Just doing a little analyzing on the bad 53's - trying to see if there is any correlation between plant and cracked block. If you have had a cracked 53, please let me know where your truck was made.

If the results point to one plant or another, 1/2 of us might stop worrying about it.

Thanks,

-Vic

 

believe it or not the Mexican blocks are the good ones.....

Mines a 01 with a 53 (St Louis)

 

So why is the Mexico block better? My truck was made in Mexico so I would assume the engine was to.

 

and whats a "bad 53"

 

No....the engine is built on a Cummins assembly line (in Illinios I believe).

The blocks were cast in various places. The #53 is the Brazilian casting....#55 and others were Mexican castings.

Whats wrong with a #53?? The casting on the water jacket is half as thick. 6 mm as opposed to the usual 12mm. The blocks tend to crack right along this thin casting - usually in heavily bombed or heavily worked trucks. U are screwed if you are out of warranty.

 

I wonder if thats why my truck had a brand new motor in it when I bought it. The truck had less then 50k miles on it and a motor with less then 1000miles on it. It was replaced under warrinty but I dont know why. It pays to know the service manager at a dealer Even got the name/address of previous owner. Maybe I should swing by and see what the deal is.

 

So how can I tell what block I have?

 

Driver side of the engine, right above the oil pan, underneath the injector pump.

There'll be a big casting number (53, 55, etc) and a bunch of littler numbers.

Easiest seen from the wheel well, looking up.

Highly unlikely your 2002 has the 53.


phox

 

mines on the passenger side....

 

Did a quick search, just to make sure I wasn't giving false info,
and all previous posts about the 53 say to look on the driver side, under the VP44.

Maybe your engine was installed backwards?

Or, perhaps the casting is on both side, just more easily accessible from the drivers side?


phox

 

No wonder I have 5 reverse gears and 1 forward

Actually, its a Canadian block - thats why its backwards.

 

not always true.....I helped a customer gather info on his cracked 53 and DC reimbursed him for the repair. It was a 99 truck, no bombs, with 150K+ on it.

 

wow.....never heard of that. Id say he was pretty lucky. Stamey had a pretty good fight and he was JUST over 100k.

 

My 53 block 98.5 was made in St. Louis and the "53" was above the oil pan on the front drivers side below the VP44............the truck has 307,000km and it has had no internal engine problems.

 

I have the dreaded "53" block and was wondering if anyone has had a crack welded? I know its cast iron and not the easiest to weld but it seems if the crack is grooved and welded properly it would be a strong repair. I personally think the fear of the 53 block is over rated as I was told from a Cummins rep that only about 10% of the blocks actually crack. I know it came from a rep but with all of the 53s out there a whole bunch of them are still on the road. I think we are lead to beleive if you have a 53 it WILL crack.