Catastrophic Engine Failure

[Coloradobus]

Jennifer,

Another thing to look for on the engine is where it was made. We had a 1999 Country Coach Shell called a 2001 with 2 slides by HWH and when you opened the rear engine compartment doors, right on the block we had in raised letters, "Made In Mexico.
Turned out this group of motors were built with solid pushrods, resulting in lack of lubrication. So, at 20,000 miles, we were in for a "top-end Kit with new pistions, pushrods etc on DD's nickel.

Hey with a name such as "Des Beavers" there are 2 Prevost Beavers' out there for sale, and maybe a rd.
That would be Bus 6 on Philcoopers site, 1990, its in Texas
Bus 33 which is 1992 shell so it has the 500 hp 8V like ours, but it titled a 1993 in Pennsykvania
Bus 28 may still be up for grabs as well, with 62,000 miles on it, lives in Albuquerque.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Jenn,

look at it this way.......the chances are remote. It wasn't as though every DD was blowing up so already the odds are in your favor. The one you are looking at has some experience behind it so I would say that improves the chances the engine is perfectly fine (assuming the codes are checked by DD). Is there a risk? Yes. Is it a meaningful risk? Probably not. Can you predict it? No.

When this type of catastrophic failure occurs the problem is internal and mechanical and there does not appear to have been any way to predict which engine had the problem or when it was going to happen. The worst thing that can happen is you end up with a bus with a new engine you paid for out of your own pocket. The best (which is most likely) is you own a coach that will prove trouble free and reliable with 140K miles of its life used up.

[truk4u]

Hey Al,

My post was from 2007, gee, time fly's...

[phorner]

Hey Al,

My post was from 2007, gee, time fly's...

Sure does! That was many, many miles ago.....

[BoaterAl]

I never looked at the date.....

doofus in Missouri

[AmeriStar]

Was the actual cause of the engine exploding ever proven? There was another story about a series 60 blowing apart in the same fashon. Cause was a diesel/gasoline mix. The person this happened to tried to blame the convience store he purchased the fuel from, but the video tape from the pump area proved the bus driver had used the gasoline side of the pump.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

A friend had a new Vantare and he had a catastrophic engine failure, as did our fellow pogger Jeff Bayley. There was a run of Series 60 engines that had pistons fail. Apparently the pistons separated at the wrist pin leaving the connecting rod, the piston skirt and the piston crown loose and free to create havoc inside the block. I saw one such engine at my local DD dealer and the rod had punched a hole in the side of the block.

Detroit had apparently switched vendors on pistons and that was where the problem was isolated. At the time DD stood behind all repairs. I doubt if a low mile 10 or 15 year old coach would get a free engine now, but I also doubt if any coaches in that category will experience that problem because it appeared to show up at an early age. I was told by my friend that when it happened it was sudden, without warning, and kind of noisy.

[Mark3101]

We saw the same thing in Cat C-12 engines. Pin separation due to crack in skirt area. Big bang and blown block. Cat was not nearly as good as DD at warranty / policy adjustments for this problem. They would cover some and deny more. If you had a high horsepower engine, it was likely to fail early in life. Ours were lower HP models and failed much later, but it was the same issue. We were less than impressed with the response.