Hey, do any of you guys have any advise as to when to re-build your engine? What are the miles your re-building your 12 valves? What signs do you start to see? How much does it cost? I have 210,000 miles on my 97 dodge and it's not smoking or burning more oil but how many more miles am I good for?

 

first I am sure your engine is ok , if not , you need to record your oil use , then take the truck to your local Cummins shop and have them do a complete dyno run with blowby testing and go from there ,

 

I had over 250000 when I sold my 95' 2500 ctd my dad currently has over 450000 on his ctd dually and I almost bought a 96 2wd 2500 ctd with over 630000 on same engine

 

I think rebuilding your engine is the least of your worrys. Had a 95 with over 300k on it and still handn't started using oil.

At 200k its just broken in..


Jason

 

i know 200,000 isn't much but very soon 300 and 400,000 will be at my door. i now have 210,000 miles and average over 100 miles a day 7 days a week

 

I wouldnt even think about touching it until at the least 300k unless there was a problem.

 

Make a blowby tool as I outlined here
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...threadid=42528

Measure your blowby every 50k and multiply out the increase per check till the number becomes excessive.

When a well maintained engine needs rebuilding it starts losing low end power first, depending on the type of use around 300k.
Lots of cold starts, extended idling and short trips will decrease this number, long hauls increase it.

 

I was thinking that the Cummins isn't even scheduled for a tune up till 300K (correct me if I'm wrong). Wouldn't think it would need rebuilt till way after that. I have 260K on mine and I think it may be running better than ever. Ok so maybe my sig will better explain why it's running better . Have a bet going with my mechanic friend as to how long it will run before something blows up . I think it will be a while, or at least I hope so.

 

What's a tune up on a diesel engine?