Yes everything looked good. The other big negative is there is a groove worn in the crank where the rear seal rides. Even with a fresh seal and careful installation it's still leaking pretty badly. I had the oil pump apart the last time I was into the motor and it looked perfect. Pulled the bypass spring and plunger and cleaned that as well. The oil pressure light works and there is only 2 psi difference between minimum required and when the light comes on. Plus the noise isn't there on a cold start and goes away if it sits for 10 minutes and doesn't go away with RPM so not likely an oil pressure problem. The guy at TWS said it could be a bad thrust bearing or a damaged piston. I might pull the engine out again this spring just to dig into it out of curiosity to see if I can find the root cause. Unfortunately though it will be headed to a junk yard unless I find a reasonable cost effective alternative to get it going again.

 

Before you get all crazy with the junk yard talk, take a breath. Park it and walk away for a bit.

What year and what condition is it? are you about to turn your back on an otherwise great truck? Where are you? Maybe get some local assistance from one of us?

 

The only fix is to throw more money at it... I'm done. It's suckered me for far too long. I knew what I was getting into but I had hoped to have a fully sorted DII in good shape but there is a limit to the insanity. It's been a fun project and I enjoy tinkering. I've rebuilt several engines over the years without problem but this one has been impossible to please. The parts quality is junk. Every time I talk to a professional shop they say they order everything in 3's and then cherry pick the best ones.

 

Sorry to hear you are over it. I've been there, I get it.
Where are you? Maybe someone here wants a parts truck and would take it off your hands?

 

Sanford NC. If anyone is interested let me know. Crap ton of new parts in this rig. Will not part it out.

 

Like new tires and wheels
New MAF
New Thermostat
All new radiator hoses
04 T-case
2" lift with disconnectable sway bar, extended brake lines and ABS looms
Ventilated brake rotors and one new caliper.
TF 4 way adjustable shocks with less than 1k miles
Rebuilt engine included:
Fresh machined block with top hat liners
Crank ground .010 under
All new bearings
New Oil pump
New performance cam from TWS with 30 minutes of run time
upgraded pushrods
upgraded hydraulic lifters
rebuilt rocker assemblies from TWS
Heads milled .015" for flatness
New Pistons pins and rings
New timing set
New flex plate
New rebuilt injectors
New O2 sensors
New Crank position sensor
New knock sensors
Upgraded greasable front drive shaft
cranked watts
HD steering rods and stabilizer
New black headliner
Interior in excellent shape.
No ABS or Check engine lights.

 

Curiosity was getting to me so I pulled the engine back out this morning. The bright side is I'm getting pretty good at it, under 2.5 hours to pull it by myself. Going to borrow an engine stand and open up the bottom end tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully I will see something obviously wrong.

 

Glad to hear you are going to look a little deeper. Don't assume that the machine work was performed correctly. Don't assume anything. You don't know what's wrong so it is invalid to assume you know anything at all. Check everything. Good luck!

 

Got the engine pretty much stripped down to the bare block and still have no clue what could be wrong. All the bearings look brand new, there are no signs of anything making contact, the head gaskets looked perfect. The cylinder walls look almost new. The only issue I see is I am getting more crank end play than the book calls for. The rave calls for .003-.010 and I’m getting about .017. I don’t recall what it was when I first put it together.

 

Any signs of rubbing in the timing cover? Why the end play? Thrust bearing ok? Valvetrain look ok?