2002 2500HD - Solid Axle Tow Rig

So, I loaded up one of my other trucks to take over to the shop with me to keep from having to walk back. Solid axles for days!

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The I pulled the HD in the shop and popped the hood to let it cool down. While I waited, I mowed the grass at the shop and even bush hogged part of the field.

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I started on the passenger's side. Gotta pull the intake, intercooler pipe, FICM, the bracket under it, fuel filter head, high pressure lines, upper valve cover, lower valve cover, fuel return line, injector hold downs, and then pop the injectors out. Since they had been taken out 32,000 miles ago everything was smooth sailing and none of the cups came out. I'm probably going to go get started on the driver's side here in a little bit. I plan to ship the injectors out tomorrow morning. I'm ready to have them back and get it running.

It's getting new, stainless lines and, of course, all of the copper crush washers get replaced. Injectors, return lines, etc, and new o rings for the injectors.

Lincoln Diesel will give these a baseline test and a cleaning, then swap the nozzles out for some 45% over SAC style, balance them, and send them back with a flow sweet. I think it'll run me about 1500 bucks and however much new lines cost. About half the price of a full new set of injectors and I don't have to fork out 1000 bucks for labor.
 
Only took one picture of the driver's side...it's just like the passenger's side, but harder to get to because there's more shit in the way and it's bass ackwards. That number 8 injector can kiss my entire ass...and so can the insulation on the firewall!

The guy that did the injectors last time did a fine job other than not using any RTV on the lower valve covers. The uppers were sealed fine, but both lowers pretty much fell off as soon as I took all the bolts out. Of course, both leaked at their back corners where the oil pools up.

I'm also chasing an oil leak up front. I was thinking maybe the timing cover got cracked from the wreck and I didn't notice it, but it looks more like it's leaking around the water pump. Maybe the o ring didn't seal very well...looks like I'll be pulling that off to check it out. Since the balancer has to come off too, I can check the crank seal.

I should be sending the injectors out tomorrow for their makeover and I'll probably pull the ECM and send it down to Wilmington for the proper tweaks to go with the 45% over SAC nozzles. I believe it's mostly injection timing, pulse width, and rail pressure changes.

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As far as work, this isn't a difficult job, but it's definitely in depth. I do hope I don't have to do it again....
 
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Still waiting to get the injectors back and still need to ship the ECM off to have the tunes changed.
 
Is Lincoln diesel somewhat local? My Cummins could prob use some freshened up injectors.

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skyhighZJ said:
I don’t want to start a pissin match as I respect all brands of Diesel owners but damn I’m glad my inline motor isn’t as cluttered as all that!
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As you'll notice in my sig, I too have an inline motor. I changed the injectors in it in 30 minutes and in the driveway. Just needed and 8mm wrench, 15/16 socket, vise grips, and an adjustable. They only cost 550 bucks too for some good sized 7x.011 SAC nozzles.

They finished up my injectors today and got them shipped out. 2100 bucks later....but at least they're no longer VCO nozzles. That also includes several o rings, a gasket, all of the fuel line seals, copper injector washers, new high pressure lines, and one new injector body that had a high return rate. I could have bought a new set of 45% over SAC injectors for 2500, but this was cheaper and accomplished the same thing.

Lincoln Diesel is in Redgranite, Wisconsin. It's painfully obvious when you call them on the phone too :D However, I really like Contagious Diesel when it comes to Dodge injectors. Lincoln can test them, but according to their website, they don't sell Dodge stuff.
 
Got all my parts in last Friday. Finally feeling good enough to start putting it back together. Pneumonia sucks! My plan is to start on it tomorrow morning before work. I should at least be able to get the injectors back in, the valve covers on, torqued down, and the new high pressure lines on...but we'll see.

I'm hoping my ECM will be back tomorrow or Tuesday just so I have it when I'm ready. I still have to pinpoint the oil leak and I may go ahead and deal with the leaky fitting on the transmission cooler.
 
Finally got some time between my weird ass work schedule as of late and felt like messing with my truck. Got the upper and lower valve covers cleaned up and scraped off all of the old RTV. That was probably the worst part. Then I cleaned out the injector cups, put the new o rings and copper washers on the injectors, greased them up, and dropped them all in the truck with their hold downs. I'm officially in the reassembly stage!

Called Diesel Addiction two days ago and my ECM was still sitting on somebody's desk...but oh well. It's not holding me up.

I still haven't found the oil leak, but the next step is to pull the crank pulley off. If it's not the crank seal, then I'll pull the water pump off and check there.

Anyway, here's some pics from earlier this afternoon. I should have it back together by next weekend after I get back from a work trip.

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Slowly, but surely. For some reason motivation is scarce even though I really want to get this thing done and driving again. I guess between changing shifts at work, having a bunch of grass to mow, and other things...I just haven't felt like it.

I finally did get the injector hold downs torqued, the return lines are on, and I got the lower valve covers torqued down. Next are the injector harnesses, upper valve covers, and injector lines. I'll start on that in the morning.

I guess I'm not in that big of a hurry because Diesel Addiction still hasn't gotten my ECM back to me....they do ALWAYS take forever when it comes to tuning. When I had my truck tuned by them initially, I was there for a solid 5 hours and for no good reason. I was the only customer actually there and waiting. I don't get it...I'd load it and get the shit gone, but that's just me.

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Seems like 3-4 hours at a time is working out fairly well for me these days.

Injector harnesses were installed, then upper valve covers with a good bead of RTV, after that were the new high pressure lines, and followed up by the retainers. So, at least the motor is closed up again.

I haven't pulled the crank pulley off yet, but it sort of looks like the crank seal might be the source of my oil leak. There are a few drops on the shop floor directly below it and it hasn't run in close to a month. I'll find out tomorrow. If it is the crank seal, I'll have to buy more tools :handed:. Naturally, it takes a special install/removal tool because it's a two-part seal.

The RTV around the injector side high pressure nut will keep there from being a huge build up of crud, crap, grime, rust, moisture, foreign particles, corrosion, or other such residues that would break loose and fall in the injector fuel inlets the next time they're cracked loose.

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Good news! I'm 95% sure that the oil leak was from the water pump o-ring. The front crank seal is dry and so is the inside of the crank pulley. If it were leaking, there would have been evidence of oil being slung around. So, I pulled the water pump off and it looks like the o-ring was either rolled or just wasn't seated all the way.

Everything will start going back together tomorrow. I'm really ready to drive it again dammit.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
Good news! I'm 95% sure that the oil leak was from the water pump o-ring. The front crank seal is dry and so is the inside of the crank pulley. If it were leaking, there would have been evidence of oil being slung around. So, I pulled the water pump off and it looks like the o-ring was either rolled or just wasn't seated all the way.

Everything will start going back together tomorrow. I'm really ready to drive it again dammit.
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Well....what the hell is keeping you? Get to work, dammit! :lol:


Like I'm one to talk...
 
I finally got to the point where it looks like a lot is happening! Today I got the fan hub back on, water pump with new o ring, crank pulley, upper radiator pipe with a new o ring, the fuel filter housing, FICM, the radiator and intercooler are back in, transmission lines hooked back up, the alternator mount/pcv housing/alternator are bolted back in place, and I removed the bulky plastic housings from the wiring harness and gave it all a good wrap with electrical tape.

Basically all I have left is the fan shroud, fan, glow plug controller, upper radiator hose, tensioner, idlers, belt, intake, charge pipes, TCM, and ECM. I should be cranking it up some time this week.

I will be calling Diesel Addiction and lighting a fire under their collective ass. My ECM has been there for three solid weeks. That's bullshit. I did an injector job and tracked down and oil leak quicker than they could upload some tune files.

Here are pictures for your viewing pleasure!

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I hope nothing fuel related under the valve covers leaks after I fire it up...I'll be real sad if it does.
 
It's official....I can drag my feet and do a complete injector and water pump job faster than Diesel Addiction can update the tunes in my ECM. Sweet.

Anyway, everything is back together and I'm literally only waiting on the ECM to get back...which is ridiculous. Oh well.

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I'm real ready to crank this bitch up. I also need a new transmission cooler....mine is leaking. I just love leaks.
 
It's just marking its territory.
 
I finally got my ECM back today in the mail :D It runs amazingly, balance rates are all +/- 1, and it's a totally different truck. The exhaust note is deeper, less drone, injectors/engine are quieter, and the low end power is sweet. You can hear the turbo hollering at about 1500 rpm instead of 1800-2000. I'm tickled with it. Now I just need the new transmission cooler to get here!

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Also, so far so good on fixing the oil leak! That makes me all sorts of happy on the inside :D

I will mention that it was stupid easy to fire this thing back up after the injector job. I bled it at the filter head, then the factory test port with the lift pump running, cranked for about 20 seconds, and it fired right up.
 
Got around to the hobby shop on base today so I could get it up on a lift to change the oil and clean up the under side of the truck. I had left the old oil in there intentionally to gather up any crap I got on the top of the heads and wash it to the filter.

The old nozzles were definitely leaking some fuel in to the crankcase again. Probably drained close to four gallons out, although it still held good oil pressure oddly enough.

I also noticed this morning that the AC was lackluster. I had fixed it once in the summer of 2016 and changed both fittings, but the Schrader valve in the low pressure was leaking today. It was blowing good and cold again after a recovery, vacuum, and a full recharge. Best 60 bucks I ever spent.

I've probably checked the oil in it ten times today to make sure I don't have a leaking return or high pressure line. I can't smell any hint of fuel in the oil, so I'm happy. Now if my transmission cooler will show up I can fix that last leak and hopefully it'll be good to go for a long time!
 
I washed it Sunday afternoon, so naturally it had to rain on Monday. Luckily, it didn't get too dirty and I was able to just wipe it down today when I got home from work. I then proceeded to give it a good coat of Turtle Wax ICE spray wax. That stuff works pretty damn good and lasts quite a while! The old rig still shines up pretty well.

My new transmission cooler also came in this afternoon and I may go bolt it up in the morning before I leave on a work trip. It shouldn't take 30 minutes and would get rid of my last, tiny, leak. It's 60% larger than stock and measures 14x8x2...it's a big girl :D

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I just had to change the cooler out before I left on my work trip so I could check out the temperature differences! Easy swap and well worth it.

For reference, the factory cooler was 13x5x1.25. This one is 14x8x2. A healthy increase in cooling capacity.

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Definitely don't need 6th gear with 3.73 gears and 33s. I need 4.10s. Plus, the 6th gear thing isn't cheap.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
Definitely don't need 6th gear with 3.73 gears and 33s. I need 4.10s. Plus, the 6th gear thing isn't cheap.
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I know, and I dont see much of the advantage, but it is interesting to know it is capable.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
I know, and I dont see much of the advantage, but it is interesting to know it is capable.
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One of those "Why didn't they do this from the beginning" kinda things :shaking:
 
Technology and electronics....plus, it was the first generation Duramax. It couldn't be perfect right to start with. Where's the fun in that? :D
 
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