detroit diesel 8v92 questions

Hi E-6, well, and I mean no disrespect, but it may have been interesting, but those of us who trucked through that era, the old Detroit's were no fun at all. The 2 cycle Detroit, in all it's forms, wasn't really a bad motor. I had driven Detroit powered trucks that had a ton miles on them. Like another poster said, they were pretty useless off road, as in soft ground, like in a dump truck, you had to keep the "needle against the pin" ( tachometer) and no way could you shift, as the truck would slow to below the power band, and you'd have to go back to the last gear, and plod along. They were cheap and easy to rebuild, and many fleets had them. The V-12 was not very common, although, years ago, I knew a guy with a V-12 Detroit that blew everybody's doors off, until the motor blew, that is. The 318 V-8, and later, the turbo V-6, were probably the most common. As far as the compression release, I never heard of an old Detroit having one. Older Cummins had a lever on top of the motor. Took 2 guys to get it going. Why a compression release? In the cold, ( before block heaters) you would crank the engine, while an "assistant" would pull the comp. release, and it would spin over faster, then let the handle go, and vrooom.( hopefully) I think later, it was a lever in the cab. That T handle on the Detroit, I believe, was an air shutoff, in case the darn thing began to "run away".

 

You're right, only the 855 Cummins had compression release.
I ran a 8V71N, a 8V71T, and a Silver 8V92TA 475 HP for many years.

 

Yes, but, there is a rubber gasket/seal that might not re-seal.

 

Any system can lose prime. The lower the level in the tank and the older the lines/connections the more likely to lose prime.
When it started the first time was from the fuel retained between the pump and injectors, it used it all before it could suck more from the tank. Hitting the throttle and dying was time coincidence.It doesn't happen every time just after setting a long time.

You need probably 1/2 tank, or, run out of a bucket/container to ensure suction line is completely flooded/immersed in fuel or the pump won't pick it up.

 

You HAVE to have a constant supply of fuel until the system it purged of ALL air. You'll know when it is because it will run just fine.

 

Detroits were good OTR engines and sounded awesome with straight exhaust....
They were also excellent industrial, oil field, marine and generator application engines. They also were a lot less expensive when the "blew up" (which ANY engine will do if abused or neglected or just worn out)

 

When I was a kid, we'd go to an amusement park, everybody else ran to the rides, and I would go over by the generator trailer, and listen to the Detroit motor hollerin' away. What a gearhead, hey?