Im just wondering how many of you have trucks with the "dreaded" 53 block and how many have had cracks. I own a 2001 with a 53 block, it has 361,000 kms and NO cracks whatsoever. Its been used for a lot of towing in the mountains in BC, Canada. Was it just a batch of 53's that were bad or am I exceptionally lucky?

 

I have a 53 in mine haven't had any problems with it so far (knock on wood). I have 253k miles on the clock. I have seen people go through 2 or 3 of these 53 blocks. The way I have it figured is if your block hasn't cracked yet it probably wont.

 

My truck had two cracked 53s in it. At 85,000 miles it got its THIRD engine. No screwing around this time, put in the good Mexican block.
I'll never buy a 53 again unless I need a really big paperweight.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about it I have 243xxx on the od and no probs knock on wood 5spd 4x4 if It matters 3/4ton sometimes haul cattle around well not recently since my lift pump went out and my cps I think is a little funky as well but anyhow don't abuse it and it will treat you right I love my truck regardless of cast number best of luck to you bud!!

 

I loved my truck anyway too. It just needed several 53s removed from it!

 

How'd you treat them?

 

Are you suggesting two 53s in my truck (still with well under 100k miles) cracked not because 53s with their too-thin castings are well documented as faulty but because I mistreated them? I mean, if you never put any load on them at all and never go up any hills or tow anything - you know, the normal stuff any Cummins powered truck should be able to do all day long with ease, it'd be OK. A Slant Six could do all that without breaking! And so can any 6BT except a too-thin fragile 53.
Advising someone not to worry if a truck has a 53 is bad advice. Even if it miraculously does hold water it's always a tiny bit of stress away from cracking wide open like so many have done.
It's not true that if it hasn't cracked by now it isn't going to.
I had the second one crack less than a year ago.

 

Well like ghost man said if it hasn't cracked then it's probably not gonna crack if the motor can't even get to 100k well then it's probably from the weaker end of the bunch even though all are 53s are documented as faulty this is speaking from my experience with my 53 since most of its life has seen cattle trailers or flatdecks on it going from Kingsville to San Antonio and way east once to Newton. I guess me ghost and oneill have been the lucky ones.

 

I hope yours does hold together, it wasn't cheap or fun to replace!
I don't know how many miles the 2nd 53 block really had, it was a reman replacement (from Reviva). I would assume if it had been a "core" that they did a reman job on, it probably had been run well over 100k before I got it. It was OK for a year or two, then after one trip with trailer over the mountains, not working it really hard only because the still-stock-at-the-time transmission couldn't take much load, I started getting that coolant smell and puff of steam by the cowl when I parked again.