ISX cm871 in frame overhaul nightmare

[Derf]

Hello all, new to this forum and this place is heaven! for now..
Currently working for an oil field company in northern Alberta, 4th yr apprentice heavy duty mechanic. I've worked my way up the ranks these last few years to finally doing my first in frame overhaul! Yay.. I've done a few head gaskets, and tons of diag around these engines with the help of EDS, and of course Rawze /Youtube videos (Thanks man)

The story begins with a customers truck being towed in with oil in the coolant. well of course I went straight to the oil cooler and found it to be defective. The shop manager (also a certified cummins tech/long time wrencher) talked the customer into checking the head gasket as this particular truck was pushing exhaust gases through the cooling system way before the oil/coolant mixture started happening, so he says ( I never seen it with my own 2 eyes). Seems to be pushing gases through #3 hole past the fire ring to a coolant port in the head gasket ( I believe him now). Of course with the head off why not check liner protrusion, #4 measured at 0.006" and the boss man called for an in frame.. Our shop had built a cylinder liner installer tool to clamp down the liners for measurements, works perfect on single over head cam engines. But this double over head cam engine the tool does not work for cylinder #1 ( part of tool hits front gear housing ) I highly suggested in getting the proper tool for the shop but my manager just told me to shave off part of the home made tool and make it work, so I did. Unfortunately what happend was i thought i had the tool fitted exactly to measure #1 liner protrusion and rammed the head bolt down to clamp the tool to liner. Well i stripped out a headbolt hole in the block ( Ifuked up big time).. I removed the tool and just started regretting every decision I've done to this point.. So after chasing the threads ,I measured exactly how much threads i damaged and found that with the cylinder head and head gasket installed the head bolt will have 1/2 good threads and the other half will be damaged. It's the #18 hole when doing the head gasket torque sequence.
After installing some shims and doing a test run with the head bolt and damaged hole I found tht i could do the 300ft/lbs PLUS the 90 degree turn, I was told everything should be ok..
Well I am still a little sketched out because ya it holds but will it hold under hi compression?
I found a Heli Coil insert and tool online, wondering if anyone has ever used it with success?
(M20111-70 Headbolt Hole Repair Fixture Service Kit Add On For Use On Cummins ISX)
What are some ideas that I could run by my manager to allow me to fix my mess up?
Thanks

[DieselKid]

Definitely don't use a helicoil! How did you manage to strip the threads out? Crossthreaded?

Do you have access to quickserve? There should be a thread salvage procedure that requires a fixture to align and repair your hole. You have to ream it out and tap for an insert. The challenge is getting the new hole drilled and tapped straight to prevent the block from cracking. I'd suggest cleaning the hole and surrounding surfaces and inspect for cracks with a crack-check spray before moving on to fixing it.

[Signature620]

This is one of those jobs you might have to get Cummins out to fix. The larger dealers may have the thread salvage equipment.

It will hurt your pocket and pride a lot less now than it will if it has to come apart again in 2 months.

[Mr Hagg]

We pull front covers off ALL our inframes to replace the front structure gasket. We didnt at first but after a few and seeing them in 100K miles dang cover was seeping... I hate oil leaks. SO from that point on I decided it was better to spend a extra 3 hours to R&R front gear housing.. PLus makes it easy to do counter bore and easy to R&R head.... Just good insurance....

[Mr Hagg]

Also next time you get oil in coolant always smell it good. THe past 2 trucks we had the complaint oil in coolant we found transmission cooler was leaking.... I knew it right off cause one oil wasnt black in coolant and then it had a that smell of tranny oil to it.

[Derf]

(12-03-2020 )DieselKid Wrote:  Definitely don't use a helicoil! How did you manage to strip the threads out? Crossthreaded?

Do you have access to quickserve? There should be a thread salvage procedure that requires a fixture to align and repair your hole. You have to ream it out and tap for an insert. The challenge is getting the new hole drilled and tapped straight to prevent the block from cracking. I'd suggest cleaning the hole and surrounding surfaces and inspect for cracks with a crack-check spray before moving on to fixing it.

The tool to measure liner protrusion is home made and I had to bolt the thing down, I needed to torque a head bolt, unfortunately it was not made properly which cocked the bolt going into the block.
We do have access to quick serve so ill definitely do a search on there,
Thanks

[Derf]

(12-03-2020 )Signature620 Wrote:  This is one of those jobs you might have to get Cummins out to fix. The larger dealers may have the thread salvage equipment.

It will hurt your pocket and pride a lot less now than it will if it has to come apart again in 2 months.

Yes I will make a phone call to our Cummins dealer and see what they can do
I know I take pride in my work and with our shop of having a slightly bad reputation when it comes to jobs like this, and if we don't do it right then we risk losing the opportunities like these again. So ya owning up to it now is easier then when things will have to be done a 2nd time

[Derf]

(12-03-2020 )Mr Hagg Wrote:  We pull front covers off ALL our inframes to replace the front structure gasket. We didnt at first but after a few and seeing them in 100K miles dang cover was seeping... I hate oil leaks. SO from that point on I decided it was better to spend a extra 3 hours to R&R front gear housing.. PLus makes it easy to do counter bore and easy to R&R head.... Just good insurance....

Ya that's definitely how I would like to do things as well, easier now too! But of course its up to the customer and the manager. They definitely don't think its worth it.. lol

[Derf]

(12-03-2020 )Mr Hagg Wrote:  Also next time you get oil in coolant always smell it good. THe past 2 trucks we had the complaint oil in coolant we found transmission cooler was leaking.... I knew it right off cause one oil wasnt black in coolant and then it had a special smell.

This was definitely engine oil as the truck came in with not a lick of oil in the pan. I have yet to see trans oil in the coolant, I've only ever seen coolant in trans which was the tranny cooler we replaced