Is it worth rebuilding a 1997 DT466E?

[John22]

I have 1997 International 3800 bus that I bought recently. When starting it, the temperature gauge went straight to hot. So clearly the temp Guage is bad. It had some blow by. I drove it about two and a half hours before it blew a head gasket. My question is, is it worth fixing this motor.
Are they reliable? It has 121k miles on it.

[cadillackid]

121K on a 466E? to me its no-brainer to rebuild if you plan to keep the bus and drive it alot.. would be interesting to know why it got hot. as it would happen again if not solved during the rebuild.



if it were mine I'd go rent an engine hoist (to pull the head), and a sleeve puller (rent the right tool rather than klouge it).. and in-frame the engine..


if you must pay a shop to do it then I think it becomes much less desirable to rebuild it. because you can go get another really decent bus for less than wehat a shop would charge to build it..



doing it yourself you are in for a couple grand and have a Good-as-new engine. (pistons,sleeves,valves,bearings, gaskets.. you can send your injectors out to have them tested but at 121k they still likely have some life left in them... if they dont, 250 bucks a piece gets you nice alliance Remans of those..



kind of unusual to blow a head gasket on a DT.. most often coolant in the oil is a Defunct Liner seal (often by Over-temp)..
-Christopher

[jjhwick119]

Diesels can last a lot longer than your normal gas vehicles. My dt466e has 150k on it, and the school district told me later that they believe it was rebuilt 5-6k miles ago. They thought it was original until i picked it up and asked about the remanufactured sticker on my motor

[Mr4btTahoe]

Depends on a few things...


Can you do the work yourself?


How far are you in the project?


How much have you invested in the bus so far?


If it goes to a shop... expect a few thousand for that job. Did coolant mix with the oil? If so.. how long was it driven like that? Coolant contamination can wipe out bearings in a short time.



What caused the HG failure? Overheating? How long was it ran hot?

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by John22

I have 1997 International 3800 bus that I bought recently. When starting it, the temperature gauge went straight to hot. So clearly the temp Guage is bad. It had some blow by. I drove it about two and a half hours before it blew a head gasket. My question is, is it worth fixing this motor.
Are they reliable? It has 121k miles on it.

Yes its worth fixing it.

My DT466 needs about ten grand thrown at it, and its STILL worth it.
One of the most reliable out there. But anything can and will fail eventually with any engine.
Coolant condition needs to be monitored, and they can last a good 300k-500k.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

Diesels can last a lot longer than your normal gas vehicles. My dt466e has 150k on it, and the school district told me later that they believe it was rebuilt 5-6k miles ago. They thought it was original until i picked it up and asked about the remanufactured sticker on my motor

Damn you're lucky.

[John22]

I bought the bus for $1300 so haven't done anything on it yet. I could probably fix it myself. Only trouble is that it's six hours away. It does have coolant in the oil. The temp Guage doesn't work so who knows how long it was ran hot.

[Crlefley]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Yes its worth fixing it.

My DT466 needs about ten grand thrown at it, and its STILL worth it.
One of the most reliable out there. But anything can and will fail eventually with any engine.
Coolant condition needs to be monitored, and they can last a good 300k-500k.

This is interesting... going in deep in 3 weeks.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Crlefley

This is interesting... going in deep in 3 weeks.

Sold the problematic bus to a friend. Who sold it to a diesel guy. Who sold it.
I bought my current bus for $1625. Has less than 100k on the bus and its three times the bus my last one was.

MUCH easier to sell and get a real nice bus. I've reversed direction on that decision to repair long ago!