Well on the way back from a fishing trip my pickup started white smoking a little. When I got home checked the oil,and I burned a gallon of oil in 600 miles and had enough blowby to air up the tires. Pretty sure I broke a ring on number 6. The budget is about $7000 what kinda upgrades should I do while rebuilding it. It is an 04 5.9 Cummins ho bone stock.
Upgrade? Check Engine Light repair...Dip Stick use!
I've got an 05 with the same issue. From what I understand 04.5 and 05 were the worst. Mine trashed #6 BAD and only had two cylinders I'd call good. It would use a quart every tank of fuel. All I did was check and feed cows with it. Got bored one day and pulled the head. One of these days I'll find a motor for it. I'm truck poor anyway. As far as upgrades be darn sure the new motor has the revised pistons. The ringland location is one of the issues with that model motor if I remember correctly. I know a cam wakes them up, head work does too. I like the idea of those because it's an increase in efficiency more than throwing a ton of boost and fuel at it. If you plan to make big power make sure they O-ring the head. There's also a rod upgrade they do using the 12 valve rods. There's always coated pistons and bearings. Search the web and you'll find all kinds of neat stuff. I had priced a tricked out motor for mine and it rang the bell at $12k..... Not gonna happen anytime soon. #6 in mine. Junkyard
head studs, new coated pistons, cam, rods & crank from Schieds diesel, o ringed head with BIG valves, TWINS the list can go on forever!!!! BE WARNED NOW!!!!!
Keep it stock and reliable? My buddy just went through a similar erra 5.9 and it was around 5 grand for parts and machine work. That doesn't give you a ton of room for upgrades.
Don't get carried away with upgrading, like barrelroll said, keep it stock and reliable. It seems that engine has a design flaw where the back two cylinders don't get cooled enough, so if you can remedy that in the rebuild process, cool. I just rebuilt two Cummins 5.9 industrial engines (QSB) and they had auxiliary cooling lines coming out of the back of the head, in place of the rear freeze plug, if it were me I would install something like that but there might not be enough room since its a pickup. $7,000 is plenty to do this job, you could do it for $5,000 or less even. I would help if I could....
parts and machine work are gonna cost me about $2200. got a friend with a machine shop. so far ive order a super b turbo, 60 hp injectors, valaire clutch, head studs, airdog, Hamilton cam, 103 lb valve springs, new tappets, oh and the pistons are coated. stiil have around $1000 in the budget.