With the Cummins putting out as much power as it does today, will it go as many miles as the tamer ones. Will it be as reliable?


As far as performance upgrades go, what could you do to the 600 without hurting it in the long run? Someday I want to put one in an F-350.

If the machine is left alone, it will last a long, LONG time. If you start to BOMB it, well, then you'll start shaving miles off it. The more aggressive the BOMBing, the faster the miles will come off. It will still last a long time, but it won't last as long.


As for mods, Hmmm, an Edge EZ would probably be good. Or maybe even a VanAaken Smartbox. Something mild. If you start to add more than say 60 HP, you'll start to run on borrowed time.

The Cummins site says an average life of 350,000 miles for the 600 engine.

I suppose you trade power for engine life when you crank that much out of one. If memory serves me correctly the older ones have an average rebuild at 500,000, and I'm told they'll go a million if taken care of. But, when you think about it, do you really want to drive the same pickup for that long. The engine will far out live the pickup.

350,000 is the recommended engine overhaul interval. The ISB motors
that Cummins is selling for industrial applications are about 100 hp
lower than the 600, and about 50 lb-ft lower (also redline about 500
rpms lower) so I would imagine those would last significantly longer.
So long as you take care of a 600, I would imagine it would last at
least 500k, assuming you don't mod it. Key is really to keep it to
highway miles, as opposed to city, and change the oil.



The guys who have 1 million on their older Cummins (12-valves) often
report not having changed the water pumps or turbochargers until
700-800k.



With the older Dodge pickups (pre-'94) the engine did far outlast the
pickup (anyone wonder why you don't see many of them on the road
anymore?), but there are a bunch of '94+ pickups running around with
really insane miles on them. Suspension components wear out, automatic
transmissions definitely wear out, but the truck itself survives.
Still, the idea of having to actually rebuild a Cummins before
rebuilding the truck is a little far-fetched.