Detroit DD15 with blown head gasket

Pull the motor plane the deck... Why not?

 

pm to member 4vmach1 he is DD platform engine's tech.

 

Shim.

 

This is series 60 engine. DD15 is completely different...

 

I have latest workshop manual for DD engines(online manual on DTNA). Here is that section

 

I just spoke to DD15 tech. Protrusion must be checked with new liner seal installed. If its low then special oversized seal must be installed. oversized seal is available at parts department. According to him last year only one engine needed shim from many rebuilt units. Custom shim must be made by machinist. if needed liner can be cut a little to get the spec.
Attached file is a conversation how dealer's techs are fixing pitted areas.

 

Without being a scientist or engineer on the DD's, my experience and old school mechanical abilities will chime in to say, regardless of the counterbores being midway (like an ISX for example,) there has to be a shim placed under the liner to increase protrusion, or like someone else mentioned, machine the liner down to lose height. An oversized seal? Wouldn't be happening if I owned that engine...not to solve THIS issue anyway. It's either a shim or a cut of the liner lip for me. How can they tell anyone to install an oversized seal and get the proper crush on the head gasket and expect it to hold? That's nonsense.

I'm only speaking out of bad experience with a 3406B I had back in 1986. I could NOT keep a head gasket in that engine for love nor money. 8 (yes, EIGHT) head gaskets in a 2 year period. Each time I'd get 30-40K miles out of one and then POOF!, white smoke out both chimneys. Started asking WHY after the 5th or 6th one, and the "techs" would say, "you're over-revving, lugging, not running it right, blah blah blah."

The final straw came one December when there was no work, no money and desperation took over. I pulled the head off myself, had my machinist buddy come over with his depth gauge and with a stainless straight edge after I yanked the liners, and we checked the counterbores. Cat's spec was .002-.003 +/-...I had a couple that were .009, .006, and some were at spec. You'd think that would have been checked during the past several head gasket replacements? I guess they were in a hurry.

I talked to an old crackerjack Caterpillar man that did nothing but Cat engines about it, he gave me free of charge a bunch of different thickness shims to put it back together. I shimmed 4 out of 6 if I remember right, got them all level with each other...put it together and ran it and sold the truck 2 years later. The buyer thanked me for the truck after two years of him beating it to death.

From that point I learned a very valuable lesson; don't trust anyone who tells you you're doing everything WRONG...just might be they're the ones that are.

I am thankful for those days when I was down and out, broke, and full of determination...it taught me a lot on how to fend for myself and forced me to dig in. Glad for those days.