My son purchased a 2000 Mack bucket truck (CS200P Midliner Mack base frame) for his tree service. The vehicle ran great, but last time he had it out, it let out a bang then started knocking very bad. They stopped and looked around, there was no obvious oil leaks or damage, but once they got it home, they pulled the oil filter and there was a load of brass filings in the oil. A friend advised him that it had thrown a connecting rod bearing and the piston would in all probability slapped the valves, damaged the piston/sleeve and probably shredded the crankshaft. Not a problem, or so he thought.....
Once he lifted the hood, he discovered that the engine was a Renault MIDR 06.02.12 (6.2L turbo charged not electric injection) and parts for it were like searching for chickens teeth in a pigpen. He contacted Mack and they informed him parts were no longer available for that engine other than the normal consumables (Belts filters starters alternator and various pumps) So now he has an $80,000 truck sitting idle.
What he asked me to look into for him was the possibility of removing the POS Renault Engine and hot swapping it for a Cummins/cat/Detroit of comparable power and displacement. Or some other engine that he can at least get parts for. I told him his main concern would be to find and engine that was NOT electronic injection, the motor mounts and the bell housing that connects it to the Eaton 4106B 6 speed manual transmission. I have searched for days and can find swaps for the larger engines on big rigs, but nothing for the smaller swaps on mid sized trucks and ZERO on Renault swaps. Why Mack stuck a french engine in a Canadian truck boggles the mind.
I can't even find any information on the bolt patterns of that engine on the bell housing and whether or not they are some kind of industry standard. Seeing as it is a Renault Engine, my guess would be that the bell housing would be proprietary to that engine so that engine swaps would be a massive PITA. Does anyone know if such a thing has ever been attempted? Or at least some place where pistons/sleeves/cranks and mains can be obtained. (I have found several sites, but they all list the parts as out of stock) Mack has been ZERO help throughout all this, all they can suggest is a $45,000 upgrade to an electronic injection system on a brand new engine.
