Newer diesels... the good, the bad, and ugly?

[musigenesis]

For work I drive a two year old C2 with a DD5 engine with DEF. Normally it gives off no smell at all, but when it gets to needing a regen it smells very strongly of oatmeal.

[fo4imtippin]

5.9 is still more reliable. Those regens have more issues. The common rails also are more prone to issues as well than an old mechanical injector.


I was wondering about this lately too, and I have been reading a lot about the dodges. I think Cummins has taken a dive as well no longer striving for "million mile" engines. Many parts have had quality reduced since I think their counting on the electronic parts failing way sooner. Example is that their new water pumps are now plastic impellers and they used to be metal. Same with belt tensioners and other parts.

[cadillackid]

personally i like the 6.7, however it des have a lot more complexity to it than the 5.9 whuch in and of itself gives you more failure points.. newer engines or newly rebuilt engines often smell less.. they are burning clean and efficient compared to one that may be heavily worn..



if you are smelling exhaust while driving your 5.9 then theres other problems.. exhaust leaks, improperly routed exhaust pipes... etc.. fix those issues...


if you are just smelling exhaust while idling then it shouldnt matter unless you are planning on idling your bus all the time...

[ori_hab]

I don't smell exhaust while driving, but my wife while in the bed in the back (who admittedly has the nose of a bloodhound) smells exhaust sometimes while we drive.

My bus body isn't 100% sealed for sure.. I have holes on the sides where the rear heater hoses went in and out of the bus (now its my hot water lines and some electrical from the bus battery), and also my rear door isn't 100% sealed, I saw a small hole where the door closes which definitely couild be re-gasketed. And also the holes in the floor (covered with vinyl flooring but no insulation) I didn't reseal when I took out the benches (I did a fast and dirty build).

But yes, also while idling, which I definitely do only very little.
But also the bus is quite noisy while driving, for all the above reasons, which is reasonable because its a 2003 bus.

And I found an awesome 2014 bluebird, with even 1" of added headroom relative to mine and a couple feet shorter, which I would love to upgrade to, I love the idea of driving a more modern bus. But my 5.9 has been bulletproof and everyone who looks at it tells me its awesome, and I'm nervous about running into expensive breakdowns, which I could avoid by keeping my tc2000.

Thoughs?

[cadillackid]

if the 2014 bluebird is on a government surplus auction site i would be very leery of it.. as its highly unusual for a school to get rid of an 8 year old bus (unless its been a money pit, previously wrecked, flood damaged, etc).. if its at a dealer then it could be a lease return or such which is more reasonable..


any diesel engine you run the chance of having exhaust smell inside.. esp at the back.. you might be able to alleviate it a bit by doing side exit exhaust.. but all modern diesels will go through re-gen to the DPF at some point and the smell is strong then.. most do it while driving, occasionally you have to do one while parked but not often.

[EastCoastCB]

I'd take a well sorted older bus over a brand spanking new 2023 one.