I had an International Work-Star with a Maxxfarce 10 in the shop yesterday. The complaint was after driving for a few minutes the check engine light would come on. I scanned it and it had two faults for injection pressure above desired and below desired pressure. My best guess is either the injection pressure sensor or the injection pressure regulator was failing. Since they are both prone to failure and can kill the engine on the road my advice was to replace both. The pressure sensor is located under the valve cover. To remove the valve cover first remove the intake pipe from the cooler to disconnect the two connectors from the valve cover gasket, remove the wiper arms then the plastic trough below the windshield then the wiper transmission. Then get a box and put all the crap in the cab in the box. Then remove the plastic trim that holds the floor mat on both sides, remove both seats the storage box between the seats the fire extinguisher the throttle pedal the cup holder and the Allison Transmission shifter then roll the floor mat back and remove the plastic cover from the firewall, . You can now see the rear of the engine. Remove the two connectors at the left rear of the valve cover gasket and remove the cover bolts. Now lift the valve cover and tilt it just right and it will come out from the rear into the cab, this usually requires a bit of cursing. There it is the pressure sensor screwed into the side of the high pressure rail at the rear. Replace the sensor. If it had an engine brake I would replace the brake pressure sensor and control valve more $$$ replace the expensive valve cover with the wiring harness built into it $$$ again. six hours later its back together. The Injection pressure regulator threads into the back of the high pressure pump between the intake manifold and air compressor. Get the special 1 3/8" socket with a slot machined in it to clear the connector and slip it under the copper main air line onto the IPR. Keep a magnet handy for when you drop it. once you get it in place with a 3/8" universal and extension thread it out. Carefully thread the new IPR in without dropping it, its a hydraulic valve and if you drop it it will land valve end first in the dirt. once the new one is in with a universal and extension there is no way to accurately torque it so I gave it my best guess. Next try to get both my Sasquatch size hands in there to plug the new IPR into the engine harness. Once its all back together when you start it will run rough and miss and clatter for about ten minutes until the air is out of the high pressure system. 7.5 hours to replace a sensor and an actuator test drive the truck. I have always wondered do engineers really hate mechanics.
same guy that puts the starter on a nissan under the intake manifold.
They're all sitting around an Ikea coffee table sipping lattes giggling, "wait till they see this nonsense we saved 37 cents on, they're gonna have a ***** hemorrhage "
This poem is from an earlier day, but the sentiment is the same. The Designer The designer sat at his drafting board A wealth of knowledge in his head was stored Like "What can be done on a radial drill Or a turret lathe or a vertical mill?" But above all things a knack he had Of driving gentle machinists mad. So he mused as he thoughtfully scratched his bean "Just how can I make this thing hard to machine?" If I make this perfect body straight The job had ought to come out first rate But would be so easy to turn and bore That it would never make a machinist sore So I'll put a compound taper there And a couple of angles to make them swear And brass would work for this little gear But its too damned easy to work I fear So just to make the machinist squeal I'll make him mill it from tungsten steel And I'll put these holes that hold the cap Down underneath where they can't be tapped Now if they can make this it'll just be luck Cause it can't be held by dog or chuck And it can't be planed and it cant be ground So I feel my design is unusually sound. And he shouted in glee, "Success at last! This god*am thing can't even be cast.',
The Maxfarce has caused so much pain and heartache
Cadillac's Northstar had the starter there also, ***? Ed
If I was a mechanic I'd probably refuse to work on them.
I purged the fleet of them, as fast as I could. They were an incredible money pit, on the books. Even, in a revenue shop situation, no way would I recommend anyone work on them. You can’t win. The customer is going to be pissed, either way. They are never “fixed”. It’s a constant trail of sorrow and self destruction.
Being the cheapest and government buying only the cheapest keeps them in business. They don't work on them they just throw them away.
I've never viewed Navistar/International as a legitimate manufacturer anyways. Always seemed like they were a subpar product with horrible engineering and designs.
The dealers always seem to be heavy in the school bus market and thst goes with the gov thing.
I remember an adept ape video about pulling the egr cooler or something, he couldn't get it out because long bolts were hitting the frame. He's like the same company designed the engine and the chassis and you have it where the bolts can't come out!
That was only the beginning of the stupidity on the Northstar . . .
Had another Maxxforce 10 delivered to the shop last week. The engine light and the warning triangle were both on. The Maxxforce 9 and 10 will log codes if the battery connections are in poor condition they were so I cleaned them. I cleared the codes and only one came back. The truck also has a battery disconnect switch which causes a problem with the engine ECM loosing its programming if the keep alive power to the ECM or the battery grounds are disconnected. The ground was being disconnected. I checked the three temperature sensor readings on the exhaust and they read 32f the exhaust outlet was -495f so the ECM needed to be reflashed. The EGR valve and the DPF differential pressure sensor were not connected and there were no faults for them. What were the engineers thinking? If the battery goes dead or is disconnected for a few weeks the truck has to go to the dealer to be reflashed.
That’s ridiculous. I recall running into that issue before, but never associated it with the battery disconnect. Which now, makes sense and explains a lot.
Navistar developed such a poor reputation for their brand engine trucks that many of the highway departments around me abandoned them and have bought Freightliners. A sad thing to see after the rock solid reputation of the 466. The Town I work for has revisited Navistar trucks but they are powered with Cummins engines instead of Navistar.
I believe the Maxxforce 7 is the only international engine that is still in production. Another terrible engine!
Although the truck is slow, old, and underpowered, I like my DT466. I had an inline rebuild and it didn't cost too much. Excellent low end torque. Its been a good truck at half the price of a new diesel pick up.
The fish rots from the head down. * Navistar - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
I Met an engineer that worked for ford , found out he had a lot to do with the 6.0 diesel ,, of course I off loaded on him about how bad it was and hard to service, he explained when designed and started with the engine plant all was good till management and EPA changed requirements, which added all the headaches ...
Ah the old 466 with the manual pull shut down. Not a lot of power, but you turned the key and they started. Made my bosses a lot of money over the years. Outlast any of these new M2 Freightshakers they have been buying. They bought a new one this winter. Left it parked. Starting back on asphalt prep for the season tomorrow. My float man ran it last week, just the truck. Worked fine. Hooked onto his tag along Friday. Lights all messed up. Has to go to the dealer, 2 hours away, to be programed to haul a trailer. And they were the ones that put the wiring kit for the trailer on it.
Relays worked fine for decades. Why do we need to run this stuff with control modules now?
Multiplex & Sam.
The 6.0 was designed as a sub 300 HP engine irc, which to be fair you should design your engine for a lot more hp than your initially going to offer it for. Least the engine is good now, only took 10-15 years to figure out