Mid 90's DD Series 60 engine defect

[windtrader]

I've held the DD Series 60 in high esteem as a reliable and durable engine and had a coach of the mid 90's vintage on my shopping list. I had never heard about any issues with this engine but found this today from the link in the Angola-Prevost post http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=32488.0. True or not, figured I'd add to the lore of DD here.

If your shopping for a bus in the 94 to 95 year range, understand this new found factoid that I've uncovered. Those early model series 60's engines had a wrist pin defect in them which is why mine failed. Detroit replaced a number of engines evidently for free up to 250,000 miles. Most of these were no doubt commercial trucks since motor homes mostly sit and don't manifest the problem for years. My 94 with only 75k miles as a good example of how this defect has not surfaced for 13 years. I put a posting regarding this issue on this site and John W replied by saying"

........"To the best of my knowledge DD at the time took the position that they would repair or replace only those that failed and not do a recall. I was told by a mechanic if the engine made it to 250,000 miles it was unlikely to fail The problem was the supplier of pistons screwed up." ....... You can find the thread on this by searching for "piston" or go to my profile and search for all post started by me and it will turn up.

You (and anyone else buying) would be well advised to somehow check the serial number of an early series 60 engine with Detroit to see if it fell within the production group that has the problems. In the case of my coach of course, the issue will be solved by either the used engine I've found (2000 model) or a factory remanufactured engine. I supect that there are other coach owners that have this defect surface evntually also.

[luvrbus]

Detroit sent out bulletins and would upgrade the engines the problem was owners ignored the bulletins .The series 60 next to the Cat 3406 was probably 1 of the best engines ever built IMO once they had it straighten out     

[brmax]

There is something about a Mechanic, go figure!
Let me add the recalls that are started :
" are papers filled out by professional mechanics "
These are simply from the mechanics and their inheriant abilites.
The Engineers rely on these professionals, just as their professional Mechanics rely on their abilities, I did and that is all i had for imediate bosses. Honestly the best leaders I could ask for and their were many of that caliber.

Now days retired and or away from both these other Pro's its tough getting this " before tech bulletin information".
Thank you for the tips
In regards sorry to the owners and not enough support to remedy these issues
That sux

Floyd

[windtrader]

From a practical point, here in 2017, this issue is more a historical note than anything else as any Series 60 of that vintage is has been fixed or rebuilt by now.