Anybody have a ballpark on how many hours it should take to pull a cummins engine and replace with another??
This would be for a mechanic with a lift / not a backyard!
Just trying to figure downtime and workload

Thanks!
PS- 03 dodge 2500 4x4

 

It would depend on his ability. Just cause you got tools don't mean you can use them. Also what will the donor engine needs to be ready to go in. Then once in will it actually run. It'd be a wild guess for anyone. Maybe a couple of days. Will he answer his phone every time it rings or stop and deal with someone walking in all the time?

 

What's wrong with your engine?

 

It can be done by one person in two eight hour days give or take a few hours.

 

Its a complete drop in with turbo and injectors / fuel rail to oil pan attached - should be pretty straight forward I hope - me and my mechanic buddy have swapped engines in older trucks in no time at all - this will be our first diesel with quite a bit more to come out -
I am pretty sure my engine has a cracked or broken ring - its got a good bit of backpressure in the crankcase and is pushing smoke and slowly oil out the crankcase vent tube or oil cap if you remove - it has 220,000 miles so even though i didnt get 300,000 miles out of it like i would have hoped i dont think it owes me anything - after looking at options i think a swap is the best because with this amount of mileage the injectors and turbo are probably not going to be far behind needing replaced - mind as well get it all over with at once!

 

Do you know the history and condition of the new motor? A pan can easily be dropped and a new piston slipped in if the cylinder walls are ok. Have you run a compression test yet?

 

well,
working on getting the engine now - i wanted to get a Cummins Recon engine but, my local Cummins dealer says they dont offer my particular engine????? I dont know if hes full of it or what?
I talked to a few people that had the same problem as me and their experiences did not give me a warm and fuzzy about going the repair route. Go something like this..... started off as no problem fixing it and mid stream turned into a monster job - of course already knee deep into the job so you are invested in finishing it now - "for what I spent I could have put a whole new engine in it" I heard quite a few times.

I wouldnt mind putting a new piston/ring in if its that easy - will have to crawl under and see what it looks like

Also, where would i hook in the compression tester - where the injectors go in?

 

Also, I talked to a cummins mechanic and he said almost every one he has pulled down it was the #6 cylinder that had the problem. Anybody know if this is true or not?

 

I'm not sure. In the old days, we'd pull a spark plug and screw them in, but surely, you oughta be able to run a compression test and find out for sure.

 

Here's the first result of a fast Google search for a compression test on a 5.9. it's the tool to do it, and it looks like it'll go right in place of an injector.

http://www.ntxtools.com/network-tool...-TU-15-70.html

With this, it looks like you can use a regualr compression gauge to test a 5.9:

http://www.ntxtools.com/network-tool...-TU-15-26.html

 

To test compression you have pull the injectors. To pull the injectors you up must pull the cross over tubes which requires the truck to sit for a couple of hours so the pressure bleeds off the rail. Be careful not to damage the solinoids on top of the injectors.
#6 and #1 are the pinston that are prone to failure if you have one. The run the hottest usually due to the way the head is designed. You could have a valve guides going out as well causing the blow by as well. If you need something in a hurray with minimal down time, the swap would likely be the fastest with the right equipment. Is is uually a 2-4 hour job to test the compression and you could have the engine ready to pull in that time frame as well. If you find multiple piston problems then better over haul it all IMHO.

 

Mitchell Shop times
16.5 standard trans
14.8 auto
plus 1 hour combinations

 

My train of thought too if your truck makes you money. Keep the old engine and repair it at your leisure and then sell it or save it.

 

TRE Diesel is in VA, Tim Barber, give him a call
he can help you out.

 

Thanks for help!
I will check out TRE Diesel and see if he may be able to help - checked website but it appears to be down for now