Flat Work

Okay, it's blinking 4-5. Which my research pulls up a problem with the VGT. When I bought the truck a year and a half ago, the VGT was stuck. I worked it loose with a small pry bar and penetrating oil, and it stopped throwing a fault. Will this cause me to fail my inspection?

And I can do this with the engine running?

This spring, when I got the truck out, I had no alternator charge, and the CEL lightening bolt was on. I replaced the alternator, and batteries, and fixed the problem. The truck charges at almost 15 volts now. But I still have a check engine light issue. But only while the truck is at idle to about 1000 rpm. As soon as the engine speed comes up above that, it goes out, and stays out. Until I come to a stop sign, red light, or just idle the truck. It's running fine. Starts fine, accelerates fine, and has its usual power. My DOT inspection is due next week. Is there any way for me to pull this code and determine the problem before hand? Truck is an '04 CX-613. AC-427 engine. 344,000 miles.

Well, it's go one, and there is play in it. Do I have to remove the tower, and pound this thing apart?

Cool. Thank you. I'll check it out.

I haven't gotten that far into it. It doesn't feel like a gear box issue. The shifter has kind of a "rubber" feeling to it. I drove a friend's truck the other day, and it's crisp, and close between the gears. Mine seems to have a "flex" to it.

I've got a lot of play in my shifter. I've been told it's more than likely the isolator bushing. Is this a difficult repair?

It was combination of both. The alternator is dead, and the batteries are weak. I picked up 2 new batteries yesterday. And I'm seriously considering adding 2 more. One thing I've learned from living in Michigan for 49 years- you can never have too much cold-weather cranking power. I got the alternator off yesterday. Damn- that was a job! It's a standard Delco 22SI. 150 amp. I'm going to my local starter/alternator shop this morning. I'm going to talk to him about a quality replacement in the 200 plus amp range. I don't have a refrigerator in there yet, but I might add one later. My main concern is in getting a quality alternator that hopefully will outlast my ownership of the truck. That thing was a pain in the ass to remove. And I don't want to have to do it again!!!

There are 2 unused terminals. Both have a rubber cap on them. I have the batteries out charging right now. I'll let them slow charge until tomorrow morning, and go get them tested. The drive belt is tight. The connections all look good and clean. The alternator is a Delco 22si. If I determine it's bad, is there anything special about it? Is it on a standard frame? All the replacement ones I've seen seem to be between 150-220 amps. But I don't know for sure how big the one that's on it is.

I don't know right now. The truck is parked over at a friend's farm. I left it sitting there after I got done helping him get his grain up last December. I've had my kids all week for spring break. I'm heading over there next week to get the truck around for spring. I'll let you know what I find.

2004 CX-613. AC-427 engine. Trying to find out the oil capacity, with filters. Everything I'm finding online says 11-12 gallons. Does that sound about right?

What's the process for doing that?

Well, I lit the Mack up a couple of days ago. It had been sitting for a couple of months. I have either a very low alternator output, or none at all. It shows about 11 volts at an idle. It steps up to 12-12.5 volts if you give it some rpm's. The little lightening bolt on the dash stays on at and idle, but will go out after increasing rpm's as well. I have done zero checking on the system anywhere as of yet. Any suggestions exactly where, and how to start? I did have to boost it to start it. Thanks.

Rebuilt price is about $400.00 less. I would rather go with new.

I just got my first over the phone quote back. $2500.00 If that's the going rate, I'll drive to Virginia and use your mechanic. He told me 14 hours on labor.

My clutch and brake are adjusted as far as they will go. Time for a new one soon. Truck's an '04 CX-613, AC-427, with a run-of-mill Eaton-Fuller 10spd. Just curious what you guys are paying for a straight up clutch job.

My real issue rather than being cheap is the distance to the dealer. And they won't ship to my door. I suppose, just get the numbers, call ahead and make sure they've got 'em, and go waste 1/2 a day on the road.

That's very interesting. Thank you for the info. I certainly don't have any problems using Mobil. In fact, they make a great gasoline engine oil.

I do plan on doing that. I guess the direction I was going is if Mack has a certain brand it requires its dealers to use. I bought the truck in Texas, and it had been serviced by the same dealer in Ft. Worth its entire life. Then I brought it to Michigan last year, and had service done at the dealer in Grand Rapids. If I found that Mack only used 1 brand across the board, I was certainly going to stick with that.

I'm getting ready to do an oil change. The truck currently has factory oil filters on it. I've always been a WIX person. And with retail sources like Amazon, etc, you can save some serious money buying them online. Anyone got any good reasons why I shouldn't use anything other than factory-branded ones?

Cool. Thank you.

If found this from Mack: https://www.macktrucks.com/~/media/files/pv776-89149448.ashx

That surprises me some. I've been using Rotella for my diesels as long as I care to remember. I'm not advocating for the quality of one oil over the other. And I know how stupid this probably sounds- but I'm a believer in keeping with the same brand IF an engine has only had 1 brand used in it all of its life. Which is probably very unlikely. As I stated above- the engine hasn't burned any oil in 6000 miles. The truck's not abused. But hauling heavy loads of gravel, asphalt millings, grain-etc, up and down back roads, in town, and in and out of gravel mines does cause a lot of starting and stopping type driving. I guess I'm just being superstitious. But I'm also pretty anal about doing things like kicking my AC on to get the cooling fan engaged to help keep my coolant, oil, and exhaust temps down. And that does work. I also ALWAYS warm up my engine before working it, and cool it down before shutting it off. No matter what the outside temps are. Also, because of the dusty environments I'm working in, I've gone thru 3 air filters this season. This truck and trailer was a huge investment for me. I saved my money for a long time to be able to buy it. I'm hoping if I pay attention to the little things, I'll get a lot of good service out of it!

My engine is an '04 AC-427. I'm just curious- do these engines use a hydraulic-unit type injector? Thanks.

It's time to do an oil change in my truck. This is the first one I'll be doing on it myself. The truck has always been serviced at a Mack dealer, and I would like to continue using what the engine is used to getting. The truck's an '04 CX-613. AC-427 engine. Not looking to start a heated oil brand/type debate. Just curious as to what oil the dealers use. I've got to say that even though I'm not super impressed with the engine's overall power and performance, I have been very impressed that the engine is not an oil consumer. While I've only put about 6,000 miles on it in the 12 months I've owned it, they've been hard-worked miles. And the engine has not burned 1 drop of oil.