Adventures with a Pete 587

[JimT]

So here's the story of a red 587 with a red engine and a green OO.

Brief history about me. I Started my driving career in 2004 doing local dryvan LTL and airfreight.
Drove a 2001 Volvo VNL 300 daycab with a 7 speed, D12 engine and 152" single axle wheelbase.
Good job, but the economy forced a big layoff in 2013. I switched jobs to a dedicated flatbed account for a large southern CT based structural steel distributor (Starts with a B, ends with a K and usually includes a few curse words before their name). Got lots of lovely pictures of horrific loads out of there! Learned to love flatbed and got my first taste of real trucking. Still ran daycabs, about 185" wheelbase. JB#@nt had prostars, first with the bad maxforce engines, then swapped to new ISX (probably a cm2350). My first 10-speed. Then early 2015 the account switched hands and the new carrier leased 2015 Volvo daycabs with the D13 engine and volvo's autoshift tranny. Not bad, except the lease was through Ryder and they didn't get the "premium shifter" which meant no manual shift control. While at this job I started my couple year journey to become an owner op. Lots of research, though sadly I didn't find this site before I bought a truck. Unfortunate mistake.





2012 Peterbilt 587 Mid-Roof
Cummins ISX cm2250
Eaton 13 Speed
3.42 Rears
220" Wheelbase
Dual 100 80 gallon tanks

So I bought the tractor early June of 2018. Had it looked at, PM'd, DOT'd, got onboard with a big OO only carrier. My first tractor, my first 13-speed, my first non-daycab. Got my first load as an OO around the 25th of June. Heavy load of wooden spindles. Moved the truck to the side after being loaded, set the brakes, popped the clutch and bam, forgot to take it out of low gear first. Lots of bad words followed. Inspected the best I could but couldn't see anything broken. The next 2 weeks I only hauled a few loads. Only weird thing I noticed was that the shifter would move a lot side to side when the engine was applying torque...

On my way home with another heavy load just after the 4th of July holiday and I messed up a shift on a steep hill about 5 miles from home. Next thing I know I'm getting low coolant and check engine alarms. Parked it before the temp got too high and ended up getting towed to a shop about 3 miles away. The torque caused the engine to twist just enough to break the plastic inlet elbow on the top of the radiator.

Come to find out that I broke the 2nd motor mount when I popped the clutch. According to the mechanic the other mount was completely missing and looked like it had been missing for a while. The only thing holding up the engine was the front mount. Yes, he replaced ALL the motor mounts along with the radiator during the repair. He also found that the remote lube hose for the clutch wasn't connected and ended up putting 2 tubes of grease into the clutch! It was much easier to operate after that.

When I bought the truck I had 2 different shops look at it, an annual DOT inspection and of course my ignorant self looked at it too. Of course I didn't know sh!t back then, so I can't just pass the buck and blame others for my ignorance.

Expensive lesson 2 weeks in to my new career. On the bright side while the truck was in the shop I struck a deal with the property owner to park my rig there. Still, that was almost $10k in total costs that should have been completely avoided, even after I screwed up with the clutch.

Well, that was how I got started learning things the hard way. In the next installment we'll explore what it's like to pay someone else to work on your truck for 10 months!

[Mattman]

Yep a lesson that costs you money isn't forgotten.

[JimT]

Well, I had planned on filling in some history between the first breakdown and the present day. But there's just never enough time. Maybe I'll get around to it and add it in here. So instead, for historical purposes, here's links to a few other threads discussing this tractor:

http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=5426

http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=5713

http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=5703

http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=5821

[Magard]

Wax. You gotta wax it. Rub on her for a while get that relationship going.

[JimT]

It never ends. The last couple days have been tiring. Got to a pickup bright and early only to meet with hours of delays. Just before pulling out the tractor pops up with the dreaded "Regen Required" message. Bah, here we go again.

Warning, the following post is long and covers many topics. Viewer Reader discretion is advised.

I've been monitoring the aftertreatment history and ever since I replaced the DEF doser and fixed the exhaust pipes between the DPF and Decomp tube (I found the clamp wasn't tightened and the pipes had no gasket and a nice little gap). The dpf outlet pressure has been noticeably higher (1.5-2.0InHg) since the fix. Also been getting active regens about every 8 key-on hours (usually once per day, as soon as I start driving in the morning). Max differential pressures for this time have been up and down from 1.3 to 2.5. As I've had multiple exhaust leaks prior to now it's hard to know if these current numbers are high or just normal.

I've also noticed the smoke started up again at the beginning of active regens. It was minimal at first. A few puffs for a few seconds and then it would go away. But gradually it got worse. For those wondering it's from the fuel that's being injected in to the exhaust. If it doesn't ignite at the right time, such as when the exhaust temps aren't high enough yet, it will produce a white/blue smoke. A slight puff or two when the active regen starts supposedly isn't a concern, but billowing amounts are. I originally thought this was the result of the broken EGR valve not regulating the combustion temps properly. But since that has been replaced I suspect the doser injector may be getting clogged up again. Possibly leaking and collecting excess soot. I'll pull that off this weekend when i have some time and the the engine is cool.

As if that wasn't enough I'm also getting a bunch of other codes popping up.
3225 - DPF Purge Air Actuator - Not responding or out of adjustment
3545 - NOx outlet sensor - Abnormal rate of change (sometimes other outlet NOx sensor codes instead of or along with this one)
3383 - EGR - Above normal operating range

The first 2 happen occasionally and usually only one occurence. I also suspect that the purge air actuator plays a part in why the doser might be leaking fuel and getting clogged with soot. The last one, EGR, has popped up 2 times now. 1st time about 5 days ago heading south down I-81. Single day total was about 135 occurrences. Then nothing again until today. 2nd time had 115 occurrences today. Oh, both days where this code appeared I had the engine wound up around 1800rpm multiple times. The other days I didn't need to take it over about 1650. Not sure if that matters, but it is a bit of a coincidence.

While all this is going on today I stop to check my load and hit the bathroom. I come out to find a pool of gear oil on the ground from the front of my transmission. Wait, not just on the ground, ALL OVER THE UNDERSIDE OF THE TRUCK! Completely coated EVERYTHING. Got it to a shop down the road and turned out to be a worn out hose to the transmission cooler sprung a leak. Not the worst thing, but lost 2.5 gallons. Glad I caught it when i did. Unfortunately I had to cancel my pickup for the next day because I wasn't sure if I'd make the crane appointment. (It would have taken me down to GA, Friday pickup, Tuesday delivery with all of Monday to sit around and reset my hours)

So tonight I ran a parked regen while monitoring it via insite. The on and only parked regen since the EGR valve was replaced. Differential pressure was about 1.3 at the start, dpf outlet pressure was about 2.5. After about 45 minutes of regen the differential pressure was down to 0.45 and the outlet pressure was about 1.0 with spikes of 1.5 when the engine fan kicked in. At this point fuel injection stopped and the dpf temps all dropped to around the 550 degree mark. However the parked regen did not stop. It kept going with the engine at 900rpm and the turbo doing it's thing for another hour before I stopped it. Not sure why it kept going. Soot load dropped to "normal" around 20-25 minutes in to the regen and pressures did not change any more after temps cooled to 550. I've had this happen before but it's not a regular occurence.

While I had insite open I found a brand new code that i've never had before (rarely ever see something not aftertreatment related). 2321 Crankshaft Speed/Position - Data erratic, intermittent or incorrect. Inactive, 1 occurrence about 45 minutes prior to parking for the night.

My fuel mileage has been low ever since I replaced the EGR valve. At first I thought it might be the different runs I was doing. Heavy, short, hilly and in NYC. Then I thought it was because I altered my driving style to run in higher rpm's. But after finally putting on some real mileage this past 7 days I'm now convinced that it's something else. I used to be able to get 6.5 on a BAD day up to low 8's on a good day. The past 7 days took me from CT down I-81 in to LA, then up I-55 to IA. Not a single day above 6. Most days I started out with an active regen that left me in the 4's and I ended the day mid to high 5's. Needed 15-20 psi of boost just to maintain speed on the level ground today. That was anything over 45 mph. It got a little better when the wind died down, but still needed at least 10psi on level ground. Rolling hills were great, but not enough to make up for the losses.

What else... Oh, 4,000 miles on this oil now. Added about 2/3 of a gallon this morning to top it up. Prior to this oil I had been getting a lot of burnt oil smell from the breather, but happily since the EGR valve was replaced and the oil changed this has mostly gone away. 540,000 miles on this baby.

And my CDL expires in 10 days so I need to get back home to get that squared away.

Sorry if this was long winded. Just trying to document some of this while it's still fresh and before the next problem pops up. Besides, it's my daily blog.

I'm still very new to learning about and maintaining this truck, so I welcome any insight, advice or direction.

[Nilao]

I don't know what it is with Rotella. My truck eats it. Switched to Delo and it doesn't burn any. Never have tried Delvac...happy with Delo right now. 20k miles on changes and might be half a gallon low due to a rear structure leak.

[JimT]

I've been using Rotella in my Dodge pickup with the 5.9l cummins for 5 years with no issue. Only thing is it gets black quick, otherwise it doesn't burn any between oil drains. When I first got the Pete I was gonna use Rotella but a local mechanic suggested Delo since, according to him, it's a little thicker and will protect better. Engine also had a label advertising Delo as the factory recommended oil, so I went with it. No problems. I keep it topped up and dump it every 10-13k. It gets black, but it's never ever gotten as black as the Rotella that comes out of my Dodge. Everyone I talk to, who isn't blindly biased, says the same thing, pick one and if it works for you then stick with it.

[Rawze]

switching oil brands almost always results in it turning darker quicker + higher oil consumption for a while. - Just the nature of the beast.

I could say exactly the same thing about Rotalla as Nilao has stated about him using delo, (i have tried to use delo in the past and got negative results compared to the rotella) but like mentioned,.. the engine does not like it when you switch brands, and as well, they are all decent and like you mention, stick to one thing that works for you and do not change it up unless there is a long term switch for the engine to get used to it again.


==========

As far as 8-hour regen history, that sounds about normal fro one. -- BUT one of the fuirst signs of something failing is that it will not properly complete a regen cycle. <- it still has issues somewhere.

ALSO, if you willing to turn all the wrenches ... you can bring it by here for a day (expect about 2 days though) and I can point my finger towards what needs to happen if you want to fix it the right way (once and for all) yourself so that you know it was done right.

[Rawze]

ALSO...

(02-21-2020 )JimT Wrote:  ... I got one occurence of fault code 2321 Crankshaft Speed/Position - Data erratic, intermittent or incorrect.
...

I have never seen that error on an ISX unless there was a problem with the crank or cam position sensors, the tone wheel was loose, and/or the overhead cam had slipped. <- that is not an error to take lightly at all.