Advice at 1 Million Miles

[JKBowman]

02/26/19

First post. Thanks for having me in.

The Truck:
Single Owner - 2013 Kenworth T660
ISX15 - 1.14 million miles - never rebuilt
History: - Pretty Easy (almost all long haul, 20K average)
- Not much snow. Rust hasn't been a big issue so far.

Last Overhead Adjustment (Cummins) approx 300K ago,
-- at the time mechanics said internals looked "really good"
-- they thought I'd only need top end, when needed

Oil usage - on new oil, maybe a gallon over the first 5 thousand.
-- I use 1 gallon of Delvac after oil change, then Lucas next gallon, then back to Delvac
-- didn't use Lucas at all prior to 800,000

Oil Analysis - last one maybe 100K ago, but it looked good.
-- I'd get it more often but it seems the dang Speedco machine is always broken

Currently in shop for:
Replacing remanufactured DPF with another remanufactured DPF
- got 266,000 miles on the old one

Not in shop for, but have:
Leaking oil at gear housing -- (not badly, but there's a definite leak)
Leaking oil at flywheel housing -- (not badly, but there's a definite leak)

Questions:

1) What can I do to determine if a rebuild is needed now?

She's running fine, but I worry about breaking down somewhere and not being able to get into the shop of my choice.

2) Any thoughts on a truck with this many miles?

I realize rebuild is not my only option. I think it's the my best choice (truck is paid for), but should I be considering something else?

Thanks.

[Nilao]

A gallon of oil in 5k miles...start saving for the rebuild as it will need it soon. All that oil going to the dpf will plug it faster and faster.

Oil analysis at speedco is crap. Get you a blackstone labs kit if you really want to know whats in your oil.

Most of us wouldn't trust most mechanics to adjust the valves on our lawnmower much less the engine. Mine was done by cummins when i purchased my truck (used) and when i got it to rawze he found one of my exhaust rockers were riding the cam with 0 clearance and the preload on my injectors was way off.

[JKBowman]

Hi, and thanks for that. I've never used Blackstone, but I think I'll take that advice. You sound convincing.

And yea... I'm already kinda bracing for the rebuild. I'm also concerned about soot. I haven't tried the EGR Tune Up. Maybe I should. But this might also be a good time to mention that I'm no mechanic. I approach all this stuff very cautiously, even with the great videos.

One thing I can add, however, is a photo of the IMAP Sensor that I replaced last week. It looked pretty clean to me for 100K miles.

I don't have it now, but will add later today. Maybe there's some info to be had from it.

Again, thanks.

[Waterloo]

I wasn't a mechanic either until I found Rawze.com... ;-)

[JKBowman]

I'll take that as encouragement!
I really need it! :blush: lol

And here's that pic. I thought it was pretty dang clean.


02/26/19 - 95,000 - unbrushed

I've spoken with two shops I like today. One in Kingman, AZ and one in Lake City, FL. I've decided to put the truck in the Lake City shop for help with a short when I get home.

Any ideas for questions I should pose to the shop, please let me know.

I also ordered the oil sample kit from Blackstone as well as their pump.

[Nilao]

I might have passed on the pump and had the tech take the sample from the stream mid drain. Too early and you can get high silicate from dirt on the pan, too late and you get sludge from the bottom...but that's just me being cheap lol

[Rawze]

(03-06-2019 )JKBowman Wrote:  I'll take that as encouragement!
I really need it! :blush: lol

And here's that pic. I thought it was pretty dang clean.
...

http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?t...d=57#pid57

[tree98]

What emissions related parts (besides dpf) have you had to replace during that million miles?

[JKBowman]

Thanks, Rawze. And hey, tree98.

I guess I've had just about everything replaced over a million miles.

EGR cooler, SCR, DEF doser, gobs of sensors, and I believe three DPFs. Number 2 and #3 (the one I'm getting right now) are both remanufactured units.

I also replaced the turbo once. Cummins said mine wasn't producing enough heat. That seemed to fix the problems I was having at the time, and I haven't experienced many problems since then.

Of note, my brand new IMAP Sensor may be part of the reason for me being here.

Despite a FULL DPF light, I couldn't initiate a regen. When I checked in with the shop they found an IMAP Sensor fault. As they explained to me, a regen isn't possible with a fault like that; not even with their software.

The tech pulled it out and brushed it off. After that the truck regen'd, no problem. However, we later learned that the DPF wasn't cleanable. That's why I'm getting a new one now as well as new intake and outtake sensors.

Again, thanks for the feedback. With a little luck I'm outta here tomorrow.