2004 Freightliner with Detroit Diesel 14.0L with 734,534 miles at the time of rod / wrist pin failure. The pin is still in the piston, the top end of the rod is collapsed. Over twenty-eight thousand miles previously the engine had the liners redone and new cylinder kits installed. Had a bad coolant leak in the interim and Freightliner replaced the EGR. Head was pulled and 3 leaking injection tubes found, new tubes were installed. Trying to figure out if the independent shop that did the new cylinders had anything to do with the failure of the rod / wrist pin?
Hi. Thanks for using JA! I will try and help you out.
To be honest, I would not think the independent shop could do anything to cause the failure at the rod/wrist pin. Most all failures at this location result from the wrist pin bushing. It is either installed wrong or had a material defect in it. There could also be a defect on the connecting rod it self.
When technicians do something that causes a failure in an engine, it normally comes from connecting rod bearing installation errors, rod cap torque errors, or piston rings assembly errors. Unless the shop installed the wrist pin bushing, I would not think they had anything to do with the failure. It sounds like a defective part to me.
Please let me know if you need more help or have more questions.
I can forward good jpeg photos if you think that will help. I also have the techs handwritten statement. The shop is being asked to pay for a new engine. I am trying to see what chance there is that the fault might be their's. Your opinion is greatly valued but as the disclaimer on this site says i know you have no exposure. If we have to bump your fee for a more time consuming but more conclusive result I am fine with that. MarK Oldham , Appraisal Manager, Western Claims, Inc. , Oklahoma City, Ok XXX-XXX-XXXX. XXXXX@XXXXXX.XXX
Sounds good. If you would like to attach some pictures to this question I would be happy to look at them.
Not sure how to attach photos? Can I email them to you?
Unfortunately JA does not allow any communication via email, fax, or phone. Sorry. There should be a way to attach photos from your end. I have had folks attach them in the past.
Attachments are only available to registered users.
Thanks for the pics. I must say this is one of the most unusual piston and rod failures that I have ever seen. Correct me if i'm wrong.The piston pin was still in the piston and the top of the rod is crushed correct?If this is the case, I must believe that the eye of the rod came apart on one side and allowed the wrist pin to come out. Then once it came out, the rod came back up and rammed into the bottom of the wrist pin and crushed the top of the rod. Normally if the eye of the rod came apart, the root cause of the failure is in the eye of the rod or wrist pin bushing. Please let me know if you have more questions.
Cat Man, I believe it's possible the rod end failed. If you look at the fracture at the wrist pin end it appears beach marks can be seen in the metal indicating repeated stresses until it finally failed. The top of the rod once it fractured may have come off one side of the pin as the crank rotated the rod down in the bore. The on the up stroke pushed the top of the rod into the piston resulting in the shiny impact point visible on top. Don't think the piston stuck or locked up in the bore because of no visible damage to the pistons skirt but one of the rings is busted up. The rods were magnafluxed in the rebuild but the weakness in the rod end may not have showed up. I would appreciate your final input on this and then I will conclude the inquiry. Mark Oldham ps- I am not a Diesel mechanic but have been qualified in court as an expert on heavy equipment damage assessment.
Thanks for the information.If beach marks are found that indicates a fatique fracture has occured and the root cause is at the beachmarks. Most always there is an initial stress raiser that happened at the beachmarks. From my experience, there are only 2 ways the stress raiser got there. The first is a material defect. The second is the person that installed the rod hit it accidentally or damaged it some how. Then when it was installed, it failed.The hardest thing to ever proove is how the fracture started.I enjoy doing failure analysis on failed engines. I have been doing it for a long time. I hope my information was hwlpful.
Hey. I just wanted to see how things were going. Let me know if you need more help.