Cummins 6BT5.9-M 220 hp

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MJ Weenz

Member
Joined
May 16, 2018
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13
Location
USA
Looking at a trawler with these motors that has 4400 hours. I know a lot of a motors longevity is based on maintenance but in general is this a lot of hours for these motors?
Mike
 
Nope. Good maintenance and they should be 15-20K hours, at least that’s what I’m shooting for on mine.
 
I have these in my boat at 210 hp and Iike them a lot. 4400 hours is no big deal if they have been used and maintained properly. As a potential buyer, you don't know their history. Does the owner have oil analysis over the engines' lives? Will they easily reach rated rpm at full throttle, probably 2600, and stay at temperature? Does the seller have a maintainance log? Any smoke? Maybe Ski will chime in, who really knows these engines.
 
Should easily get 10-15k hrs with normal maintenance and proper operation. Things will go wrong, like water pumps, electrical stuff, torsional couplers, injector pump, leaks. But base engine should hold up.

I know of one 220 that blew up, but that was on a planing charter boat and when loaded, he would literally run it at FULL power for hours on end. Even that one lived for I think 7k hrs til the head cracked itself to bits, spewed coolant and cooked hard.

In trawler service, it is similar to the engine in the older Dodge pickups. Lots of running at 2-3gph (easy) and they easily made 500k miles, with some many more. And when finally retired it was the truck that became a POS and the motor was fine.

On a truck, 500k miles at an average of 30mph (guess there) is about 17k hrs.

Get someone to check them out (rpm, temps, blowby, oil samples), make sure you can get to everything access wise, etc.

You will have to do a LOT of cruising to wear them out. And if you do have a big problem, it is one of the easiest engines to work on, and worst case one of the least expensive to replace.
 
When was the last time you heard of a marine engine that wore out without a bolt-on part failing, poor setup, or just plain neglect? Very rare something just snaps out of the blue. A friend just repowered his outboard boat after 4000+ hours. It was still running but he felt it was about time to switch. Take good care and be happy.
 
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I have these, find a certified engine mechanic and have them surveyed, maintenance is key both past and future, great motors if maintained and a engine survey will help with insurance in the future
 

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