Hi everyone,
This is a sad post to make as we are unsure where to go forward with this at the moment.
After much work and trying we have now replaced the head gasket and other seals in the engine that should of improved things and followed the guide to the letter with how to do the job.
Before we started the job our cylinders gave us a reading of 350PSI which is on the low side. as per “The minimum pressure spec for a 5.9L Cummins is 350 psi, and in an ideal world, you want all cylinders to read within 10-percent of each other. As a general rule of thumb, most mechanically sound engines will build more than 400-psi per cylinder.”
So with that in mind we was really on the low side of things of the minimum amount of pressure the cylinders should make. and here comes the massive thing. Since we now have put it back together the PSI on one cyclinder that we tested today 20th July 2025 was a brilliant 150PSI so that gives the engine no chance to get running and even if it did it would be a misfire on that one. If that one is bad the others will be too.
Another sign was the exhaust smoke was seen to be coming out of the timing cover. This timing cover was off today to adjust the timing to see if that was the cause of the issues this was what showed the issue. So either we done something on putting back together. however as the number was low to start off with it was pointing to something else.
That leaves us in a rather difficult place of what is the next move to do. We have a few options.
Number 1 is we can either sell the bus for scrap value and move on to something else, Or scrap the bus other have the same result.
Number 2 is we can carry on trying to repair the engine which at this point we be looking at a full strip down to do pistons which is a lot of work and in thoughts is maybe a little too far beyond our capability. If we had someone that could help us and lead the way doing it then it is a way forward.
Number 3 is a replacement engine which we been given a price of £2500 for the engine to be fitted. This although a lot of money seems to be the best way forward and the quickest to get us back on the road.
Even when the engine is sorted and replace we still have a good amount of work to do but it be in sight.