Egr cooler question

[redbeard]

I'd be concerned about idling for long periods with low oil pressure, high oil consumption, and ceramic fuel plungers. Check with Cummins factory store to find out what campaigns and warranty has been or should be done to this engine serial number.

[Waterloo]

Oil field trucks... I spent nearly four years in the fields in Montana and North Dakota. These guys beat the hell out of the equipment. Fifty miles an hour down washboard roads, I have seen these guys blow out every air bag on a tractor when they have tried to catch air... Yes, TRIED to catch air. It was not their equipment and they could care less. And that attitude was at every place I worked up there. It was a game to them, and they could care less. Then you had the bosses telling them to drive as fast as they can, time is money... The money we lost with down equipment far surpassed what we would have lost by simply slowing down...

The last outfit I worked for had the SCR T-800s with the ISX, and trust me, they were not built for the oil fields. If you do go this route, really inspect the drive line, you will more than likely have to replace the EGR Cooler then remove the "mandate". The coolant issue could be a few things. We were always tightening clamps and filling the coolant jugs, it was a daily thing as the trucks simply shook/vibrated themselves to pieces on the roads, if you could call them that.

The oil pressure in some of those trucks was really low when operating, to the point it scared me on one occasion when it was running in the high twenties at a high idle. They told me to drive it. The electrical cabling was always an issue, along with air lines, always rubbing against something, need to check the integrity of all of those under the chassis along with the main harness. Check the rear ends, the guys loved to blow those out too... Along with the u-joints and carrier bearing, axles, wheel bearings and seals. Look at the fuel tanks and the fuel lines, it seemed like we were putting new fuel tanks on at least every two weeks or so... You will need new shocks all the way around too, we never replaced those, to expensive. Also, the transmissions, most guys did not know how to shift, I would drop the fluid and inspect for metal. Odds are the clutch brake is blown too. I would do the same with the oil, look for metal, get an oil analysis if possible.

The emissions always gave us fits, and none of us knew a thing about any of it, we were told to drive them and if need be they would tow us in. Driving with check engine lights was normal, we put electrical tape over them. You drove them until they broke. There were no qualified mechanics up there other than one that I knew personally, but he did not work for us. He came direct from PACCAR/Rush out of Colorado, when an outfit bought two dozen new Petes. Yes, these new SCR trucks came with their own mechanic to North Dakota. The outfit was Brady, they pulled the sand cans. I think Gary was the only one within a thousand miles that knew anything about these trucks.

I don't know if I would do it. Unless you have a shop and or the ability to get under the hood and chassis. You may be buying something that already has a million miles of abuse in 220,000 miles... Not saying the guy you are buying from tolerated this kind of abuse, but you never know, the oil patch is a different world.

[hhow55]

If you are serious about buying, which i do not recommend. I would before buying, pop the valve cover, and look for damage on the cam lobes. Soot is the enemy, and it will accelerate the wear in these motor's. Waterloo write up is very true, and the abuse is horrible for these truck's. Personally, i would avoid these truck's at all cost.

[Waterloo]

(03-31-2016 )hhow55 Wrote:  If you are serious about buying, which i do not recommend. I would before buying, pop the valve cover, and look for damage on the cam lobes. Soot is the enemy, and it will accelerate the wear in these motor's. Waterloo write up is very true, and the abuse is horrible for these truck's. Personally, i would avoid these truck's at all cost.

Yep, check the overhead, I know those were rarely if ever done. I never saw a truck with the lid popped off the top of the motor...

[Paracefan]

Thanks for all the input, I really appreciate it. I gave the truck a once over last week, I'm sure there will be some surprises with the suspension but my main concern is the motor. Like I said, he added 3 gallons of coolant and tells me there's no external leak. It was at the rush peterbuilt in San Antonio and when I spoke to the service desk there where thinking it was the egr cooler. 4 hours later the salesman says it was just clamps. Now for a week I'm reading up on these egr motors and 1, not sure I believe the "just clamps" story and 2, I don't know if I want to go down this road at all. My C-15 acert is a headache anymore but still might be better than this. I have a flight reservation booked for April 7th, I have until then to decide. I do have a refundable deposit on the truck.

[Rawze]

{Not directed towards anyone, just making banter ... }


I know plenty of people who own newer engines that love them and would never own older equipment even if you had given it to them. It is simply a matter of understanding them and getting them to work for you instead of against you.

The bulk of people who have repeating problems with them are same people too lazy to work on them themselves, too cheap to invest in the right tools, and are too quick to run off to a dealer because they like the feeling of being raped in the arsse above getting dirty and having to learn something new. Good drivers will learn how to maintain it and keep after it themselves so they do not get raped, or come up with alternative methods to dealing with it BEFORE it gives them those kinds of headaches.

This industry has become full of Lazy Truckers that have the attitude that they are too "good" to get dirty and grab wrench. those types of drivers are always a check-engine light away from failure. I blame the mega-fleets for producing tens of thousands of drivers who are taught to do nothing but sit behind the wheel all day and call "breakdown" every time that light in the dash comes on. It is the mega-fleets with their mega-protective insurance companies telling them that their drivers are not allowed to do anything but hold that steering-wheel that makes them this way. God forbid they open the hood and scratch a fingernail, or get a grease stain in their pants. Thats grounds for a law-suit!@.

To them,.. It is -- Make the drivers as dumb as possible. Make them have as little responsibility as possible,.. that way they can pay them as little as possible and replace them because no actual skill is required. --- Then when they are fed up with that mega-ripp off companies attitude and low pay, they think they can go out and buy a truck, knowing NOTHING about how to actually own and maintain one,.. crying like mad when they are failing miserably because that EGR motor is keeping them in the shop all the time, instead of axctually finding out what it is going to take to make it out here.

It is this flood of attitude in this industry, and the fact that the stealerships are flooded with every truck with a check engine light, that makes for the real problem. that problem is that they are clearly taking advantage of EVERYONE with no quam about ripping you off, replacing expensive parts, and sending you down the road because they do not have the time of day to care. Why should they? -- There are another 50 trucks waiting for them to do the same thing to. -- Too much money and volume for them to slow down and do something right. Capitalism at its best!.

Reminds me of being an item in the check-out line at Wal-Mart. -- "Beep -- next,.. "Beep" -- next. -- driver: "Sir, can you look at mine extra carefully?" -- "Salesman: Sure,.. we care a LOT about you and your truck,..-- "Beep" -- next ... "'Salesman: "Oh,.. we took extra care,.. we made sure it went "beep" before calling out "NEXT" this time -- "Beep" .. next.. ---

That is just my own take on it, no one has to agree with this.

[kryten]

Rawze what you said reminds of something George Carlin once said. "The owners of the country want workers just smart enough to run the machines, but too dumb to realize how badly they are getting f....d in the ass"