Detroit Series 60 vs. Cummins N14??
 

I am looking at trucks and mainly looking at the engine that is reliable, easy to maintain, and inexpensive parts. No Kitty Cats for me. I have an RV with a Cummins b-Series and simple to work on since it is a 94 mechanical. The engine/ truck will be from the mid to late 90s.

What engine would those of you prefer and had experience with?? I see the injectors alone on the N14 are an arm and a leg. On my B-series Cummins they are expensive too. But how are the Detroits? I do LOVE the sound of the Series 60. Ahh hell I just love diesel sounds, but not Chevy or Ford.

ser 60 det!!!!!

The Detroits I've driven spent a lot of time in the shop. They seemed to have an appetite for injectors, as that's what were (seemed like) constantly being replaced. For my own money, I won't buy a Detroit, because when I'm running my own truck, I need to be on the road, not in the shop.

The N-14+ (500 hp redhead) I owned had good power, and spent little time in the shop other than oil changes. Yes, I did have a couple of times that it cost me money, but replacing the original air compressor after 800K or replacing the clutch after 750K really doesn't mean there is a weakness in the engine. Yes, I did have to have a front main seal replaced once. By the time I got rid of it, it had over 900K on it. Come to think of it, I did have to replace one injector shortly after I got it. Many times, I've been sorry I don't have it anymore. Who knew how fuel prices were going to go down. Then again, with the EPA regs, maybe it's just as well I don't have it anymore.

Compared to the Detroit that the company just got rid of, Just this year, it had been in the shop (and I was off work) a total of 9 weeks. It had 534K on it when they got rid of it.

Was it an EGR detroit?

I'd avoid those like the plague. Anything EGR for that matter.

I am just going by my 94 ser 60 1.5 mil & not even an inframe yet. injectors after 1 mil. factory cltuch til 1.1 mil, still org turbo still going everyday. burns & leaks a lil oil, but still has power. 11.1 h.p.

I have been around both engines for several years. The Detroits are pretty good engines overall. They will get better fuel mileage on average than an N-14, but the N-14 beats it out in torque and low RPM lugging power, and usually the engine brake is a lot stronger. Pittsburgh Power will tell you that the N-14 is a more solid engine, but that doesn't mean the Detroit is a slacker either. N-14's will tend to be a little pricier for parts than a Detroit. My choice would be for the N-14, but if the price were good, I would have no problem opting for a good Detroit.... specifically the 12.7 pre egr version. Very reliable engine and when matched with good tranny/rearend specs, really good mpg.

1997 S60 DDEC III 470 HP is the year the DD techs I know would own, if they were buying one for themselves.

Detroit! It's settled. No more opinions, other than detroit !!! This question is closed to other opinions!!

You wish, fool. (flips the bird) (lol)

The N14 is the most awesome motor I've ever had. The last Detroit I drove ate its turbo after only 60K miles. The N14 could pull Mount Everest out of the ground without complaint. Even set far below its power threshold, I outran owner/ops uphill at 79,580(at least until 68mph).

N14. There is no substitute.

I take it, you like the n-14 ?

Well, a little over a year ago I had absolutely had it with that P.O.S. Turd of a 500 HP Detroit 12.7L. It was a 1997 model. Yanked it out of my truck and dumped it outside after 71,000 miles on a major inframe. Shoveled in a N-14 Red Top 525 HP and absolutely love my truck. LOVE IT. That Detroit was a turd from day one. This Cummins will run all over it. Won't quite get the fuel mileage the Detroit did, but at least I don't have to work on the damn thing. You will have to replace some N-14 injectors now and then. If you have some shop do it on the road, its expensive. But I have my local injector shop do them for about $90 a piece and I do the R&R.

What went wrong with your detroit? My dad had around 1.5 million miles before the inframe, and the only reason that was done was because the coolant wasn't being changed regularly. Ate a hole through the liner.

Other then that it was a fantastic motor, only other problem is it started rough in winter.

My head gasket gave way on cylinder#5 even though the truck has 340K miles on it. Where the damage occured there was a little scrach on the head as well so the guys at Detroit Diesel changed the head too even though they didnt have to they said, didnt want to take any chances. It was all warranty so my cost was minimal but if it wasn't it would have been right there at about 4K....

I had to change my water pump and my starter so far. Everything so far ran me about 1200 for three years since i bought it new.

I wouldnt know what to recomend, all these newer trucks are junk in my opinion but what choice do we have? I bought that pre EGR engine and I am gonna run it into the ground and even do a overhaul after a while....What i am not doing is buying another ,,new'' truck...or newer for that matter..

I would react the same way based on my bad or good experience with something. I know the det's w/ the 500 hp were blowing turbo's like crazy. mine was mfg in 94' titled in 95' 11.1 60 ser & still going well over a mil miles. in cold weather is does shake rattle knock & cough before starting, but after a couple minutes it is fine. my ole dispatcher bought a 200 pete w/ a n-14 cummins red top & after putting a few thousand in new tires, alignment, e.t.c it blew a rod ride thru the side of the block in g.r. MI. I went back with him to haul his truck & trailer back home. as far as the newer engines, or trucks. I dont trust any of them like I do my own. after driving it for over 10 years, I know what to expect.

Turbo after turbo after turbo after turbo, then head after head after head after head. 6 injectors twice. (didn't need them but was at shops mercy on the road).

I did drive it 1.2 million miles. Kept losing head gaskets and no one could ever figure out why, not even me. I was an ASE Master Truck Tech for years. It used oil from day one - 1 gallon every 2,000 miles from new and even after the major overhaul. It never ran well - never pulled well and never got any better than 5.6 mpg. Over those miles, I had to replace 9 turbochargers and 2 reman heads and 7 head gaskets. It lost 2 head gaskets and 2 turbos in the first 100,000 miles and Detroit would do nothing about it.

The big Cummins runs circles around the Detroit and gets 5.5 mpg doing it. I don't run 60 mph - ever, so it could be better. Most of my driving is 75 to 80 mph.

Was it under 500K..

My Detroit didnt ask any questions, they just got to work.

If I had this experience with a det. I would never own one again. it appears that whenever something is made with quality, the mfg always finds a way to screw up it's reputation by soon after making inferior parts & products. I still have my original turbo. 98% of my truck components are original. I still get 6-61/2 m.p.g. my truck uses or leaks 3 gal oil in 12,000 miles. but well after a mil miles I cannot complain.

N14 swap
 

What was involved with the change over? Did you have a donor truck with all the electronics? Thanks

I bought a rolled FLD that was a year older than my truck. It had 940,000 on it and I bought it for $5,500. I did an out of frame on the Cummins, dropped it right in to the Classic and plugged in the wiring harnesses. I had to do a small bit of rewiring to get the cruise and jakes working but that was it. Next summer, I'm going to have to put a bigger radiator in it. I pulled out a 500hp 12.7 Detroit, so the radiator should have been plenty big enough, but its not. I have a hell of a time keeping it cool on a hard pull, I have to just back out of it and run up a hill about half throttle. It still pulls hills faster at half throttle than the Detroit did wide open.

All in all, it was an easy, direct swap.

Cummins / Detroit swap
 

How about the engine mounts were they the same? Or you swapped them from the fld? Sounds like it wasn't to hard. I was worried I would have to swap the harness from one truck to the other.

Cat, Cummins and Detroit will all mount in the same holes. The Cummins had a 1" spacer under the front mount in the FLD that I had to leave out when I put it in the Classic. All holes lined right up.

havn't had a problem with my detroit & it has egr.i get 6.5 mpg heavy 7.5-8 light

Cummins N14 & Detroit Series 60 both good engines
 

From my experience I think they are both some of the most reliable diesel engines out there. I have seen Detroits go 2 million miles before having to be overhauled. N14 are very reliable as well. Both engines have lots of reasonably priced OEM quality American Aftermarket Parts readily available. I would definitley stick with the pre EGR 12.7 liter Detroits. And stick with N14 E celect plus over say the newer, more problematic Cummins ISX engine. If any one needs parts at really good prices send me a message!

Just out of curiosity... Could you give me an example of the "hill", that you could claim, maxed out, at over 68mph?
And on topic...Kinda "chicken and egg" question....

Both are good engines,,a plus with the N14 is you have 3 cylinder heads rather than one on the detroit,, N14 is cheaper to maintain,,both beat a CAT,,CATs are expensive to repair .Injector for the N14 are not too expensive,,my last N14 I replaced them at 900,000 miles and only because I had one go bad so I decided at 900,000 miles to go ahead and replace them all. Stay away from Volvos and Mecerdes,,you can get a detroit of cummins fixed anywhere not the sane with Volvo or Mercedes,,CAT parts are cost a lot more,,

Well, with the 500hp 12.7 pre-egr Detroits, you have to use a little more brainwave activity than the OEM seems to have. Before dropping in the rebuilt DDEC IV 500 hp engine I have now, we replaced the stock exhaust manifold with a ported/polished/coated one. We took off the stupid wastegate turbo and put on a larger Borg Warner 171702 non-wastegate turbo, and wrapped a turbo blanket around that. And we put Walker Megaflow mufflers on the stacks. We let that engine get rid of it's waste and b-r-e-a-t-h. For the intake side, we dumped the stock Donaldson and put on a Fleet Air Filter. Nice egt's, very good fuel mileage, and will walk with most everyone on the hills. Great looking oil samples and uses only about a quart of oil in 20,000 miles. Yep, quart, not gallon.

This one, along with a 1996 N-14 Celect I had at one time are the best engines I have ever dealt with. An ISX I had before this one really soured me on Cummins products. When it worked, it worked great. But when it had a hiccup, it was a wallet buster. Cummins is sure proud of their parts and price them pretty high. A VGT turbo for the ISX was $3600 (before core charge), just sitting on the parts counter, when I had to replace it. I put on the Borg Warner 171702 turbo on the Detroit for a whopping $689.... cost, shipping, everything, and no core charge.