Personally it sounds like your turbos not doing its job, are the injectors stock? I'd definitely be 100% certain I didn't have any exhaust leaks or boost leaks!

 

I forgot to add when unloaded it does build 24ish psi of boost, but i really have to push it hard. And when towing that trailer last week, going up the grade it hovered around 10psi at 62mph, and when i put my foot to the floor, it would jump to about 20psi, but never more.

Stock AA injectors (from as far as i know, this truck when i bought it only had a K&N intake, everything else was stock.)

I will check for post turbo leaks in the AM tomorrow.

 

Ok so I just took a drive down the freeway to check icp pressure and ipr % while in stock mode on the tuner. And it will maintain a constant 2500 psi and 34% ipr.

BUT, as soon as I got off the freeway, it started smoking, a light blue smoke, so I pulled it over into a parking lot right off the freeway, and shut it off. No codes present, so I put it back in my "hot street" tuned, and started it back up, and it started POURING white smoke, like filled the parking lot in a matter of a few seconds. It also was miss firing, and jumping all over the place. So I shut her down, opened the hood, and there's coolant spray all over the motor... Radiator cracked.... Open the coolant reservoir, no coolant at all. Take off the oil cap, smells milky and bad... Blown head gasket(s)....

Well here we go... Just my luck... Now waiting for a tow truck...

 

Yikes!! Sorry bud. Hope it works out!

 

Head gaskets explains all my problems though!

 

Well, i got her towed home, and started pulling her all apart. I got the driver side completely apart, head off, and the passenger side started. Tomorrow i will be ordering all the parts (head gasket sets, head bolts, injector o-rings, injector cups, and 8 new glow plugs (i set the head down on the ground, with the glow plugs sticking out, needless to say, it bent all 4 of them... might as well replace them all...).

I pulled the valve cover on the driver side, the UVCH looks great, wiring looks great, etc. So i was stoked to see all that. Well then i looked at what code injectors were in there too, and some of you might remember when i was getting tuning from swamps, he gave me "AA" injector tuning, based on the ECU code (MIF6). Well, sure as ####, it has AB code, split shot injectors... Must be where all my high egt's and low power was coming from, that, and head gaskets failing as well...

Then i went to pull the head (DAMN THAT THING IS A HEAVY SUM-B*TCH), but the gasket was still in perfect shape, so it wasnt the driver side that went bad, thats for sure. Im also pleasantly surprised to see the cylinder bores still looks to be in fantastic shape, cross-hatch is still very visible. But the pistons have a weird marking on them, what looks like how the fuel was sprayed from the injector has stained the top of the piston, is this normal?

Also, what do you guys recommend doing if i get any debris inside the motor? (ie gasket material, coolant or anything like that). I plan on doing a new oil filter and oil before firing her up obviously, but should i change it shortly after?

 

You can't go by the ID on the injector solenoids, they can be anything by now. For what its worth, MIF-7 is a California split shot PCM code and ABs are splits.

Use lots of rags to plug up the holes. And a ShopVac does work well. If the ShopVac hose doesn't fit down in there, duct tape on some small hose to reach into the cracks and crevasses.

If you take pictures of the spray pattern on the pistons, then there are guys here who can tell you what it means.

 

Can you post a pic of the pistons? As debris in the motor, just shop vac it out.

 

If it's liquid you got in the bores just soak it up with clean rags.

 

Yes, my mistake, i have the pictures, and meant to put them in my last post but forgot lol. I know for sure the MIF-6 is what is in my truck, and has the DPC-202 code on it, which is why Dave at swamps was certain it had single shot injectors.

But then it say right on top of the injector, the first 2 digits were "AB".

Does this mean someone in the past swapped in a different ECU and didnt know it?

Pic of the top of piston.

Pic of cylinder wall.

 

Late 96 California truck has MIF-x code, DPC-202 PCM and splitshots. Unlike the later California OBS trucks with MME-x PCMs, the MIF does not have glow plug current monitoring (no shunt on GPR). It does have the pulsation damper like the later 97s.

My buddy had a late 96 California and the MIF-x PCM was in it along with the splitshots. We were surprised when we checked it out.

 

Also, it has the california model sticker on the passenger valve cover, originally came with the fuel pulse dampener above the fuel pump, and there was NOT a GPR shunt on it, just has a regular relay.

It stumps me as well if it is a california or federal truck, it seems that its a Frankenstein in-bred version...

 

Are all the spray patterns the same as this one? I think it looks OK! Got a little buildup but that's not outta the norm for its age and performance upgrades. As for the injectors I'm not sure. I've done work on a 6.0 and a 7.3 that had different codes because the guy bought injectors off flea-bay and they were rebuild using parts from all the different injector codes. So idk! Cross hatching is great!!!

 

All the patterns are the same on all pistons, and the buildup you see in the center looks like sludge or something, but its just water, there is just a thin layer of carbon on the top of the piston.

What im worried about is how much i drove this truck with coolant being in the oil, for all i know it could've been in there for a week (thats the last time i checked it), and just now it got catastrophically worse. Could it have damaged the bottom end, or injectors in the process?

 

Hard to say. Howd you drive it for the last week? Tow tune, race tunes? High egts for a long period? How was your oil pressure? I kinda doubt you did any damage to the bottom end. The injector or hpop idk. Probably have to get it back together. Looks like your hpop and ipr are OK. With how your injectors at labeled I don't know. If I were you I'd take all the injectors to a knowledgeable shop and have them tell you what you have. And maybe bench test them.

 

IMO... I would just fix the head gaskets and put it back together. Then if I had another problem I'd know it wasn't the heads! If it ran fine before with those injectors it should run fine again.

 

Well last weekend i did a 450 mile trip with a 5000lbs trailer, and had her pretty hot, and right before the trip is when i checked the coolant level.

So ill finish the head gaskets and see how everything goes i guess.

 

Good luck!

 

I'm a little surprised Swamps didn't catch this. For all the time and experience these custom tune people say they put into their products, you'd think they would catch that something is obviously not right when they know what their tunes should run for EGTs. Further more, I would think they have ran into tunes ran with the wrong injectors, you aren't the first one by any means, and would be able to pin point the problem, knowing how their tunes run with each type of injector, or the INcorrect injector.

 

Well, i didnt get to touch the truck today, got caught up in work for a 16 hour work day again... Called ford and got a quote for 2 head gaskets, 36 head bolts, 8 injector cups, 8 injector oring sets, and 8 glow plugs, totalled out to almost $750, and he had to order the gaskets and head bolts. So i got on riff raff's website and almost all the same stuff would cost about $500, maybe less if i shopped around a little more. Gonna order all the stuff tonight though...

Dave at swamps got back to me too, and he said

lord.

I'd have someone test/measure your injectors to see what they are...I doubt they are stock ABs

Does that mean someone might have tweaked them to be a bigger injector? Idk any shops around here that test/measure them. Anyone know some in the southern california area? It also looks like the tips are pretty chewed up on them as well...

 

Just got all the parts ordered, i got 2 head gaskets, 36 head bolts, 8 motorcraft injector cups, 8 alliant injector o ring kits, 8 motorcraft glow plugs, all 4 ccv vent cover orings, the driver side fuel line, and a new turbo v-band clamp (mine is wasted), for under $500, with 2 day shipping! Wasnt as bad as i thought it was gonna be, and i got more stuff than i planned to get as well!

Ill keep you guys posted..

 

What should I use to clean the head surface? Just a scraper, or is there something special I should use? Would you guys also spray the gasket with some sort of material (copper or aluminum or something)?

 

Take the heads in to be cleaned and made sure they are flat. That's what I would do. If you don't want to go that route clean them with a 3m buffer. Just don't go crazy. And I I remember right you don't put anything on the heads or block other than the head gaskets. But Imo its debatable. Some people do others don't.

 

Gasket makers specify if there should be a sealant used or not. It depends on what head gaskets are used.

 

Well, i got the passenger side head off, and the gasket looks to be in perfect shape... So that makes both head gaskets were still good.

Ive had a lot of people and several shops tell me that 99% chance it was a cracked block... So now im pretty sure of it...

But a buddy of mine is bringing over a cylinder compression tester that will check pressure of each individual cylinder, with the head off. So we will know what cylinder is bad. Everybody that sees the cylinder walls of the motor always ask me, "How many miles are on this truck???" and when i tell them 352k, they are amazed at how good it still looks inside!

Could it be ANYTHING else? Oil cooler, injector cups, ANYTHING? That it might be?

 

Possible front cover. But the 96 trucks are known for cracked blocks.

 

So i guess ill find out on Sunday when my friend brings over that compression tester, in the mean time, im looking for a new truck to get around while i rebuild this thing.