Duramax Engine Failure-Engine Filled With Deisel

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It seems improbable, given the facts presented here, that the injector failure is not connected to the spun bearing. What is needed here, I think, is an independent expert "second opinion" on what caused the MB failure. You may have to pay for that, but it's bound to be a small fraction of $15K.....
 
Would be curious to know what happened here. I was told that because of the location of the injector( on the original Duramax only not the 2nd generation) it can leak fuel inside the valve covers. So fuel can fill the crankcase w/out it coming by way of cylinder wash with rough running smoke etc
 
One time we had a single axle dump with a DT466 and the
injector pump was leaking fuel into the motor it would
get so full when you would floor it it would blow out
a stream of oil out the block vent and you could see it
on the road behind you
crazy.gif
, we had to change the oil
every two/three days until the mechanic had time to fix
it, that old truck is still going to this day, never hurt it.
 
This guy's story reminds me of an old family friend who was a farmer. Back in the early 80s he bought a new Chevy half ton pickup with the 454 big block in it at my recommendation. He'd had one with the 305 small block and just wasn't happy with the lackluster performance. He'd had the big block about a year when I was back up in Va visiting and I noticed he had a new Ford with a 460 in it. Turns out the 454 threw a rod on I95 going to Richmond. The diaphragm in the fuel pump developed a leak and was flooding the crankcase with raw gasoline. The old guy's response when I questioned him about it: "Well I wondered how come the oil level kept rising and was above the full mark every time I checked it. I just kept draining it off." I just shook my head. For weeks he had literally been draining oil to keep the level on the full mark on the dipstick. The eventual result (obviously) was by the time the engine blew up there was almost nothing in the crankcase but gasoline.
 
"The diaphragm in the fuel pump developed a leak and was flooding the crankcase with raw gasoline."

When I was a teen a mechanically challenged friend bought the book 'How to Keep Your Volkswagon Alive, Written for the Complete Idiot'. It was a very good book, but still required that you could read and follow directions, with no second guessing if you didn't any better. He adjusted the valves, but evidently set them 180 degrees out and bent them all against the pistons. After getting that fixed he replaced a fuel pump, and evidently didn't adjust for stroke, the diaphragm punctured, the crankacse filled with gasoline and destroyed the engine. He quit working on the car, and I assume burned the book in some hideous midnight ceremony.

A former manager said that not long after his son started a job at a gas station, he recieved a call saying that something didn't seem right when he filled a VW bus up with gas, as it only held a few gallons while the owner said that it had always held a lot more. He yelled 'DO NOT START THE ENGINE', as old VW buses had an oil filler cap on the outside, which he had filed. They changed the oil, and didn't even charge for the crankcse flush :^)
 
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Gman have you posted that story somewhere before? ---- i recall hearing that before.
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It's not the only engine that it's happened to. One of my teachers watched someone do a rebuild/refit on a Vette, but they retained the old fuel pump. Gravity feed tank in the Vette (or gravity draining-able)...fill the tank up ..fill the crankcase up a few hours later.

This was the lesson taught to make sure that you didn't save $13 (at the time) for a whole lot of time and money in doing it over.
 
Carbureted vehicles were around many years with mechanical fuel pumps. I have heard of the diaphragm being damaged filling up the crankcase with fuel. However, I don't remember this being a common problem to change fuel pumps as preventative maintenance.
 
I am assuming that even diesel fuel will pump and show pressure, and if the oil pressure indicator is anything like the idiot guages that show full guage pressure with only 9 psi, I wouldn't take much to have the guage showing good, and the driver not notice it.
 
The design of the fuel system is poor on the early LB7 duramax engines. The Injectors, high and low pressure fuel lines are under the valve covers. Fuel Even flows through the cyl heads. I've heard many stories of contaminated crank cases with diesel fuel (gallons) It can happen quickly. I personally know of two cases where the leak filled the crankcase to the point of flowing out the vent in less than a day. No driveability concerns noted in either case. There is a reason they redesigned it 4 years later. I think the OP has a case for the repairs under consequential damage.
 
Had the injectors not been defective it is highly unlikely that the engine would now be worthless. Thus the root cause of the problem is the failed injectors, which GM has already uncharacteristically admitted were it's fault.

This is a lot like the failing intake manifold gaskets on so many GM V-6 engines. Often the resulting coolant leak into the motor oil then caused massive engine failure. GM has ducked and jived on that issue for ages as well.

Get a good lawyer and go for the throat. I don't buy the shared responsibility argument of CBODY67 at all. The root cause is a GM screw up and that is where the bulk of responsibility for dealing with the consequences should morally sit. It is, however, very rare to find anyone employed in the automotive industry who believes that whoever created the root cause of a problem should be held responsible for fixing it as best as possible. Whoever said diesel has enough oil in it to be a good lubricant is either a ---- artist or a fool, or perhaps both.
 
There is no doubt that the diesel caused it. If you had UOA you could show that the dilution was causing higher bearing wear. I have dozens (even one in today's lot I was analyzing this morning).
ALSO: I could suspect that the spun bearing was a direct result of injector failure: I just spent $4000 to rebuild the 3.0 Diesel in my 4Runner. Injector failure filled the #1 cylinder with diesel hydrolocking it. Upon starting, the pressure on starting it bent the rod and sleeve, spinning the bearing. I have UOA on it, but they had never leaked before.
Of course my warrantee was 5 years/62,000 miles and I had 6 years and 65,000 miles on it.
 
Hope the best of luck xblackoutx. Had a car in the shop about a month ago. Guy had his friend do a "tune-up" who crossed wires. Checked his dipstick (out of habit), was close to 3L overfilled with gas. The guy drove his car for close to a week before bringing it in.
 
The most he can possibly get is a percentage of the cost of a new engine. Sounds like the owner must bear part of the blame as well.

Doesn't/Didn't Ford have the same injector under the valve cover design?

If your engine under warranty leaked oil till it burned the engine up is the manufacturer liable? I don't think so. So why should they be if it leaks fuel?
 
"If your engine under warranty leaked oil till it burned the engine up is the manufacturer liable? "

Generally the answer is yes. If the oil leak was a defect and that defect in turn caused further damage then yes, it is covered by warranty.
 
The special policy does not give the dealer the authority to replace engines, so therefore your fight is not with the dealer.

Any lawyer who tells you to expect to get GM to buy a new engine should be discarded immediately. You will have to deduct for the amount of use you got out of the engine.
 
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