6.4 Diesel Enhanced Short Block Assembled Wrong

ChristopherH · September 4, 2012

I just replaced a 6.4 diesel Enhanced Short Block (ESB) at 192,000 miles on an 08 F250 under a Diesel Care ESP claim. I followed every instructions to the letter, torqued all the fasteners, put the body back on, all the aftermarket add-on bumper and camper shell crap, and filled all the fluids. I bled the low and high psi fuel systems--imagine my surprise when I had a cranks no start. Posted Image

I then spent a few hours sweating and checking and rechecking all my work with a no start still. I found DTC p0341 would set in the PCM after cranking the engine several times. Also, on pid monitor, the SYNC pid would not say YES. I beat up the supposedly new cam and crank sensors and wiring harness to no avail. At this point, I put 2 and 2 together because I had noticed a slight popping noise from the intake while cranking and I thought--maybe the cam to crank timing is wrong? No way that could happen...right?

I followed the Diesel Cam Timing Procedure found under the Service Tips tab on PTS for this truck and found that between the falling edge of my CMP signal and the Missing 2 tooth area on the CKP signal I have 17 negative signal spikes--not 11 like is should be. I know a picture is worth a 1,000 words--I will post a screen shot of my oscilloscope capture and a link to the Cam Timing Document I mentioned when I get a minute. I tore down the engine and found that the pistons and valves have all hit each other, multiple broken/bent pushrods and rockers, and imagine my surprise the camshaft timing is off on the drive gear by 6 teeth!!!! Posted Image The hotline was pretty quiet on this issue--they just wanted my screen capture and the serial number of the ESB. Now I get to do it all over under SPW--the first time was just practice right?

My advice--if you are doing an ESB or an ELB--set #1 cylinder at TDC. Its a little tricky without a TDC mark but it can be done. Then look down the rear cover and make sure that the 2 holes for the cam timing fixture are lined up with the centerline of the engine and the centerline of the crankshaft. Also, 180 degrees from these 2 holes is a small dot that should face straight up and be aligned with the centerline of the engine and crankshaft when cylinder #1 is at TDC. Maybe you won't step into a bear trap like I did.