I bought a 04.5 brand new when i was 18. I replaced injectors at 150k miles. Good way to test is start it up when its cold. Use a infared gun or electonic thermometer and test your exaust manifolds at the ports. If one is way colder than the other... its not combusting right.
I surprise myself by understand all that, especially the piston rings clocking procedure. Your explanations are amazing. You could of been a teacher. Thanks.
Thanks man, I made this video with the hope that it would help another 5.9 owner get their truck back on the road with minimal cost and professional results. It’s a legendary engine for sure.
I used the specs for the piston ring gap and clocking from the QuickServ manual which many professional Cummins mechanics use. I found it on the cumminsforum.com
Great video man. Definitely earned a like and subscribe. I just replaced my injectors but still have a little blow by and white smoke, i dont have the time or money for a shop. I might be doing the same and will definitely be using your video as a reference /guide. Thanks for sharing.
Haha yeah thanks man. It was one of those weeks where I needed my truck back up and running, ain’t nothin gonna stop this rebuild! I think we all had those times where we gotta get it done no matter what.
Good video. We are in the process of doing the same now. Thanks for showing how to get the oil pan off. We have broken rings on number 4 and 6. Got the top end torn down today, was a little curious on how we were going to get the oil pan off.
For sure, glad to help. It was the single most helpful thing I learned how to do. Many people think that the transmission has to be removed as per the factory service manual. It saves a lot of time and effort and makes an overhaul, dipstick replacement/ gasket repair go much faster.
Thanks Tommy, I appreciate the positive feedback. If it can help anybody just a little bit to keep these great Cummins engines alive it’s worth it. There are a lot of people who think you have to pull the trans to get the pan off to bottom end work and it’s actually not at all that hard to get the pan off.
I am curious how the rod bearings are holding up seeing that you didn't resize the rods after arp bolt install because the clamping force on the rod caps are much greater than stock bolts.
That was my number one concern doing this rebuild. The absolute best way is to have them machined and I 100% agree. It seems to be holding up great in my case. Time will tell, I run the truck hard with the Smarty turned up and I tow 7-10k regularly and it has low EGts and seems to run great. During oil changes I don’t notice any metal or bearing materials. without machining the caps/rods to match the stronger ARPs I may be accelerating wear. I’ll Let you know
Excellent video. What do you think about running the rings at the largest end of the specifications to try to prevent future broken rings? I'm assuming that the rings are breaking because the gap closes up when hot. Seems these older engines suffer a lot from broken rings.
I think you raise a really good point by running the upper limit on ring gap to avoid breakage. I’m running the PAI rebuild kit from Industrial and when I checked them from what I remember they were right in the middle of the Quickserve manual gap spec. I wonder if the new rings are better material?
Do I put the rod bearing on before putting the piston in the cylinder? Do I completely tighten down each rod cap as I install each piston? Thanks in Advance
I installed the bearings on all rods before sliding them in from what I remember. I used Lucas and they clicked into place so I didn’t have a problem with them falling off. I didn’t do the full three stage torque on the ARP rod bolts until all piston and rod assembly’s were installed. I only snugged them up on the rod bolts at initial install until all pistons were installed then I did the proper torque spec
That may have been the case, from what I saw tho was bad injector spray patterns suggesting maybe cracked/failed injectors which is a known problem. In any case the truck has new BBI stage 1 injectors which are amazing and it rips a few years later with this rebuild.
Hey blake i know this video is old can i ask you a queston about this kit as im about to buy it? Did you replace the rod pin bushing and did you have to get them fitted to the new pins? Or does this kit new pins fit the oem bushings just fine? Also 3 years now on rebuild did your truck stop using the 2q a week? Thanks
Hi Garrett the kit worked great with the stock rod assembly bushings and all. I was using about a quart every 2 weeks before the kit install. It runs like a brand new engine with Smarty on 7. No oil noticeable consumption or anything else. It’s a great kit.
@@adamantee1 I ordered the Brush Research 240 grit flex hone that I believe was 4.25” it said it was specific for cylinder bores 4”-4.5 inches in diameter
Anyone with broken rings have no blow by? Almost everytime I pull my dipstick getting tiny metal particles. Scoped the bores when just did BBI injectors. Camera not great but didn’t see any damage to pistons. Have pan off dropped 6 and 5 main journal bearings look good dropping rest tmro .Not sure where metal coming from hoping someone else experienced this
So, I am suspecting I have 1 or more broken rings. With almost no blowby. Very little puffs.. almost no pressure BUT mine, when HOT, will very slightly lift a upside down oil cap with each stroke of atleast 1 piston. I had a head gasket abrupt failure and replaced head gasket, engine bores were totally fine. Light cross hatching still there at 170xxx miles. I didn't notice any thing unusual other than pistons appearing steam cleaned from leaky gasket. It took 2 injector nozzles with when engine stopped. All new injectors, new gasket, studs, and starts and runs great except that tiny blowby so I was anticipating doing this same in frame to re ring it. You can have a broke ring on one or more pistons and it not score the walls, yet. Depending how long it goes on for.. like this video guy has many broke rings.. no scoring. So goes to show you could rebuild if caught in time. Does your truck have ANY blowby? Sure you see metal? Send a oil sample to a lab and they can tell you what type of metal is in it.
I used stock sized pistons and rings. I only did a light hone/deglaze on cylinders. The 5.9 rebuild kit From Industrial Injection has every single part and gasket to rebuild this engine. It was on sale for 900$ The kit said parts/pistons are good to 800hp.
Industrial Injection full rebuild kit, everything you possibly could need PAI cummins overhaul kit was $950.00 shipped. BBI Stage 1 injectors, Bosch crossover tubes from Diesel power products. Head studs from Exotic motorsports and ARP rod bolts DPP Truck runs so strong stock trans couldn't begin to keep up. I Had John at Dynamic trans in Idaho build me a 650hp stage 3 with the Goerend billet triple disk, custom valve body, input shaft all the good stuff. Smarty is on lvl 9 and the truck has so much torque and power it is faster from 0-100 plus mph than most muscle cars on the street and imports I've driven. I need to take it to the drag strip and see what it does, it feels quite a bit faster than my low 13 second- high 12 second quarter mile time cars I've owned. This combo is a blast and very reliable if done right.
@@savagewolf7794 yeah that’s what I did. I had one that I thought was gonna be an issue kinda caught my fingernail honed it out a little and it was fine.
Video of the process slowed me down a lot. I did it over a weekend and after work a couple days. You could do over a 3 day period depending on how far you want to get into it and mechanical ability.
I think I cut a little bit off the flex hone handle and bent it a little to get the drill to fit in there. You always could use a right angle drill I guess
@@slicktmi truck runs great, has a ton of power and torque especially with the BBI stage 1 injectors and the Smarty tune. I’m running the Aurora 3000 turbo which gives it a lot of low and mid range
@@bigislandblake sweet man !these dam 5.9 love breaking rings i have 66 over 80mm compounds on mine few other upgrades still runs good has that broken ring miss at idle so i need to get it some attention
@@slicktmi that PAI total rebuild kit from Industrial injection is a really great kit and the price was under 1k. From the reading I’ve done it seems like plenty of trucks pushing high horsepower have used it as well
I’ve put about 5,000 hard miles on it with Smarty SR on Level 9, Towing just under 10k semi regularly EGTs never really go above 1350 or so even when hitting hills and WOT pulls. I put a set of 35x12.50s on it built trans and it’s holding up great. Mileage is great on the HWY like 18-25, City driving with the triple disk TQ converter out of lockup it’s 11-13. I’m going to do a boogie switch/lockup push button when I have time.
@@bigislandblake I've got a 99 with 191k on it and I'm wanting to change the piston and rings. I asked the machine shop to hone it for me. But he said with 191k it needs bored regardless but I felt like that wasn't true.
@@Jonesy3737 machine shop has their bottom line and making money in mind, they also probably want you to have a perfect bore for your rebuild. It’s an answer they need to give you to protect their reputation understandably. Depending on your goals and budget I’d stick to honing it yourself. Obviously having every phase of a rebuild done correctly, to a very high standard and by the book is best. But if your on a budget and can learn to hone it yourself 200k on a Cummins block isn’t shit. The amount of wear, barring unforeseen and unfavorable circumstances-excessive wear on the cylinders, you should be fine to hone it and rebuild. I’d spend the 100$ on a hone, clean off the ridge a little and drive that motor as hard as you can which could be for and other 500k until it needs any other serious repair. These are just my experiences and I don’t advocate shitty work or cutting corners but I do understand we need to just make the truck run and do the best with what budget we got. Roll on and roll out.
@@bigislandblake thank you! I think that's what I'll do and just hone it! There is nothing wrong with this engine. It was a good running engine. Just switching from High output pistons to standard output pistons cause the compression ration is different. Also number 1 piston has a small spot on it from getting it too hot. But doesn't seem like much to worry about
I bought a 04.5 brand new when i was 18. I replaced injectors at 150k miles. Good way to test is start it up when its cold. Use a infared gun or electonic thermometer and test your exaust manifolds at the ports. If one is way colder than the other... its not combusting right.
I surprise myself by understand all that, especially the piston rings clocking procedure.
Your explanations are amazing. You could of been a teacher. Thanks.
Thanks man, I made this video with the hope that it would help another 5.9 owner get their truck back on the road with minimal cost and professional results. It’s a legendary engine for sure.
I used the specs for the piston ring gap and clocking from the QuickServ manual which many professional Cummins mechanics use. I found it on the cumminsforum.com
Great video man.
Definitely earned a like and subscribe.
I just replaced my injectors but still have a little blow by and white smoke, i dont have the time or money for a shop.
I might be doing the same and will definitely be using your video as a reference /guide.
Thanks for sharing.
Got to give it to ya. Your hardcore brother. Under your truck in the rain.
Awesome video and great job!
Haha yeah thanks man. It was one of those weeks where I needed my truck back up and running, ain’t nothin gonna stop this rebuild! I think we all had those times where we gotta get it done no matter what.
Good video. We are in the process of doing the same now. Thanks for showing how to get the oil pan off. We have broken rings on number 4 and 6. Got the top end torn down today, was a little curious on how we were going to get the oil pan off.
For sure, glad to help. It was the single most helpful thing I learned how to do. Many people think that the transmission has to be removed as per the factory service manual.
It saves a lot of time and effort and makes an overhaul, dipstick replacement/ gasket repair go much faster.
Well done man.You know your stuff.
Looking for future Cummins videos
Thanks Tommy, I appreciate the positive feedback. If it can help anybody just a little bit to keep these great Cummins engines alive it’s worth it. There are a lot of people who think you have to pull the trans to get the pan off to bottom end work and it’s actually not at all that hard to get the pan off.
Nice job, nice video. Did you change main bearings too?
Im about to start my rebuild, thanks for the video. Did you replace the crank main bearings?
Hows this holding up now?
After rings re set.. did you do any blowby tests?
I may be about to do this myself. Nice video!
I did the standard oil cap off test and it didn’t have any. Truck runs great almost 4 years later!
Was your whole kit PAI? Every thing still holding up good? Just ordered the PAI kit for my truck
I am curious how the rod bearings are holding up seeing that you didn't resize the rods after arp bolt install because the clamping force on the rod caps are much greater than stock bolts.
That was my number one concern doing this rebuild. The absolute best way is to have them machined and I 100% agree.
It seems to be holding up great in my case. Time will tell, I run the truck hard with the Smarty turned up and I tow 7-10k regularly and it has low EGts and seems to run great. During oil changes I don’t notice any metal or bearing materials.
without machining the caps/rods to match the stronger ARPs I may be accelerating wear. I’ll
Let you know
Excellent video. What do you think about running the rings at the largest end of the specifications to try to prevent future broken rings? I'm assuming that the rings are breaking because the gap closes up when hot. Seems these older engines suffer a lot from broken rings.
I think you raise a really good point by running the upper limit on ring gap to avoid breakage. I’m running the PAI rebuild kit from Industrial and when I checked them from what I remember they were right in the middle of the Quickserve manual gap spec. I wonder if the new rings are better material?
Haft handed haft fit .love it
Great video
How many miles where on ur truck?
Do I put the rod bearing on before putting the piston in the cylinder? Do I completely tighten down each rod cap as I install each piston? Thanks in Advance
I installed the bearings on all rods before sliding them in from what I remember. I used Lucas and they clicked into place so I didn’t have a problem with them falling off. I didn’t do the full three stage torque on the ARP rod bolts until all piston and rod assembly’s were installed. I only snugged them up on the rod bolts at initial install until all pistons were installed then I did the proper torque spec
where’d you get that honeing tool?
Whoever built it probably didn't gap the rings right. Or crappy rings.
That may have been the case, from what I saw tho was bad injector spray patterns suggesting maybe cracked/failed injectors which is a known problem. In any case the truck has new BBI stage 1 injectors which are amazing and it rips a few years later with this rebuild.
My 12v has haze coming out of the oil cap but that cab doesnt move a bit. That Normal?
Is it making good power still? I may be wrong but I haven’t heard of a little haze being a major issue unless it’s a lot.
@@bigislandblake its a stock 12v. Its not a powerhouse but yes its got expected power from a stock 12v
Hey, what symptoms were you having to get you started on taking it apart?
I'm gonna guess a lot of blowby considering all the broken rings. broken rings and bad injectors will cause a lot of blowby on these engines.
@@littlerockrocks2272 probably so. I ended up taking mine apart. #6 had busted rings. All fixed up now. Did the same thing as this video. 👍🏼
@@adamantee1 yup cylinder 6 is the most common culprit
what hone did you use ?
Hey blake i know this video is old can i ask you a queston about this kit as im about to buy it? Did you replace the rod pin bushing and did you have to get them fitted to the new pins? Or does this kit new pins fit the oem bushings just fine? Also 3 years now on rebuild did your truck stop using the 2q a week? Thanks
Hi Garrett the kit worked great with the stock rod assembly bushings and all. I was using about a quart every 2 weeks before the kit install. It runs like a brand new engine with Smarty on 7. No oil noticeable consumption or anything else. It’s a great kit.
I just left the stock rod pin bushings, they looked good
Awesome man thank you so much im ordering the set today.
Blow by was the number 1
Do you remember which flex hone you used? 4" or 4⅛"? Thanks. About to tackle this same thing.
@@adamantee1 I ordered the Brush Research 240 grit flex hone that I believe was 4.25” it said it was specific for cylinder bores 4”-4.5 inches in diameter
@@bigislandblake thanks man! Head coming off tomorrow
@@bigislandblake looked like your plates were from Washington? What part? I'm in federal way
@@adamantee1 I’m North Seattle, not far from you!
What made you suspect it had broken rings? Did it smoke?
It had a lot of blow by. With the oil cap off it was blowing alot of oil smoke/mist, had plenty of power somehow.
Anyone with broken rings have no blow by? Almost everytime I pull my dipstick getting tiny metal particles. Scoped the bores when just did BBI injectors. Camera not great but didn’t see any damage to pistons. Have pan off dropped 6 and 5 main journal bearings look good dropping rest tmro .Not sure where metal coming from hoping someone else experienced this
So, I am suspecting I have 1 or more broken rings.
With almost no blowby. Very little puffs.. almost no pressure BUT mine, when HOT, will very slightly lift a upside down oil cap with each stroke of atleast 1 piston.
I had a head gasket abrupt failure and replaced head gasket, engine bores were totally fine. Light cross hatching still there at 170xxx miles. I didn't notice any thing unusual other than pistons appearing steam cleaned from leaky gasket.
It took 2 injector nozzles with when engine stopped.
All new injectors, new gasket, studs, and starts and runs great except that tiny blowby so I was anticipating doing this same in frame to re ring it.
You can have a broke ring on one or more pistons and it not score the walls, yet.
Depending how long it goes on for.. like this video guy has many broke rings.. no scoring.
So goes to show you could rebuild if caught in time.
Does your truck have ANY blowby?
Sure you see metal?
Send a oil sample to a lab and they can tell you what type of metal is in it.
Did you use stock pistons and rings or did you get oversized
I used stock sized pistons and rings. I only did a light hone/deglaze on cylinders. The 5.9 rebuild kit From Industrial Injection has every single part and gasket to rebuild this engine. It was on sale for 900$ The kit said parts/pistons are good to 800hp.
Thanks
Hey where did you get all of your parts
Industrial Injection full rebuild kit, everything you possibly could need PAI cummins overhaul kit was $950.00 shipped.
BBI Stage 1 injectors, Bosch crossover tubes from Diesel power products. Head studs from Exotic motorsports and ARP rod bolts DPP Truck runs so strong stock trans couldn't begin to keep up. I Had John at Dynamic trans in Idaho build me a 650hp stage 3 with the Goerend billet triple disk, custom valve body, input shaft all the good stuff. Smarty is on lvl 9 and the truck has so much torque and power it is faster from 0-100 plus mph than most muscle cars on the street and imports I've driven. I need to take it to the drag strip and see what it does, it feels quite a bit faster than my low 13 second- high 12 second quarter mile time cars I've owned. This combo is a blast and very reliable if done right.
I just bought a 5.9 cummins 24v for 1800 bucks did a compression test all passed except cylinder is no compression at all what woulc cause that
I would think probably a broken compression ring or a cracked piston maybe?
@bigislandblake as long as their is no deep groves I can just hone the cylinder like u did right
@@savagewolf7794 yeah that’s what I did. I had one that I thought was gonna be an issue kinda caught my fingernail honed it out a little and it was fine.
@bigislandblake did you by any chance take your cylinder head to get any work done like resurfaced or anything
@@savagewolf7794 just cleaned it real good and checked it with a straight edge for warping and it looked good.
How many hours did this take you?
Video of the process slowed me down a lot. I did it over a weekend and after work a couple days. You could do over a 3 day period depending on how far you want to get into it and mechanical ability.
hey man how did you get the hone on 5&6 and pulling those pistons out anything special needed
I think I cut a little bit off the flex hone handle and bent it a little to get the drill to fit in there. You always could use a right angle drill I guess
@@bigislandblake ok awesome thanks man how's the truck running if you still have it?
@@slicktmi truck runs great, has a ton of power and torque especially with the BBI stage 1 injectors and the Smarty tune. I’m running the Aurora 3000 turbo which gives it a lot of low and mid range
@@bigislandblake sweet man !these dam 5.9 love breaking rings i have 66 over 80mm compounds on mine few other upgrades still runs good has that broken ring miss at idle so i need to get it some attention
@@slicktmi that PAI total rebuild kit from Industrial injection is a really great kit and the price was under 1k. From the reading I’ve done it seems like plenty of trucks pushing high horsepower have used it as well
Any update? How many miles do you have on it now
I’ve put about 5,000 hard miles on it with Smarty SR on Level 9, Towing just under 10k semi regularly EGTs never really go above 1350 or so even when hitting hills and WOT pulls. I put a set of 35x12.50s on it built trans and it’s holding up great. Mileage is great on the HWY like 18-25, City driving with the triple disk TQ converter out of lockup it’s 11-13. I’m going to do a boogie switch/lockup push button when I have time.
@@bigislandblake not bad thanks for the update!
@@bigislandblake I've got a 99 with 191k on it and I'm wanting to change the piston and rings. I asked the machine shop to hone it for me. But he said with 191k it needs bored regardless but I felt like that wasn't true.
@@Jonesy3737 machine shop has their bottom line and making money in mind, they also probably want you to have a perfect bore for your rebuild. It’s an answer they need to give you to protect their reputation understandably.
Depending on your goals and budget I’d stick to honing it yourself. Obviously having every phase of a rebuild done correctly, to a very high standard and by the book is best. But if your on a budget and can learn to hone it yourself 200k on a Cummins block isn’t shit. The amount of wear, barring unforeseen and unfavorable circumstances-excessive wear on the cylinders, you should be fine to hone it and rebuild. I’d spend the 100$ on a hone, clean off the ridge a little and drive that motor as hard as you can which could be for and other 500k until it needs any other serious repair. These are just my experiences and I don’t advocate shitty work or cutting corners but I do understand we need to just make the truck run and do the best with what budget we got. Roll on and roll out.
@@bigislandblake thank you! I think that's what I'll do and just hone it! There is nothing wrong with this engine. It was a good running engine. Just switching from High output pistons to standard output pistons cause the compression ration is different. Also number 1 piston has a small spot on it from getting it too hot. But doesn't seem like much to worry about
Chingon