Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) *53*

[KCraft]

now i might be wrong but ive read alot bout the dreadful 53 block. this might be stupid but where do u find if u have the 53??? and does it effect the 12vs??? #@$%!

 

[dclassens]

Driver side of block, just above oil pan. I have a customer at the shop I work at that has the 53 in a 3500 4x4 CTD. He pulls VERY heavy all the time. It is a logging business and still no issues after 130K. He had the truck for sale. The price was right and I could not pull trigger.



Dave

 

[WPeschel]

now i might be wrong but ive read alot bout the dreadful 53 block. this might be stupid but where do u find if u have the 53??? and does it effect the 12vs??? #@$%!

I was told that it is a problem with the 24 valves not the 12 valves. .

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

There's a number of 53-block 12-valves out there, I own one, but it's the 24V trucks you hear about cracking. Haven't heard of a 12V 53 block cracking yet.

 

[GDMRTN]

A friend of mine has a '96 truck with a 53 block. He told me the other week here that it is in the shop getting replaced. Yep, it cracked.

 

[JHastings]

I have one in my 98. It spent two years of heavy sled pulling with 85-90psi boost. Now I have it with my own twins and it sees 60+ psi all the time with lots of heavy hauling. No problems yet. Knock on wood.

 

[kentdiesel]

Click on thread below, see post #21 for 53 block picture



https://www.turbodieselregister.com...98-5-2002/116737-53-block-99-questions-2.html

 

[QWaller]

A 96 would be the "oldest" 53 I had heard of. My 98 is one and I thought this was the first year of the beast. Learn something new every day.

 

[Hammer]

The 12v "53" block is a completely different part number and different casting than the 24v "53" block. The 24v blocks were thinner above the oil pan rails which leads to them cracking. Although they do crack in our trucks you hear of them cracking in motorhome chassis more often than pickups.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

A friend of mine has a '96 truck with a 53 block. He told me the other week here that it is in the shop getting replaced. Yep, it cracked.

I'm thinking maybe that truck didn't have the original engine?

The 12v "53" block is a completely different part number and different casting than the 24v "53" block. The 24v blocks were thinner above the oil pan rails which leads to them cracking. Although they do crack in our trucks you hear of them cracking in motorhome chassis more often than pickups.

Are you fairly sure about this. . . the 24v & 12v blocks having different PNs makes sense because of the metric threads for the 24V, but I thought they were the same casting. It would be interesting to park a 12v & 24v 53 block truck side-by-side and compare them. Supposedly it was late in the '97 model year that the 24-valve blocks started showing up, but who knows. . .



Vaughn

 

[Hammer]

Vaughn. .

I have seen some crazy stuff over the years that Ma Mopar has done. You would find the majority of the wierd things on the mid-year trucks... ... Andy

 

[GDMRTN]

I wouldn't be sure my friends truck wasn't a late '96 truck. But it's titled as a '96. And as far as we can tell it was original engine. Had mild power gain. Like a super 40 turbo, no plate and timing. But it's a 53 so go figure.

 

[Hammer]

180,000 miles on my 53 in my 98 with zero issues. I have never seen a 53 block in a 12v fail. Now I have seen a 53 block in a 24v fail in both our pickups and motorhomes..... Andy

 

[QWaller]

Yeah I owned a 99 that had a 53 replaced by another 53 at 28k miles. The job was poorly done. The monkeys screwed up the dipstick and it was always a nightmare to check the oil and get the stick back in. Then I lost a cam sensor, then a lift pump. In all that truck left me stranded 3 times. Yada, yada, Made my way back to the 12 valves that I had such good luck with.