8.2 Liter Detroit Diesel Fuel Pincher was DDA's first venture into the 4 cycle diesel engine market. The first few years of operation the engine had several short comings. The head bolts were too small (14MM) to assure proper head torque. They were upgraded to 15MM head bolts with  torque-turn procedure. You can still use 14MM Heads if you use new bolts.  This helped a lot. One of the other problems were that the block has a open block deck. (see photo Below). The reason for the open block deck was to allow coolant to contact the very top of the cylinder where the most combustion heat is generated. This is used on many newer engines today. This made engine prone to head gasket problems if overheated. Use MUST use new head bolts on these engines. The block deck must be flat. The real problem with these engine is not the engine, but the people who work on them. It's always puzzled us that these are called "junk engines" or "throw away".  The engines we get from customers are 15 to 20 years old. That does not seem like a junk engine to us. Most mechanics want you to change or re-power to a engine that "they" understand.   Never made any sense to us. Some Marine engine re-powers cost up to $60,000.00 to do.

                                                   HEAD GASKETS
Head gaskets are not a routine maintenance item. Head gaskets are a symptom of other problems. Overheating, overload, excessive fuel. If engine was abused enough to cause gasket problems is also caused other damage. The engines run .002 to .003 piston to cylinder wall clearance. If they overheat it pulls metal (aluminum) from the piston skirt. This abrasive aluminum travels thru the engine and causes extreme wear on all the other engine components. Such as rod and main bearings, other pistons, valve train. (Check pictures at bottom of this page). I have had countless customers take their unit to a general truck shop and be told "Sure we can do a head gasket".  Customer asks if they have the timing tools and are told "What timing tools?". That should be a big flag that they do not know this engine. I have talked to customers who have paid $2500.00 to $5000.00 for head gaskets and only driven a few miles or a couple of hours and had complete engine failure. I'm not trying to scare you here just inform you of the facts.

We custom remanufacture these engines one by one. We do not build these engines ahead of time as the applications are so different. There are at least 30 different setups for these engines, natural, turbo, turbo after cooled, industrial, marine, truck, plus many more. So we build to order to fit your application.

If your engine has a couple of hundred thousand miles on it chances are a "head job" or head gaskets are not going to fix your problems. I get calls daily from people who spend thousands of dollars on this type of repair and accomplish nothing.  I only know of a couple of people who understand and are able to diagnosis and repair these engines.  I have customers who have had head's installed 3 to 4 times and did not get 100 miles after the repair. That's because you need to have extensive experience in these engines. For what it costs to have repairs done you can almost get a total remanufactured engine

 You will notice in the beginning video of block decking that the 1st couple of passes it appears to be 'skipping' parts of surface this is because the wheel is cutting the pulled up bolt bosses on block. If this process is short cutted than you have wasted your time and money

 In the course of repairing head gasket the repairing mechanic not having access to the proper tooling would remove and replace head gasket and off you go. The problem is anytime you remove a head the complete engine must be re-tuned. This involves setting the injector timing and setting the injector rack (fuel control). If not done properly the engine will have some cylinders getting more or less fuel than the others. This in turn causes piston detonation and engine failure.  The piston pictured is what happens when the injector timing is wrong. Happened in 4 hrs.
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Piston Detonated from Incrrect Timing This engine was a sold as "Good Runner"	Block Cracked By Detonated Piston	Piston Damage from Over heating	This was called "good crank"

There is no "Quick Fix" for these engines. The engines have no cylinder sleeves or liners. The blocks must be bored and honed and the Block decks must be surfaced. This is the only correct way to bring a high mile or hour unit back into service with long life
.
Click Picture For larger Image



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                                               CYLINDERS
These engines DO NOT have cylinder sleeves or liners. These are called "Parent Bore Blocks" as the pistons ride against the cast iron block. So the wear just like a gasoline engine. They must be bored and honed to fit oversize pistons. If too worn a cylinder salvage sleeve must be installed. I have seen cylinders so worn that it cracked or broke piston skirts.
 

OIL PUMPS: I currently have 5 cores that I purchased and upon tear down I found 3 of them had oil pump bushings in the block spun out. These can only be repaired up to .020 of wear. This means the block must be replaced. I cannot tell this problem until after engine is disassembled.
Click Image for Larger View

Even the tune-up on these engines when remanufactured must be done twice. Once for first start up and again after engine has reached operating temperature.  As heat makes the settings change.  Trying to do these in the vehicle or unit is a guarantee that a mistake will be make.  That is why we test run each unit a minimum of 3 hours and reset and re-tune engine at operating temperature. (Tune-Up Video). The tools and gages required are
NO LONGER AVAILABLE FROM ANY SOURCE, PERIOD.

Be sure your mechanic bleeds cooling system before you use vehicle under load. When the thermostats first open it drains radiator coolant to block. If not topped off engine WILL overheat and serious damage may result.

The 300HP Marine Version with after cooler has special pistons installed and high flow Injector and the timing is different. Truck engine will not perform well and will damage pistons and lead to total engine failure

BEWARE of USED ENGINES. I have talked to more people who have spent thousands of dollars on these "good" used engines just to find out they are no better or in most cases, worst than the engines they are replacing. It seems that boat owners with these engines are the most prone to the used engine thing. Most of them end up here after much expense prior.

Complete Process Click Here Includes  Videos
If you DO NOT see your mechanic use the following
tools to set and time your engine
 SEND HIM HOME
It is impossible to time these with out these tools.

Injector Height Tool	Flywheel Stop Plug	Injector Timing Spec	Bare Block	Fuel Sytem Diagram

These tools can no longer be purchased
they are considered Obsolete By Kent-Moore
and Detroit Diesel PERIOD.
Click Above picture for Larger View

8.2 250HP
Factory Brochure
NOTE: The 300HP Maine  Version Uses 90 Series Injectors

Bill R. had me go out to Long Island NY to Tune up and adjust his engines in his 30'    Blackwatch. Took me about 7 hrs to do both. All 16 cylinders ran within 2 degrees of exhaust temp after I finished. He also had a pretty good fuel starvation issue. Turned out to be air intrusion into the fuel at the primary fuel filter housing.