My Dad bought a late '04 with a hard start issues. It would only start with ether. Once it did start, it ran fine, no smoke from the tailpipe, no knocking or injector noise. It did have bubbling coolant in the res., and light smoke from the breather. I figured head gasket. The oil level was normal on the dipstick but very black and kind of thick.
I pulled his head and found one small crack and one pretty deep crack between valves for the number four cylinder. The head gasket did not look bad. I could not find any signs of leaks on it. All the pistons look good.
The top of the pistons were full with diesel. Also the injector housings and the fuel tubes were covered in diesel to the point that it seemed excessive to me. Is this normal when pulling a head or does it have signs of wornout injectors?
I will find him a new cylinder head, but should I be looking into new rings also? What else should I be doing to this engine at this point?

 

How many miles on the truck? Do you know the history of the truck? If there is no scratches in the cylinder walls and low mileage, I would probably leave the rings. If you can, send the injectors out to be checked. Pausible cause of the hard start may have been a connector tube that may not have been sealing to an injector properly, and running back to the tank.

 

Sorry to hijack, but it may be useful..
Where would you recommend we send injectors out to be checked?

 

Test and retip at F1.

 

Thanks for your response. The truck has 184K. It looks like it was used to pull a gooseneck before my dad bought it. It seems like it has been left stock in every way except a drop in K&N filter. The cylinder walls look great. The number four cylinder shows signs of having water or diesel in it (water spots), but no scratches. If the tubes were not sealing to the injectors properly, is that an injector issue or tube issue? How is it fixed? I will be sending the injectors out. Thanks again.

 

It is sort of both being the problem. If there was one that was leaking , 1- you would have to know which one, 2- cummins recommends to replace the injector and the tube. When the injectors are checked they may be able to tell if one was leaking. When reinstalling, be sure to follow the torque sequence properly.