Paccar Engine(s)

Our PACCAR has been towed numerous times in the last 60 days. 5 shops more than 30 days downtime. Loosing confidence quickly. PACCAR is offer no long term solution to long wait times for repairs. Warrantied repairs are no good when it 30 days work is lost.

 

Right now I say thumbs down on these engines. All the work on them must go through horrible bureaucratic channels leaving the owner (payor) in the lurch. Even if the techs can fix them, All work must be "Approved". The customer has no say in the repair process. One does not "own" a PACCAR one merely pays for the priviledge of waiting.

The fuel mileage has been good. over 6 running state speeds. The Pete carcas around the PACCAR is so far good after 1 year. This unit is a team truck but runs light loads interstate miles.

In one year, the unit has spent more than 30 days in Dealer shops billing excess of $15,000.00. PACCAR shops tend to close at night and on w/e and many shops appear to be unprepared for the back log of trucks. Your breakdown gets caught in a bottle neck. As a PACCAR owner (I mean payor), one becomes an uncompensated data collector. You drive for a while, turn the truck over to the shop where they can load your data up to the Gods who use the data for future profit making and marketing. The PACCAR payor looses revnue is trapped on the road for days, well any way, you get the picture.

As of 11/2012. A question I would think through is what engine provider is more likely to have staffing and parts, that can respond to problems quickly w/o internal beauracracy that delays every part of the service experience. The PACCAR payor gets "slow jammed" through the repair process at this point and there appears to be little option to go elsewhere. The PACCAR engine is part of a closed beauracratic system currently.

For example, at one shop it was Friday and though the tech completed the NOx repair, the shop encouraged us to wait until Monday so the PACCAR Gods could review the datalogs to absolutely confirm all codes were fixed. We paid for motel time thru the Weekend, and throughout Monday. The truck was ready Tuesday after lunch. The PACCAR Gods had confirmed all codes were clear. We drove the truck 30 miles Bobtail, and the DEF guage light started going off and Check Engine! We were able to get to next shop w/out a tow. We were in the next shop for another 3 days, while the PACCAR Gods clammerd and snorted about.

In my years of trucking, I have learned Pete and KW owners are very loyal, but you won't catch me wearing Pete gear yet. Not sold.

Could the engine companies be footdragging on purpose to get lighter standards from CARB and the EPA? mmmmm. Don't you just love paying to be a pawn on the chess board?

 

Thanks for all the 1st hand knowledge of these matters. My best friend has been looking at buying a 2011 389 with the MX motor and I've been telling him to steer clear. The dealership can't sell the truck (because of the motor in it) and they have it down to -$45,000 off the MSRP. But I sent him a link to this thread last night and he said he won't touch the thing now.

On a side note, the dealership also stated that all their 2013 orders will ONLY be the Cummins powerplants. It's pretty bad when the PACCAR dealer won't even use it's own engines LOL

 

I was told in the sales process the issues of 2011 were software related and little actual problems existed with the engines. I now have warranty work sheets that conclude it is more than software. My biggest complaint is the slow turnaround to any resolution and zero interest from PACCAR Mgmt. to engage in discussions to offer forward solutions. The Pete motto is "Class Pays". I'm finding Class never stops costing! We have had nothing but good to say about this engine for 10 months, but then it nose dived. We are now more than 5k miles with no issues and if we get to 500k with no more problem then I can say it was just a quirk. But right now, the dealerships and the PACCAR system does not appear to be proactive with their problem. They could be over whelmed.

 

Well, I doubt Detroit Diesel had a larger service network than Cummins. Mercedes first attempt to enter to the North American market in the nineties failed badly. The second time they were successful, but we have had very good pre EGR engines too. My '98 Detroit at 1.4 million miles never had any problem. I mean, I changed the turbo, the starter, a few alternator and thing like this, but the engines itself never ever had any problem. Still running good. I admit, the new DD engines are very good, probably the best on the market today, but too early to talk about a German take over. They should be able to build a quality truck also, but it seems they do not care. They are not able to fix a leaky window issue on the Cascadias for 5 years! They put a new fuse box lid to protect it from the running water in the dash! Hello!?
But back to the MX. Maybe, one day, it will be a good engine, but right now I think, it was a mistake to damage the Paccar's trucks reputation with. O/Os stay away!

 

I also doubt the statement that Mercedes/Detroit has the larger network than Cummins. Have you latetly checked who is a Cummins repair shop? Almost every Freightliner, Volvo, Peterbilt, Kenworth and International Dealer repairs Cummins plus the Cummins shops.
To the Paccar MX: The company I drove for bought 3 2011 T660 with this engine. They gave it back to the dealer after 4 month with an average of 1 month downtime just for the engine. They changed to Cummins and are more than happy. Fuelmileage is better with ISX and less trouble. Another Company bought 25 T700 with MX's and average less than a friend of mine with a W900 and Cummins. Plus they also have bad problems with the engine. For a new truck I would go with a gliderkit and put a Detroit S60 in it. As long you don't go california don't mind the egr and scr crap.

 

I was referencing that fact that there are 2 separate but connected service networks for Mercedes and Detroit because Freightliner and Detroit Diesel ARE OWNED by Mercedes.

If you want to go adding every other OEM truck dealer to the calculation then that would make no difference because you would have to do that for each engine OEM and the results would be the same. When combining the Freightliner network and the DD power systems dealers THERE IS NO COMPARISON...........PERIOD!

 

Mercedes has owned Detroit since 2000. Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]

They have been selling their engines in the USA since 2003 when they introduced the "Mercedes" branded MBE 4000 so 12 years together and 10 years importing a EURO motor. Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]

Mercedes has owned Freightliner since 1981. Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]

You sure about no German take over yet?? Come on!! The Germans really won when they got ahold of Detroit and put the whole thing together. They were the first US Class 8 OEM to put THEIR MOTOR IN THEIR TRUCK!! If you want to go back to 1981 and start calling Freightliner what it really is and was since 81 then it was a German company plain and simple! So to be accurate, VOLVO was the first US Class 8 to put their motor in their truck if you want to look at them as a US Class 8 OEM. No matter how you want to look at it; Paccar is still playing catch up.Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]

So you have Detroit with the DD series motors which are totally Mercedes.Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"] If you choose to believe otherwise you are a fool. Detroit is MERCEDES and has been since they bought them out. It just took some time to assimilate them . Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]

Then you have Cummins. They are the last man standing since CAT left the picture. What will happen with them next? Expect a merger with Navistar.

Then you have Paccar and the MX. New EURO motor in its INFANCY. Only 2 years into its importation and implementation.

Mercedes and Cummins are the only viable motors available NOW. Cummins will soon be only available when you choose a Navistar.

Cant you people see what is happening? The days of OEM motors is almost GONE.

All we will have in a year or so is OEM Class 8 trucks with their own proprietary motors.

Cummins will soon be the last US made motor. Just because a EURO company sets up to build their own EURO motors here DOES NOT MAKE THEM US MOTORS IN MY BOOK!!!

Cummins and Navistar WILL MERGE!! Count on it. Cummins is still a US co and so is Navistar. It only makes sense that they take a stand together. Cummins is loosing customers to sell their engines to. When Paccar feels they have the bugs worked out of the MX they will Shoot Cummins in the BACK!! Oh wait, that reminds me. What motors can u still get in a Freightliner? Duhhhh ... a Benz! Paccar is on track to do the same with their DAF MX motor. Paccar sure as hell didn't buy DAF to sell their trucks, they bought them for their engine technology. Mercedes did the same but in the reverse order.

They will be EURO motors so long as they have EURO counterparts over the pond in my book.

WHen PAccar lost cat they lost top dog status PERIOD!!

It is a terrible shame that Paccar is having to resort to a EURO motor this late in the game. Freightliner and Mercedes have them beat here in the US by over a DECADE! Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]

O/O's need to accept this fact when it comes to buying new equipment. It will all depend what you put at the top of your priority list; either the chassis or the motor will be the deciding factor. If you want the best motor available at any time going forward I will put my money on Mercedes until everyone catches up.

I would LOVE to have a Paccar product with a Mercedes motor, but IT AINT GONNA HAPPEN!Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]


Paccar purchased DAF in 1996. They have been importing their engine since 2011. So after 16 years together they have still continued to have problems in EUROPE before during and after the Paccar take over/merger and now 2 years into their MX engine they are having this trouble? Waht would you blame that on? Why would you think Paccar will ever get it right here when after 16 years over the pond they still have the same issues that they have now brought to the US??

 

You make some good points, we deserve better than the mx. I guess their offering like 30 hp more on the new ones please.
Might want to lighten up on the heil crap. Just saying.

 

Wow! Someone here seriously in love with Mercedes. No question about that, they are trying to make their momentum now, after they slipped back world wide in the last couple of decades from #1 to mediocre truck maker. I admitted the DD engines are very good ones, defiantly superior to the MX. Also I admit, the engine is the most important component of the truck, but unfortunately only one of many others. If I have to choose a good engine in a junk truck or a junk engine in a good truck, I would take the first option. But, if I can choose a reasonable good engine in a good truck, my next truck will be a Kenworth T680 with Cummins engine. And no, I did not even consider the MX engine and seriously did the the DD15 with the Cascadia.
Oh! And yes, every Detroit service is a Mercedes sevice and vice verse. So you can multiply them by two. But it does not mean twice as many place to get fixed. Cummins is the biggest engine maker in the world and has the largest dealer network in North America. Maybe the time is coming when there will not be independent truck engine makers in the world, but it will not happen in the next decade or so. And I need a new truck now.