Attention: TDR Forum Junkies Greetings to all Dodge truck fans from my Northern Ohio home. My career as a school bus mechanic led to the recent purchase of my first (indicating there will be further) Dodge Diesel. 
I stumbled upon the TDR while in search of technical info about my truck. For the past three weeks I have learned quite a bit from the 1st Gen. Forum. The Dodge Diesel is all new to me and would like to learn all that I can about these wonderful machines.
During my years as an oil field technician I had the opportunity to care for a large fleet of over the road trucks, pickups and oil field service equipment. The trucks ran cummins 855 and n14 engines, the pickups were all Ford with the power stroke Diesel and the oil field engines were all Detroit Diesel two-strokes ranging from the 6-53 to the 12-149. That's 149 cubic inches per cylinder.
These engines produced 1,200 plus h. p. on the test stand. They are used to power a large piston pump through a five speed auto. Was I surprised to find these engines hold 55 gallons of engine oil. What a mess that first oil change was!:{
My experience up to that time was exclusively with the Ford power stroke diesels. I was given a new 1997 company truck and was a big improvement from the old 7. 3. Not too long after these truck were in our fleet operations the problems began. The engine belt would not stay on, the flywheel would self destruct and the front auto lock hubs were broken among other defects. The injectors gave problems, the fuel filters leak fuel onto the clutch and the transfer case gave problems. The injector problems seemed endless!
The school bus fleet I now care for consists of 27 busses here at Crestview local and I am the only mechanic. Most all these units are powered by the 5. 9 engine. Upon taking charge of this fleet I was surprised to learn that this is the same engine in the Dodge trucks. It's strange to think that the 5. 9 will run circles around the much larger Dt466 powered busses. The big surprise I have learned over the past few years is the strange fact that these engines require little or no repair. These engines range from the 89 model to the 2002 model ISB. With little to no problems encountered using these engines I was inspired to change from the Ford to a Dodge.
I have been told that the cummins 5. 9 cylinder heads are weak. I have had to replace only one and this bus we purchased used with 9,544 hrs of use, so who knows what care it was given over the years. Upon teardown the cylinder walls still have the cross hatch pattern in them and no ridge at the top of the cylinder walls. It now has 9,700 plus hrs and counting. This engine has the original VE pump.
The ISB engines are known for three problems. Bad thermostats, leaky front cover and weak lift pump. I have also been told the alternator mounting is weak and can fail allowing the alt to contact the oil filter. I have experienced only one out of my large fleet, the lift pump. These electric lift pumps can fail without warning. I have seen them run over 100,000 miles and as few as 15,000. When they go it can damage the UP44.
I'm very impressed with my recent purchase. It seems much stronger than the Ford power stroke even with 167K miles. The front suspension is very tight and have found very few problems with the truck. My water in fuel light came on the second day of ownership and draining the water was to no avail. I changed the filter and found it to contain dark brown sludge. Will change it again prior to trip to West Virginia. I have changed all filters and fluids along with installation of the new 3. 5" chrome exhaust system. I seem to have misplaced the muffler in the process. I'm surprised to learn what people are doing to achieve higher h. p. levels from these engines. Mine goes like greased lightning as is, 100% stock. I probably won't pull much with this truck other than a grain cart for the neighbor's farm. Will be interested to learn how well it does with a load behind.
I work 1. 3 miles from my home and don't get to run the truck much other than on the weekends. It drives great with some small problems encountered like wind noise (had to adjust the door to seal the weatherstrip) and the horn doesn't work (no ground through the steering column). My wife arranged to have a spray-in-liner installed in the Dodge for my birthday. The former owner had the hard plastic setup and resulted in the paint worn off the inside of the bed. I also chucked the factory wheel covers and installed new stainless Budd covers as used on the dually trucks. It's been a fun three weeks and the best part of it all is the sound. I don't want a quiet diesel. Have you heard the new ISB? As a side note, I've been told I can no longer get my new busses with a cummins. Have to switch to cat power. More about that later.
I stumbled upon the TDR while in search of technical info about my truck. For the past three weeks I have learned quite a bit from the 1st Gen. Forum. The Dodge Diesel is all new to me and would like to learn all that I can about these wonderful machines.
During my years as an oil field technician I had the opportunity to care for a large fleet of over the road trucks, pickups and oil field service equipment. The trucks ran cummins 855 and n14 engines, the pickups were all Ford with the power stroke Diesel and the oil field engines were all Detroit Diesel two-strokes ranging from the 6-53 to the 12-149. That's 149 cubic inches per cylinder.
These engines produced 1,200 plus h. p. on the test stand. They are used to power a large piston pump through a five speed auto. Was I surprised to find these engines hold 55 gallons of engine oil. What a mess that first oil change was!:{ My experience up to that time was exclusively with the Ford power stroke diesels. I was given a new 1997 company truck and was a big improvement from the old 7. 3. Not too long after these truck were in our fleet operations the problems began. The engine belt would not stay on, the flywheel would self destruct and the front auto lock hubs were broken among other defects. The injectors gave problems, the fuel filters leak fuel onto the clutch and the transfer case gave problems. The injector problems seemed endless!
The school bus fleet I now care for consists of 27 busses here at Crestview local and I am the only mechanic. Most all these units are powered by the 5. 9 engine. Upon taking charge of this fleet I was surprised to learn that this is the same engine in the Dodge trucks. It's strange to think that the 5. 9 will run circles around the much larger Dt466 powered busses. The big surprise I have learned over the past few years is the strange fact that these engines require little or no repair. These engines range from the 89 model to the 2002 model ISB. With little to no problems encountered using these engines I was inspired to change from the Ford to a Dodge.
I have been told that the cummins 5. 9 cylinder heads are weak. I have had to replace only one and this bus we purchased used with 9,544 hrs of use, so who knows what care it was given over the years. Upon teardown the cylinder walls still have the cross hatch pattern in them and no ridge at the top of the cylinder walls. It now has 9,700 plus hrs and counting. This engine has the original VE pump.
The ISB engines are known for three problems. Bad thermostats, leaky front cover and weak lift pump. I have also been told the alternator mounting is weak and can fail allowing the alt to contact the oil filter. I have experienced only one out of my large fleet, the lift pump. These electric lift pumps can fail without warning. I have seen them run over 100,000 miles and as few as 15,000. When they go it can damage the UP44.
I'm very impressed with my recent purchase. It seems much stronger than the Ford power stroke even with 167K miles. The front suspension is very tight and have found very few problems with the truck. My water in fuel light came on the second day of ownership and draining the water was to no avail. I changed the filter and found it to contain dark brown sludge. Will change it again prior to trip to West Virginia. I have changed all filters and fluids along with installation of the new 3. 5" chrome exhaust system. I seem to have misplaced the muffler in the process. I'm surprised to learn what people are doing to achieve higher h. p. levels from these engines. Mine goes like greased lightning as is, 100% stock. I probably won't pull much with this truck other than a grain cart for the neighbor's farm. Will be interested to learn how well it does with a load behind.
I work 1. 3 miles from my home and don't get to run the truck much
other than on the weekends. It drives great with some small problems encountered like wind noise (had to adjust the door to seal the weatherstrip) and the horn doesn't work (no ground through the steering column). My wife arranged to have a spray-in-liner installed in the Dodge for my birthday. The former owner had the hard plastic setup and resulted in the paint worn off the inside of the bed. I also chucked the factory wheel covers and installed new stainless Budd covers as used on the dually trucks. It's been a fun three weeks and the best part of it all is the sound. I don't want a quiet diesel. Have you heard the new ISB? As a side note, I've been told I can no longer get my new busses with a cummins. Have to switch to cat power. More about that later.
Welcome Greenleaf, it's great to know there are so many folks with experience and background with our engines with TDR. Good to hear so many confirming stories about the value of running the 5. 9L. 
