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OT: 2006 7.8l isuzu coolant in exhaust and oil after dealer injector replacement

tomjelly

Stainless
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Location
GA
Had 3 reconditioned injectors #1,3 and 6(because of some diesel smoke at idle), new exhaust manifold (hairline crack which was a recall but I was past the mileage cutoff so I had to pay)and valve adjustment, filters, oil, other small repairs, lube etc. done by an Isuzu dealer on 06 isuzu fvr with 275hp 6hk1x (GMC t7500 twin) engine at a cost of $4500. After 25 miles got a low coolant warning light, stopped and coolant level was correct, I figured an air bubble as the level looked a little high. let it sit while I called and dealer said just verify coolant level is ok, there is no level sensor other than in the overflow tank behind the cab and no other cap to check, restarted and no more warning light. drove 10 miles home, no problems, then 3 more very short trips of under 6 miles with no issues, runs great, no more idle smoke.
Now first real trip after the service, 100 miles, starts to run on what feels like 5 cylinders right at the destination, shuddering at low speed. No smoke. Park it and figure I'll check it later. speculate maybe a connector has come off an injector or something. 8 hours, come outside and see the coolant is low, I open the cap and it is under great pressure as if it was hot. It takes a gallon in the reservoir. I drive 200 yards to the dock, skipping a bit still, and I check for any leaks, I see no smoke or anything. Shut it off, load, then restart and I see coolant is rising significantly in the tank all the way to the cap, then starts to go down and I see steam coming from an overflow hose by the oil pan, (presumably crank case vent) then get a big steam cloud from the exhaust still at the dock, all in under 3 minutes. Shut down, call the dealer and he wants me to restart to see if I'm getting pressure/steam from the oil fill cap (after checking the dipstick, which looked good) the starter made a few degrees of rotation then stopped, both of us suspecting hydro lock from water in a cylinder.
Towed 100 mi back to the dealer. He said it started normally. Torn down today by the same mechanic says hes seeing coolant coming from the #2 injector sleeve (of course not one of the ones he replaced). Was going to remove the head for inspection & sleeve removal, I suggested extracting the injector sleeve, he's going to pull the rack of rockers out so he can verify 100% that that is the only sleeve leaking and then use the special service tool (that they had) to pull the sleeve with the head installed. This explains coolant in the crankcase and PROBABLY that in the combustion chamber. The big question is going to be who pays for all this. I contend that it is nearly statistically impossible for this not to be related to the work already performed, that the symptoms started 25miles from their door, etc. We have not yet had that discussion but I would be grateful to hear of any suggestions for negotiations with the dealer. They say they check the injectors by computer ecm, shutting them off one by one and calculating flow, or something like that, implication being that the #2 was never removed. I'm assuming either that the current problem IS with 1,3,or 6 and saying its #2 is a cover you butt job, or they were all removed and something was disturbed that caused the problem. What to do?
 
Well, he could have forgot something like he rotated the injector and moved the sleeve or could be just a coincidence it happened.
Really up to the dealers goodwill, that price is a fair chunk of cash, maybe some goodwill there possibly if your nice.

problem could be caused straight out of the shop, maybe they didn't / did check for bubbles in coolant / pressure test it, it would go a distance before it pumped the coolant out.


On CAT stuff you can shut injectors off one by one electronically you check engine rpm to see how each cylinder performs, a similar drop in rpm means that cylinder is doing the same as the others, any difference further investigation is needed, just like pulling a spark plug lead off a petrol engine or cracking a injector line on a old diesel.

ultimately it will be up to the shop on what they do, use your common sense shouldn't need to post this up online
 








 
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