What did I break now?

[WilBury]

Working a Case 310E crawler loader hard with fully overhauled Case 188D engine (140 hrs)
Aggressively pushing and bucketing wet heavy snow/slush/ice when the engine gradually developed a noise. Quiet at idle but louder with RPMs. Then it got worse! Hard to describe but a bad valve train came to mind. Opened the rad cap, coolant was full, flowing, and no bubbles. Engine oil is clean but thin (15W40 pretty warm), no funny smell. Couldn't isolate it by ear or stethoscope but it does sound near the top of the engine. If it stops raining, I'll remove the valve cover and look for damaged goods. Might have to bump the starter to move things and watch. Will start it, cracking injector lines to see if it isolates. Will look for any gasket leaks. If it sits long enough I'll see what juices settle to the bottom of the oil pan. Could check timing too. If I still don't find anything, I guess it'll be time to line up a real mechanic to come and take the head off. If it gets that far, do a compression test first? I personally don't think it's worth the trouble. If it ain't the head (valve train), it's likely the cam or a jug right? Then the oil pan comes off...
Any other things I can do before I start paying wages?

 

[wore out]

Working a Case 310E crawler loader hard with fully overhauled Case 188D engine (140 hrs)
Aggressively pushing and bucketing wet heavy snow/slush/ice when the engine gradually developed a noise. Quiet at idle but louder with RPMs. Then it got worse! Hard to describe but a bad valve train came to mind. Opened the rad cap, coolant was full, flowing, and no bubbles. Engine oil is clean but thin (15W40 pretty warm), no funny smell. Couldn't isolate it by ear or stethoscope but it does sound near the top of the engine. If it stops raining, I'll remove the valve cover and look for damaged goods. Might have to bump the starter to move things and watch. Will start it, cracking injector lines to see if it isolates. Will look for any gasket leaks. If it sits long enough I'll see what juices settle to the bottom of the oil pan. Could check timing too. If I still don't find anything, I guess it'll be time to line up a real mechanic to come and take the head off. If it gets that far, do a compression test first? I personally don't think it's worth the trouble. If it ain't the head (valve train), it's likely the cam or a jug right? Then the oil pan comes off...
Any other things I can do before I start paying wages?

I would drain the oil into a plastic pan and "fish" for ferrous particles with a magnet and look for the glitter/glint of aluminum filings in the bottom of the drain pan, as well.

 

[WilBury]

I would drain the oil into a plastic pan and "fish" for ferrous particles with a magnet and look for the glitter/glint of aluminum filings in the bottom of the drain pan, as well.

You bet I will. Might put it thru cheesecloth too while I'm at it.

 

[TomA in CA]

Take the filter off, cut it open and see what you find.

 

[marloweg]

Working a Case 310E crawler loader hard with fully overhauled Case 188D engine (140 hrs)
Aggressively pushing and bucketing wet heavy snow/slush/ice when the engine gradually developed a noise. Quiet at idle but louder with RPMs. Then it got worse! Hard to describe but a bad valve train came to mind. Opened the rad cap, coolant was full, flowing, and no bubbles. Engine oil is clean but thin (15W40 pretty warm), no funny smell. Couldn't isolate it by ear or stethoscope but it does sound near the top of the engine. If it stops raining, I'll remove the valve cover and look for damaged goods. Might have to bump the starter to move things and watch. Will start it, cracking injector lines to see if it isolates. Will look for any gasket leaks. If it sits long enough I'll see what juices settle to the bottom of the oil pan. Could check timing too. If I still don't find anything, I guess it'll be time to line up a real mechanic to come and take the head off. If it gets that far, do a compression test first? I personally don't think it's worth the trouble. If it ain't the head (valve train), it's likely the cam or a jug right? Then the oil pan comes off...
Any other things I can do before I start paying wages?

rod bearing

 

[WilBury]

Take the filter off, cut it open and see what you find.

Yep, that's a good one. The Adept Ape on utube is a big fan of that.

Block heatered it for hours this morning took the valve cover off. Nothing exciting in there.
Looked in the injector pump window since #1 valves were both up, both marks were visible so I called it good. Cranked it, nothing exciting.
Started it, got the noise. Tried all over the thing with a stethoscope and just couldn't really pinpoint it.
Only got it up to about 140 degrees but there was some flow in the rad. Saw a few tiny tiny bubbles here and there, but again nothing exciting.
Cracked fuel lines at the injectors, all but #4 stopped firing. Maybe the line stayed stuck, I don't know, but retried it a few times, made sure the line was loose. Finally, it did react, so firing on all four anyway. Possible obstruction or air bubble in the line or something pooped out the injection pump.
Thing is, now it sounds better! Even took it up to full revs. Still not sure though, my diesel ear says it's not actually purring like it should.
Next episode maybe I'll check rocker clearances and we'll see what another cold start sounds like.
Fingers crossed!

 

[WilBury]

rod bearing

Could be, I've rarely pushed an engine that hard without stalling it and I ran heavy equipment for 35 years.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Could be, I've rarely pushed an engine that hard without stalling it and I ran heavy equipment for 35 years.

It's far more likely an issue with the work that was done to the engine, not anything you did operating the machine. If engines fell apart from simply being "pushed" nobody would get anything done.

 

[WilBury]

True enough Barnyard but it was done by an old-timer at a reputable place, so... I'd call them but they're on a 2 week break.
Anywho, I've booked a mobile mechanic to diagnose it Jan 07. They show no fear but don't want me opening anything up beforehand. A fair ask I suppose. All I can do is drop belly pans and some tin, etc and make it clean as possible. Oh, and buy an umbrella at the second hand store.

 

[WilBury]

Mobile tech came out, first thing he did was cut open the oil filter. Sure enough, full of ferrous ground metal.
Dropped the oil pan, looked OK until he noticed the oil pump. The drive gear was completely chewed, destroyed half the original crank gear and probably my new cam gear and maybe beyond. Not a happy camper!
This was an aftermarket oil pump w/gear. Installed with .008" clearance (the max), no shims. I'm going to do my best to track down who exactly manufactured this piece of engine-destroying junk and if there are no objections, I'll post it in this forum.
Tech says if were his engine, he'd pull it to have it cleaned properly and regrind if necessary. That's a lot of grief for a bad part.
I bet I'll end up having the 60 year oil pump I took out refurbished and reinstalled. Unless, does anyone have a real NOS pump on the shelf or perhaps a very good original used?? Might be looking for the rest of the timing gears too.

 

[mjsnodgrass]

Mobile tech came out, first thing he did was cut open the oil filter. Sure enough, full of ferrous ground metal.
Dropped the oil pan, looked OK until he noticed the oil pump. The drive gear was completely chewed, destroyed half the original crank gear and probably my new cam gear and maybe beyond. Not a happy camper!
This was an aftermarket oil pump w/gear. Installed with .008" clearance (the max), no shims. I'm going to do my best to track down who exactly manufactured this piece of engine-destroying junk and if there are no objections, I'll post it in this forum.
Tech says if were his engine, he'd pull it to have it cleaned properly and regrind if necessary. That's a lot of grief for a bad part.
I bet I'll end up having the 60 year oil pump I took out refurbished and reinstalled. Unless, does anyone have a real NOS pump on the shelf or perhaps a very good original used?? Might be looking for the rest of the timing gears too.

i wouldn't touch it. shop that rebuilt it needs to deal with it. surely it's under warranty with only140 hrs on it.

 

[WilBury]

I wish! I'll ask what they can do for me but it was rebuilt almost 2 1/2 years ago. I don't put many hours on it. I'll be opening the filter on every oil change in future.

 

[mjsnodgrass]

I wish! I'll ask what they can do for me but it was rebuilt almost 2 1/2 years ago. I don't put many hours on it. I'll be opening the filter on every oil change in future.

i guess i assumed it was a fresh rebuild. good luck.

 

[Fritz Maurer]

I wouldn't be too quick to start a range war . Your pump may be a victim of a tooth coming off of another gear . All you need is one loose piece in that area to take out a lot of stuff.

 

[WilBury]

Timing cover's not coming off til spring and even then I may never to be able to pinpoint the cause but the pump gear is certainly the #1 suspect.
On a happier note, I've an NOS pump and NOS idler gear on the way.

 

[WilBury]

Not sure how I'll make out with the rest of the gears. May have to make do with used. Anyone have any trouble mixing genuine timing gears on the 188D?