the tips of the push rods too.  Overkill likely, but worth not having to open it back up!  When I set the cam timing (which the gear was right on the money in the chain first try!) I spun the engine over a good handful of times cleaning any grime from the rings from cleaning the deck surface and also checked the timing marks every other revolution. 

[Pullstart 62,831]

Heads are torqued.  Push rods and lifters are going back in.  Speed square was used for the torque to yield fasteners.  22 lb ft is the only torque number for the head bolts… then it’s two rounds of spinning them a certain degree.
 

 

[Pullstart 62,831]

The top end is reassembled.  The intake had a TON of oil in it.  I should check the air filter, I wonder if there’s a severe blockage.  I need a longer bolt to re-install the harmonic balancer, need to put the front cover, water pump and front accessories back on, fix some broken studs on the down pipes then install the exhaust manifolds, install the coil packs and install the cooling system.  Then fresh oil, then break in the cam, then change the oil.  Wow, I thought I was getting close to the end but now it sounds like it’ll be a while!

 

 

[Pullstart 62,831]

Looking more like a runner!

 

I’m not looking forward to getting the loose stripped driver’s side manifold nuts and studs apart… but I have new hardware to go in.

 

 

[Pullstart 62,831]

That wasn’t as terrible as I figured!  

[Pullstart 62,831]

It’s very difficult to see the cam and crankshaft timing marks while the engine is in the vehicle.  I made an executive decision that it was in time using points of reference on the block for the crank marks and cam marks… along with using cylinder one and six as a tdc reference.  It seemed that the cam marks hit the crank marks just barely after tdc, as to not allow pre-detonation.  I put the truck mostly together but didn’t put coolant in.  It runs!

[Pullstart 62,831]

We’ve got 3 gallons in the rad, time to bring it up to temp, check coolant level and run around 2k rpms for 20 minutes or so to break in the cam.

 

 

[Pullstart 62,831]

 

[8ntruck 6,998]

1 hour ago, Pullstart said:

 

Was the new cam a stock replacement, or a 'specialized/improved' cam?

Edited March 2, 2022 by 8ntruck

[Pullstart 62,831]

1 minute ago, 8ntruck said:

Was the new cam a stock replacement, or a 'specialized/improved' cam?

Stocker.  This is a “budget” repair though I cut no corners…. there wasn’t funds available to upgrade or tune.  We agreed that the stock one lasted 216,000 miles.  If the truck makes it to 400k it’ll be a miracle anyway.

[Pullstart 62,831]

I ran it a few miles and changed the oil again.  We’re all good now!

 

 

[Handy Don 12,204]

Good plan comes together.

About how many hours did it take you vs. the rate book?

[Pullstart 62,831]

16 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

Good plan comes together.

About how many hours did it take you vs. the rate book?

I did a quick search and cam/lifters is quoted 20-21 hrs.  First time and it took me 26.  I charge less than most shops because my overhead is much less, so the extra 5 hours is still a huge savings for the customer.  They purchased the majority of the materials (so they could put it on their card) and my bill will be around the quote for diagnosis alone.

[Pullstart 62,831]

Here we are with the 2010 3500HD Chevy.  No idea what the dude did, I’ve never heard an engine knock this bad without extra vents in the block!

 

 

[Pullstart 62,831]

The cab is off, almost time to pull an engine.

 

 

[Pullstart 62,831]

Accessories are off the front.  I need to pull the torque converter bolts, engine mounts and bellhousing bolts and it should pluck right out.

 

 

[Pullstart 62,831]

Broken crankshaft.  Unreal.

 

 

[953 nut 55,163]

4 hours ago, Pullstart said:

No idea what the dude did, I’ve never heard an engine knock this bad without extra vents in the block!

 

58 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

Broken crankshaft.

           That would explain the knock!         But how did manage to bust up the balancer end of the crank.          Guess it dosent take too many folks like this to keep your shop going.

[Pullstart 62,831]

10 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

But how did manage to bust up the balancer end of the crank.

I found a few images of the cranks in this era LMM engine twisting.  2” or so main journal and all that metal has to go some place.  I’m guessing the snap is not perfectly flush.

 

 

[953 nut 55,163]

Strange  that this seems to be bit more common than you would think.

The crankshaft usually breaks near the number one rod journal due to a combination of excessive rpm and the large external counterweight. A factory firing order that beats up the front area of the crankshaft has also been blamed for imposing undue stress on the crank.

Will you be rebuilding this engine or just replacing it with a short block?

https://www.drivingline.com/articles/5-fatal-flaws-of-the-duramax-and-how-to-fix-them/

[Pullstart 62,831]

@953 nut I’m not sure what to think about that link… I just hope Norman isn’t a hypochondriac and starts feeling like a broken crank!  

[Pullstart 62,831]

I got out in the shop for a couple hours this morning and finished pulling the 2010 Duramax engine.  This truck is used all summer long for pulling a heavy trailer and skid steer for the guy’s excavation company.  After reading @953 nut’s link about the 5 plagues of a Duramax engine, I got to wondering what happened to pop this crank.  Well, pulling the engine and not needing to loosen motor mount bolts, that kind of explains it!  Both mounts were torn all the way through.  Bad mounts can cause all kinds of funky movements, along with irregular harmonics.  I had a bad transmission mount kill a flex plate in my old plow truck.

 

On the other hand, I noticed that this owner was moments away from catalytic converter theft!  The pipe is cut most of the way through on the front and back sides of the converter!