I am looking at this truck tomorrow morning and wanted some opinions on it and what to look for. he is saying he never looked at it and he thinks it is rod bearings it needs. Im fine with doing rod bearings but i am not really looking to do a entire rebuild at the time. Does it seem like it only needs rod bearings ?
This is what his ad says
I am selling my 2004 Dodge Ram 3500 5.9 Cummins 24Valve 2WD.
Unfortunately the engine will need to be rebuilt which is why the price is lower. Not exactly sure what happened because I'm not a mechanic. Was driving when it developed a loud ticking or knocking noise. It was towed back to my house. Purchased a newer dodge so I haven't really touched it since. Currently the batteries are dead and it will not start.
* The truck has 275k miles however the engine has only 75k miles. Rebuilt transmission as well. Turbo was replaced less than 15k miles ago as well as Catalytic convertor. Also replaced the exhaust manifold. Tires are fairly new. Clutch for manual transmission has less than 30k miles. Brakes and rotors have about 15k miles on them. Also had airbags installed to carry heavier weight. Radiator replaced about 30k miles ago. The truck doesn't have any rust at all on frame or the body panels. The body does have some dings and dents its not perfect.
Details: 5.9 cummins/ Manual Transmission/ SLT package/ Leather heated seats/ extra 110 gallon fuel tank/ Steel Grille guard/ Running boards/ Double Din Navigation unit.
Usually there's significant damage to the piston/cylinder wall. It all depends on how long it was driven with a valve dropped. I've seen some where the valve just punched a hole in the piston and there was zero damage to the bore, and I've also seen some where the bore was so chewed a sleeve wasn't possible. At the very least you'd be looking at piston replacement and dingle-ball of the bore. Head-wise...that can be an entirely different can of worms. I could be wrong but if the head has dropped a seat or a valve, chances are it may be more worthwhile to get a new head instead of paying for the machine work on the old one. At least here it was anyways. Significantly cheaper for me to pay the machinist for a rebuilt head that's been completely gone through than take the chance on buying a cracked/damaged head.
If it is an early 2004 then you will want to replace all the exhaust valve seats plus the dropped valve. It's impossible to say without looking how damaged the piston and cylinder is. Sometimes they are ok.
Again, I'm probably the most pessimistic opinion you'll get. I prefer to tear something completely apart and rebuild from scratch instead of patching little issues.
okay yeah because I work on alot of aduis and the valves get bent on them and i just replace them and they are good to go. is there a way to tell easily from looking at truck if the piston and cylinder are chewed up?
It doesn't generally drop out, just down a bit from the valve seat dropping down. The valve spring remains intact. It's when the valve seat breaks free that more damage is caused
Sometimes when the valve seat starts getting loose the tappet clearance increases causing a tick until it gets low enough that the piston starts tapping it. It's usually when the valve seat breaks free that the real damage occurs.
from what he is saying it is a loud ticking noise so maybe the valve seat did not break free yet and is still intact and the motor is savable by just a head. is there a distinct noise difference when it is just loose versus dropped all the way?
so most likely im looking at new head, new piston and honing the cylinder out? and pretty much the valve tick is just a low noise and the valve drop is distintly louder?
ok so I just got back from looking at the truck. The truck is amazingly clean besides the motor prob. What he is saying he heard it knocking/tapping so he checked the oil and it was 14qts low!! He added oil the knock went away for about a week and then came back about a week later and it was louder. He wasn't driving it when it started knocking his brother was and he couldn't remember if it shut off or his brother shut it off. So basically to me it sounds like it needs a bottom end?
It sounds like he doesn't know a lot, or isn't telling what he knows. But the 1 thing he is saying he knows is wrong. These engines require 12qts, not 16qts. That's a gallon more than they hold.
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