Diesel engine failure?
I'm considering purchasing a used diesel pusher. I miss the quiet ride with the engine in the rear. I have had three class A motor homes with the 310 HP V10 and they all performed flawlessly. I hav...
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Raising my hand here. Had a 5.9 Cummins and drove it for 12 years.
- Oil in the antifreeze: Seems there's a oil thingy in the water jacket. Shop recommended I ignore. It was just a sheen on the water.
- Killer Dowl pin: Had the potential for it, but close examination of the millions of posts about it, and the listing of serial numbers that might have the problem, since mine didn't seem to be in that listing, I chose to ignore it.
- Downshifting: My '94 36' Bounder with the 4-spd Allison 'dumb' xmission had a mechanical release so if my RPM's exceeded the limit, it would disengage and freewheel. So I could NOT over RPM the engine. I had to step on the brake to keep it below that magic RPM.
- Blown engine: Yes, did have that. At 159,900 miles. In the mountains, snowing, careful and slow driving, climbing a small bump (hill) there, a valve broke off and dropped onto the piston. Slammed the top of the piston pretty good.
Even with the broken valve I limped into town 45 miles away. Cost me $5700.
Sold the rig with 182,000 miles. Still running fine when sold.
What I like about the diesels; I do a lot of remote driving in areas where I'm hundreds of miles from anything and the diesel is pretty much bullet proof. It's easy to figure out what's wrong, and most of the time that's something outside the engine. If it is an engine issue, it will often start and let me limp to where I can get service nearly every time.
- Oil in the antifreeze: Seems there's a oil thingy in the water jacket. Shop recommended I ignore. It was just a sheen on the water.
- Killer Dowl pin: Had the potential for it, but close examination of the millions of posts about it, and the listing of serial numbers that might have the problem, since mine didn't seem to be in that listing, I chose to ignore it.
- Downshifting: My '94 36' Bounder with the 4-spd Allison 'dumb' xmission had a mechanical release so if my RPM's exceeded the limit, it would disengage and freewheel. So I could NOT over RPM the engine. I had to step on the brake to keep it below that magic RPM.
- Blown engine: Yes, did have that. At 159,900 miles. In the mountains, snowing, careful and slow driving, climbing a small bump (hill) there, a valve broke off and dropped onto the piston. Slammed the top of the piston pretty good.
Even with the broken valve I limped into town 45 miles away. Cost me $5700.
Sold the rig with 182,000 miles. Still running fine when sold.
What I like about the diesels; I do a lot of remote driving in areas where I'm hundreds of miles from anything and the diesel is pretty much bullet proof. It's easy to figure out what's wrong, and most of the time that's something outside the engine. If it is an engine issue, it will often start and let me limp to where I can get service nearly every time.
