Finished Restoring My 20 Year Old Duramax And Now The Engine Is Junk! WHY!?

Oh no, this is not good. Look at that yeah! That’S engine oil how’s it getting in there. That’S not coolant all right. So here’s the deal there’s engine oil in my coolant and the batteries are not charging.

This is a nightmare and a lot of it’s. My fault, I dropped the engine. You guys remember that I I broke the oil cooler housing. I had to replace it. I resealed it.
I probably didn’t do a very good job, so I’m more than likely mixing in my engine, oil, with my Cooling and or I may have cracked something on that engine. Maybe there’s a passage, that’s cracked, but here’s the deal. This is something that I didn’t tell you guys about, and it’s kind of embarrassing actually, but I’m just going to tell you so. The engine that I put in the orange truck actually came out of my wife’s truck, which is called the wife Max when I first purchased it, but that engine had 400,000 Mi on it. One good thing about that engine is: it ran absolutely awesome.

As a matter of fact, I use that same engine to pull sleds, but then again I definitely abused that engine. So, unfortunately, that thing just sat in the backyard, probably for about a year and a half until I decided to reuse it, because when I first purchased the rust Max for $ 2,700, it didn’t run. I didn’t have a whole lot of money in it and I just thought: hey what the heck I’ll just take that high mileage 400,000 Mile and put it in this truck and see if it’ll even run. But if I’m having all of these issues and not to mention this engine does have a little bit of blowby um, which I didn’t tell you guys about either. Also another thing to mention.
When I pull the engine oil dipstick, I notice that I’m actually losing engine oil and we all know where that’s going of course and make sure you guys keep watching, because I’m going to go ahead and take this truck on a little test drive. So you guys can see this with me. I literally have to put this thing all the way to the floor. To get it to go. This truck is so underpowered.

It’S insane. I think we’re going to go ahead and just get another engine we’re going to have to but man, oh man, what a nightmare. So what’s on the agenda, I need an engine. I Need A banks. Oil cooler upgrade kit, an l5p oil cooler upgrade kit.
I am not going to skimp out this time, I’m going to go ahead and get the right stuff so before I do anything as far as getting to a possible Solution on this engine and what I’m going to do, I need to head to the post office Because we have to drop off those orders, if you’re not aware, I am running a diesel lift pump giveaway on my website, truckmaster diesel.com. So if you have a Duramax power struck or Com or plan on owning a diesel truck – and you want to get entered in, I left that link in the description below, as well as the comments. But you guys can’t wait. We only have a couple weeks left and before you know it, this giveaway will be completely gone all right guys.

We got big problems, so I was driving the truck and all of a sudden, the battery stopped charging both of them. So that was last night this morning I went ahead and hooked up the battery batter charger and I topped off both of them to full. So as it’s running, it should be reading about 14 volts, but it’s only reading 11.7, if I’m not mistaken as it’s running so right now. The batter is not charging just killing the batteries, but we got a p0621.
I cleared the code still says battery, not charging go ahead and read it again and we’re getting the same code here. So I’m going to go ahead and check that out see what’s going on check this out, I can’t even make this up H. Yeah, let’s see it appears to be engine oil mixed in with my coolant, but as of right now, there’s a lot of sludge build up in this engine, man all right, I’m going to go ahead and let all that drain, but we’re going to wait till the Very end and see what this looks like here: it comes so it’s getting darker and darker. Oh, this is not good all right guys. So at this point the only thing draining out of here is water, clear water, but this is what came out so I’m going to flush the system completely.

It really wasn’t that much that came out too, which is kind of interesting, but I’m going to flush this out completely, I’m going to goad and filled up with just regular water, and this is the other situation. Obviously, as you guys know, this really sucks battery is not charging, so I got to figure that out too, I tried to clean those terminals, the best I could it didn’t work. What in the world is going on this right here is the voltage that goes directly to the battery from the alternator. So that’s going to be your positive. I can’t do this with one hand, but I went ahead and tested it.
It’S not even reading on voltage at all, so this brand new AC, delro alternator is bad all right, so I’m going to need an alternator. Hopefully, this thing doesn’t die on me on my little road trip just going to take it down the road and check the coolant again. I went ahead and drained it and filled it like three or four times, but I know that engine oil is gunked up in there right now. It’S on it’s it’s to the floor. It did pick up a little bit better than last time, and it’s probably because I was flushing the cooling system and getting all that gunk out of there.

I have a feeling that by now the coolant passages and the heads, just everything and general is plugged up. I mean she is struggling still faster than my 65 by the way, all right guys, I’m back home, we’re going to go aad and pop the hood check the coolant, see what it looks like. Oh by the way before we start jumping the head gasket issues. I I highly doubt it engine studded. I don’t think that’s the problem all right, so I’m at Austin’s house I’m going to pick up this lb7 engine paid him some coin for it.
It’S here um this engine actually was went. This engine actually was went through right. I mean p were pulled, you said it was resealed resealed. It’S got about 5,000 mil on it. Studded it’s got.

Studded heads are fresh 65 over Dan’s diesel injectors in it uh good set of Hamilton, push rods um. You know it’s there’s really not much to say it runs not much to say it’s. It’S a good little Runner. I mean, I think it’s just cooler needs resal. You know it’s get fresh water pump, um yeah.
It’S got a new water pump on it, which is good, but I’m still going to have to tear it down. Obviously I want to clean it up, but I’m just going to tear it down just check everything up, I’m not pulling the heads though, but everything else I’m going to go ahead and just take apart, but we’re going to load it on the truck we’ll get it Home and show you guys what we [ Music ] got, I’m going to go ahead and get it on this. Pallet go and strap everything down, get it in the garage, go ahead and look it over. But I’m pretty happy, I’m glad it’s here, but without dropping the engine this time, let’s go ahead and try this again all right, so I’m going to go ahead and pull the orange truck back in the garage, but we have her set down no issues at all. Shouldn’T have a problem: I’m going to go ahead and shut the garage up for the day, but I’ll go ahead and get to the next day guys when I can finally start carrying this truck down.

I’M thinking I’ll have about 2 days on this job, but, and only because it’s just me, if I had another guy wrenching with me, it shouldn’t be a problem. We can knock this thing out in one day, no issues but basically the whole front. End of this truck’s got to come off and again I’m not pulling that cab, but here we have it transported safely. It was about a 3-hour drive, total time actually close to 4 hours. Right.
When I woke up it’s about noon now, lots lots happened, but let’s go ahead and get to the next day. So I can start working on this truck all right. So it’s like the next like week and a half since you guys saw that last clip. I really wanted to get a lot done and I do not want to drag this content out. I have to get the stuff knocked out and I’ll tell you what a lot of stuff just came in, for example, the banks, l5p oil cooler upgrade kit, and this is going to go from an 01 to a 2016.

Definitely one of the biggest upgrades. I think you should do if you have your engine pulled. Anyways is to go ahead and just swap it out with a l5p oil cooler and basically, what that is. Is the newer aged Duramaxes, so your 2017 plus l5p Duramaxes have better oil, coolers, they’re more efficient. So Banks did come out with a kit where you literally can just bolt this thing on and go it’s such a huge upgrade and I’m going to show you guys exactly how to install that and kind of talk about the benefits and I’ll also post a install Video on my other channel truck Master Garage, if you want to check it out, but nevertheless let me go ahead and get into all of the parts that I’ve gotten so far for this truck in order to get the engine swap knocked out, you guys saw that As far as I’m concerned 65 overs um, it does have a stock CP3, but we are going to have to put a bigger Ryan’s Diesel Service turbo in there because we do have the stock one in there.

As far as I’m concerned, that turbo is going to be hting life because now we’re going to have more fueling, I am not going to pull this thing out of the package, but this is a radiator. This is an aluminum radiator, it’s brand new. It’S a little more upgraded, but with all the extra horsepower I have to upgrade the turbo and I have to do a converter. I have to do a triple disc, tourque converter. I have to upgrade the stall.

We have to get this transmission rebuilt. We don’t have to, but you know all that extra power. I would hate to go through all of this and not actually throw a built Transmission in there, but just stay with me on this build. I definitely have to save some money to get a built trans. That’S not going to be cheap.
That’S going to be about 6 grand! I did get a brand new alternator, this one’s actually kind of cool. It’S a 220 output. It’S a little bit bigger! I tested it at the alternator.

So I’m going to rule this out and just say it’s a bad alternator and these things go out all the time. So that’s what we’re going to do we’re going to replace the alternator not in this video, though I’m not doing anything, I’m just going to pull that engine check this out, though, that’s a beautiful piece, I mean it looks good, but with the higher output. I think it’s going to go ahead and charge those batteries up nicely. Look at that thing, though that is sweet. I think it’s a good call, it’s going to add some bling under there, but if you guys don’t know, I have some nice goodies that I’m going to slap on this from this engine bit, for example, the HSP high flow manifolds, the up pipes.

Basically, all of the brand new parts are going to be switched over. Of course, all the HSP goodies. That’S all going to go back on there. Let’S just go ahead and unbox this Banks, l5p oil cooler, upgrade kit and I’m going to go ahead and show you guys how I’m going to install on this engine. I might as well do it now before I put it in this truck for my understanding, depending on what model you have total install time on the uh oil cooler upgrade kit 5 to 7 hours.

It’S a lot of work. All right. I was literally getting nothing. So I went ahead and pulled out that one it’s a brand new battery had on the Shelf we’re going to go ahead and charge it up. It’S been sitting for a couple years.
It looks like it’s already charged good to go and I’m going to trickle charge that battery. Fortunately, these are brand new batteries. I will be unboxing this, which is the Ryan’s Diesel Service turbo. I just ordered it off their website, and now it’s here that was a pretty quick turnaround, but I’m going to go ahead and unbox it and show you guys exactly what size I went with to try to keep up with these injectors and by the way. That’S what the coolant look like just so you guys know oil sludge nasty.

I know a lot of you guys, like the banks products, so I did reach out to those guys and they set me up with an affiliate link. So if you guys ever decide to purchase anything Banks use my uh link, my banks.com link. That would be super awesome if you guys can do that. But again, I’m going to leave that link in the description for this product.

What do we have in the package? They’Re going to give you an oil filter which is pretty awesome, it’s going to be an AMS oil oil filter. They don’t mess around, there’s really not much. Here I mean it seems like a pretty straightforward install. Let me show you guys how to do this.

I it briefs. Well I say it’s a straightforward install, but once you get into it and you’ve never done it before, I’m sure it’s a hassle. I think it’s neat that they implemented a oil tap right here, so you can install a probe and check your oil temperatures as you’re driving. So you can monitor to that. It’S pretty important, but overall it’s going to keep the engine oil lasting a whole lot longer for sure, because you’re keeping the oil temperatures down.
If you look at some of the generations of Duramaxes, going all the way back from 2001 they’ve, gradually gotten bigger and the reason why is because they’ve upgraded the towing capacity, for example, the brand new 2024 Duramaxes have a maximum payload capacity of 38,000 lb and some Of the Fords out, there can actually go up to 40,000 lb, which is absolutely insane. But, let’s be honest, you’re working your engine pretty hard and you want to keep those oil temperatures low and, if you’re hauling a lot of weight, it’s important to have an upgrade. Like this, but from my understanding, if you have an older Duramax like a 200 10 and you take one off of a 2024, it won’t simply just bolt on. You will need some extra parts for that, but the guys at Banks made it super simple. So you don’t have to Outsource any parts all right, so I’m going to remove this from a long block engine sitting on a pallet.

It’S a lot easier to see it’s going to be a lot harder to do with it on the truck, but it’s just a general example of how to do it: [, Music, ]! So we’re going to go ahead and oh, I left that Loose as well. The two long bolts, the 120 mm will require the two large washers that come with the kit to be installed, which will be on the top and bottom. So go ahead and work that in and again leave everything loose, go ahead and insert this and run the bolts in that we’re done with that. We’Re going to go ahead and torque this down to 18 ftlb and, of course, once everything’s installed, go ahead and spin on your filter.

But that is it guys. That’S how you do it again, very straightforward out with the old in with the new I’m so pumped about this head over to my other channel. There’S a little bit more of an in-depth review and install video on how to do that. But I’m pretty impressed with the banks, install Kit, you don’t again, you don’t have to Outsource anything, it’s all there. So, in my opinion, if you’re trying to like rebuild that and put new seals in it, you might as well just skip the guess, work, and just do it like this now with all of that out of the way, let’s finally get to what you guys want To see which is the new turbo that I have for this truck, I’m so pumped about it, let me show you what I got so it’s going to come with the warranty paperwork.

Make sure you keep that uh. Of course the gasket [ Music ] oops. It’S going to come with the install kit, I’m going with a 64 mm, but on the website this is the exact turbo 64 mm 01 to 04 Duramax lb7 uh. He has them for all generations: Duramax Power, Stroke, cummin, but yeah. The RDS 64 mm is going to handle up to 650 horsepower.
So that’s why I did this but you’re going to get your 64 mm compressor. Wheel. 64 mm 10 blade high flow turbine wheel regardless. This is the solution right here when it comes to my fueling. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention adjustable wastegate.

I’M actually really excited to see how this performs with this setup here and then another thing that I shouldn’t be talking about. But at this point I don’t care. I made that Chevron, Defence, video, I’m sure you guys, probably a lot of you guys watching my video actually uh subscribe because of that. So, if you’re doing a 64, 66 68 upgraded turbo on any one of your diesel trucks, you have to tune it. It’S not going to run right, so I just want to let you guys know that if you decide to slam one of these in your truck and think that it’s going to perform much better, I think you’re going to be disappointed.

It’S not going to run very well, it’s going to blow a bunch of black smoke, so you have to tune it. You know I get this question all the time who’s the best tuner out there. I don’t have an answer. I don’t, but what I do know is I can trust some of the tuning companies out there, click on that link down there. If you guys want to get your diesel truck tuned, I believe there is a discount code for that as well.

It’S super hard to find aftermarket parts that I trust so there’s information right there, maybe I’ll do a video on how to tune this thing. Let me know in the comments, if I should do that, so I run Ryan’s Diesel Service turbos on all of my diesels. Right now, I think I’m up to seven diesel trucks and I have never had any single issue with their stuff. Just as long as you boost leak test all of these turbos once you install a turbo boost leak test, it I mean I have several boost leak. Testers they’re pretty cheap.

I think this one was only like 50 bucks. You can buy them on eBay, Amazon, they come with the clamps. You know all the boots the couplers needed, but make sure you boost Le test it up to just bring it all the way up to 40 PSI. I know it’s scary, but take your air compressor and just let her go because uh, if you have any boost, leaks, you’re going to over speed the turbo and explode it. And you don’t want to do that, because these turbos aren’t cheap.

I’M talking about ruining expensive Parts when I’m over here trying to slap an engine in this truck and trying to get everything squared away when it really was my fault. But then again in the beginning, I paid 2,700 bucks for the truck. You guys remember that it was Rusty and gross. We restored it to this, which is awesome in my mind. I wasn’t planning on doing that.

I was just planning on making it run. Engine’S already been gone through, it’s already been resealed. I really took a look at it. It’S got brand new freeze plugs on it, the guy that resealed the engine was able to get eyes on the crank, the Pistons everything. So we know they’re good, but that is it.

I love talking about my shortcomings and sharing them with you, but hopefully we can learn something that’s kind of what this channel is all about, I’m actually in the process of taking all my diesel crate stuff and I’m going to start putting all these odds and ends In orders, so if you guys order anything on the website, anything $ 20 or so Plus uh don’t be surprised. If you just see something random in your orders, so get entered into to win a diesel lift, pump and good luck to the winner. There all right, we’ll see you on the next one stay tuned.