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Normal Universal Diesel Engine Life is?

newgringo

Member III
Hello all. We have a M25 Universal Diesel with 2600 hours on it which I suspect is the original engine from 1986. It starts and runs well. Doesn't leak, overheat or misbehave in any way and I keep up with oil changes and filters. I'm wondering just how much life is a reasonable expectation for these engines? Comments?
 

ref_123

Member III
From the grape vine...

Our diesel guy once told me that a well-serviced diesel runs for 10K hours without issues. The guy who did my survey said it's 5K before rebuild is needed. So, with trivial math applied, 7.5K hours is when I plan to start worrying about it, unless it breaks before that :).

Regards,
Stan
1986 E32-3 "Fire Eater"
 

Gary Peterson

Marine Guy
Make sure you don't have too much anti-freeze in your coolant mixture. Too much and one might have a Silicon drop out issue that will cause internal hot spots.
Maybe around 3500 - 4000 hours you might have the injector nozzles rebuilt or replaced. A way to check for that is when starting, there is a raw fuel smell with a sheen on the water and an initial engine stumble with some white smoke but clears up.
 

newgringo

Member III
Gary,
So how much antifreeze is too much? Having too much is a new one on me. I have always run a 50-50 mix of the green stuff, just like older cars.
 

Gary Peterson

Marine Guy
50/50 % is fine. Wouldn't go much higher though. I believe most current antifreezes are Silicate free or have a reduced content.
 

mherrcat

Contributing Partner
My M18 has over 2,000 hrs and seems to run fine. Don't know if it has ever had any major service/repairs. I change the oil and filters regularly; probably more often than necessary.
 
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