Builds The "Red Rocket" Troopy (11 Viewers)

[theglobb]

Anyone have any ideas? Maybe a blown head gasket, kinda sounds like loss of compression. I really have no clue, if it’s a simple fix (relatively) then I’ll fix it but I really don’t want to waste any more money on any 3B that’s going into my troopy

 

[LuckyDevil]

Well darn! Not that I'm much help but I Can bring my compression tester over today and brainstorm with you.

 

[theglobb]

Turbo is fine and spins freely, oil level is fine and doesn’t smell or look weird. Took my glow plugs out in preparation to compression test it, I’m expecting to find some pretty devastating numbers in atleast a cylinder or 2.

I would just like to take this time to say, thank you everyone for everything. Thanks to all the people who donated, all the advice that was given from so many people, @gilmorneau sent me a couple free backups and I ended up needing to use the spare pilot bearing he sent cause I messed the first one up on install. No hard feelings at all to @nuclearbeef he obviously didn’t know this was gonna happen and was more than welcoming, letting me stay at his house and giving me multiple extra items for free. Really really nice guy. @LuckyDevil being nice enough to let me use his garage to put it in, spending hours drilling out broken exhaust manifold studs on the 3B, and continuing to offer help as of right now. Basically just thank you to everyone on here, this is a great forum with some truly great people on it. I mean seriously, there’s been 14 pages on my thread in the past month since my engine blew up of advice and trouble shooting. Thank y’all

This won’t be the end of the Red Rocket, just a massive delay and I’m out of a daily driver. Time to see if I can get that extremely rusty iron pig braking.

 

[gilmorneau]

Man...that's brutal.

My logical self wants to think that two engine failures that close together might have a common cause. Contaminated (really contaminated) fuel is the only thing I could come up with, since you pretty much swapped everything else. Did you check the water separator? Is there anything other than the fuel that's common to both motors?

Did you have the temp/boost/oil pressure, etc. monitored? Any clues there?

It might be a head gasket, as you've guessed. If you haven't already, look for oil in the coolant and/or vice versa. You'll know more after compression testing.

 

[FJBen]

Man, no break with this Troopy.

I'm sure you've already done this, but start with the basics.

Check oil: right level? Glittery?
Check coolant: still in overflow? milky?


Go back over what changed: yeah I know whole engine, but it was running good.
Injectors?
Injector pump fuel?

You put the turbo back on correct? How much were you boosting?

Did you swap to an MLS head gasket before that turbo?



If you can get @LuckyDevil to bring his compression tester, that will answer a lot.



My gut feeling is that the turbo popped the old head gasket and the bang could have been push/rods or lifter.

 

[LuckyDevil]

I'm heading there now!!!! Maybe Wilmington has bad diesel and that's what happened to mine! Stay tuned for a 13bt rebuild.

 

[theglobb]

Man, no break with this Troopy.

I'm sure you've already done this, but start with the basics.

Check oil: right level? Glittery?
Check coolant: still in overflow? milky?


Go back over what changed: yeah I know whole engine, but it was running good.
Injectors?
Injector pump fuel?

You put the turbo back on correct? How much were you boosting?

Did you swap to an MLS head gasket before that turbo?



If you can get @LuckyDevil to bring his compression tester, that will answer a lot.



My gut feeling is that the turbo popped the old head gasket and the bang could have been push/rods or lifter.

Yea no break at all, gave me 2 years trouble free and that was that. Then again only thing that’s ever giving me issues is the 3B, should have never been in a troopcarrier of all things. Ugh. Regardless oil level is fine, not glittery, no milk or weird coolant. Injectors fully rebuild, IP not touched but was working fine. Yes turbo has been back on for about 2 days. I was doing 10psi max, this engine has the MLS head gasket already on it, I could see it sticking out between the head and block, so I felt comfortable enough to go ahead and turbo it, especially running half a much PSI as last time. I was running about 7 psi when everything started to crap out and get funky.

Man...that's brutal.

My logical self wants to think that two engine failures that close together might have a common cause. Contaminated (really contaminated) fuel is the only thing I could come up with, since you pretty much swapped everything else. Did you check the water separator? Is there anything other than the fuel that's common to both motors?

Did you have the temp/boost/oil pressure, etc. monitored? Any clues there?

It might be a head gasket, as you've guessed. If you haven't already, look for oil in the coolant and/or vice versa. You'll know more after compression testing.

Yes you’re correct to think that way but my fuel is fine. I filled it up with a different tank of fuel between this engine and the other one, and have a functional fuel/water separator with no water in it. Water temps were fine, like 175f, boost was 7psi, and my oil pressure light never came on. Guess we will see with a compression test

 

[FJ73Texas]

Sorry this happened to you (again). I am tuned in to see the root cause of the second incident for sure. Bad fuel always scares me and hope I never have to deal with that myself.

 

[lacalvette]

Holly crap
When engine running, do you see any buble in coolant? Coolant level?

 

[sark]

It's the $50 junkyard turbo claiming "if I can't have you, no one can!"

This sucks.

 

[theglobb]

Alright yea no more 3B I’m done with it. Goodbye. It’s the bottom end, maybe if it was the top I could use the bottom end from one and the top from another… might aswell just do a whole rebuild at that point. And I’m not doing a rebuild on a 3B to put into my troopy, just no.
Compression numbers:
#1: 300
#2: 240 /// 300 with WD40 in the cylinder
#3: 280
#4: 280



Funny video of luckydevil with the camera flipped around haha.


Thank you everyone for your support and help for the past month, idk how often I’ll be on mud now this all just hurts me a lot to even come on here, so if you find some stupid deal on an engine that is anything but a B, 2B, or 3B. My number is 910-620-6546

 

[OGBeno]

Time for that Corolla or Prius.

 

[theglobb]

I assume this message will bring mixed reactions from people here on mud… I’m upset, very upset and disappointed as this is just a massive tease for my Montana trip for me, my freinds, and many others we were gonna meet with. What do y’all think of me just turning my fuel screw all the way to max and seeing how long it lasts? What kind of catastrophic failure it may endure? Here’s a video of my buddies 4runner last year running with a hole in the block.


I mean does anyone want my butchered block? Crank? Pistons? Connection rods? Etc etc. it’s all junk anyways might aswell have a final send off

 

[flx]

I really don't understand how this is possible, two 3B with the bottom end letting go in a very short time while I never heard of this failure on a 3B before and this is generally considered a bulletproof engine :/
There is something I don't get here.

 

[theglobb]

I really don't understand how this is possible, two 3B with the bottom end letting go in a very short time while I never heard of this failure on a 3B before and this is generally considered a bulletproof engine :/
There is something I don't get here.

Yea I’m dumbfounded and in shock. About rock bottom for me right now, can only go up from here. Seriously it will only get better now, just gotta keep reminding myself that. Some people are saying it’s a higher power at play telling me not to go to Montana, if that’s the case it’s a pretty cruel higher power, could’ve just made my head gasket blow or something not as major as the bottom end… 2 times in a row, within a month. It’s not like this is some drag car or something, I just think I’m extremely unlucky.

 

[Rigster]

I assume this message will bring mixed reactions from people here on mud… I’m upset, very upset and disappointed as this is just a massive tease for my Montana trip for me, my freinds, and many others we were gonna meet with. What do y’all think of me just turning my fuel screw all the way to max and seeing how long it lasts? What kind of catastrophic failure it may endure? Here’s a video of my buddies 4runner last year running with a hole in the block.


I mean does anyone want my butchered block? Crank? Pistons? Connection rods? Etc etc. it’s all junk anyways might aswell have a final send off

Hey bud,

This is disheartening indeed.

I totally understand and get where you are coming from, and you are totally in the right to feel the way you do. However, when in this state, I tend to counsel to not make any major decisions and to just process where you are at, feel it. Mourn, and then let it go. Then you can move forward with a clear(er) head and make some decisions without the 'awe f*_k it' reaction poking through... this can tend to make matters worse in the long run.

I think I can speak for everyone here that we are all a little shocked that the same thing happened again so quickly. Aside from tearing into that motor and seeing what the actual issue is, not sure it would be worth it or not, to see if you can salvage one working engine.

Nice thing is, you still have a community that is willing to work with you in any way they can to help out.

 

[theglobb]

Hey bud,

This is disheartening indeed.

I totally understand and get where you are coming from, and you are totally in the right to feel the way you do. However, when in this state, I tend to counsel to not make any major decisions and to just process where you are at, feel it. Mourn, and then let it go. Then you can move forward with a clear(er) head and make some decisions without the 'awe f*_k it' reaction poking through... this can tend to make matters worse in the long run.

I think I can speak for everyone here that we are all a little shocked that the same thing happened again so quickly. Aside from tearing into that motor and seeing what the actual issue is, not sure it would be worth it or not, to see if you can salvage one working engine.

Nice thing is, you still have a community that is willing to work with you in any way they can to help out.

Yea that’s why I posted, needed people to talk some sense into me lol. Thanks for the kind words. If I still wanna blow it up in a week or 2 I’ll share a cool video with you all

 

[OGBeno]

I really don't understand how this is possible, two 3B with the bottom end letting go in a very short time while I never heard of this failure on a 3B before and this is generally considered a bulletproof engine :/
There is something I don't get here.

Pretty common.

 

[FJBen]

So basically what we have learned is that Turbo 3B = bad. I"m guessing a tired 3B is just a few PSI away from crank failure/spun bearing. Despite what people on mud do, the 3B's usually aren't long for the world when turbo'd. How old is the newest 3B? (not 3BII) 30 plus years? I think it's too much stress to turbo those.

The 3B wasn't made for US highways, and in a big heavy troopy it's even worse.




I think this is a good time to decide exactly what you want to do and can do with the troopy. Aside from finding a "cheap" 13BT, 14B, 15B you are looking at a full swap. Realistically, most of these will probably need a rebuild or a chunk of maintenance done.

LS is the "cheap" swap and lets you fly down the highway with OK mileage and unlimited parts supply. No where near as cool as a diesel, but actually getting out and driving and exploring is much cooler than a project in the garage.

I'd say 2UZ, but that swap is more involved than an LS.


I don't like the 2F/3F/1FZ swap as they are just as complicated an LS and then you are still slow and old tech unless you rebuild to Mosley motors spec and thats not cheap.




I would love to see you keep it Toyota, but I understand you have a budget/time constraints. A full 2UZ Cruiser/tundra setup in a troopy would be pretty damn sweet. 2UZ are usually pretty cheap.



It sucks it out on you.

 

[theglobb]

So basically what we have learned is that Turbo 3B = bad. I"m guessing a tired 3B is just a few PSI away from crank failure/spun bearing. Despite what people on mud do, the 3B's usually aren't long for the world when turbo'd. How old is the newest 3B? (not 3BII) 30 plus years? I think it's too much stress to turbo those.

The 3B wasn't made for US highways, and in a big heavy troopy it's even worse.




I think this is a good time to decide exactly what you want to do and can do with the troopy. Aside from finding a "cheap" 13BT, 14B, 15B you are looking at a full swap. Realistically, most of these will probably need a rebuild or a chunk of maintenance done.

LS is the "cheap" swap and lets you fly down the highway with OK mileage and unlimited parts supply. No where near as cool as a diesel, but actually getting out and driving and exploring is much cooler than a project in the garage.

I'd say 2UZ, but that swap is more involved than an LS.


I don't like the 2F/3F/1FZ swap as they are just as complicated an LS and then you are still slow and old tech unless you rebuild to Mosley motors spec and thats not cheap.




I would love to see you keep it Toyota, but I understand you have a budget/time constraints. A full 2UZ Cruiser/tundra setup in a troopy would be pretty damn sweet. 2UZ are usually pretty cheap.



It sucks it out on you.

I’ve seen people with turbo 3Bs that keep going for a while, atleast that’s what they claim. My previous one went for 20,000 miles and y’all saw how it ended. This one may have been right on the edge and gave up when I turboed it, pushing half the amount of boost and running much better than my old engine ever did. It felt super healthy, just taken aback. I would’ve never been able to drive it at app state naturally aspirated as my daily driver, just time for a better engine regardless in this thing.

I don’t like the idea of an LS and I despise the American 7/16 or 72/188493 fractions on the wrenches, not a math guy and certainly not a fraction guy. Something I could definitely overcome but if I’m going through that much work with adapter plates and engine mounts etc etc I’d rather put some mechanical diesel back in it. Such as the 3.9 Isuzu 4BD1T or something along those lines, rip it out of an old box truck or utility truck, replace bottom end bearings to eliminate my streak of trouble with the bottom end, new rings, maybe pistons if they look bad head gasket and then I’m good to go relatively. Or if it was a good runner, take it out and put it in. Obviously it would be a ton of work which is why a 13, 14, or 15BT would be super helpful, much less complicated, only issue is finding one here in the states.

2UZ would be cool, just a lot of work aswell and I hate electronics, same goes for the LS. I just despise electronics or trying to track down and figure out what wire is what. Which is yet again why a mechanical diesel like a later B series or the 3.9 Isuzu would be ideal… time will tell