• Welcome to The Truck Stop! We see you haven't REGISTERED yet.

    Your truck knowledge is missing!
    • Registration is FREE , all we need is your birthday and email. (We don't share ANY data with ANYONE)
    • We have tons of knowledge here for your diesel truck!
    • Post your own topics and reply to existing threads to help others out!
    • NO ADS! The site is fully functional and ad free!
    CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

    Problems registering? Click here to contact us!

    Already registered, but need a PASSWORD RESET? CLICK HERE TO RESET YOUR PASSWORD!

My oil pan just blew up

D

DieselAmateur

She ain't revved 'til the rods are thrown...
Messages
618
Reaction score
1,552
Location
Upstate NY
Howdy all,

So I'm driving home from town, just crested the top of a hill and I hear a sound like something is dragging. I pull over, engine is still running, and turn it off. Look underneath and oil is leaking everywhere. I then see that the starter is completely blown to bits. This is what I heard rubbing/ dragging. After crawling under, I see that holes are blown in both sides of the oil pan. On the passenger side the blowout caused the starter to be completely blown off the block and into pieces, only held on by wires.

Some background:

I drove to southern PA and back yesterday, 240 miles one way, to pick up an equipment trailer. Weighs around 2800 pounds. No problems running down or back. Towing the empty trailer for close to 4 hours was the longest I had ever towed with this truck. All gauges read normal (EGT, boost, trans temp). I tow a 7k mini excavator locally every now and then for construction work, never longer than a 20 minute drive, never an issue.

I change the oil every 3k miles, was due for a change in 800 miles or so. I checked the oil when I filled up with diesel for the ride home, oil pan read full.

Truck has a chip in it, highest boost is around 14 psi

The manual trans was feeling kinda sticky while towing home and this morning, but only in getting it started in the low gears. Thought it was just the MT being finicky, or from running hotter than usual (towing home temps were 180, unloaded was around 150). I have the trans- cool pto cooling fins on the trans which is where my temperature probe is.

New clutch and pilot/ throw out bearings were installed at the end of January 2018

The CDR valve is a little over a year old and doesn't look gummed up or anything suspicious

So my question(s) are: What the &%@#?! could cause this to happen, and is it worth throwing another oil pan on there or is the motor trashed?

Aside from excessive blow by, could anything transmission or flywheel related have caused this? To the best of my knowledge the engine did not suffer from excessive blow by or oil consumption. I was always a quart or a little more shy when I changed the oil, but I figured this was due to oil being left in the cooler and cooler lines etc, since the dipstick always read full. I have never had any blow by gasses come out of the dipstick or anywhere else for that matter.

It appears to me that the pan cannot be pulled as is; my guess is the front diff has to be removed in order to get the entire pan off. Anyone ever do this before?

Am I wasting my time in putting a new pan on, and am better off putting in a new motor?

Part of me wants to pull the pan to see what is going on in the bottom end, as this happened with zero warning and the motor should have a lot of life left.

But if I throw on a new pan, am I playing roulette with the engine, as something had to make this happen and then it could happen again?

Anything else that can cause excessive pressure build up in the crank case? Something with the trubo drain tube, a plugged oil filter?

I'll post some pics when the old camera is done charging. Now off to wash motor oil out of my hair.

thanks

Peter
 
Cut the pan off with a pair of tinsnips if you have to from the new holds. Then you will find the broken rod(s) that destroyed everything.

A chance the starter stayed engaged, and exploded throwing holes through the oil pan. But since you didn’t just win that billion dollar lottery, probably not.
 
JayTheCPA said:
And, not checking on what caused the sudden ventilation system in the pan will probably lead to a confirmation of entry in the Carnage thread . . .
Click to expand...

Aside from the CDR valve, what else can be troubleshooted for causing excessive pressure in the crankcase? Only things I can think of are excessive blow by, or the turbo somehow blowing air down through the oil drain tube?

Will L. said:
A chance the starter stayed engaged, and exploded throwing holes through the oil pan. But since you didn’t just win that billion dollar lottery, probably not.
Click to expand...

Ironically enough, there is only one hole on the starter side, and several holes on the other side of the pan...exit wounds are always greater than the size of the entry point, at least when it comes to bullets, although yes I did not win the lottery yet I am still surprised that an explosion of oil cold totally decimate the starter...
 
This was not caused by pressure as in air pressure, it was caused by something coming apart inside..

If it were air pressure the psi would have exited through seals, blown the dip stick out, blown the cdr off, etc... Post some pics, best guess is a rod or two have left the room...
 
Here are some pics, definitely blew apart from the inside...

Blown up starter

PB020235[1].JPG

Holes in pan by starter:
PB020236[1].JPG


Holes in pan, driver's side
PB020238[1].JPG


When you say its a thrown rod, do you mean a connecting rod or push rod?

Either way, from the sounds of it everyone is saying the engine is toast...
 

Attachments

  • PB020239[1].JPG
    PB020239[1].JPG
    89.7 KB · Views: 12
Yes, unfortunately that is clearly a broken connecting rod. Pull the engine out to disassemble it and see what is left —
if anything is worth keeping.
 
Thanks for the diagnosis. What causes a broken connecting rod? The motor was in a municipal vehicle from 1999 to 2014, was used for a year by someone working construction, I know he towed his backhoe with it, and I've had it since 2015. Didn't think it had lived that hard of a life, was hoping to get a lot more out of it...
 
These engines run great till the second they go "BOOM!!!"

Cracked out mains, busted crank from bad harmonic damper, blown oil cooler line, dropped valve, stretched or busted rod bolts, overspeed...

Likely with blowby, if it wasn't overheated, a simple worn out and spun bearing.
 
Add to the carnage thread indeed.

Fortunately, I have the ultimate insurance policy in the form of a p400 still in the crate in my shop :woot:

I wasn't planning on the swap this soon, but it appears my hand has been forced.

Seeing as how my truck is 4x4, I need a custom oil pan. Unless I go with a body lift. Anyone know how much of a lift is needed? I'd rather not go with the lift but the custom pans aren't cheap.

I'll post a new thread for the build once its underway.
 
You would need a suspension lift. I have read some have 4” suspension lift and can use the p400 oil pan.
 
DieselAmateur said:
Fortunately, I have the ultimate insurance policy in the form of a p400 still in the crate in my shop :woot:
. . .

Seeing as how my truck is 4x4, I need a custom oil pan.
Click to expand...

Get in touch with Leroy for a custom oil pan for the P-400. IMHO, the cost of the custom pan is worth it compared to the cost and additional work of a lift.

And by the way, recall that even RWD needs the custom oil pan for a P-400.

Also, Welcome to the Carnage Club :D
 
For a matter of fact... ANYONE can call Moroso and have a pan built, they have the .P400 specs and will make any alterations you want, also Aluminum pans as well...

For them to discount any vendor the said vendor is required to order and pay for 10 pans, and the P400 is out of production so no need for the pans to sit on a shelf....
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm starting to put together a spreadsheet of new parts for the build. Can anyone help me identify this sensor in the picture below? It's on the block just behind the power steering pumpPB030246[1].JPG

It only has one wire going to it where it looks like there should be two so I don't even know if it's working or not...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top