Compared to its contemporaries (7.3 DI, 6.0), I suppose it might.

I was comparing it to the 7.3 IDI, which I consider a good benchmark for small diesels.

 

Doesn't mean a damn thing. The reasons are price and Mercruiser has the bulk of the I/O market sewn up. Mercruiser deals with GM patially due in part because they still use old school pushrod engines and are cheap. If you want a cheap engine its hard to beat GM engines. All my boats run outboards but if I ever go I/O or Inboard and it has a GM engine in it, it will go bye bye.

 

Luckily, my I/O is volvo powered. Getting parts can be a hassle though.

 

Volvo has a nice unit. Volvo and OMC just never seemed to catch on in the I/O market like Mercruiser. Of course OMC went out years ago. Both were much nicer more finished looking units than the Mercruiser IMO.

 

Any automotive based engine in a boat..............bad news.
Most boat owners are unable to handle the maint. required to keep it running, and too cheap/dumb to get them winterized...........cracked block anyone?

All my boats have been, and will remain outboard powered.

 

for longevity my opinion is the older diesel Mercedes Benz engines
next would be 12valve cummins ve pump and p pump
next any straight 6 bmw engines up to 2006
next jeep and ford straight 6 engines
next any and all gas gm, Chrysler and ford v8 excluding ford 3valves and Cadillac northstars.

 

Whats is pretty cool, my Volvo has a water to water heat exchanger. No river/lake water ever touches the engine. Just have to winterize the water intake side. The engine has good ole antifreeze in it.

 

The real reason is GM uses the same bell housing bolt pattern for the 3.0L 4 cylinder, 4.3L V-6, and both the small and big block V-8's. They are going to the LS engines over the next few years for the same reason. Saves on tooling costs.

Ford did pretty good in boats with the Windsors, but the Mod/Triton's are too wide and have a different bell housing. I was thinking the 'Boss' 6.2L would be good in marine applications, but again it is awfully wide due to the heads. I think the 'Boss' is going to be a truck only orphan anyway.

 

The 6.9L and 7.3L had their share of problems! Block cavitation comes to mind. Go try to buy a reman. that doesn't have at least one sleave in it!

 

Since you mentioned it, I wish I could have a DT, because it has all the cylinders sleeved to begin with. Sleeves rule, at least when they are put there by design. Seems to be an IH thing, they loved putting them in the tractor engines too.

A sleeve in a parent-bore block sucks though. How common was that problem in the 7.3 IDI, exactly?

 

Most commercial-duty Diesel engines are wet-sleeve. Not really an IH thing.

 

Rebuilding the International 6.9/7.3L Powerstroke Engine: Engine Builder

There are a lot of articles about cavitation on these engines on the internet. I have seen it on a number of occasions.

 

Correct.

But their gas and multifuel engines are sleeved too. Those are not too commonly sleeved, even for commercial applications.

 

i can only speak from my own experience and the best engine ive had was a 283 in a '65 impala (couldn't kill that thing if you used a 50 cal) and the worst was a '94 toyota 3.slOw ..wutta dog.

i see lots of bashing of chev 305's, my buddy had one in a 4x4 and he was one of us who never, ever got stuck, tall skinny mudders (of course we all had as wide as we could afford coz they look good) and NOT enough torque to spin the tires even in sloppy mud was his secret.

 

Worst Diesel engine ever: 6.0 Powerstroke! Any Diesel engine that needs a ridiculous amount of maintenance, thousands of dollars of mods, and constant TLC is in my opinion a piece of crap! I spent thousands on mine just to get it up to a reliable standard and a Diesel engine should come from the factory-durable and up to the task of heavy towing within the manufacturers specifications. It should be able to do this for 100's of thousands of miles with just basic maintenance such as oil changes, and fuel filter changes! My 6.2 Chevy Diesel was way more reliable than my 6.0 Diesel? Drove that crappy 6.2 for 200K plus and spent zero on repairs! $8 grand into this motor already never ran a tuner, always maintained at a higher standard than Ford even recommended! Clogged oil coolers, leaking egr coolers, bad injectors, hpop failures, turbo cleanings up the wazoo, egr cleanings up the wazoo, failed cps, total junk in my opinion! I hear people say that IF you do this this and that then its a good engine? Listen to what they're saying it's foolish and moronic! Just put lipstick on the pig and it'll be one hot pig!! Right.... It should reliable from the factory! Sad, sad! Couldn't even get more than 82K miles before it was in need of thousands in repairs?