DPF/EGR help!

[Alaric34]

Had both mandates tuned, my DD15 ran nice for two weeks, now I need piston! Im lost for words

[Brock]

(10-05-2017 )Alaric34 Wrote:  Had both mandates tuned by shop on this site, my DD15 ran nice for two weeks, now I need piston! Im lost for words

If your truck was tuned by someone who knows what they are doing, then your problem isn't with the tune.

I see this so many times, trucks running like shi#t and having all sorts of mandate issues. Instead of fixing the issues, just demandate the engine..... but by that time, the engine's been running so poorly for so long that it's only a matter of time. Then they go and blame the guy who did the tuning because it must be his fault.......

I tried so hard to fix my problems and get my engine running proper but ended up demandating it. I didn't expect it to last because it had been running so bad for so long! I got lucky and it's still going but if it had blown........ I would have blamed myself and my mismanagement of my asset rather then the guy who tried to help me.

[Waterloo]

Tuned by a shop on this site? I know this, I took care of things in my driveway with some help from this site. But, as Brock stated, the damage was already done to the motor. Ridding myself of the mandate, which was masking other more serious issues, was just the beginning of this adventure. These motors are a crap shoot... I would never recommend anyone to purchase one after what I and many others have been through here.

[Rawze]

(10-05-2017 )Alaric34 Wrote:  Had both mandates tuned by shop on this site, my DD15 ran nice for two weeks, now I need piston! Im lost for words

A piston will usually only crack/fail under excess absorbed heat or from extreme sudden cooling, plain and simple. That heat is wicked away from a piston by way of the oil jets that cool it. For a piston cooling failure to occur, it has to be one of the following...

* Carbon-packed piston oil rings that reduce oil flow around the piston. A piston will overheat and crack/fail if the rings are buried in carbon and excess soot because someone kept running the engine on a clogged up/failing DPF/EGR system for too long.

* Carbon/soot packed oil filters, not changing oil often enough, engine packed up with deposits and soot, worn out bearings, or anything else allowing for lower than normal oil pressures.

* A mis-aligned piston cooling nozzle. I have seen this on several engines in the past. Most of the time it is on factory engines where the cooling nozzle was not installed properly and got struck by the piston rod. That or someone had the oil pan off and one got mis-aligned by bumping it or improper replacement. Did you have the rod/main bearings replaced within the last few months or when having your other work done>?

* Water or coolant getting into the cylinder while it is hot and the engine is working hard. This can be from a fretted liner, bad head gasket, or other things that would allow the sudden inrush of water or coolant.

* It is rare, but the sudden release of torque load in extreme cold climates can cause a piston failure too. If the transmission or clutch were to suddenly let go under full operating load and the intake of air was extremely cold, that sudden cooling of the cylinders can do some damage that will show up several months later by way of a cracked piston. Rare but does happen.


* The injector spray pattern is ABOVE the piston cup at higher power/torque levels due to a clogged tip. It sprays onto the top of the piston flats instead of down in the bowl. This most often happens from a clogged injector tip due to carbon packing and a leaky tip. It is a common scenario but it takes several months for one to cause a piston failure, not a few weeks. Clogged injector tips are common if someone has been driving the truck around on a blocked up DPF system a lot.

* The injector spray pattern is ABOVE the piston cup due to bad programming/tuning that has a lot of excess advance in the timing at higher power levels. - If it is bad programming, the injector spray pattern that is getting above the bowl will leave a shadow that can be seen in the top of ALL the pistons and not just the one that cracked/failed. - If you suspect this, take pictures of the pistons and bottom of the head and post them on the forum here. I do not know of anyone who is doing detroit stuff on this forum in particular who would program one so badly, but know of a lot of guys who do that kind of terrible work on other auto forums. I have seen it before. Someone has to be pretty bad copy-paste tuner who knows nothing about what they are doing to cause that in a healthy engine. Yes, unfortunately there are a LOT of bad ECU programmers out there. - Even so, it normally takes several months for one to fail, and not a few weeks. This is also WHY advancing timing a few degrees to gain extra fuel mileage has its risks. It only takes one injector to start spraying above the piston bowl that has a slightly wider pattern than the rest for a failure to eventually occur. What good is that extra 0.3 or 0.4 more mpg if you have to in-frame the engine as a result?


* For a mostly "HEALTHY ENGINE" with proper oil cooling at the pistons to have a failure/crack in only a few weeks, it would take a LOT of excess power (like 700+ HP) combined with too far advanced timing + excess boost -- I.E> Really crappy raped-ape, redneck style programming that is typical of those big-name butcher shops or those idiots who copy their methods who hang out on those auto tuning/software pirating forums who "claim they know what they are doing". Even poorly done programming takes several months or even a year sometimes to cause a piston failure. it is more common for bad programming to cause head, head gasket, and/or liner issues and not so much piston failures so soon after. The engine would have had to be sent to its extremes in excess power, torque, fueling, and over-boosting, or way too far advanced timing for a failure so quickly. I have seen it done, but only by some of the worst programmers out there.

-- Take your pick ... Your post was just too vague and had no real merit in it towards someone helping you understand or help you with your troubles.


Your post is somewhat obscure, and is consistent with a vague accusation of bad "yee-haw cowboy redneck" tuning instead of being something of usefulness in helping you understand what is going on or to help others with.

I do not tolerate people who would claim to be "from this site", that will perform work or tuning that would be harmful enough to "mess up" someone else engine, I don't care who they are or what shop they have. The first step is for you to understand what your problem is in more detail and find out what really happened instead.

Read why an engine would loose a piston, understand it, go take some pictures of your engine and share them. Your post implies that the shop that did the work "caused" this failure, or was it mis-stated? - It was not mentioned clearly.

Have you contacted the shop that did this work? -- and what did they say?

I.E. - Some history instead of a short "my junk is broke" would yield a much better response and help from others.

Pics of what damage has happened, and the inside of some of the cylinder(s)? and bottom of the head.

What was the Horsepower set to both before and after?
How many miles on the engine/truck?
What problems was it having prior? and how often?
What make, year, Model?

Some history and details would help the most.

=====

Your post, the way it is written, implies that it was the programming/tuning itself that has somehow caused a piston failure in your engine. Assuming that for a moment is exactly what your intentions were,... Either you asked or had someone add a s$%it ton of power and programmed it like a raped ape, hell bent on self destruction (highly doubtful those guys would even tune one that way even if asked), or it was NOT anyone from this forum who is recommended by others, known for doing detroit stuff correctly.

What I explained above is likely why the other 2 people that posted before I did, say what they did. Your post just does not make an sense whatsoever if your intent was to say someones tuning from here caused some damage to a piston in such a short period of time.

Start ruling out the possibilities above and see what you are left with, then go form there.

[Alaric34]

Ok, i hear you guys! I’m going to get it fixed, and hopefully it was preexiing issues, like you guys mentioned. The guy told me that the injector tip maybe broke and caused to much fuel to go in the cylinder! Truck was knocking, smoking, leaking oil through blow by filter, and using coolant like crazy! It did all this in one day, after running strong for about 14 days! The horse power was set at lowest setting and he raised it to highest setting. The engine has 448000 miles on it! The problems it had prior was multiple dpf failures sensors, pumps, sensors again and again! So that all got solved, truck ran strong then up in smoke! The truck has a DD15! I’m not implying they caused the problem, I just want the truck to be reliable and not break every two weeks, and cost me $2500 every two weeks on dpf and possibly $6000 on this issue! This will run me out of business if it continues!

[Waterloo]

Who is the they that tuned the truck? Where are they located? What did they do mechanically to the truck? Curious, where all of this was done...

[Rawze]

(10-05-2017 )Waterloo Wrote:  Who is the they that tuned the truck? Where are they located? What did they do mechanically to the truck? Curious, where all of this was done...

It is now at gearheads shop. I spoke with truck owner on the phone a bit ago, and it sounded possibly like a cracked liner rather than only a piston. Could be either, they have not had it apart yet to find out for sure. I will ask for someone to send me some pictures when it comes apart.

[Mr Hagg]

What pumps are you refering to if I may ask?

[snailexpress]

(10-05-2017 )Brock Wrote:  

(10-05-2017 )Alaric34 Wrote:  Had both mandates tuned by shop on this site, my DD15 ran nice for two weeks, now I need piston! Im lost for words

If your truck was tuned by someone who knows what they are doing, then your problem isn't with the tune.

I see this so many times, trucks running like shi#t and having all sorts of mandate issues. Instead of fixing the issues, just demandate the engine..... but by that time, the engine's been running so poorly for so long that it's only a matter of time. Then they go and blame the guy who did the tuning because it must be his fault.......

I tried so hard to fix my problems and get my engine running proper but ended up demandating it. I didn't expect it to last because it had been running so bad for so long! I got lucky and it's still going but if it had blown........ I would have blamed myself and my mismanagement of my asset rather then the guy who tried to help me.

Yeap. Have it done too. Software can't fix faulty injectors or turbo or make rings new.