What is a Truck Engine Overhaul?

Occasionally, when you visit your mechanic for an engine check-up, they will advise you to perform an engine overhaul. Engine overhaul is dismantling the entire engine and assessing each part inside the engine. Hearing this term for the first time might a little bit stress you and make you start to think a lot. What will your mechanic do during this process? They will keenly remove your engine and open it. As they do this, they will check the condition of the piston rings, bearings, gaskets, camshaft, and cylinder. If they note a problem with any part, they will replace it. Your mechanic will also remove the carbon build-up on the surface of the engine. Too much carbon build-up reduces the performance of your truck. Sometimes the piston rings might be loose, making the piston not properly seal on the cylinder wall, engine overhaul corrects this.

Types of Engine Overhaul

We have a top and full engine overhaul. The two categories result from how they are done.

Top Overhaul

When performing this engine overhaul, your mechanic will not remove the entire engine from the bay, but they will only open the upper part of the engine. The top overhaul will fix problems related to the cylinder and gasket heads, rocket arms, screws, cylinders, valve seat, and valves. 

Full Overhaul

When doing this, your mechanic will extract the engine from the engine bay. Conducting a full engine overhaul consumes more time and requires a lot of labor. When done, your mechanic will be able to notice hidden issues with the engine of your truck. Parts such as the timing belts, bearings, engine block, crankshaft, piston rings, and rods might be replaced if found faulty.

Signs that Your Truck Requires Engine Overhaul

Your truck might need an engine overhaul if it has served you more than ten years or covered a lot of mileage. You will experience some signs that signal that an engine overhaul is inevitable.

Weird Sound From Your Engine

A healthy engine produces a typical sound when ignited. If the sound becomes weird or strange, your engine might be loose, have cracks, or even worn out. However, if you hear a knocking sound, check the clearance between the piston and the crankshaft, it might be broad. If the pistons break, you will hear a rattling sound.

White Smoke From Your Exhaust

When the oil, fuel, and oxygen mixture burns in the cylinder, a cloud of white smoke will come out. The smoke is a sign that your piston rings do not function properly. In the morning or rainy weather, your truck might produce white smoke from condensed water in the exhaust.

Black Smoke From the Exhaust

If your truck constantly produces black smoke, the intake valve and the pistons might be full of carbon. The carbon comes out through the exhaust when you press the accelerator pedal, which might choke your engine and block effective fuel combustion.

Conclusion

Truck engine overhaul solves problems related to various engine parts like the piston rings, the cylinder, gasket heads, engine block, crankshaft, and camshaft.

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