Fitzgerald 60 series Detroit 12.7

470 hp, hah, better be 500 hp when I had my 2000 century.

 

The coating that I used to make it shiny was FC720, it is Sherman Williams, with blue color, Im getting there.

 

I have never had a problem with getting Detroit or freightliner parts anywere.Int. not so available T A carry a lot of Detroit parts.

 

They rebuild some themselves and use Clark Power engines, also.
We've bought 3 Coronado kits so far. All 3 have been in the shop with engine issues.
The 1st one had 6,000 miles and dropped one cylinder. It was down a week, Fitzgerald supplied the cylinder kit under warranty, and it's been fine for 225,000+ miles.

The 2nd one went down at 137,000 miles. Fitzgerald supplied 3 cylinder kits under warranty. It had coolant from the air compressor that sucked into the intake, so not the engine's fault. It's been fine the last 142,000 miles. I wish we'd done all 6 cylinders, though.

The 3rd one went down with 115,000 miles, 3 days before the 1 year warranty expired. It's a Clark Power engine. They found all 6 cylinders badly scored, apparently caused by an old oil pressure regulator (not replaced when Clark rebuilt the engine) that was rusty and full of gunk that went through the engine. Fitzgerald replaced all 6 cylinders under warranty.

120,000 miles later, it's in the shop right now after it started leaking oil on the front of the engine and the air compressor gasket and oil pan gasket were replaced a week ago. It used 4 gallons of oil this past week, so it went back in the shop. Pulling the exhaust manifold showed oil from cylinders 1, 3, and 4. Looks like another 6 cylinder kits, (on my dime this time, likely $7,000+). If the cylinders are scored, what's the lower end look like? How long before we have another serious issue?

I love the Coronado kits. I love the Series 60 Detroit 12.7. I'm not at all impressed with our Clark Power engine. I'm also not happy that Fitzgerald uses aftermarket cylinder kits, not Detroit OEM parts.

My recommendation would be to get a Detroit not built by Clark Power based on my experience. Maybe I just have bad luck, but they ought to have at least 350-500,000 mile warranty on them. The 1 year warranty tells me they don't have much faith in their work.

 

Thompson CAT motors would be a better choice imo. They come with unlimited miles 3 year warranty or maybe 4 years. They're not cheap if you don't have a core though.

 

maybe without borg warner turbo and ported manifold on thomspon cat.

 

I've got a Coronado with a 500hp Detroit. It was factory rebuilt by Detroit at Detroit Reman East at Byesville, Ohio according to the info on the engine. Not Clark or Fitzgerald. Any warranty issues can be done at any place that can do Detroit warranty work. Just about to roll over 50,000 miles. No complaints here.

 

Harrison uses factory detroit remans. I've heard tons of horror stories about Fitzgerald ... all somewhat second hand. A buddy drives for a guy that has 6 fitzes and 3 harrisons ... he had 8 fitzes, but the last 2 were bought back due to engine failure within the first 50,000 miles. So far so good on the harrisons ... other than they are freightliners and still have slow green motors in them)

 

There must be some truth to this. I stopped by the local Detroit dealer yesterday and they had a brand new Fitz glider (Pete) with the engine being rebuilt with 80k miles! They said its the 4th one they have had to do.

Wonder what the hell they are doing wrong?

 

Rattle can rebuild ... why go through it and spend the money when you send someone out with all the confidence of a "warranty".