2005 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins 2wd

[rjtx667]

going to do a blow by test tonight and check the fuel filter. everyone things injectors but not sure yet. I ordered the tools to pull injectors and they arrive Friday, so hopefully I can pull them this weekend. then need to figure out how to do w compression test on it and go from there.

if the po ran it too long with a bad injector it will need a rebuild which will sux, the blow by test should tell me if its bad or not

[ProjectM880]

Hopefully it checks out, Would be a nice rig to have 

[rjtx667]

Well progress. I have some video's I need to try and get uploaded so you can hear the knock... its kind of scary sounding on the video 

But when I fired it up tonight it had no knock until I pulled it in the garage, but man was it spraying for mosquito's 


So I took a few pics so you can see the nice dirty engine. I also did the blow by test, which is really easy. The theory is if you have a bad ring or something its going to put a lot of pressure into the engine block, so  if you take the oil fill cap and have it sitting just on top of where it goes... if it bounces around like crazy there is lots of pressure, if not then your good. I saw a video on you tube of a bad one, mine did not do that 

People with the nice fancy scanners (my mt2500 is too old) can kill injectors 1 at a time to test for bad ones. Well I don't have that, but what I do have is a brain. so my plan.... there are 3 connectors for the injectors, 2 per... knock is from the back. I unplugged injectors 5 and 6. Started it up (it was harder to start), was not happy at all.... and... DID NOT SMOKE!!!!! 

So I believe the best  thing to do next, since I have just proved there is at least 1 bad injector, is to order all new injectors and see what it does after that.

[ProjectM880]

Very Interesting 

[ProjectPW]

good progress... good choice on replacing all injectors... they will be needed regardless of the condition of the motor... you should sample the oil that is in it currently. It will have lots of diesel in it obviously, but it will be important to compare it with another oil sample after the injectors are changed (change fuel filter, engine oil and filter before running it with the new injectors) to better determine if any bearings/pistons/etc are damaged. 

[rjtx667]

Ordered 6 Brand new Bosch injectors + install seal kit + feeder tubes. Will be in sometime next week.

I also ordered a after market 2 stage filter kit. It does fuel filter + water filter. The fuel filter goes to 2 microns vs the stock 7 micron. its also suppose to be more effective 98% vs 60%.

I also figure I need to dump a ton of fuel out, its got about 3/4 of a tank and I don't trust it. So now I have to figure out how to dump it and dispose of it, drop the tank and clean it then fill it back up.

Should be fun.

[rjtx667]

well looks like no more fun on this 


I need to look and test a bit more, but to me that looks like a start of a hole in cylinder #6's piston?

Its not a hole yet, and its not got blow by... so not sure what that means. But I know it would mean a new piston if you want to be on the safe side.

[ProjectPW]

well looks like no more fun on this 


I need to look and test a bit more, but to me that looks like a start of a hole in cylinder #6's piston?

Its not a hole yet, and its not got blow by... so not sure what that means. But I know it would mean a new piston if you want to be on the safe side.

the large circle in the middle is normal shape of the piston crown.... not sure about the small shiny spots.... maybe just some residual liquid reflecting...

[rjtx667]

I had seen some pistons like that online and I wondered... that would be fantastic news!!!!

I have to get where I can rotate the engine around and get better shots of all the pistons.

[rjtx667]

turned the engine around to look at all the pistons, they all have that spot... just in varying scales of visibility due to carbon.

The cylinders where the injector was failing seems to be cleaner as it was washed a bit... or maybe those are the dirtier ones? Not sure.

Injectors are here tuesday.


Thinking a leak down/ compression test would be nice, but I don't have the adapter to do it. 

[rjtx667]

I broke down and bought the adapter to do the leak down test.

Cyl 1 - 20% - not sure I had the valves closed all the way
Cyl 2 - 5%
cyl 3 -11%
cyl 4 - 9%
cyl 5 - 13%
cyl 6 - first time was 53%, I put a little ATF down it and it went down to 32%

all in all not too bad, and considering your suppose to do this with the engine warm and it was really cold. I figure cal 6 was higher because it had been washed with the bad injector.

Got it all put back together and there was a strange clicking sound, and I had 3 check engine lights. I thought it might be the injector harness's. Bought 3 new harness's and the sound was there but the CEL was different.

I also bought a new after market fuel filter, a big bad one lol. It came in and I installed it. The factory filter was way nasty dirty so that was replaced as well.

I went ahead and started it up, took a few times to prime and clear the air. I had the door open, as soon as it started the horn was going and lights flashing. Really freaked me out, I closed the door and it went away. Finally figured out it thought it was in gear and was doing that was a warning.

It started good, seem to idle good and the smoke was gone. There was a little, but that ATF had to get cleared up somehow 

It still has a knock, but I found I can make it come and go... it comes with higher idle or trying to put any load on the truck while driving. IE it can idle and accelerate fine but you give it gas over 1k RPM and it makes the sound. You stop and put it in reverse and it seems to go away. Sounds like a flex plate to me. I am going to try and check the inspection plate tomorrow and see what I can see.

But the engine runs again and sounds good at idle when the knock is gone. I am excited 

[SixGun]

All right, sounds like progress.   

[rjtx667]

not driving progress, but its in the right direction.

[ProjectM880]

Anymore progress on this beast?

I'm curious how it will turn out because that thing will make one hell of a tow rig! 

[rjtx667]

it runs lol

I plan to get into the inspection plate and trying to look to see if I can find anything and go from there

I will update tonight.

if I do need parts there is a lead time for the new converter