2003 F250 diesel 6.0. I spun out on the ice, managed to take the truck from 55 to less than ten when I hit a cliff. Cliff didn’t give. Truck did. Airbags didn’t even go off.
It was pretty obvious that an injector was broken at that point, because of the white smoke. But it wasn’t that bad, so I drove it home. By the time I got it home, the white smoke was a plume.
So I have insurance, had it towed to the body shop, they fixed the bumper and radiator frame, then had it towed to Ford. Ford replaced the #7 injector, but called the body shop to say it has a cracked head.
Truck was driving fine before the accident. No dash lights except a recent fuel/water light before start up.
Kinda depends, but if the injector broke because something smacked it, it would stand to reason something smacked the head as well, potentially causing the crack. From what you’ve posted I would not be comfortable denying the broken head, although it is not something that is usually found to be broken in a wreck. If the crack is at the #7 injector I’d pay that all day long.
Was the radiator itself damaged? The coolant temp sender doesn’t read accurately if it’s dry-- if you lost a bunch of coolant and drove home, you could have overheated the engine without the gauge/warning light indicating it.
So now I know a bit more. Misfire on #3 and #7. They replaced the injector on #7, and it is still misfiring. Now they say maybe a broken ring or a bent rod on #7. Sounds like they don’t know whats up with #3. So Ford says it needs a new engine, which puts the price past the cutoff for totaling it.
I’m new to diesel. Is a cracked ring the same as a cracked head?
A cracked ring is a piston ring, nothing to do with the cylinder head.
If it has a bent rod, the most likely cause is the injector damage allowed oil or fuel (both are supplied to the unit injectors via concentric O-ring connections) into the cylinder which caused hydraulic locking when they tried to start it. They should have turned it over with the glow plugs out several revolutions using a wrench on the crankshaft, then cranked it 10-30 seconds with the starter before putting the glowplugs back in.
Those injectors are tall and hell for stout. I have no doubt I could crack a head by banging on the injector with a big hammer…so yes, whatever broke the injector could have cracked the head.
no, the white smoke was coolant. you wrecked your truck, then by driving it home, wrecked your engine. you’ll be fortunate if your insurer is willing to total it. take the check and run.
diesel engines are largely the same as gas engines, save for the fuel/ignition systems.
I have denied a melted engine because someone drove home from a wreck that clearly crushed their radiator. However, and I don’t mean to go around spreading false hopes:
This is enough to allow me to justify counting the engine damage as part of the accident. Any respectable company will generally err to the benefit of their insured.
My (very small) motorcycle totaled the car of the stupid bitch that pulled into my lane. The damage included a bent frame and a cracked block. It was a pretty nasty wreck.
