2015 Intl Pro Star

[amermextrucker]

(03-17-2020 )smorgan87 Wrote:  I paid 65k for mine with few less miles and idle free electric apu. Only had 20k on the carbon packing inframe job.

No APU . I dont think ill need it. i sit at customers once to twice a week and a power nap would be great.

[amermextrucker]

(03-17-2020 )smorgan87 Wrote:  Ive got a 15 prostar specd like that. Good truck for the most part. Fuel pump cost cummins a new motor about 20k mi b4 the warranty ended (and myself 3 weeks off work). Id plan on demandating that 2350 engine asap, plan on inframing in another 400k and reducing compression at that time (just my opinion, and u know what they say about those) I have plans to put in a 13 or 18 in mine to reduce engine stress from those 3.36 gears and slow Louisiana speed limits with 100k lb loads (i have to drive 63-65 in 10th or i have to drop to 9th and run 45ish) rawze will contest me on this but IMO a 10 speed is prty decent paper weight. In the 15s International fixed some of the air conditioning issues they had with the older models, it still has cab air struts but those are easily swapped to better equipment same as the older prostars. Other than that its a damn good truck for half the price of one them paccar products everbody raves about. Hope it helps.

Im averaging 45k to 50k miles a year. if i buy it the first thing is an overhead, EGR tune up and check that fuel pump. Per Rawzes suggestions.

[amermextrucker]

(03-17-2020 )Lonestar10 Wrote:  Being 6' 2" I like the t680 to me it has a great dash design and more room behind the seats right now in the Lonestar the back of my seat is against the cabinet making me sit forward uncoy but is perfect for my legs. Also I think the engine sits better Underwood for being worked on. Also t680 has bunk escape doors available which also work great for taking stuff I /out and I haven't seen a real price difference between int and Kenworth speced with Cummins

I test drove 2 T680 's both had paccars . 1st was a 2014 600k with 10 spd. I gave them a heads up one day b4 dealer is really close to my house . Upon arrival it had a jumper hooked up to it ( batteries) finally started. Truck drove great and was beautiful , but it had a check engine light. Dealer told me they would fix it 2 days later i called salesman and it was sold.

2nd was T680 Paccar with a 13 spd it had 735k miles i just drove it for the heck of it and drove great .

I dont think i would of purchased either at that pointb in time i was unaware that they wouldnt have met my bank requirements. The requirements are 2014 and newer and under 500k miles.

[amermextrucker]

(03-17-2020 )amermextrucker Wrote:  

(03-17-2020 )Lonestar10 Wrote:  Being 6' 2" I like the t680 to me it has a great dash design and more room behind the seats right now in the Lonestar the back of my seat is against the cabinet making me sit forward uncoy but is perfect for my legs. Also I think the engine sits better Underwood for being worked on. Also t680 has bunk escape doors available which also work great for taking stuff I /out and I haven't seen a real price difference between int and Kenworth speced with Cummins

I test drove 2 T680 's both had paccars . 1st was a 2014 600k with 10 spd. I gave them a heads up one day b4 dealer is really close to my house . Upon arrival it had a jumper hooked up to it ( batteries) finally started. Truck drove great and was beautiful , but it had a check engine light. Dealer told me they would fix it 2 days later i called salesman and it was sold.

2nd was T680 Paccar with a 13 spd it had 735k miles i just drove it for the heck of it and drove great .

I dont think i would of purchased either at that pointb in time i was unaware that they wouldnt have met my bank requirements. The requirements are 2014 and newer and under 500k miles.

Those lonestars are beautiful trucks. A KW t680 with a cummins based on what I saw are 7k to 10k more compared to a KW with a paccar.

[amermextrucker]

(03-16-2020 )Rawze Wrote:  * inspect the overhead cam really well before purchase, even if you have to pay them a couple hundred bucks to pull the engine cover.

* expect to do a full egr-tune-up on it and a few days to go thru that egr, scr doser, DPF doser, and enigne.

* REPLACE THE GUTS of that fuel pump.. ASAP!. -- does not matter what campaign it has had done to it. -- Most of those campaigns were a joke!

* Almost all used truck stealers will take off the DOC and DPF during the sale (or before they put it on the lot),.. it will get them at least a month or 2 before to mask all the issues with them before the dpf issues set back in and by then, they could care less about you.

* expect to have issues with it. Expect to have to do all the neglected 250k mile maint. to it like re-torquing all the wheel bearings and all the other things that never get done properly.

* Do a proper overhead valve adjustment on it they day you get it.

* 36 on the iron is a big red flag. That is way too high! . it is a sign that the oil changes have been severely neglected.

* Like others have said... put zero faith in the overhaul. Does not necessarily mean its bad,. your chances are overall about 60/40 in your favor (unless it was done by a shop known for poor quality work) ... but If they jacked the price way up based on the fact it had an overhaul,.. i would walk away.

* 3.36's are a bit too tall for what you describe. You will be hard pressed to navigate local traffic and frequent stops with it geared like that . it will always feel a bit weak and the next thing you will be crying about is how to turn up the power instead of fre-gearing it. IT IS ALWAYS ALWAYS cheaper to re-gear it than to turn up the HP. keep that in mind... Also, even for that 7-0mph on those occasions. you would fair much better with a 13 and a set of 7.79's and it will easily still do 70 when needed. the ISX does not like low rpm, engine lasts much longer when driving it at 1600 than it does by pushing it hard below 1500. 1800+ is not a problem for it at all either.

- Personally, i would have to heavily consider what other moneys that will be needed to get it road worthy, re-gearing it properly for the application, and and all the other things before settling on an acceptable price vs. finding something more suited.

in the mean time, if you are set on owning a red engine,.. get yourself insite and an adapter + older laptop and get other tools you need to be on top of it instead of sitting on the side of the roads somewhere in a couple months wishing you had.

I looked online and they are up there in price over 600 bucks. Any scanners you reccomend?

[Lonestar10]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cummins-INLINE-...Swl-Fd36BZ

get something like this then a cheap laptop call it a day.

[JimT]

(03-21-2020 )amermextrucker Wrote:  Ok guys i took the truck on a final test drive. No CEL truck ran very well. As i stated in my previous posts truck had green coolant. I requested it be changed to RED , which they did. After running the truck for 40 miles or so i opened hood and noticed coolant in surge tank was moving not so much bubbling but it wasn't still in the surge tank. I didn't smell coolant anywhere and didn't see any leaks. Any thoughts ? thx.

First off, you're probably gonna feel under powered with a 10 speed / 3.36 gears trying to pull heavy containers in stop and go locations. Can it work? Sure, but don't go blaming the engine. Plan on going slow, taking you time to accelerate and really wind it up to 1800rpm before shifting. Operating below about 1400rpm is lugging this engine.

The green coolant, if it was the wrong (old) type could be an issue. Was it tested prior ro being replaced? Did they flush the system and vacuum fill it? Or did they just drain and fill without regard to mixing different types of coolant? If I remember correctly, the old (green) coolant in and of itself won't cause a problem (it's lacking the needed additives, but not destructive), but mixing the different types can cause issues.

Probably a good idea to pressure test the air intake systems and look for leaks. The silicone boots, if original, are probably leaking. The CAC could have a crack somewhere.

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say plan on about $10k worth of maintenance after the purchase. Some of it will be odds and ends you don't notice until you get it home, some could be major parts that require closer inspection than can be done prior to purchase. Other things are just routine maintenance that you have no way to know if it was done so it's a good idea to do it yourself (like changing tranny and diff lube, new belts, fresh oil and filter change, new sensors etc...). Also, be aware of the 500,000 mi service items, such as crankshaft damper.

From personal experience, crawl under that truck and take a good look at it from underneath. My tractor had a broken motor mount when I bought it and multiple eyes missed it. It wasn't until I screwed up and broke another motor mount that I discovered the first one was not only broken but half the mount was missing.

Like Rawze said, regardless of what the history shows, rebuild the fuel pump head. It's not a large cost but it could prevent complete engine failure if that pump destroys itself. (Testimonials suggest they last about 400,000-450,000 miles before failure, even the newer parts)

The rest of Rawze's advice also still applies:

(03-16-2020 )Rawze Wrote:  * inspect the overhead cam really well before purchase, even if you have to pay them a couple hundred bucks to pull the engine cover.

* expect to do a full egr-tune-up on it and a few days to go thru that egr, scr doser, DPF doser, and enigne.

* REPLACE THE GUTS of that fuel pump.. ASAP!. -- does not matter what campaign it has had done to it. -- Most of those campaigns were a joke!

* Almost all used truck stealers will take off the DOC and DPF during the sale (or before they put it on the lot),.. it will get them at least a month or 2 before to mask all the issues with them before the dpf issues set back in and by then, they could care less about you.

* expect to have issues with it. Expect to have to do all the neglected 250k mile maint. to it like re-torquing all the wheel bearings and all the other things that never get done properly.

* Do a proper overhead valve adjustment on it they day you get it.

* 36 on the iron is a big red flag. That is way too high! . it is a sign that the oil changes have been severely neglected.

* Like others have said... put zero faith in the overhaul. Does not necessarily mean its bad,. your chances are overall about 60/40 in your favor (unless it was done by a shop known for poor quality work) ... but If they jacked the price way up based on the fact it had an overhaul,.. i would walk away.

* 3.36's are a bit too tall for what you describe. You will be hard pressed to navigate local traffic and frequent stops with it geared like that . it will always feel a bit weak and the next thing you will be crying about is how to turn up the power instead of fre-gearing it. IT IS ALWAYS ALWAYS cheaper to re-gear it than to turn up the HP. keep that in mind... Also, even for that 7-0mph on those occasions. you would fair much better with a 13 and a set of 7.79's and it will easily still do 70 when needed. the ISX does not like low rpm, engine lasts much longer when driving it at 1600 than it does by pushing it hard below 1500. 1800+ is not a problem for it at all either.

- Personally, i would have to heavily consider what other moneys that will be needed to get it road worthy, re-gearing it properly for the application, and and all the other things before settling on an acceptable price vs. finding something more suited.

in the mean time, if you are set on owning a red engine,.. get yourself insite and an adapter + older laptop and get other tools you need to be on top of it instead of sitting on the side of the roads somewhere in a couple months wishing you had.

Finally, go check out "My Book" in the navigation above. It's aimed at first time owner ops, but there's a lot of good checklist items for buying a truck and maintaining that truck which would be useful to anyone.

[amermextrucker]

Thx for response. Any thoughts on the coolant in the surge tank ? also i was told they filled it with cummins red and i know that coolant can be mixed with ANY coolant color. Im aware of the gearing but most of my driving is 70% hwy and this is the best truck ive found. Im not at that point yet where i can spec a truck for exactly what ill be using it for. The 2 things i plan on doing the day i get it is the fuel pump , overhead set and top end inspection.

[Rawze]

(03-21-2020 )amermextrucker Wrote:  ... i know that coolant can be mixed with ANY coolant color ...

Red extended life coolant may or may not be compatible with what was in there. Your statement is too vague and seem to be driven by mostly only opinion.

Read the bottom section of this post (right about where the picture is) ... http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?t...14#pid1114 for a bit better info.

What you need to do at this point is check the PH and nitrate levels of the coolant and stop making assumptions and guessing. If it is good, then check it again in a couple months to ensure it is not going south on you, and again at the end of the year to ensure it is not falling off because of residuals of the old coolant. - Send samples off to a lab to be sure at least once for a solid opinion beyond a simple test strip if not completely sure.


Odds are likely low that you will have an actual issue with the coolant, but since you have no idea what type was in it, how long it ran like that, nor even what shape the nitrates were, you seem to be making some huge assumptions.

Any failures related to cavitation because of improper nitrate levels, etc. will certainly not be covered by any kind of warranty, nonetheless could cost you the engine after a while.

Ignoring it, and blindly pissing it off as "ok" in my book would be a huge gamble. Not one that i myself would make anyways. Seems it would not be a wise business decision. This especially knowing that coolant test strips are cheap, and even a comprehensive lab test once in a few months or so (because you switched types and did not thoroughly flush it) is typically less than a hundred bucks.


Red extended-life coolant is great stuff but it is really sensitive to getting screwed up if it gets contaminated the wrong ways, even a little bit.

Get yourself some decent test strips. Make sure the strips you are buying are not expired (yes, they expire and have expiry date on the packaging), and do some regular testing to ensure it is ok.