Info on engines and Detroit 8.2

[Nick14]

This might be old news to everyone, I recently stumbled across this site -

https://everythingaboutboats.org

and the article on the Detroit Diesel 8.2 -

https://everythingaboutboats.org/detroit-diesel-8-2/

I don't own a DD8.2 and am not in the market for one, but I found it to be interesting and informative (I'm that kind of engine geek/nerd that I find this kind of stuff fun to read). Information on other engines is also on the site.

Purely FYI, it's amazing what you can find in the internet, wasting time on a stormy early winter day.

[DavidM]

I had never seen that website before and particularly the comprehensive article on the DD 8.2. I was rather surprised that running near wot for a few minutes to blow out carbon seriously runs the risk of a blown head gasket, potentially causing catastrophic failure.

Also the unfortunate decisions by GM that essentially relagated it to a less than 100,000 mile engine in truck service were surprising.

I helped deliver a classic Mainship 34 with a low powered DD 8.2 that seemed to perform just fine. You never know.

David

[Ken E.]

Now that's a complete treatment of the 8.2. I have friends, though, with these engines who like them. No head gaskets or other related problems.

[Sailor of Fortune]

I had 2 in a commercial service boat in the early 90's. Power products techs were telling me back then, to start thinking about long term parts issues, No longer supported by GM. I had issues with one, and the other one ran well but never trusted them. They were really fuel efficient though (fuel pincher tru!). Lots of them were installed in JC 31's and mainships. I knew Lobestermen in Boston who loved them. I would stay clear of them..
I had the headbolt upgrade done..

[C lectric]

The lower HP units , unless abused, had a decent life. I too have know folk with them and they were happy with the engines but they never ran them hard.

[sunchaser]

Nick
You found a gold mine of diesel V8 knowledge expertise. It is a bookshelf of information plus helps explain the demise, well beyond the DD 8.2, of the Cat 3208 designs in favor of inline 6s.

Thanks

[Nick14]

Originally Posted by sunchaser

Nick
You found a gold mine of diesel V8 knowledge expertise. It is a bookshelf of information plus helps explain the demise, well beyond the DD 8.2, of the Cat 3208 designs in favor of inline 6s.

Thanks

Thanks!

That's what I thought as well, a terrific resource of information not only on the DD8.2 but other diesel engines as well.

I learned a great deal about engine design in general from the DD8.2 article. I was aware of things such as open-deck design etc., but the article gave much greater depth and appreciation for the tremendous importance and myriad impacts of that and other design choices. It will certainly help guide me in any future buying decisions.

Care and maintenance history of an engine are obviously vital and key to determining longevity. But fundamental design has a lot to do with it as well.