Head gaskets causing injector failures?

[lmorris]

I have an F550 that needs a short block due to a dead miss with excessive blow-by and low compression on one hole. I haven't torn into it yet but I suspect a melted piston, mainly because of the rhythmic puffing coming from the oil filler.

 

Another Ford dealer told the owner that a failed head gasket will damage injectors which in turn melt the piston. 

 

Has anyone ever heard of this before? 

[Keith Browning]

I have yet to see a bad head gasket in a 6.4L but I have seen a lot of fuel injectors go bad, usually from fuel quality issues. How will a bad HG cause an injector failure anyhow?

[Matt Saunoras]

which hole if you don't mind me asking?

[Mikill]

Headgasket failure would not cause this. I only seen one head gasket failure on a 6.4 by the way.

 

More than likely overfueling injector melted piston which was probably caused by overfilled crankcase. I haven't seen one in a couple years but I'm sure it still happens.

[lmorris]

I haven't gotten into this one too much yet. It doesn't smoke when running, just has the dead miss, forget what cylinder but will update when the engine gets in. The oil level is normal, but the oil condition is not good. I am really questioning the the whole head gasket failure though, maybe that is why the truck came here instead of being fixed by the dealership that it first went to.

[lmorris]

 

As you can see #8 is suffering from a major case of "broken". Head looks good, rocker tips are worn. Injector tip and glow plug look good, but I will be replacing both on #8. 

 

Any ideas,other that a leaking injector, that may cause this? 

[mchan68]

 

As you can see #8 is suffering from a major case of "broken". Head looks good, rocker tips are worn. Injector tip and glow plug look good, but I will be replacing both on #8. 

 

Any ideas,other that a leaking injector, that may cause this? 

The last one I had, cylinder #8 connecting rod was 's' shaped, likely due to the obvious horizontal cooler failure that one had also suffered. It sure put a nice deep gouge on the cylinder wall as well.

[lmorris]

Coolers are good on this one. Piston is above deck height, but not as much as it should be. Most likely wrist pin holes in piston are damaged. Cylinder wall is scored on the side where the piston has the big hole.Very little metal in the pan, other than the piston pieces. I am hoping it was an injector issue. Most fluid ingestions end up with the most common  bent rod and not this type of failure.

[Aaron]

Brad had a really good picture of protrusion to identify a bent rod before removal of the rod/piston assembly. I think it's on his photo post on this site.

 

Look under Brad Clayton

[Brad Clayton]

[Aaron]

Thanks B-rad!