The 6.7L grid heater bolt. If you're reading this article, you may have come across this topic from a forum or Gale Banks' Video outlining the issues involved with this seemingly harmless bolt that gives power to the grid heater for cold starts. The problem starts in the electrical connection to the intake grid heater. When you power on the grid heater, 200 amps passes through a small bolt and nut inside of the intake and over time, is known to deteriorate and eventually arc and break off.
If/when this breaks off, the nut will fall into the intake manifold and bounce its way past a valve and into a cylinder where it will bounce around taking out the rotating assembly (piston, head, and valves). This is a catastrophic problem that is actually still being sold (unchanged) on the newest 6.7L’s. By going under the hood and checking the bolt that sits behind the intake horn towards the firewall you can see if it is loose or close to breaking. If it is, get that truck towed to ensure it doesn’t fall in or you will be looking at full engine builds/replacement options.
Replacing it with another OEM one is always an option but there are no updates in the grid heater design, so a failure down the road is still possible. If you live in a colder climate (All of us up here in the Great White North) and want to fix the problem while retaining cold start features would be to get the BD Diesel Killer Grid Heater Upgrade Kit. If you're looking to solve the problem and also improve airflow while doing so, you would want to go with a Banks Monster Ram Intake. Both of these options will eliminate the bolt itself ensuring it’ll never fail again, but we will go over the key-points of each kit below.
BD Diesel Upgrade Kit
BD Diesels option is a cost-effective, simple, yet flawless solution to prevent this catastrophic problem. The Cummins Killer Grid Heater Upgrade Kit will eliminate the problematic grid heater bolt inside the intake while retaining OEM functionality of your heater. This option would for those of you who are wanting a lower priced solution and live in colder climates where you want to retain your grid heater to help on those cold mornings.
Banks Monster Ram Intake Elbow.
The Bank Monster Ram Intake Elbow is an ideal option for anyone who is looking to improve airflow while also eliminating the risk of engine failure (because why wouldn't you want to improve airflow at the same time). Although you are entirely removing the Grid heater with this option, Banks has still kept those of us who live in colder climates in mind by including their exclusive coil heater. This coil heater sits vertically inside the Monster-Ram without hindering airflow, allowing the factory grid heater to be replaced with the Banks High-Flow Billet Plate.
For peak performance, the Monster-Ram includes a custom-machined high-flow billet intake plate. This plate is machined to the optimum thickness and features an oversized inlet CNC port-matched to the Monster-Ram for zero restriction and maximum air density. If you need extra justification for this option, keep in mind that the price still isn't even comparable if you had a catastrophic engine failure.
Summary
At the end of the day, both are going to be reliable solutions that will help you sleep at night knowing you don't have to worry about replacing your engine due to a nut breaking off and bouncing around. If you want a cost-efficient solution, BD Diesel is the way to go. If you want to improve Airflow and performance while resolving the problem, The Banks kit is your fix!
