Have you ever worn out an engine?
I read recommendations made about the value in changing oil. I have been operating roughly 20 diesel engines at a time over the last 30 years. Some are 40 years old and still running. I have a Cat C15...
Forum Discussion
carringb wrote:
2003 F650 5.9L 24-valve cummins. Originally 240 HP but had 60 HP injectors added. First piston had to come out at ~290,000 for broken rings. At 330,000 several more broken rings could be heard, and it had very excessive blow-by. Engine was pulled at 350k and sent to Portland Engine Rebuilders for full reman.
The engine spend much of its life idling, and that particular truck was geared very low. 75 MPH would put the engine at redline, so it spent most of its miles at a much higher RPM than most Cummins run at. After the rebuild, the ECU was re-programmed to include a 55 MPH governor. This is expected to allow a much longer service life. Also, the company changed to a no-idle policy whenever the hydraulics are not needed.
Also, dry weight of that truck was 16,000 pounds. Typical weight was 20-26,000 pounds and for a few runs I've been over 40,000 pounds.
Oil was changed every 7500 miles. Being the MDT version of the 5.9L, it held about 5 gallons of oil, so I don't think more frequent oil changes would have helped. Oil was Delo 15w40.
Running on the governor is common for a Cummins 5.9 in commercial use. 2400RPM at 65 isn't unusual...ditto for the 6.7 ISB. I looked at a couple of buses with 5.9's...most were geared to run ~23-2500 at 65. In commercial use, a MDT diesel will USUALLY redline around 75.
