Hydrolocked!

TXriverrat · **Posted:** Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:35 pm

Well @ 105K head gasket blew and hydrolocked my CRD at high RPMs. I did not put together the symptoms of leaky low coolant (I had just had timing belt and water pump replaced @ 100k and figured that was reason for low coolant). I am looking into getting the engine rebuilt and have found a shop that will rebuild for $3400 (this does not include installation). Contemplating getting ARP head studs but I don't see where anybody has figured out if that is the best decision or not. If anybody has any advice it will be greatly appreciated.

racertracer · **Posted:** Wed Mar 13, 2013 2:18 am

Well. I know what you're going through. I experienced a blown head gasket twice, back to back, only three months after the first one was repaired.

Some of the members from Europe say that a blown head gasket conditions are not heard of over there, and that it is a condition that is more prevalent in the United States. No one can explain the reason for this.

Will the ARP head studs work?

I love my CRD and constantly hearing about blown head gaskets in a perfectly good running VM engine concerns me. What is the cause of it?

I like the idea of the ARP head studs. The clamping down force is a big selling point for me.

I would like to hear from LMWatbullrun, who spear headed the ARP head stud replacement.... how is his engine doing? And also from whomever else has replaced them. LMW once posted that his engine is now repaired, his head gasket is no longer leaking, but time will tell if in fact this is true and we are all anxious to know.

Can you tell us more about your vehicle, what mods does it have, when did you first start experiencing the low coolant light? What oil are you using, was the coolant change done at the proper interval?

Word to the warning, a used and remanufactured replacement cylinder head didn't work for me. A new one is the way to go and I would use the ARP studs.

naturist · **Posted:** Wed Mar 13, 2013 9:03 am

@racertracer, so sorry you had a recurrence of the blown gasket issue only 3 months after installing a rebuilt head. For what it is worth, the rebuilt head I paid $800 for from Moparpartsonline.com has functioned flawlessly for me now for about 16,000 miles, and 8 months. (knock on wood)

@OP, hydrolocked at high rpm from a blown headgasket is decidedly ugly, man. So sorry to hear it, and best of luck repairing the damage. It's perhaps a testimony to the solidness of the block that you didn't punch a rod out the side of that block. My wallet hurts in sympathy.

TXriverrat · **Posted:** Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:55 pm

I have done the ORM, EHM, Samco hoses, Skyjacker lift, and Fumoto oil drain valve. I have run Rotella T 5w40 synthetic since the first oil change all of which I have done myself @ around 6200 mile intervals. Coolant change was only done @ the 100k timing belt interval with the water pump. I believe the coolant light went off the first time @ around 95k miles. I have also run mostly B100 the last couple of years.

racertracer, any idea why the remanufactured cylinder head didn't work?

I will be reluctantly buying the ARP studs as I believe anything will be better than what came from the factory. This whole thing is really disappointing to me because I purchased this vehicle with the thought of "it's a diesel it will run forever". I planned on having it for exactly that long using it as a daily driver for some time and then turning it into my off-road toy/project. It has been a great vehicle until now and from the factory was capable enough to get me through black gap road @ Big Bend National Park the middle of summer 2006 in 100+ heat and many road trips from Houston to Durango Colorado in the winter. I don't want to give up on it now but if like you I experience this again I can see myself dousing the thing in gasoline, lighting it on fire, buying an old Toyota Tacoma, and never driving another Jeep or diesel again. To me 105k miles is just way too soon to have a problem like this. :banghead:

racertracer · **Posted:** Thu Mar 14, 2013 3:30 am

TXriverrat wrote:

I have also run mostly B100 the last couple of years.

I had been using biodiesel for years and for thousands of miles before the head blew.... could this be a contributing factor, could the a contributing factor be the use of biodiesel, does it burn hotter?

TXriverrat wrote:

any idea why the remanufactured cylinder head didn't work?

None, 2 mechanics and a tool and die shop said it was OK to use, the jeep service manager was the only one who disagreed. He said that I needed a new head period and not to mess around when it comes to diesel motors. He said that when a diesel motor blows a head, you might as well consider it done for. I disagreed and went ahead with the repair.

TXriverrat wrote:

To me 105k miles is just way too soon to have a problem like this.

I agree, I fear this happening again hence the reason why I try to discover what could have been the cause from the members who have experienced this condition. I just keep adding data to the list as I've done now with by adding biodiesel.

naturist · **Posted:** Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:49 am

I ran biodiesel blends up to B50 for the first 80,000 miles, but not much since then because it is so hard to find in my area for some reason. My original head lasted to 150,000 miles. There were instances of overheating as early as 80,000 miles, but all when actually running straight D2 while towing. There were a couple of coolant loss episodes starting at 80,000, all fixed by finding external leaks associated with hoses or the turbo cooler. The leak I couldn't find an external fix for, however, didn't show up until about 145,000 miles and it took 5,000 miles of steady increased leaking before it became clear it was the head gasket.

So I can't blame biodiesel for anything related to the head gasket or the head being cracked. Beyond that, I think you have to draw a line somewhere between a worn out injector (definitely biodiesel related -- and which I've not experienced) and a broken radio (no way biodiesel related). Blown head gasket is, in my humble opinion, too much of a stretch to be biodiesel related.

I don't know if biodiesel burns hotter than petro-diesel. It might, although I doubt enough hotter to cause overheating issues. But I do know that I had no overheating issues unless towing and none when running biodiesel. But then I did no significant towing on biodiesel, either.

I am also certain that a lot of people in the repair-shop business are very eager to blame any failure on biodiesel usage. And I've had such folks make those accusations in very dubious situations. The fact is that your hair is NOT going to fall out because you used biodiesel. Nor will your transmission take a dump because of it. And guess what; you can get a load of bad fuel that clogs your fuel filter even running straight commercial petri-diesel from a reputable dealer, so getting one from a biodiesel dealer is not an aspersion on biodiesel, it is on the distribution system. I spoke to a Bosch injection pump technician recently who told me he's seen a huge increase in IP failures due to water over the last few years. So even IP failure may or may not be related.

TXriverrat · **Posted:** Thu Apr 11, 2013 11:11 pm

Update:

I found a place willing to do a rebuild for an OK price. Still extremely costly but car is paid off and it's either worth nothing dead or back in business. After pulling engine it did not look like head gasket blew but looked like failure of a valve. A cylinder was cracked and I did end up having to order another cylinder head. I got a rebuildable one shipped from CO for $599. One injector was bad and I got a used one shipped from PA for $375. I did order the ARP head studs for around $320. I got the CRD back yesterday and drove around for a while. She was running well but did have a fuel smell. When I finally got home I decided to spend some time checking all hoses/connections to see how they located them all. It was then that I noticed a pool of fuel around the injectors. I started it up and sure enough one of the injectors was spitting fuel. I took it back to the mechanic today. He worked on it and will let me know in the morning if he is able to fix the problem. Hoping the injector I ordered from PA is not bad. When I ordered I asked the guy if it was guaranteed and his reply was "I wont' guarantee it will fix your problem". This is after I had explained to him I was having engine rebuilt. I again asked him do you guarantee the part and he replied yes. So $5594 later hoping to be back in the CRD soon. I will let ya'll know how things go and how she runs.

racertracer · **Posted:** Fri Apr 12, 2013 3:25 am

TXriverrat wrote:

Update: So $5594 later hoping to be back in the CRD soon.

Wow..... I would appreciate the itemization of the costs on a per part basis, thanks.

LMWatBullRun · **Posted:** Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:32 pm

So far, with about 3000 miles since the ARP stud install, the engine is running great.

I am gearing up for a tranny rebuild then another engine rebuild, to go into CRD2 which will be a bit more involved than just a stud replacement. I'm going to build that to last 300 to 400,000 miles.

I am satisfied that studs are the answer to HG problems.

LMWatBullRun · **Posted:** Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:34 pm

TXriverrat wrote:

Well @ 105K head gasket blew and hydrolocked my CRD at high RPMs. I did not put together the symptoms of leaky low coolant (I had just had timing belt and water pump replaced @ 100k and figured that was reason for low coolant). I am looking into getting the engine rebuilt and have found a shop that will rebuild for $3400 (this does not include installation). Contemplating getting ARP head studs but I don't see where anybody has figured out if that is the best decision or not. If anybody has any advice it will be greatly appreciated.

Get the studs. We now have 3 people that have done them that I know of, and they solve this problem.

danos_007 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:58 pm

In the same boat. Getting ready to pull head. I think the head gasket has been leaking for many months. But not a traditional leak. I think I was leaking exhaust into the block through the oil port and causing my super excessive blow by, which in turn lessened the life of the engine. Or it could be a cracked head? It was blowing lots of black smoke in the weeks before it died. Mechanic friend said it was rings but I'm not sure. Sounds like head gasket problems are common on this engine. Any tips would be great. Any thing else I should do while the engine is apart? (Besides belt and water pump) what is all the talk about head bolts? (Arp head studs) help advice or help would be greatly appreciated. I really want to make this a good running machine.

e010584 · **Posted:** Sat May 11, 2013 9:00 pm

Me too. Head is cracked. Looking for advice and parts now.

TheBlueKJ · **Posted:** Sun May 12, 2013 9:09 am

TXriverrat wrote:

This whole thing is really disappointing to me because I purchased this vehicle with the thought of "it's a diesel it will run forever".

Well as far as I can see the CRDs have lots of problems (just what I've observed idk if this is true for all of them or not I've got a gasser, wish I had a diesel though). I've seen people get 1.5 million on mercedes diesel engine and 1-2 million on a couple of Powerstrokes and Cummins'. So in fact they do last basically forever just have to be very well maintained, and it seems you have been doing just that. Just because one diesel has been badly engineered doesn't mean you should turn off all of them :wink:

LMWatBullRun · **Posted:** Sun May 12, 2013 3:04 pm

danos_007 wrote:

In the same boat. Getting ready to pull head. I think the head gasket has been leaking for many months. But not a traditional leak. I think I was leaking exhaust into the block through the oil port and causing my super excessive blow by, which in turn lessened the life of the engine. Or it could be a cracked head? It was blowing lots of black smoke in the weeks before it died. Mechanic friend said it was rings but I'm not sure. Sounds like head gasket problems are common on this engine. Any tips would be great. Any thing else I should do while the engine is apart? (Besides belt and water pump) what is all the talk about head bolts? (Arp head studs) help advice or help would be greatly appreciated. I really want to make this a good running machine.

Here is the thread on ARP studs for the CRD-
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=65524

I would check the rockers, which are suspected to be susceptible to the heavy soot load created by the emissions controls on this engine. I checked mine at 90K when I did the TB, and some were shot. Some were like new, however. If you have the VC/camshaft holder off to check the rockers, probably not a bad idea to mike the camshaft lobes; I did not when I did my studs. Also somewhat susceptible to soot and other wear is the turbo. It is now part of my PM to check the turbo intake shaft end play every oil change, so if you have not done that I would take the opportunity to do so. There are various solutions to the soot issue, SEGR, GDE tune, secondary filtration, etc.; anything that reduces soot load is worth considering, keeping in mind the various regulations that are applicable here in the US.

There seems to be a correlation between soot load and mechanical wear problems such as turbo wear and rocker wear. Folks who run short OCI and soot mitigation strategies seem less likely to have trouble, but from now on whenever I change the TB idlers/WP, which I will do every second TB change, I will check the rockers just to be sure I don't have a problem.

Hydrolocked!

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