Fredericksburg, TX

Monday - A stressful driving day today carefully watching the water temperature, oil pressure, RPM, and engine load while driving to Kerrville, TX. The first shop was an small, independent shop but after they saw the way the engine was mounted in the frame and the very limited access from the top, he decided that he didn’t have the equipment to remove the engine. He recommended the CAT shop. 

So off we went across San Antonio over an hour away to Holt Caterpillar. It’ll be about 2½ weeks before they can even start (hopefully sooner). Based on the symptoms, i.e. pulsing blowby at idle and the volume of blowby, he said that it’s probably one scored cylinder, or a cracked piston, or a broken ring. All require the engine to come out. 

Since the Heui pump, injectors, and water pump have been changed within the last 25K miles, and the glazed cylinders diagnosis from the Albany Cat shop, he suggested that we consider a long block. This would replace the block and all internal components and the head including the valve train. They would just swap the external components from the old engine to the new block. We like this solution as it gets rid of numerous issues and essentially gives us a new engine.

I also mentioned the hydraulic fan motor and cleaning between the intercooler and the radiator. 

We then had to drive all the way back to Fredericksburg where our pet-friendly hotel was located. 

Dinner was at the Hitching Post Steakhouse. This is the chicken fried steak with Hatch chili pilaf and poblano roasted corn. All was delicious and half of it came back to the hotel with us. Right now, I’m exhausted.