what to look for when buying a newer truck w/ ISX?

[Waterloo]

Quite a bit to look for, especially if it is fleet truck and more than likely not maintained properly. Which, I don't know of any companies out here that actually maintain these trucks they way they should be.

It is a crap shoot, no matter the manufacturer. There is a small carrier up here in Michigan that my buddy works for. This guy has all Petes and KW's, 2015 - 2019, PACCAR motors, and everyone of them is in one state of broke down or like the one my buddy is currently in, a blown head along with a leaking water pump and other issues related to the head gasket failure, and he is out there running it...

He has poured his urine in the coolant jug, two cases of Arizona Ice Tea, more water than Carter has liver pills, occasional jug of coolant and even a jug of Mountain Dew to run this truck to Oregon and back... The guy could write a book on this adventure!

Here is his coolant sensor in his last bottle of Arizona Iced Tea...



This is in a 2015 KW 680, right around 600,000 miles...

My point is, any new truck is a gamble.

Find the specs that work for what you want to haul, gearing and so forth. I personally would avoid an automatic, they are expensive to repair and the gearing is never that great which in my opinion can shorten the longevity of these already sketchy motors.

Mileage will not really matter, see above, and be aware of the fuel pumps, which is something I would take care of immediately upon purchase. Either make sure it was rebuilt or replaced and or bite the bullet and just do it.

The laundry list can be long on what you will need to fix and or repair, so be ready to turn a wrench. You will need a copy of Insite and the Inline Reader, without that, you are dead in the water. Emissions, if you do not go to California or a few other NE states, I would go see Mr Hagg and kill that monster immediately, and let him go through the truck.

If you keep the emissions, odds are it is time to replace many of the components, which can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Then, we have the motor, I am sure it will need an overhead, fuel pump, along with all of the original factory sensors replaced along with an EGR Tuneup and good cleaning... And be prepared to do an in frame, that is a sad and ugly truth with these new motors, they have roughly a 500,000 mile service life...

I don't know what to tell you, just be prepared, and pray you get a good one. There are some out there, but again it is a bit of a crap shoot.

And if someone has been in the ECM, I would not walk away, I would RUN.