CK5
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One Piece at a Time: My 1985 Diesel Suburban

I just had that same fun with a locked up 5.4L but it lost almost no fluid out the converter. I was surprised. Are you gonna be able to "unlock" it to get converter bolts out? The one I was working on we had to pull 6 rod caps we could get to and one nut off both of the last two plus all the main caps. Finally got it to turn enough to pull converter nuts.
 
I had a short term (hack) tech that I gave a locked up LS engine replacement job too. Had to pull it with the converter attached.

So the hack went on to spend half a day trying to cut the flex plate in the right spots around it. He didn’t have any direct plan of attack. He just randomly hacked away at it and wasted a ton of time and generated a ton of noise between an angle grinder and sawzall.
 
Way back they came with that plug factory installed and balanced. You know when taking care of your truck was a thing. Lube zerks soon followed.

Dang bean counters

Edit, even if the plug was still in the converter, Murphy would have made sure it was at the top when the crank seized.
 
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Why pull it with the converter?
I had decent access to four of the six TC bolts, but since I plan on going through the trans, it's worth killing the front seal just for the relative ease of removal.

Locked up engine, I had to think about this one and almost asked why.
It didn't occur to me what I'd have to do until I pulled the dust cover. Upon that realization, I used four letter words.

I like to roll the chassis over a tarp or heavy piece of poly to save the concrete. Hindsight is 20/20......
That would have worked really well. Next time, hopefully at least another 20 years from now.

Are you gonna be able to "unlock" it to get converter bolts out?
They were easy to access once the engine was on the hoist.

Sounds to me like a good excuse to get a new torque converter.....
That, and probably just going to get a refresh of the whole transmission while we're at it.

My dad and I tore into the engine last night. It’s clear that a synchro let go on the three piece crankshaft. First, coffee. Then photos.

David
 
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I had decent access to four of the six TC bolts, but since I plan on going through the trans, it's worth killing the front seal just for the relative ease of removal.


It didn't occur to me what I'd have to do until I pulled the dust cover. Upon that realization, I used four letter words.


That would have worked really well. Next time, hopefully at least another 20 years from now.


They were easy to access once the engine was on the hoist.


That, and probably just going to get a refresh of the whole transmission while we're at it.

My dad and I tore into the engine last night. It’s clear that a synchro let go on the three piece crankshaft. First, coffee. Then photos.

David
Four letter words like, cool, nice, good?
 
Four letter words like, cool, nice, good?
It was a tapestry of obscenity.

Storing my truck inside of my truck.
IMG_5756.JPEG

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The damper pounded into the timing cover.
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Timing gears looked okay.
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Pulled the valve covers, and this was interesting.
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That's not right.
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That's rotated about 15* CCW.
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Pull the pan, and we see the results of some premium violence.
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That's a crankshaft failure. Note the shiny polished parts at the break on #2 main. Once that let go (spinning around at ~2000 RPM), the crank broke again at #3 and the block let go on both #2 and #3 mains. It was a really loud pop, followed by the sound of aggressive mixing of aggregate. Pulling it apart, the bearings looked perfect. Nothing was heated or roasted, so my oil pump theory was all wrong. It's just a broken crankshaft.

Now, I wasn't running a massive load of fuel or boost; just regular metering for 400 lb-ft (pretty much 1993 specs), with a turbo that's burning all of it. But, I did drive a four ton suburban up and down Pike's Peak and five 11,000' Colorado mountain passes in one day, beat on it in Moab a few times, wheeled in Baja, Death Valley, got stuck in the desert outside Las Vegas, and enjoyed 20 years and 125,000 miles of good times.

Now, there's a new GEP 6.5 waiting on the dock, and I'm headed to pick it up right-effing-now.

David
 
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It was a tapestry of obscenity.

Storing my truck inside of my truck.
View attachment 402978

View attachment 402979

The damper pounded into the timing cover.
View attachment 402980

Timing gears looked okay.
View attachment 402981

Pulled the valve covers, and this was interesting.
View attachment 402977

That's not right.
View attachment 402982

That's rotated about 15* CCW.
View attachment 402983

Pull the pan, and we see the results of some premium violence.
View attachment 402985

View attachment 402986

View attachment 402987

View attachment 402988

View attachment 402984

View attachment 402989

View attachment 402990

That's a crankshaft failure. Note the shiny polished parts at the break on #2 main. Once that let go (spinning around at ~2000 RPM), the crank broke again at #3 and the block let go on both. It was a really loud pop, followed by the sound of aggressive mixing of aggregate. Pulling it apart, the bearings looked perfect. Nothing was heated or roasted, so my oil pump theory was all wrong. It's just a broken crankshaft.

Now, I wasn't running a massive load of fuel or boost; just regular metering for 400 lb-ft (pretty much 1993 specs), with a turbo that's burning all of it. But, I did drive a four ton suburban up and down Pike's Peak and five 11,000' Colorado mountain passes in one day, beat on it in Moab a few times, wheeled in Baja, Death Valley, got stuck in the desert outside Las Vegas, and enjoyed 20 years and 125,000 miles of good times.

Now, there's a new GEP 6.5 waiting on the dock, and I'm headed to pick it up right-effing-now.

David
That’s some quality carnage!
 
If you're gonna break it, break good and done!

I don't remember, were you running a fluid dampner? Crank failures are usually from a balancer going bad and yours went very bad.
It’s tough to tell if the rubber balancer got katywompus from the break, or the other way around.

Also, it’s here:
5EBF4DFE-A8D5-4397-BD7D-077DBB303D69.jpeg

David
 
Holy Toledo Batman! That is an insane level of carnage. Wow.

I don’t think I’ve seen one let go with quite that level of breakage. I thought the broken 350 that was in my ‘75 had some carnage. Broke a rod and that rod swinging around broke the block around the cam and snapped the cam into three chunks. Some of which were in the pan when it was removed.

But yours takes the gold. The replacement should be better in every way. Should be awesome.
 
Rubber ducky your the one.
Hilarious little promo item, right?

Oh lawd …. Freshness guaranteed. Dadgumit now I want one
It’s so very clean. It’ll take some adjustment.

That is an insane level of carnage. Wow.
Really premium violence.

So, @KirsL has me thinking that there’s a fair chance the balancer could have failed and put the crank on notice for breakage. It’s also possible that the crank just flat broke and the balancer took a hit, but either way, the balancer does have some beat up rubber.

4D7F3B19-9849-4FEC-A38F-7F46CFF71790.jpeg

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It’s only about 10 years old, and doesn’t have a ton of miles on it, but there it is, out of whack. It’s not hard to imagine how that small eccentricity could put a resonance into the crank…

…and make this smorgasbord of destruction.
5843B69D-2DF3-4E98-92DC-41A403501034.jpeg

But I’m moving forward. The 6.2 block is headed to the scrapper, and it’s time to work the new 6.5.
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Hello darlin’.
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Next up is final shop cleanup and sweep, and prep for 6.5 disassembly. The machine shop is expecting us later this week.

David
 
The stock style balancer that broke the crank in my old engine didn't have a ton of miles either, but was 8-10 years old.
Running a stock one, I'd change it every 2-3 years. Or spend the money for a fluid dampner.

Either way the result was epic level destruction.
 
Can you still get the Fluid dampner? (Sp?)

I remember hearing they were stopping production for the 6.2’s 10-12 years ago when I had my last 6.2L.
 
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