2002 Chevy 2500 Pickup LB7 Engine Rebuild Part 2
If you missed last month’s issue, this LB7 Duramax engine (out of an ’02 Chevy 2500) spent most of its life towing studio trailers in Hollywood. The LB7 went through the usual wear and tear of being an LB7 engine, which included injectors being redone two times before 200,000 miles. The cause of the final failure was loss of oil pressure due to the injectors dumping excess fuel, which caused the oil’s viscosity to thin out. That loss of oil pressure caused the main bearings to wear and led to a complete rebuild of the engine.
Part 1 talked about the block, crank, rods, pistons, and bearings. Now we’re finishing up the engine with the installation of the heads and valvetrain. We did the work with Guy Tripp’s SoCal Diesel, as this is the kind of place you can go for towing or racing applications—it’s a one-stop shop. Guy set us up with engine builder Chris Hicks.
