Exile

Thank you.

Talked to uncle’s mechanic buddy, and he said because the gasket has no visible defects, probably a cracked head, so get a reman head.  I looked closer, and also saw a valve with a chunk missing from the middle.

He told me to check liner protrusion also.

i don’t expect to put a lot of miles on it, so i will get the injectors tested and slap a reman head on it.

will price out and think hard about rolling in new bearings.

i will try to find that middle ground between going overboard and being stupidly cheap.

my shop rates are:

• one 300$ folding engine hoist
• one 3/4” 40” breaker bar
• one 30” 1/2” breaker bar
• 1/2” and 3/4” drive 5/8” 12 pt impact sockets
• 16 mm socket
• 22 mm bolt (cam gear tool)
• 3/8 milwaukee impact

so far, about 700$ in tools invested - labor cost zero

still need to get liner tool and build a gear lash tool for cam gear.

Found bubbles in radiator this fall - well, actually more of a boil of gas than bubbles

pulled it into my shop, tested compressor cooler, found no water in oil, and figured it’s the head.

Series 60 detroit - found manual online and got the head out.  Found several head bolts with water and rust on them, so pretty sure it’s not injector cups.

now i’m kinda stumped, to get it checked, complete refurbish or swap it out?

lots of things can be wrong with it-

• warped, cracked, bad cups, bad valve seats, bad valves
• i know the cam bearings need replaced.

Seems like a waste to put it back in only to have a cup fail in a year or two, but a replacement head means setting the backlash, and i’m not sure what else.

Cam, rollers, everything else looks ok by eye, i figure on having cam checked.

last oil analysis said 73 ppm iron in oil, and flagged it- not sure if from head or another issue, some minor pitting on exhaust cam rollers

saw that liner protrusion issues can cause blown gaskets, so will need check that also.

hour meter and ecm says 2,000 something hours, not sure i believe it.

Any suggestions as to how you recommend i blow, i mean spend my money?

You were exactly right.  

I always hesitate to go there because their prices are sometimes high, but they had a kit for the truck and it was cheap.  Maybe that’s why no one else carries it.

Anyone know how to find an oring kit for my 98 379 a/c system?  Or if they are some standard size(s)?

i see kits from 27-127$, but not clear to me if they will contain the right sizes.

Still damn hot in TX, even though snowed back home in Neb.

Drop a container onto a tandem gooseneck flatbed.  Pick a length, chop the container to fit.  Cut big holes in it, easy to weld reinforcements. Cheap and everywhere.  Sell it as a tiny home when you’re sick of it. Low enough to mount a/c on the top.

Thank you all for your help, it worked my last trip, I haven’t figured exactly what it was, either operator error or a bad park brake switch.

Resource for older detroits:  Fitzgerald manuals https://www.fitzgeraldgliderkits.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/owners-manual.pdf

it says among other things, cruise must be turned on to work, if already on, must be turned off first.  

Also found detroit troubleshooting guide at 

http://www.detroitmanuals.info/ddec-singleecm-troubleshooting/400A07.html

Someone on truckers forum suggested park brake switch, even if not in troubleshooting guide, so I disconnected that too.  Will try it again with switch reconnected. 

Now, onto fixing a/c.

And it goes on. . .

local Peterbilt guys say they can’t change settings on a series 60, maybe Vanguard can.  They claim they can, so i show up at 0700 when they said they opened . . .nope, shop door closed till 8.  

After 8 I get fussed at by a cyborg with a headset for setting foot inside the shop, i retreat to the lounge, where the cyborg comes to tell me they can’t change any settings. And magnanimously informs me there’s no charge.

I refrained from any rude comments.  It was difficult.

I trespass into the shop to ask the techs if the ecm is fried, and they tell me their generic software can see the settings but not change them.

And he tells me the cruise is set to 75 mph, so at least I got something other than an excuse to rant.

dammit.  

Called some more, and Freightliner says if I show up when the old guys are in the shop they can do it.

thinking i should just buy a gps to find out how fast i’m going.

On 5/24/2020 at 9:08 AM, noteven said:

If you can find a dealer or 3rd party shop where the shop foreperson has been around since your engine and truck model were in mainstream commercial service, they can be a wealth of knowledge.

It can be hard to stay on topic but often the best way is to say “I have this such and such. I don’t have the Engine Operators Manual* for it. Are there any Special Instructions?

 

*see what I did there?

👍

Omg.  Looks like i might need to do the hokey pokey at each start up, hold my mouth just right, stand on my head and pour water in my . . . Bottom.

Thank you, i will continue trying these things before i take it to the shop.

i never ever use the clutch at startup, i figured the button is by the door so you can fire it up and go get coffee while it builds air without climbing in.  

The joys of thinking like a computer programmer.

Thanks, my jakes do work, so might be a bad ecm

Speedometer didn’t work when the speed sensor was removed.  This was the only speed sensor the parts guy seemed to know of  

I think The idle up doesn’t work while truck is moving, i seem to remember trying that.  It is a separate switch.

i have to use the brakes to get out of my neighborhood, so shouldn’t be that. 

19 hours ago, Darryl&Rita said:

#2 proves both #1, 3 , & 4 are satisfied. Also proves input to ECM is good. Do you have a separate idle-up button? It's looking like a programming issue. 

Yes, idle up switch works fine, that is what i meant when i stated cruise will rev up engine, my apologies for inexact language.

2 hours ago, Steve from SoCal said:

On a cruise control that will high idle but not hold or set a target speed, a common issue is there is no target speed signal.     The speed signal is either from a wheel speed sensor, hall sensor on speedo or transmission.      Where is the speed referenced on your truck?

 

Steve

Ah, thank you.

I found a hall effect sensor on the back of the transmission, the plug did not look fully seated. I took it out, will see if i still have a speedo.

it looked like there was another sensor on the transmission itself, so maybe that was where the speedo was reading from.  It is an electronic speedo, i assume controlled by the ecu, because i could not find any dip switches to calibrate the speedo.

will report back after testing.

if i have speedo, and no cruise, should be the sensor.  If i have no speedo, then i assume it is a programming item.

I found one transmission sensor. . . You saying the cruise might use a wheel sensor?

 No wabco errors, so i think abs wheel sensors are ok. 

Damned thing has never worked.  I would appreciate any insights you all have.

1.  Clutch switch verified ok and adjusted ok

2.  Cruise will rev up engine 

3.  Brake switch appears to be tied to brake light switch? and it is ok

4.  Pto switch verified ok

5.  When i connect with blue fire system, it shows cruise switch on at ecu, with speed of 0 (when i’m sitting In the shop) and moving the switches around shows up in the ecu

6.  Driving and simultaneously fiddling with blue fire on tablet not a good idea, so haven’t done that yet

7.  Peterbilt wiring diagram sucks, i have the one for my vin, it is really basic, i can only see what pin number the cruise is on the ecu, but don’t know how to test that.  There is a rumor of a better diagram for units with the modular fuse block, but I don’t have it  

8.  Had a bad ground on the ecu, fixed it

9.  Throttle position sensor was throwing a code, it cleared up after disconnecting and reconnecting it.  No open codes.

Engine is a 12.7 dd

maybe i need to take it to peterbilt and see if the previous company set the highest available cruise speed to zero?

Truck only has an 8ll with a .73 od, so not a lot of gear choices.  Goes 60 at 1400, 64 at 1500 with 3.90

i looked at 3.73 but not 3.55, and 3.73 looked pretty tall.

i see 3.55 would give 1600@ 55 in 7th and 66@1400 in 8th, yep, that would have worked well.

Oh well, they’re in.  I know what to look for in the next truck 🙂

I know some of you don’t like to drive your rvs fast, but I wanted to go faster than 55.  Truck went 45 at 1400 rpm.

got some 3.90s

swapped 20 year old dd405 and rd405 4.88s for 2011 dsp41 and rsp41 3.90s.

sigh, lost my lockers, but now I can make 55 with another gear left over.

1350 for the gears, 1200 cash to swap, 320$ in oil,  130$ in bolts, and 125$ in u joints.  

I would have liked to swap them myself, but i was too chicken to pull the yokes and split the u joints without buying 500$ in tools.  

now on to calibrate speedo, and steering and air conditioning and cruise control and. . .

They look terrible.

you should just give the truck to me, so you won’t have to drive it around.

👍👍

T pin won’t fit through, hole too small, I will clamp pass side, good idea.

I bought 8 or 12 ft sticks of 2x3x11ga (1/8”) from a local steel building company and hauled that home in pickup. They did not sell primed, I would recommend that when possible, will save lots of effort painting it  

Built first iteration of bed and mounted crane, then used truck to get deckplate from same company.

got 3x3x1/4” from local welding company that would order it for me, he was still 20 mi away, but it fit in my pickup.  Also bought some random angle from him.  Also got some drop offs from welding shop just down the road from me, including a rusted piece of decking i had to scab together. 

I don’t think there is any cheap steel out there, only less expensive.  There is a company in Houston that caters to little guys like me, but i was impatient and didn’t buy from them.  Because they make it easy for little purchases, they are more expensive.  I watched scrapyard for awhile, but all their stuff had heavy scale, and would require more effort to clean up to paint.

My truck is 20 years old and has plenty of issues.  Dents won’t make much difference. 

I actually don’t carry collision on anything, 3 vehicles over 180k miles, and one car that is 12 years old.  Cheaper to buy parts and replace them myself than pay collision. 

I don’t pull my house around, and only a small amount of my net worth is tied up in each vehicle, so i have a hard time justifying extra cost.

when we get hailed, i’ll probably regret that decision. 

Things i would do different/wish i had done different-

have gaps in the lower framing to allow ramps to be slid in from the side, as this is in front of bolted connection to frame, so only carries vertical load

     I will cut this out when i flip it to weld the bottom

tried harder to figure out how to leave fifth wheel in place

put wood between bed and frame in front section

made framing match up with actual deck plate size to prevent lots of time trimming plates to 4x8 - did not buy until framing was built, so didn’t know they are oversize

used welding wire that would weld better in 4g position (overhead) to prevent need to remove and flip

painted it as it was built instead of after

Mine only works on passenger side.  Driver side is clear when blown with air, and when the hose is disconnected it will flow from the pump, just won’t spray through the nozzles.

maybe weak pump, looked in it, but can’t see anything.

I keep thinking this thread is about putting a twin turbo 3408 with a blower into a Volvo.

maybe the wrong forum for that . . .

🤔

On 4/5/2020 at 7:14 AM, rickeieio said:

Look'n good.  I like the look of the external stake pockets.  What made you put them on the outside rather than in the edge of the bed?

They’re on the outside because that was easy, no notching deck plate. i was thinking to finish it up like a flatbed trailer, with flat bar run outside the stake pockets. 

Inside the outer rails would have been cleaner, though.  I think i would have had to use heavier material to prevent them getting deformed from ratchet straps.