Could anyone let me know what I should expect to pay to have a pair of 8V53 Detroit Diesel engines rebuilt?
Thanks,
Bill
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Could anyone let me know what I should expect to pay to have a pair of 8V53 Detroit Diesel engines rebuilt?
Thanks,
Bill
Most of the "experts" here will say that its around $4-5000.00 per cylinder. Parts these days typically run about + or - $300.00 per kit. Stay tuned as I am sure this thred will get bombarded with varying responses. Labor is what will kill you, depending on space etc. to perform the work in the boat or out.
I'm in shock,...did you say 4-5,000 per cylinder? that's $40,000 per engine, X2 engines, that equals $80,000 is that correct?
The engines are out of the boat and can be delivered to the shop for rebuild.
Bill
Chanticleer
wllmwltn@yahoo.com
My 6V92 kits were around $300 each and the whole rebuild came to around 15K. Mine was a little cheaper than most because I had water ingestion on a 6 year old rebuild. No new hoses were needed as I already had new silicone hoses and constant torque clamps. I also had all new fuel lines so none of that was needed. 3-4K per hole should do a 71 or 92 series. an 8V53 may be a bit less depending on the cost of parts. My parts total was around 3K not including the turbo which I think was around $1500 for a rebuilt one. Everything else was done, blower, heads, new bearings all injectors sent out tested and rebuilt if needed, fresh and raw water pumps rebuilt etc.
Quotes on my 453 engines complete in frame 6-8k. I'm told the 53 series are easier due to the sleeves using Orings to center in the block making assembly easier. The heads on the other hand are 4 valve with very small valves that tend to need reginding if worked hard every 3000hrs with a major in frame every 6000 hrs. So that would work out to $2000 a hole. Heads run about $1100 with a core charge or $1700 with out. The qoutes were assuming replacing the heads.
A friend had to have one of his 6v92s (Hatt 58MY) done a couple of months ago. After they checked it out, he was quoted 26k by a well-known, competent (allegedly) company. He agreed and over a week the mechs pulled it apart, brought in the new kits, began reassembly and THEN, when they were buttoning it back up, found pieces of the main bearings in the oil pan. OOPS...One would have thought that's one of the first things someone would check upon disassembly. ;)
Anyway, they then had to pull the new parts and build a cradle so they could rotate the engine in order to get to the crankshaft/mains. I left the marina at that stage, flying back to Mexico.
They were nice enough - from what I've heard - NOT to charge him for the labor of installing the parts that should not have been installed in the first place but I'm told the rebuild is now up to around 36-38k with the inclusion of the crankshaft work that was not originally planned for. I would have called the crank work "normal" for an engine rebuild but that's just me.
Ya see? These are real world figures, not the numbers that the bookworms and sock puppets here dream about. You are way ahead of the game taking the blocks to a shop for the work. There is no doubt about the quality of the rebuild at that point. Hot tanking alone is worth the weight of the block.
As a new guy here, please feel free to chime in and ad yer $.02 worth. If you do as much as you can yourself, youll save a ton of dough and learn a lot in the process.
You will find a lot of experts here quote from other experts on how stuff should be done. BEWARE! And take a lot with a grain of salt. Youll figure out in short order who to thank and who will make you think (twice I hope!) Now go get yourself a BIG jug of Go-Joe hand cleaner and get to work! ws
I sure am glad I'm not living only on my Social Securety. Boy, ain't this boating fun,..? And cheap too....!!
Bill
Now yer talkin! I do this on a meager pension, so my motto is "I aint cheap, just frugal". Welcome aboard and please, enjoy your boat. So many seem not to be able to these days! ws
Pulled two 4-53t's out and away from anything labeled "marine". Had a diesel farm tractor shop recommended to me and found parts thru a engine machine shop rather that thru Detroit. Took them to the shop during the winter when he was hungry and saved a bunch. Total for rebuild incl kits, injectors, rebuilt turbos (less heads and cranks, they were OK) was under $7k. So had I gone w/ the "professionals" @ $4k/hole I'd be kicking myself.
I have overhauled my 6V53s twice over the years. The last time was was about 8 years ago. I recall that the parts about $5k per engine. I have no first hand information, but I have heard that some 8V53 parts like heads and exhaust manifolds are harder to come by than 6V53 parts. I bought new casting heads with rebuilt valves gear for under $900 each (with core) from DDC when I did my last overhaul. I don't know that new 8V53 heads are available at any price.
8V53's have no turbos and are simpler engines than most other detroits because of that. If the heads are good I have been told $5k from a shop a few years ago. I would be surprised if they could not be done today for less than 9 or 10K. Haul them over to a real diesel shop that does industrial and truck rebuilds and see what they say.
The 8v53 blowers are extremely hard to find. There is a bearing that has is no longer made. The replacement is close but I if I remember correctly it needs an oil hole drilled very carefully into it.
We did ours about 3 years ago. Did them ourselves, you can find a shop to overhaul them very reasonable. There are still a lot of Detroit 2 stroke mechanics out there, parts are cheap, and they are old reliable technology. Find you a good diesel truck shop and they will do it in their sleep. If you want to go the marine route, look for a tug boat company in the area and go talk to their shop guy. He will give you some ideas. The 8v53's are good engines and should not cost an arm and a leg to overhaul. If you want take outs I know there were a couple on the craigslist San Antonio, TX a few weeks back. Also look in Boats & Harbors (classified newspaper) for takeouts or rebuilds.
Here is a place for some harder to find parts:
http://www.dieselpro.com/8v53natural.aspx
If you've read other discussions here on 'rebuilds', you'll find the cost estimates vary dramatically..because some just quote a cylinder kit overhaul...pistons,rings, maybe sleeves, maybe not, valves...others include rebuild of water pumps, replacement injectors, main bearings, blowers, heads, new hoses, and on and on.
If you run your engines 100 or so hours annually (typical recreational time where winter stops boating for part of the year) a thorough rebuild can often be postponed a LOOOOOOG time....so what if you have a little smoke underway....and when you do it, likely a cylinder kit overhaul (cheap) will be good for another 15 or 20 years....but if you run a thousand hours annualy,for example, once the engine is disassembled it probably makes sense to do a more complete "rebuild" because you do not want to have to pay for all the disassembly, reassembly and testing a year or two down the road....
When I bought my former 1972 48ft YF with 871TI's I had both engines disassembled and checked out in detail by the mechanics who did the survey...they found scored liners in the port engine, not previously diagnosed, so naturally I had the sleeves replaced and cylinder kit overhaul....both engines had all water hoses replaced, no tranny oil lines, and heat exchangers and intercoolers tested and acid cleaned...one intercooler (of four) had a tiny leak, it was replaced....that was $1,000 alone in 1999. Neither engine smoked exept at cold start so we decided not to touch the 16 injectors....after 11 years and around 1500 or 1600 hours, both engines were just fine....except for raw water pump rebuilds along the way....
Mose recreational users on this forum, myself included, spend far too much time worrying about rebuilding these old Detroits....and probably not enough time running their engines and enjoying their boats...
Amen
Mine needed overhauling for sure.