I have road Amtrak several times the past 2 years and was wondering how often Amtrak overhauls the engines in the P42 locomotives? The reason this question comes to mind is that on each occassion of my travel the diesel engines releasing excessive amounts of black smoke. This indicates that the engines are in dire need of an overhaul or repair. My last trip on the Southwest Chief from Chicago the #2 locomotive was blowing black smoke like an old ALCO RS. This definitely provides poor power and fuel comsumption. These engines would not even meet tier 1 status. Is Amtrak foregoing overhauls to reduce cost on the engines? Doesn't sound like good preventative maintenance practices to me.
Industry standard for heavy overhaul is about fifteen years, with minor overhauls every seven years or so. Part of the problem is Amtrak is eternally power short for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, the P42s have faced lots of problems lately and have needed repair. One of the bigger problems was shorting traction motors in snow, the latest was cracks in the trucks.
black smoke on a four stroke really has nothing to do with overhaul. and as for EPA standards the Genesis is tier 0 as they are build before regulations took effect. they will remain tier-0 even if overhauled till they are scrapped.
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