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Ok, so I’ve got a 98′ International 4900 with the DT466E that has 480,000 miles on it. For the past couple months that I’ve been using it at work,it will need anti-freeze every 2 days and oil every two weeks. Well over this past weekend I forgot to plug my engine heater for the weekend and the temp was about 15 degrees. Well, I get work this morning and it cranks put won’t start. Every now and then it would chug but it wouldn’t stay running. Eventually the mechanic got it running but it needed full throttle just to idle he said and was just sounding horrible like popping and loud tapping like it was going to blow. Took about a half hour to warm up and stop smoking from cold and oil. When I pull out of my spot, I go back to park my personal vehicle and notice this giant black oil puddle that’s about an inch thick that was under the truck. The check engine light was on but when I restarted the truck it went away. Well about an hour later I’m going to my first stop and i’m just coasting in neutral and the check engine light comes back on and the engines just slowly and quietly shuts off. Started back up and didn’t have problem until the end of my route, I go on I-95 to get back to the dairy and the light comes on and the truck just doesn’t seem right. It still runs but I refuse to push it to the max like I used to. I think it wants to blow. Also at idle, i’ll hear a rattling/tapping sound coming from the engine cover in the cab below the dash. Goes away at mid RPM but will get really loud at high RPM. Truck doesn’t smoke. Oil pressure fine. Temp is fine. Just want to know what the heck went on this morning with the oil and what could be in the for see able future.
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wow, not sure there’s too many folks on here familiar with bigger diesels. Have you tried crawling underneath when it’s running (or even not running) to see if you can find the source of the oil leak? Not sure what to tell you regarding the noises, but doesn’t sound like something simple. Hopefully somebody else will come along that can give you a better answer.
edit– Going by some pics I found online it looks like the top of the head and the valve cover are really the only thing behind the doghouse in the cab, so maybe it’s a valve issue making all the noise.
Yeah, I opened the doghouse this morning at it’s just the valve train whenever I step on it, some of the other trucks there do it. All are DT466’s at my workplace. I found where the oil is coming from and it’s some breather tube/pipe that leads to the crankcase. Smoke seems to always come out of it and oil drips slowly when truck is warmed up.
And yeah, I’ve posted a few other threads about my older trucks over the past 2-3 years if you feel like it, you can see what issues I had with them if you have any free time. Those trucks are long gone. Engine blew on all of them. Only one, which was the original thread about the transmission popping out of gear was rebuilt with new DT466, transmission, new box floors because it’s a milk truck and had 2 ft wide holes. Just waiting for it to be finished for me by the mechanics there. It’s been a project for a year and a half now. I know about these engines but haven’t ever seen any of my trucks just puke at least a quart of oil out the breather tube during an aggressive warm up by my mechanic. By aggressive, I mean he was flooring it to 3,000 RPM’s which is redlining these engines.
Ok, so first thing is you need to do a crank case blow by test. Take the oil cap and unscrew it. Place in upside down on top of the hole that it came out of, so that its sitting flat against the valve cover….Do this while the engine is running. It should move sideways from the vibration but the blowby should not be strong enough to blow it off the hole. Some smoking and some oil drip is ok from the crankcase vent. You need to determine if its excessive. Your mileage is high but its not enough to kill the venerable 7.6 if it was well maintained.
Next you need to look for other points where the oil could leak. Check the HPOP lines in the valley, next check the high pressure oil rail plgs on the back of the motor. Remember Oil is everything for these motors, without high pressure oil supply these motors dont run. The cold start you described sounded a bit like you also have a high pressure oil leak. The high throttle sounds like you were having problems building pressure. Do you have access to a scan tool that will give you live data? You need to watch the IPR (Injector Pressure Regulator) to see if it has a duty cycle above 80%. That would indicate a leak. You also need to watch HPOP pressure. You should be above 700 psi when cranking.
Also you need to verify your glow plugs are working. This motor does not like to start cold and will give you fits if the plugs are bad
Also I am concerned that your mechanic revved the motor that high. I seem to remember this motor being governed at about 2500 RPM
Okay, I tested blow by before on this truck about 4 monthes ago, smoke just pours out of the oil fill tube and it puffs air like a freight train. Same thing happened on one of my old trucks and pretty soon I was chugging coolant everyday because the liner packing went on the wet sleeves. And actually, these trucks are governed at 2500 RPM’s while driving but when in neutral, they go up to 3000 RPM’s. The mechanic(s) have been there for just about as long as my dad (23 years) and they have never quite seemed to worry about these trucks. They just don’t care. The motto here is “if ain’t broke don’t fix it. If it’s broke, fuck it.” kind of thing. They know what to do, it’s just they’re all related to the owner, this is a family ran redneck business, and the owner is probably the biggest cheapskate in my life and he tells them not to spend money unless it’s important. When they decided to buy me a new engine ($9,000) and new transmission ($4,500), he was pissed at the mechanics because he said he would’ve rather scraped the damn thing. Well, the put the truck all together but are just not fixing a simple door for the past year and a half.
Anyway, the oil just seems to be coming from the breather. Also about the truck revving so high on a cold start, it wasn’t revving on it’s own, it would die. It had a horrible knocking sound. It sounded like all the pistons were timed to fire at the same time. We don’t have glow plugs in these trucks. Dairy took them out to save money on batterys and to sell for money. Same reason why they get rid of all cab a/c, the second battery, radios (on some trucks), and reverse buzzers they never install. It’s just a crank until start kinda thing. Which for the most part works until it’s below 20 degrees out and they have a night crew come out at midnight to start the trucks.
Sounds to me like poor quality maintenance is the primary problem. I don’t understand why they would choose to replace a motor, when the wet sleeve design of that motor allows for in chassis rebuilds.
With a shop mentality like that I would imagine the sleeves are scored and the rings are shot. Motor could be sand blasted from improper upkeep. At some point when your company starts getting Gen2 HUEI DT466s they are going to be in real trouble. Can’t just tear off stuff to save money with those motors.
They better get those backup alarms working. Thats a big league fine from OSHA and the DOT won’t like it either.
The DT466 is know as “The Legend” but without proper upkeep its not going to last long. Maybe they should go back to NA Mechanical injection motors.
The truck that got the rebuild was a mechanical injection. They have the 4300’s and 4400’s they seem to stay away from the shop most of the time. We have 2 Hino 338’s, they are always in the shop, and about 4 freight liners that are brand new. The other 80+ trucks are IH 4900’s.
The truck that got the rebuild, the crankcase was shot, blew a hole in the block so that’s why they replaced it. The sleeves were actually fine, just the engine was old. Did’nt burn oil at all or anti freeze. The reason why it blew was because on my 7 speed spicer it had, I didn’t have a 2nd or 3rd. So I would go into 2nd, wait for it to pop out, then skip 3rd because the synchros from what i believe were shot never engaged, so I would jump from 2nd to 4th which really put a hurting on the engine. Mind you that truck was floored constantly because that’ the only way to keep it rolling. It was the slowest truck I ever had grossing max on a big day at 40,000 lbs. It didn’t have two proper functioning turbos until 6 months prior it blowing. I had that thing for 9 years.
The dairy knew about the transmission problem, at one point I refused to drive the truck, that’s when they put the turbos on it. Once a week I would remind the owner about the transmission and he would just blow it off. The mechanics would act surprised every time I told them. It’s not a good company, but I like the job, it’s actually easy to work for as long as you get your crap done. Pay’s good.
EDIT: Update on the truck that I started this whole thread for, it has ran fine for last couple days. Mechanics fixed block heater. Check engine light doesn’t turn on. Now, the only thing needing immediate fixing is the front end. Whenever I’m driving, the cab is always bouncing and shaking back and forth. It really lets you know if you’re fat. It’s been like this since I got it over summer. Yes, mechanics know about it but won’t fix it. Talked to boss’s son who deals with pretty much anything. He’s a good kid. He thinks it’s the kingpin.
Did you ever get the codes for the CEL? If so, I can look them up and help you identify what they’re for.
Tried to pull codes, but it didn’t find anything. Check engine light hasn’t been on in a few days. Truck still lacks power but has ran good. This upcoming monday will be the test as it’ll be 3 days since start up and i’m currently in a blizzard right now.
Hope you’re able to weather the blizzard. That said, it would be an important clue if you could get those codes somehow. If the light is on, there’s codes stored somewhere. Perhaps it’s a matter of finding the right scanner. I’m not an expert in this area so I really couldn’t say. Perhaps one of our diesel people can help weigh in on this.
I tried looking it up, but couldn’t pull up specific information.
So I got my mechanics scanner, and he said it was just reading engine coolant temp range was low. He cleared them because we just filled it up with coolant again Friday. The code number was 114. Thanks for your help. I sometimes forget that some of these trucks I can hook scanners up to it. I’m still used to my old work truck that didn’t have all these electronic control BS. I’ll get back to this truck after Monday because that’s going to be the test.
Very tough to diagnose an early HUEI motor with codes. Typically with performance issues you find whats wrong with a IPR air chuck adapter and a fuel pressure gauge.
Given what this motor is doing, and that it failed the blow by test? I would say the next step is to test the cooling system for exhaust gases. I really like the Block Check brand for diesels. If you fail that then its time for a leak down test or a compression test. Low compression on any cylinder will cause hard start issues ESPECIALLY in the cold.
Was the noise only on a cold start and did it go away once it warmed up?
How are the fuel filters? If you have dirty filters, gelling will become more of a problem.
This may be a simple thing but has anyone checked to make sure the oil wasnt overfilled? If youve got to much oil in the crankcase its easier for the gases to push oil out of the tube. Again a little oil out of the CCV tube isnt a big deal. A steady steam would be a problem.
Also do you ever smell coolant burning in the exhaust?
Good luck on Monday. There is a big mess on the roads
The noise after the rough cold start on Tuesday stayed with the truck. The truck has newish oil filters. The oil was actually a little low. Yes, the CCV tube always has a steady steam puffing out. The mechanic said that’s normal? The exhaust just smells very strong when i’m at a stop sometimes. Like when I breathe through my nose, it’ll burn while i’m unloading from the side door. I’ll just run it till she dies. Mechanics ain’t help much they don’t care so why should I right? I don’t pay anything to the trucks. I actually get more $$$ for breakdown pay.
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