Engine tearing itself apart!

[Awesomeness]

Hi guys, I had a **** of a weekend a few weeks ago, and I need some help brainstorming what's going on.

I took my LMTV for a drive, about 30 miles on the highway. About 2/3 of the way there, I started smelling coolant. I stopped, and all the water pump bolts had vibrated out, it blew out the gasket, and dumped all the coolant. I got some bolts and a new gasket, filled it back up, and got driving again. I got to my destination, another several miles away, and noticed a strange rattling... the alternator had broke off one of the cast aluminum ears, and the top bolt-on steel L-bracket! I took the alternator off for the drive home. I get several miles home, and it breaks the water pump belt (this may or may not be related, as the belt was so old that I had already bought a new one, which I had with me.) I changed the water pump belt, and got driving. I made it home, only to find it leaking oil! Upon further inspection, the starter has broke off all its bolts and is hanging by the wires, and even broke parts of the housing in the process!

What the ****?

My thought is that there is some kind of monster vibration going on. I don't feel anything inside the cab, really, besides that it's a huge truck with gigantic unbalanced tires to begin with. I can replace the starter and alternator, but I need to figure out what could cause this.

Any ideas?

 

[Awesomeness]

Is it possible this is caused by putting gasoline in, instead of diesel? I'm pretty sure I did not do that, but I'm just grasping at straws. It would have been 25 gallons of gasoline, into 25 gallons of diesel to fill the tank. I didn't notice any black smoke, or other issues.

 

[NDT]

Sounds like some GI was in the process of cannibalizing these parts, or had replaced them and failed to tighten the mounting bolts. Then when you got the truck and inspected it stem to stern you missed all this. My best guess. These Cat engines are not known for shedding accessories at will.

 

[Rene M]

Sounds like some GI was in the process of cannibalizing these parts, or had replaced them and failed to tighten the mounting bolts. Then when you got the truck and inspected it stem to stern you missed all this. My best guess. These Cat engines are not known for shedding accessories at will.

Check the harmonic balancer on the front of the crank. make sure the ring is not coming off. Cats have serious vibration problems.

 

[73m819]

Check your torque converter mounting bolts to the flex plate, OR/AND check for a cracked flex plate, the big unbalanced tires WILL shake the truck apart but NOT the engine, a flex plate issue will, I do not believe this issue has anything to do with someone either loosing or not tightening bolts, a cracked crankshaft could be another cause for the super engine vibration

 

[jimk]

smelling coolant.
water pump bolts vibrated out...
blew out the gasket...
dumped all the coolant...
strange rattling...
alternator broke off...
breaks the water pump belt...
leaking oil...
starter broke off all its bolts and hanging by the wires...
broke part of the housing...

Any ideas?

I got a British vehicle and it does this all the time.

 

[Suprman]

At this point you should change your fan clutch and check your entire driveline for excess play.

 

[scottmandu]

At this point you should change your fan clutch and check your entire driveline for excess play.

A common failure is the slip yokes on the driveshaft. They wear out and the driveshaft starts to wobble.

It's possible that your truck was in the middle of maintenance or repair and the job was rushed when the decision was made to sell it off. I've seen a lot of this happen.

 

[dmetalmiki]

I was also wondering what the balancer pulleys and belts looked like with the engine running.

 

[f8617]

have a CAT mechanic look at it.

 

[Chief_919]

I would strongly suspect driveline vibration. Check you U-joints and slip yoke.

I assume you have checked the motor counts already.

 

[Jbulach]

have a CAT mechanic look at it.