[Mike]

I'm new to the Newell world and just started my research on purchasing one in the 84 to 89 year range. One thing I find disconcerting is that so many coaches with under one hundred thousand miles have had rebuilds on engines that should last "forever."  I surmise that an engine in a coach that is ten to fifteen or twenty years old or older and has under one hundred thousand miles on it must have just not been used enough. These same engines are designed to go close to a million miles.
What's up with that? 

[whatsnewell]

Many of the Classics have Detroit Diesel Series 92 engines in them. They are quite adverse to overheating, which I believe has been a common source of damage. Inexperienced owners tend to operate them in too high a gear range when climbing long grades......I have learned from others that when climbing long grades to keep the transmission in a gear that I can keep the RPM's at, or near red line. Since these same coaches all have rear facing, belt driven fans the higher the RPM's the more coolant is circulated keeping the engine cooler. I suspect, as you mentioned, that another problem is letting them sit for long periods of time without operation.....mechanical things need to be used. I have 156,000 miles on my 6V92 and it runs like a top. Since I purchased my 1982 in 2008 I have put 53,000 of those miles on myself. There are a lot of things you can do to ruin a Series 92 engine, or any diesel for that matter.....letting them idle for long periods of time is damaging to any diesel. Failing to use the proper oil in a Series 92 causes damage......should always be using a single grade 40 wt, not multi-grade.......using wrong coolant causes damage, etc. Of course, you can do everything right and still have engine failure......they are, after all, mechanical things made by human beings.

[Fulltiming]

Clarke has given a very good explanation. Most of the rebuilt engines I ran across were from overheating. Failing to replace old water hoses can also lead to a catastrophic failure if one breaks while climbing a hill. Lack of maintenance and lack of knowledge of how to drive a Detroit 2-stroke are the two primary causes but stuff does happen occasionally even when you are doing everything right. My 8V92TA has over 171,000 miles and is running fine.

[Mike]

Thank you for your comments. I spoke with Todd at Newell's service center and he suggested that many of these comments from sellers might be because they are trying to assure potential buyers that their engine is in good condition because it was rebuilt. He stated that he didn't know of any Detroit engines that had been rebuilt on any coaches that keep up to date with his shop. He mentioned that a couple of Cat engines needed head gaskets replaced but never a Detroit. Of course anything can happen to any mechanical item but that was a pretty good recommendation of Detroit engines for my purposes.

If anyone knows anyone interested in selling a '84 to '89 Newell have them give me a call 737-303-4838. Thanks, Mike

[encantotom]

the 2 stroke detroits ran for zillions of miles in over the road buses and trucks. the rear radiators in the newells for that vintage with direct drive fans were/are not as efficient at cooling as a radiator in the front of the truck and or a hydraulic driven fan that is not variable with engine rpm.

i have had a 2 stroke diesel and now a series 60. i do worry less about temps with the series 60 but i did learn how to drive my 2 stroke correctly as well.

i would not be afraid of a rebuilt 2 stroke detroit.

btw, you can put a deep engine scanner on the 8v92 (the later ones with DDEC) and look at all the past codes to see if it has been overheated.

tom

[Mike]

Tom,
Thanks for the information.
I'm still shopping and hope to be a knowledgeable Guru when I grow up.
I have posted at the Coaches for Sale forum thread that I am looking for an '84 to '89 Classic Newell.
If anyone who sees this knows of one or has one that is for sale please use or pass on my contact information.
I've been looking online but links are sometimes old and never deleted once the coach is sold..
[email protected] 727-303-4838
Thank you,
Mike

[Rjbjfire]

I'm going to pick up a Cat 3208 tomorrow to replace a Cat 1160 in a tractor when the time comes.  I have around 137,000 miles on our Cat 1160 in our Newell.  The V-8 Cat engines are built for medium duty with millions produced over the years.  They were designed for marine use and for Ford but adapted to many uses as they were cheap and reliable.  They were a low RPM high torque engine.  1160 was around 175 HP.  3208 was 220 HP up to 540 HP.  The high HP were mostly all in boats, turbo was later introduced.  Last Cat 3208 I had seen produced was made in 1998.

These were non sleeved engines and cheaper to replace than to re hone.  I like the V-8 Cat, have several tractors with them and they all run good.  The higher the horsepower the shorter the life of the engine.  

Roy...