Bad EGR cooler?

[cantrucker]

So here is my long dilemma. A couple months ago my truck started acting up, it had very little power and would die immediately on hills (speed dropped to 25 mph up a some hill even with consistent down shifting). Took it to the shop and they changed the turbo, EGR valve, exhaust manifold (because it had a leak apparently) and the VGT controller. Still same problems then I took it to another mechanic because I was fed up with throwing parts at the truck. The second mechanic changed the charge air cooler and bingo the truck ran much better and gained back some of the lost power although it still struggled up hills at times.

Then a couple week after I took the truck back because I had developed a oil leak in the valve cover gasket and asked him to fix it. He fixed the leak but as soon as got the truck back and drove in on the highway the truck started to smoke like crazy under acceleration and coolant temps reached 220F & the loss of power was back. So I took the truck back and now he's telling me the egr cooler is gone and the truck is derating due to excessive egr temps.

So is he telling the truth? Or could he have messed something up when he was replacing the valve cover gasket. Should I go ahead and replace the EGR cooler at this point or get a second opinion?

[Rawze]

WHY did the valve cover start leaking?. HOW MUCH BLO-BY? does the engine have? -- HOW OFTEN IS THE CRANK CASE FILTER CHANGED! - HAS ANYONE BOTHERED TO PRESSURIZE THE ENTIRE ENGINE and see if the air compressor is pressurizing the crank case?, CHECKED IT FOR CAC, EGR, AND OTHER LEAKS INSTEAD OF BLIND GUESSING LIKE A BUNCH OF CLOWNS IN A FISH BARREL?

WHY did someone replace a $3,000+ turbocharger + Actuator? -- WHAT was actually bad on it?

WHY was someone so damn lazy, they did not even test drive the damn thing or bother to check the CAC / test boost pressures, etc. when troubleshooting it?

WHAT were the causes of the power loss/engine derates? What codes were in the ECM for them?



The list of WHY's is too long there,.. ALL BECAUSE YOU THROW YOUR PROBLEMS AT EVERYONE ELSE INSTEAD OF SOLVING THEM!...


STOP TAKING IT TO IDIOT MECHANICS ALL THE DAMN TIME! If you don;t learn to fix on it yourself, you will likely only continue to have issues. Relying on mechanics to solve all your problems only makes you frustrated and broke all the time.

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What year/make/model truck? -- WHAT engine? -- Mileage? - etc? etc? -- What have you done yourself so far? -- HOw Often do you replace the crank case filter? -- How often and what other maint. dio you do to it to keep it in good shape? -- WHEN is the last time you replaced the IMAP and other sensors, -- Cleaned out the EGR valve? etc? etc. ? etc.??? -- OR ARE YOU one of the droves of steering wheel holders who can't be bothered to grab a wrench and learn what it takes TO OWN YOUR OWN EQUIPMENT?

[cantrucker]

truck is 2007 international 9200i with an cummins ISM engine 410hp with 300,000 miles on it.

I checked the CAC for leaks myself with some soapy water. Asked the mechanic to check for leaks in the EGR and perform a compression test on the entire engine & no leaks were found in either case. I checked the blowby myself seems to be minimal and an cylinder cutout test was performed and the engine ran even on one cylinder. I changed the IMAP & Delta-p sensor myself today and ran in the city and noticed some improvement. The truck now seems to pull better & black smoke is now is limited to acceleration and going uphill. Still get a warning engine at times on the dash above 40mph and coolant reaches 210F at times which seems to be too high to me. And a audible turbo whine can be heard when I let go of the accelerator.

The code that the mechanic told me yesterday was for excessive EGR cooler exhaust gas temps but I have bought my own scan tool online and will run the codes myself going forward. He also believes this is causing the engine to derate. But you are right I am beginning to pick up the wrench myself and learn and have unfortunately learned my lesson the hard way.

[cantrucker]

Sorry forgot to mention the VGT controller was replaced due to fluctuating turbo boost pressure which didn't resolve the issue. So the mechanic believed the VGT vanes in the turbo were stuck does it needed replacement, EGR valve was replaced because it was stuck & exhaust manifold because it had developed a crack.

[Rawze]

the only time I have seen an EGR cooler not keep up with temps is if some complete moron replaced it with an after-market egr cooler. after-market egr coolers are engine destroying garbage!.
ref: http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?t...02#pid2802

-- OR if the egr cooler is so soot-packed that it can't do its job any more.

Either case, it should likely be removed and all the EGR circuitry + sensors cleaned out and inspected. Put an oem egr cooler back on it if it is an after-market, or possibly clean out the Oe and inspect /pressure test it to 90-PSI for leaks.

[bwake]

If you have black smoke and still have the DPF filter on it, you have a compromised DPF that will need to be replaced or removed. If you have been running it with issues, this will cause the DPF filter to take the hit and just replacing it is not the final fix. You need to find someone that will properly fix the root cause of the issues you are having with the engine or you'll find yourself in a revolving door of DPF problems.

[cantrucker]

Okay thanks, I am gonna work on it with my buddy this weekend & take out the egr cooler and check, He been a owner op for 10 years and was a mechanic before that so he's gonna teach me how to start working on trucks myself. I will also take a look at the crankcase filter because the truck seems to develop a lot of oil leaks its seems crankcase pressure might be too high. I have only had the truck for 3 months now it seems to me that it was very poorly maintained at this point.

Could excessive crankcase pressure cause the turbo to spool too much? I do hear the turbo whine an awful lot.

[cantrucker]

(10-24-2018 )bwake Wrote:  If you have black smoke and still have the DPF filter on it, you have a compromised DPF that will need to be replaced or removed. If you have been running it with issues, this will cause the DPF filter to take the hit and just replacing it is not the final fix. You need to find someone that will properly fix the root cause of the issues you are having with the engine or you'll find yourself in a revolving door of DPF problems.

My truck does not have a dpf on it its a 06 cummins motor so before all the dpf & def mandates.

[Chamberpains]

Im not familiar with the ISM's but im sure it has an exhaust pressure sensor of some sort. Whats the condition of that one? Even if it was replaced with the manifold replacement, is it getting unrestricted pressure to measure? Make sure all tubes and inlets to it are clear of soot and debris. Also it may have sooted up again.