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I blew up my Detroit

Vetech63

Vetech63

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The 53 series is a wet sleeve engine. The 71 series is a dry sleeve. The most common coolant failure on the 71's is oring failure on the head gasket or a cracked cylinder head. You can also leak coolant from the injector tubes and the water pump seals. The oil cooler can leak also. Remove the valve cover and see if that engine still has the 2 valve head...........if so you will want to replace it with a 4 valve. OK, its not that necessary to update, but thats what I do when I run across them.
 
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kshansen

kshansen

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Vetech63 said:
The 53 series is a wet sleeve engine. The 71 series is a dry sleeve. The most common coolant failure on the 71's is oring failure on the head gasket or a cracked cylinder head. You can also leak coolant from the injector tubes and the water pump seals. The oil cooler can leak also
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You got all those about covered!

What kind of sucks is the last I knew there was a 4-71 just sitting in a shop up the road. We had rebuilt it to run a portable crusher for the quarry. Trying to remember when that was, possibly in late 1990's, it was used for only a few months then stored in a dry heated storeroom. Every couple years or so I would fire it up and run it for a bit to keep things free. Last time was just before I retired in 2015. Every time if the battery was up it would fire up with only a couple turns of the crankshaft.

This was originally a 2 valve head engine that we converted to a four valve when we rebuilt it for that project. It was also equipped with emergency shut down system as it would be running unattended most of the time.

Originally when new it was the engine in a Northwest crane and when crane was scrapped we salvaged the engine as it still ran. Someone tried to buy it to run a sawmill back around 1999 but the company thought it was worth it weight in gold then it has just set unused since then. For all I know it might have been pushed out the door since the last time I was there about 3 years ago.
 
Rustyfender

Rustyfender

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willie59 said:
It's been years since I've been inside a Detroit, but IIRC correctly, the 53 series had dry liner bores in the block, but the 71 series had wet liners bores at the bottom of the bore, requires an o-ring seal to keep coolant in the water jacket of the block, o-ring failure will allow coolant into the oil pan, fairly common failure of an aged 71 series.
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mountainguyed67 said:
Can you have the title changed now that you know what the engine is?
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I do not know how to do that
 
Rustyfender

Rustyfender

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I will give a report as to what I find out when I get it apart, it is seized now , only ran for about a minute or less.
 
willie59

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Vetech63 said:
The 53 series is a wet sleeve engine. The 71 series is a dry sleeve. The most common coolant failure on the 71's is oring failure on the head gasket or a cracked cylinder head. You can also leak coolant from the injector tubes and the water pump seals. The oil cooler can leak also. Remove the valve cover and see if that engine still has the 2 valve head...........if so you will want to replace it with a 4 valve. OK, its not that necessary to update, but thats what I do when I run across them.
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Thanks for clarifying that Vetech. Like I said, been years since I've dissected a green leaker. :D
 
B

Bluox

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Vetech63 said:
The 53 series is a wet sleeve engine. The 71 series is a dry sleeve. The most common coolant failure on the 71's is oring failure on the head gasket or a cracked cylinder head. You can also leak coolant from the injector tubes and the water pump seals. The oil cooler can leak also. Remove the valve cover and see if that engine still has the 2 valve head...........if so you will want to replace it with a 4 valve. OK, its not that necessary to update, but thats what I do when I run across them.
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DD has not used head gaskets for at least 60 years.
All the water pumps I've seen have 2 sealed bearings on the pump drive shaft and a drain hole between them and the water pump seal.
Bob
 
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S

Simon C

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They had a Fire Ring sitting on top of the liner. They had a lot of coolant and lube O-rings. They had what was called a Quad gasket that went around the whole perimeter of the head and this was held in the corners best with Paper matches bent in half to keep the gasket in place when putting The head down. I did that job too many times to count.
Simon C
 
B

Bluox

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Simon C said:
They had a Fire Ring sitting on top of the liner. They had a lot of coolant and lube O-rings. They had what was called a Quad gasket that went around the whole perimeter of the head and this was held in the corners best with Paper matches bent in half to keep the gasket in place when putting The head down. I did that job too many times to count.
Simon C
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Some DD have 'fire rings ' but they are on the pistons an extra compression ring right below the top of the piston.
There is a liner compression gasket that sits on the liner.
They use a square grommet for coolant and oil passages.
Bob.
 
kshansen

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Bluox said:
All the water pumps I've seen have 2 sealed bearings on the pump drive shaft and a drain hole between them and the water pump seal.
Bob
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True about the drain hole between the seals but around here we have "mud daubers" who like to fill al the holes they can find. Then if the seal on the water side starts to leak the water will push past the oil seal and into the crankcase. Had it happen on Detroit's and Cat's! Wish the engine designers were smart enough to position those drain holes where they were easy to see and clean out!
 
Vetech63

Vetech63

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Bluox said:
DD has not used head gaskets for at least 60 years.
All the water pumps I've seen have 2 sealed bearings on the pump drive shaft and a drain hole between them and the water pump seal.
Bob
Click to expand...
I meant the oring and not a gasket of course....tomatoe...tomato:D
 
Vetech63

Vetech63

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kshansen said:
True about the drain hole between the seals but around here we have "mud daubers" who like to fill al the holes they can find. Then if the seal on the water side starts to leak the water will push past the oil seal and into the crankcase. Had it happen on Detroit's and Cat's! Wish the engine designers were smart enough to position those drain holes where they were easy to see and clean out!
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Yeah, I have found many of those weep holes plugged up with dirt and grime. I wish I had seen this earlier......it would have been best to remove the head first and check for the obvious before pulling the engine completely. Oh well.......lets rebuild that sucker!
 
B

Bluox

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kshansen said:
True about the drain hole between the seals but around here we have "mud daubers" who like to fill al the holes they can find. Then if the seal on the water side starts to leak the water will push past the oil seal and into the crankcase. Had it happen on Detroit's and Cat's! Wish the engine designers were smart enough to position those drain holes where they were easy to see and clean out!
Click to expand...
You do know what a sealed bearing is right?
Bob
 
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