Best, Longest lasting Diesel engine on the Planet
 

I've owned a good pile of diesels to this point. So far all have had their positive points. But what is the best put together, most long lasting road size small diesel engine ever made?

Cummins 5.9?
the MB OM 617 N/A?
Something from one of the Asians (Mitsubishi, Toyota, Isuzu, etc)?

I met a guy this week who has 1,600,000 on an International Harvester 7.3 Powerstroke powered F-350 Ford truck. He told me that it has been through 27 clutches in that time period but get this................... ONLY ONE engine overhaul!

Just wondering what other people think on quality diesels made.

OM617 duh!

OM616.... but I'm biased.

Wow, it's nice to hear that something American made has run so well. The IH engine IS American made, isn't it?

Me-thinks that fellow is a wee bit rough on clutches...or he needs lower gears for the work he is doing.

Impressive miles though. Good for him!

He told me the truck (Ford F-350) was his dads who was hauling something (I believe it was livestock) all over the country for several years. Maybe that's why the 27 clutches??? As far as US made, the ones I've worked on had all SAE nuts and bolts so I'm assuming they are US made. I can't imagine IH (an agricultural and over the road company-Navistar) as an import. I know the GM Duramax is an Isuzu. I've heard not so good things of the Duramax. I've also heard good things but of course the good things were out of the GM dealership's employees mouths. As far as word of mouth from truck owners I think the 12 Valve Cummins with bosch P pump (inline like our old MB's) seems to have a good track record (at least from an engine standpoint).

In my thinking
 

You have to take these things you hear, like a million six on an old hard working F350 with only one rebuild, with a grain of salt. Don't believe everything you hear! He says it, he probably believes it, let it go at that.

I agree, that 12 valve Cummins is a good engine, so is the old iron block MB. I would tend toward the 616, its kind of the Jimmy 671 of the "land":D. I do believe the Cummins is the best in the truck world.

Before my present truck i had a 1997 ram 2500 with 715,000 on it, when i got rid of it. still running today over 800,000 no rebuild yet. Like they said P4100 is a CHAMP. plenty of valve cover gaskets and maybe an oil pan gasket in there, to keep the diesel drip to a minimum, but original liners and head gaskets. 100,000 and counting on my 03, its just a babeh.

I had a friend who managed part of an airport shuttle company. They now have sprinters, but before they used Ford Powerstroke vans and he reported many with 400-800k miles with good running engines.

I also knew a guy who did some part time expiditing for a company that used the same Ford vans with diesels and the one he got to use had 800k on it IIRC.

OM617a

to answer this correctly, one would have to have all engines and have identical loads and maintenance done on them. most service fleets receive scheduled maintenance on a rigid schedule. if everybody did the same pretty much all engines would show amazing longevity.
heck, look at my sig... a POS chevy astro van with a v6 small block 4.3 gasser has exceeded 450Kmiles!!! and I did all maintenance on the motor. that motor has gone through 3 starters, 7 waterpumps, an amazing 5 power steering pumps, 6 transmissions, and 17 rear differentials, and nearly 20 door handles... but I can go outside and start it up right now.

Any decent engine will run for a long time if you drive a lot.

I'm partial to Cummins, and as much as I hate them Volvo. I have seen some Volvo's in lobster boats with just insane time on them. One had 30,000 hours.:eek: But they run them every day at steady RPM's, its a duty cycle thats conducive to lasting. Same with cars, you put a 50k-100k highway miles on something a year and it lasts.

I'm thinking power vs reliability vs size vs fuel consumption... its gotta be a 617.95x - turbo 5cyl.

-Parts are cheap and available
-more power than the NA 5cyl
-potentially better economy than the NA 5cyl
-Will not consume and engine bay like any truck-duty 6cyl diesel.
-Runs on just about anything that burns.

no computers (my bias, this costs you power and fuel economy though)

Newer truck/TDI/CDI (ie - computer controlled) diesels are much better in fuel economy and power, but parts prices are through the roof and reliability is still a hit-or-miss issue.

Computer controlled diesels are all much cleaner in the emissions dept.


Feel free to argue, Id like to hear what I am missing. Does the latest Cummins get better than 20mpg ? How expensive are fuel injectors on a Duramax ?

-John

The new 6.7 cummins will get over 20 once the DPF is removed and the regen is disabled.