Hit 500,000 miles on my old Cummins last Tuesday

I was rolling through Flagstaff on I-40 when the odometer ticked over to half a million. That engine has never been opened up, just regular oil changes and fuel filters every 15k. Any of you guys pushed a 5.9 past 600k without a rebuild?

2 comments

2 Comments

alice92814d ago

My old man had a 5.9 in his work truck that went 540,000 before the seals finally gave out. He ran Rotella 15W-40 and changed it every 12,000 miles like clockwork. Never touched the injectors or the head either. Regular maintenance really does make them last forever if you don't abuse them.

kai_chen214d ago

Hang on @alice928, I gotta push back on this one. 540,000 miles on a 5.9 without touching the injectors or head sounds like a unicorn story to me, not the norm. I've seen plenty of these trucks blow head gaskets or have injector issues way before that mileage, even with religious oil changes. Cummins built a tough motor, sure, but they're not magic. A lot of it comes down to luck and how hard you worked it, not just the oil brand. The 12-valve is more forgiving, but the 24-valve especially has known issues that no amount of Rotella is going to fix.