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Old 04-25-2018, 08:03 AM   #1
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C7 is Junk

My brother in law lost the engine in his pusher on way home from tack on sunday. Has a hole in the cylinder wall. No idea how that happened. Anyway, what are his options to get a new powerplant in there? We are in Pa and can't seem to find anyone willing to work on it, so may have to do in house. Where to get an engine ? Replace whole thing ? Long block ? Thanks guys.
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Old 04-25-2018, 08:12 AM   #2
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Old 04-25-2018, 08:33 AM   #3
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My brother in law lost the engine in his pusher on way home from tack on sunday. Has a hole in the cylinder wall. No idea how that happened. Anyway, what are his options to get a new powerplant in there? We are in Pa and can't seem to find anyone willing to work on it, so may have to do in house. Where to get an engine ? Replace whole thing ? Long block ? Thanks guys.
Lots of questions here. In house? Do you mean do it yourself? Do you have the equipment?

The best answer is to contact Cat and see what's available. New, rebuilt, cost shipping? Also salvage yards.

Can the engine be rebuilt? In the chassis or does it have to be removed?

I have a local diesel guy who works on ours and I can ask him what he would do if you like. Pretty sure he would go for a rebuilt from Cat or some other vendor that does that work.

I'm not sure if the C7 is rebuildable. Is it a sleeve engine. Others on here will know more about that than I do.

Just some things to think about.
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Old 04-25-2018, 08:39 AM   #4
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We have the means to change the engine. It will suck, but nobody around here wants to fool with it. I don't blame them. Probably should get a new engine I would think.
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Old 04-25-2018, 09:06 AM   #5
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What kind of coach does your brother in-law have (year, mileage).

Any idea of what went wrong or why?
Was it well/properly maintained?

Just curious. The C7s have a good reputation.
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Old 04-25-2018, 09:18 AM   #6
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Depending on where the hole is it could be fixable. They can be sleeved if it's internal. Hole in the outside of the block, no.
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Old 04-25-2018, 10:30 AM   #7
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?

Just curious. The C7s have a good reputation.
I have read the opposite; that a C7 is the most likely of motor home engines to cause problems. I've read enough that my shopping excludes those with C7s.

Not knocking CAT owners, but there's a lot of information out there about them.
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Old 04-25-2018, 10:38 AM   #8
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"JUNK"????
Well, if you mean YOUR particular engine and, it's totally not rebuildable, then I see your statement. But, if you mean the C-7 to be a JUNK engine over all, well, I'm pretty sure you'll find quite a bit of support for it on here and many other RV forums. Anyway, originally, the C-7 was a supposed "Non-rebuildable" engine, based on its design, vs other CAT engines. Well, in reading about and researching the C-7, it CAN be rebuilt. There's technology that can work, to get that engine back to life.

No one wants this sort of thing but, it happens. There's been a couple of threads on here lately that have talked about either rebuilding a diesel and or, acquiring a new one. As for the hole in the side of a cylinder, well, I'm no expert by any means but, the information I've read about dictates that, the wrong type of anti-freeze CAN cavitate along the cylinder walls and, therefore cause small "explosions" and thus, damaging the exterior (actually inside the block) cylinder walls. It can happen so much so, that it actually can cause a potential issue, such as you've experienced. Again, no expert but, this is what many reports have stated.

As for locating a new or semi-new C-7, yep, they're out there. Some looking, phone calls, etc. will reveal multiple sources. It's gonna be a tough job for sure but, what other choices do you have, throw away the motor home? I'm pretty sure you'd not walk that route.
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Old 04-25-2018, 07:05 PM   #9
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I sure hope my C7 isn't junk !! It has a solid block cylinders like most American V8's. A rod though the block could result from a valve dropping from the head. Many things could cause this, I'm not going to guess why, but I haven't heard many C7 doing this. More problems with the fuel injection pumps and injectors. Mine has about 26,000 miles on a 2005 Fleetwood. I'm making sure the oil is changed every year. I drive less than 10k a year, so I hope mine lasts a long time !!!
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Old 04-26-2018, 09:03 AM   #10
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No I didn't mean C7s are junk. I have one in my MH. Still trying to get a plan together here. Thanks for the replies guys. I appreciate it.
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Old 04-26-2018, 11:07 AM   #11
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No I didn't mean C7s are junk. I have one in my MH. Still trying to get a plan together here. Thanks for the replies guys. I appreciate it.
Roger that Sir. This will be interesting as to your remedy here. Surely keep us "C-7" pilots abreast of the progress.
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Old 04-26-2018, 01:47 PM   #12
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As I said I would I talked to my shop guy today. He said the usual that the C7 wasn't meant to be rebuilt if the first place, but it can be.

He also thought you could purchase a rebuilt block or engine directly from CAT, which he thinks would be cheaper than rebuilding it yourself.

This guy is the most knowledgeable fellow I know. His shop does diesel work every day.
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Old 04-26-2018, 08:38 PM   #13
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At somewhere over 130K miles on my C-7 it dropped a valve and put a hole in a cylinder wall. This was some 200 miles from the nearest CAT dealer. Telephone calls to diesel shops close to where I was all resulted in the same answer "take it to CAT" So I did, they said it would be possible to rebuild that engine but I'd be better in both time and money to get a new engine from CAT. Some where around $23K including new injectors.
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Old 04-26-2018, 09:23 PM   #14
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