maxxforce engines pro's and con's

So far we haven't seen too many serious problems. If you have ever seen a maxxforce 11 or 13 you know how much stuff is around the engine. This engine is by-far, the most cluttered, complicated engine I have ever seen or worked on. The way all the hoses/ intercoolers, wireharness are routed most components are interlocked with multiple other parts that make any work very labour intensive. Even though so far the problems are just usual things, because the engine is so complicated it takes forever to fix anything because of all the stuff you have dig through. To do a simple top end tune up you are looking at around 8 hours, $1000 just because of all the stuff that has to come off. Coolant has to be drained. When you refill coolant it has to be vacuumed in from the bottom because of all the air pockets that can form. No access to anything. I really feel sorry anyone who needs repairs once the warranty is done. Trust me, all you have to do is just look at one to understand what I am talking about. I would never buy one. I really hope they can simplify and clean up the next generation.

 

They also do not have a very good engine brake like a Jake. It uses a compression braking system that is not that great. I have an ISX in my 9400i, but have been asking alot of questions at my dealership's shop about the MaxxForce. A real pain to work on, but they claim that the fuel mileage is pretty darn good. Was discussing this with the shop supervisor the other day when I stopped in for a couple of parts, and he was stating that high 7's into the 8's were the numbers they were getting from fleets that had bought some of them. The 2010 models don't use the SCR system that needs DEF fluid. That would be a plus, I suppose. No telling how long they will be able to do it that way before tighter EPA regs in the future will force them to go with SCR. Like most newer engines, a lot of bugs will have to be worked out before I would chunk down any money for one.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIbLeKDMoSA
low temperature radiator for interstage cooling,high temperature radiator for atercooling,radiator for first stage egr,then for second..... does this thing have a radiator for engine alone?

 

And it doesn't even meet 2010 emissions!

All that and Navistar is still using banked emissions credits to sell trucks. Anybody want to guess what will happen when they run out of credits?

 

Yah, I forgot about the oil cartridge problem. The 08 engines had to have a large wire harness running over the canister lid moved because they didn't allow enough room for the filter to come out! So every time a truck came in for it's first service we had to cut a bunch of zip ties and reroute the harness just to simply change the filter, and it was still too tight, stupid!

 

holy bajesus, is that thing loaded with crap. 4 radiators, 1 cac and a a/c condensor. that things got to run a bit warm in 105* mountains

 

I gotta admit. Even with all the emissions B.S. and engine compartment problems, I still wish I could afford a brand new Transtar with the extended cab, 475hp MaxxForce, and 13spd trans. But with my luck, it would blow sky high .25 seconds after the warranty was up...