ISX 600: Trouble in paradise

[Rawze]

(08-14-2022 )Rocky Wrote:  ...
The truck was a perfect candidate for "weight loss" surgery. I hated the idea of choking the motor with exhaust and being a W900; sounding like a pick-up truck.

I of course spent money (twice actually) to help in this regard and it has served me and my family well for the past nearly 200k miles. Until recently.

I've always known something wasn't quite right because with both the different shop "tunes", my truck sounds like a fighter jet about to take off when idling. The boost sits around 1.5 PSI. I am also lucky to see 5+ mpg loaded or 6 mpg empty; although it was not much better before surgery. So I lost what fuel economy I did have and if anything; as well as some performance.
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What is my next theoretical step? Obtain CT and adjust variables based on recommendations? Who's? ISX15 parameters? The old "If you want it done right..." saying is truer more now than ever these days and I am running low on money and options in the current “climate”. Originally I thought "let the guys who do it everyday take care of it". How naïve of me.

First of all ...
Assume your programming is bad. .. MOST ALL (more than 90% that I review each year for people) de-mandate programming for these engines is horrible. MOST delete programming severely shortens the engine life internally by 50% or more all while the truck owner swears it seems to run ok.

If you have been driving that thing with heavy weights and only getting 5 mpg, pushing it hard it seems, then you need to assume that a lot of damage has already been done by that bad programming... I know that I would.

It is headed in the fast lane towards an inframe by a failed head gasket + dropped liner if that programming is not exactly right. That is its future. It takes anywhere form 80k miles to sometimes 300k+ miles or so maybe a bit more.. maybe a bit less depends on how hard the engine is worked. That is why I say bad programming cuts engine life in half or less. It usually takes a few years for the real problems to show up, all while the truck owner/driver swears that some moron "must have done a good job".

You mentioned that you gave your moneys away to 2 different places/people. -= Sad part about that is the reality of it all. You could have taken it to 50, maybe even 100+ people or places and gotten the same horrible variation of the same s$it programming. This is because all those clowns out there doing this stuffs hang out on those Auto./Truck tuning (or delete) forums, trading and, copying, and circulating their complete garbage, all while swearing that their s$it don't stink, all swearing that "they are the best" ..etc.etc.et.. bla... bla.. bla.. and you could waste tens of thousands of $$$ paying people to "get it right"... only to end up on here and me review it, telling you that it was absolute garbage!!. That is actually how bad the whole "custom tuning" really is in the world of Automotive and trucking alike. It is the ignorant leading the blind... all of them charging big bucks for their snake oil trash that is not fit to put into a lawn mower, nonetheless a $40,000 commercial engine.


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NEXT: you say you pull above 100k+ loads.. but then you say you have 3:70 rears. - This makes little to no sense.. those rears are TOO TALL for those kinds of loads and will over-work the h#ell out of that engine up every single hill. Whoever spec'd that truck was apparently clueless!. The Tallest it should have been spec'd with was maybe a set of 3.90's... or better yet, a set of 4.11's for 100k+ loads.. and 4.36's would have been even more appropriate to let the engine not be tortured. It sounds to me like it needs an investment in a better set of rears to alleviate over-working the engine all the time to prevent shortening its life and so that better RPM ranges for those heavy weights can be used.

Speaking of RPM... Next, I suspect that you will be telling me that you drive it mostly below 1500 rpm too.. This is even more torture!. The isx needs to be above 1500+ to 1900 rpm range at all times while someone is on the throttle hard and pulling any kind of hills, weight etc... For maximum longevity... Not faster speeds.. But lower gearing and higher rpm ranges. The ISX will last its longest at 1650~ish while pulling than it will at any rpm lower than 1500.

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Back to your original issues...

That turbo should not be making boost while sitting there like that. That is a sign that it is stuck trying to warm up a missing/hollowed out DPF canister ... like most (more than 90% or all deltes) that I review have issue with... choking the exhaust, making lower then normal fuel mileage, and torturing the pistons/liners in the block.

First things first though... Copy the program out of the ecm (using the Calterm software) and e-mail it to me for a proper review so that you will know the actual quality and/or harm that program may be doing to the guts of the engine. You should be worried like h#ell at this point about the health of your engine from running it for 2+ years already on bad programming. I hope you have the moneys saved up for the likely inframe in its near future due to head gasket failure, as it sounds like at this point, it is already on borrowed time. We see it every day around here.

I know this is not the words that most people want to hear.. but this is the reality of trucking and these de-mandate programs running around out there.