Quote:
Originally Posted by mustangbebo
Thanks! I was thinking that maybe it wasn't original because when they opened up the engine cover, the engine was all one color (orange-red color?) and wasn't sure if it was a protective coating, or meant something else?
|
Steam Jennys and powerwashers have been dubbed "the 30-minute overhaul" by flippers, and rattle-can spraypaint comes in so many colors the color really doesn't tell you anything other than it may have been repainted. It's simple enough to powerwash and repaint an engine to clean it up. And most people gussying up a vehicle in such fashion don't generally concern themselves with matching paint colors.
Just because the paint used is Mopar orange, Cummins red / beige, Caterpillar yellow or something close to it doesn't turn a MaxxForce into a Cummins, or Cummins into a Caterpillar. And getting the year wrong doesn't turn a 6.7 into a 5.9, or vice versa.
The only way to truly identify the engine and to know if it is correct and original to this vehicle is to get PICTURES of THE ENGINE. Cummins offerings generally give themselves away from the rocker cover design, others generally have little differences that readily identify them if you know what to look for.
A true 2009 model would have a DPF in the exhaust system, POSSIBLY a Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) aftertreatment fluid fill tank. The other possibility is that the bus in question really does have a factory 5.9, but someone got the year wrong. When dealing with flippers selling multiple vehicles, it is very common to get one vehicle's info mixed up with another. A member here was hoodwinked on Public Surplus because some moron got the info for a Gillig of unknown year mixed up with the info for the 1995 Blue Bird they were interested in.
Pics showed a Gillig, but the VIN decoded right. And the VIN is what the member bid on. Of course, the selling agency cried foul when they realized their own mistake had cheated them out of their desired reserve, and the sale was cancelled for relisting, but I have seen this work the other way around when I bought a vehicle based on incorrect information.
Point is, if there's one thing I've found, is that people do not pay attention, and this means that most get model years and engine displacement wrong all the time, simply because they can't be bothered to take the time to think long enough to get things right... often with "Beavis And Butt-Head"-like results, as shown here:
Attention to detail. It can mean the difference between helping your uncle jack off a horse, and helping your uncle Jack, off a horse. See what I mean? However, such half-*ssed, "close-enough", "whatever" thinking is encouraged by most in today's society, until it personally inconveniences them or hurts / kills someone, ONLY THEN do they want to know why.
Perfect example (and this got a bit longer than I planned, but to prove my point). I once worked at an Auto Zone. Store was open from 7 or 8 am to 10 pm. We generally had a stack of returned parts taller than any of the employees by about 6 pm. This was because most parts store counter monkeys know nothing about vehicles and don't really care whether the customer gets what they need. if the computer can't pull it up, it isn't worth knowing and 99.9% will argue with the customer, who quite often knows their vehicle better than they do.
A fellow came in looking for a water pump for his 1990 Caprice. GM was known for sticking whatever engine in whatever car back then. For example, Chevrolets with Olds engines, Oldsmobiles with Chevrolet engines, Cadillacs with Olds and Chevrolet engines. In short, just because you bought a particular division's offering of a vehicle didn't mean the engine was a product of that division.
Most anyone there would have simply given them a water pump for a Chevrolet engine, rushed him out of there, and on to the next customer. I asked which engine he had, (four options, one V6, three V8s), and he only knew it was a V8. Knowing certain details of GM manufacture as I do, I asked questions to narrow down which one he had, and it turned out he had the 5.0L Oldsmobile, also known as the gutless wonder 307 -- NOT a Chevrolet engine, which shared ZERO common parts -- even the carburetors were different because the fuel line feed was angled differently on the Chevy vs the Olds.
So, if I had done like the others, this man would have returned that day or the next, angry he had not been given the right part(s). Are we seeing yet why our return stack was so massive so early in the day? The man was so impressed that I knew what I knew, that I wound up turning a $30 water pump sale into about $85-$95 worth of extra stuff by simply recommending it since the coolant would be drained anyway. And none of it was unnecessary, just little things that made sense for a then-10-year-old car with unknown history.
Here's the kicker. I was pulled aside later and chewed out for taking too long with customers. Guess what happened two weeks later? A rather interesting letter from corporate, and a customer, arrived within four days of each other.
A few weeks earlier, I had noticed a gentleman hanging around the counter that everyone else seemed to be avoiding, so I asked if I could help him. He said he wasn't sure, so I asked why. He was stuck in our parking lot with a seized wheel bearing on a trailer, bringing his vacation to a halt on a 95-degree day with three children, the dog, and the wife in the SUV the trailer was attached to. Textbook definition of anywhere from hell to purgatory.
Unfortunately, the trailer was not a 'plug-and-play' application that could be looked up in the computer, so the other idiots there were useless to him. We had a rather large selection of bearings and seals that rarely sold, but the failed bearing he had removed was chewed so badly the part number was obliterated. Even though it was more of a pain in the *ss to him, I suggested he remove the good bearing from the other side, which would still have a legible part number, as it was highly likely we had what he needed, we just needed to identify which bearing set he needed. Even lent him the jack from my car to raise the other side, as the only one he had was already supporting the trailer on one side.
Boom. We had six sets, and he was back on the road in 45 minutes. He was so impressed I actually took the time to use my head for something besides a hat rack, and so happy that I helped him save his vacation from ruin, that he wrote the store manager, and corporate, who had forwarded a copy of his letter and their subsequent commendation of my customer service efforts.
However, I was fired and flagged as no-rehire within a month because the manager still felt I was taking too long with customers, when I was obviously the only one there who got things right the first time. I actually had people asking for me by name because they didn't trust anyone else to get them the right parts. I don't know about you, but if I need parts for my vehicle and someone gives me the wrong parts because management won't let them take the time to get it right, I'm not going to waste my time going back to that store after I return the parts that weren't right.
I was actually chewed out (at length) by one man who'd driven four hours from the other end of the state because he'd been told we had a part that we didn't have, because someone did not pay attention to which engine he had. Fortunately, another place nearby had what he needed. I have to wonder if the customer hadn't simply gotten confused about which store told him they had it -- though I certainly wasn't going to tell him that. Ever try to baptize a cat? Similar results.
But I digress. Point is, never assume anyone knows what they are talking about until they prove it. If my experiences in life have taught me anything, it's that 99% of the time, 99% of people are full of s--t and don't know their *ss from a hole in the ground. And what's worse, they actually believe they know everything and will never admit they might be / are wrong, even when they admit they themselves do not know, but their Johhny Jack*ss buddy around the way told them so, or made a lucky guess last week, so, hey, it must be gospel, right?
Linear Mode
