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D6c cat loss of oil pressure

etd66ss

Senior Member
Joined
May 14, 2015
Messages
270
Location
Lockport NY
How could the reman block have 2" of sand in the liner bores? Would that not have been taken care of when the block was remanufactured in Denver? Did someone put sand in the coolant system filling up those cavities at the same time wearing the crap out of the impeller?

I'm a bit confused by this sand...
 

51kw

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2007
Messages
239
Location
Minnesota
I have a feeling that reman engine just had a set of rings installed and sent out the door. Sleeves were never replaced.
 

DoyleX

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
571
Location
Minnesota
Occupation
Lever Puller, Gear Jammer, Pipe Twister
How could the reman block have 2" of sand in the liner bores? Would that not have been taken care of when the block was remanufactured in Denver? Did someone put sand in the coolant system filling up those cavities at the same time wearing the crap out of the impeller?

I'm a bit confused by this sand...
All of the white scale will flake off and settle out like sand. Its hard mineral and abrasive. Poorly maintained cooling system. When backyard joe mechanic dumped in the coolant from the first engine swap im sure the whole bucket went in. Even the crunchies in the bottom... This whole thing could have been avoided IF somebody would have put together in their head the following. If garbage comes out of the cooling system when you drain it there is more inside. Look in the top before you dump coolant in. What do the cores and inside look like? Mechanics 101...

Next place to bang down a door and start shaking people, capital exchange. The lack of oiling is on them.

All of this is unreal!!!

I cant wait till the back half of the tractor rears its head.
 

Birken Vogt

Charter Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
5,305
Location
Grass Valley, Ca
Somebody who has followed this more closely clue me in on what is happening here.

So we have an engine with a partially clogged radiator (which I might have reused on a normal repair if customer budget dictated, it doesn't look that bad for light duty work)

We have some white scale in the engine which indicates it was not torn down all the way but the bottoms of the liners are not where much (any) heat is dissipated.

We have some remarks about a misaligned passage causing low oil pressure and poor piston cooling jet flow but that happened before the last rebuild, correct?

As far as I can tell the problem happened driving across an open field and it was related to piston melting/seizing and/or valve burning? But the remarks also say the nozzles and timing were correct so why was the top end burning up?

Do I have the facts wrong or is this everybody else's understanding?
 

Tinkerer

Senior Member
Joined
May 21, 2009
Messages
9,342
Location
The shore of the illinois river USA
My take is that there was a parade of events that caused catastrophic overheating as stated in the report.
A cooling system with a number of issues including the worn pump impeller.
I have never seen valves that badly warped. Cracked yes, warped like those, no. Good grief !
Take notice of the bleed valve being plugged comment that indicates the air pocket was trapped forever.
55.png
 

Birken Vogt

Charter Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
5,305
Location
Grass Valley, Ca
Air pocket in cooling system, coolant flow issues, etc. would cause it to warp or break a head and/or gasket. Not melt a piston or damage valves.

Something does not add up here from the info I have seen.
 

51kw

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2007
Messages
239
Location
Minnesota
Birken, It does explain it very well. The head having no coolant was nuclear hot, which explains the valves that were warped. But the block having coolant in it was much cooler, which is why the pistons did not look that bad.
 

kshansen

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
11,129
Location
Central New York, USA
Occupation
Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
Birken, It does explain it very well. The head having no coolant was nuclear hot, which explains the valves that were warped. But the block having coolant in it was much cooler, which is why the pistons did not look that bad.
So apparently the last people to work on the engine(dealer mechanics) did not do a proper bit of trouble shooting or they would have found 90% of the problems. Lacking doing that if they had just done a fair job on test running it after they had assembled it the problems would have reared their head before they gave it back to the owner.

Just hoping this time they do a proper repair and give it a good long test run to be sure it is ready to start moving dirt!
 

Birken Vogt

Charter Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
5,305
Location
Grass Valley, Ca
Birken, It does explain it very well. The head having no coolant was nuclear hot, which explains the valves that were warped. But the block having coolant in it was much cooler, which is why the pistons did not look that bad.

But was the head itself damaged in any way? What would you think about reinstalling a head subject to such abuse?

This is why I always make 100% sure I have coolant circulating back through the water pump immediately after starting something that has been drained, and I always make sure the thermostat opens and the water in the radiator is topped up from any air that may have been released when the stat opened. Mechanics 101.
 

Steve.ahlgren85

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2016
Messages
399
Location
Darwin, mn.
So apparently the last people to work on the engine(dealer mechanics) did not do a proper bit of trouble shooting or they would have found 90% of the problems. Lacking doing that if they had just done a fair job on test running it after they had assembled it the problems would have reared their head before they gave it back to the owner.

Just hoping this time they do a proper repair and give it a good long test run to be sure it is ready to start moving dirt!
Just to add to that thought. The district manager said that they probably could have caught the over heat problem during the stall check and running it outside, IF they would have used a cylinder heat shot gun.He admitted that they didn't do that .
 

51kw

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2007
Messages
239
Location
Minnesota
CalvinJim I agree, you did it in point 4, post 853.

I would be very meticulous in checking that head and block for cracks after this overheat. Also checking for warpage.

Steve, As was stated earlier. Make sure the warranty and all the conditions and clauses are spelled out, explained and documented.
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,260
Location
Canada
I'm so happy for Steve! Hopefully the rad won't be over $2000. Even though it's a little more to spend he should have a good running machine in the end. Big kudo's to Cat for having a non biased and experienced failure analysis team! I don't think there's any way Zeigler would have wanted to go to court. It wouldn't surprise me if someone from Zeigler did see this thread. They sure don't come across as very professional and I wonder if anybody at Zeigler is going to be looking for another job???

Just curious if Steve went to the meeting alone or went with someone else? Did the Cat team basically run the meeting? Somebody was obviously on Steve's side for a change instead of just us on this lowly forum. LOL
 
Last edited:

kshansen

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
11,129
Location
Central New York, USA
Occupation
Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
I'm so happy for Steve! Hopefully the rad won't be over $2000. Even though it's a little more to spend he should have a good running machine in the end.

After all this time and effort by people on this forum I can only hope that Steve finds a way to post up a video of this machine pushing a blade full of dirt just so we can have some feeling that the work was worth it!

Also hope that anyone new reading this has learned how important listening to people with experience and giving accurate replies to the questions they put forth is to the successful completion of a repair.

No one on this forum had anything to gain financially from this situation, unlike the dealer or outfit that supplied the replacement short block. So if someone said to check this or that or do this test, it was not so they could profit but understand the problem better.
 
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