Pete 386 with the Paccar MX engine

right now my fan runs constantly and cruise and jake are disabled simultaneously. ... cqn anybody help with this? ???

 

I was put in a 2013 386 Pete a few weeks ago at my work. It has the Paccar PX motor in it. This is the absolutely worst truck I have ever had to drive. Visibility is HORRIBLE. I am only 5'8" but I cannot see 1 square inch of the hood, fenders nothing. The power sucks, the engines are governed at 1600 rpm by Peterbilt, (the trucks are leased) and Pete will not turn them up. I was told by an old retired man who started and operated 3 successful truck dealerships that the reason is for durability. Once the lease is up and the trucks are up for resale they will be turned back up to 2100. That says to me they have no faith in there engine, if somebody runs it up to 2000 from time to time your afraid it will blow up. Fuel mileage is worse than my old Freightliner with a 12.7 Detroit that had far superior power and VISIBILITY. I would not recommend the 386 model to anyone, the visibility is that bad, and I would not recommend the Paccar motor either based on my experience with it. If you are thinking of buying one, take one for a test drive WITH a trailer. The only way I can make sure I'm in my lane on a narrow road is to look in the mirror and see where my tires are, I'm only guessing from looking out the tiny windshield. Only 7000 miles on my truck and no engine breakdowns yet, but throttle response and power are horrible. The cab is small and very poorly laidout. the ONLY drink holder is in front of the passenger seat and almost on the floor. Nowhere to put anything, no change dish, center glovebox and the glovebox is so small the owners manual has to be turned sideways to close the door. The truck has been back to the dealer for a list of problems, after 10 days at the dealer they stopped the passenger seat from rattling for 2 days, nothing else was repaired. Given the choice I would get back in my old Columbia with 600'000+ miles on it in a minute.

 

First off gascanman your paccar PX engine is a cummins engine painted brown with the valve cover changed so the engine can have a paccar part number. paccar offered the deal to cat first but cat turned them down. YOU DO NOT HAVE THE PACCAR MX. I made a post here last year about the mx. A local fleet bought a dozen mx power trucks and a dozen isx powered trucks. Shortly after they bought another 30 mx powered trucks a couple months back they bought another 30 mx powered trucks. None of the mx engines have had major issues. Four of the isx engines have a new vent in the block cummins said it was the fault of baldwin filters and would not be covered. another two had hi pressure pump failures resulting crank replacement. I have a new mx in the shop with 8,000 miles on it and the cam follower failed and took out the cam. Paccar is not playing around with the cheapest way to repair it, they are sending me a NEW complete engine. They want to know why it failed. The engine is not a major power house or my favorite to work on but I am gaining respect for it.

 

Joe from OH:

I have a problem that you just described. I need to reinvest. Problem is, the offerings are horrible. I run 80,000 all day with 7 Pete 379's. Five Cat powered C12's, two Cummins ISM's. My five Cats are wonderful. Fleet average over 6 mpg and rebuilds at 1 million miles. My Cummins, one 2005 and one 2006, way less reliable. EGR problems every year @ 2 days downtime & $1300.00 each year. I operate in California; I chose to retrofit with a DPF filter @ $12k each unit. The new Peterbilts with ISX or MX motors lose a ton of cargo and are in the shop constantly. One of my
buddies claimed it cost him $30k each truck per year in downtime, repairs, and cargo capacity.

I am totally out of depreciation; I need to reinvest. But I'd rather pay the taxes than deal with the problems with either motor.

If anything, I might be interested in buying a new glider kit fitted with a rebuilt C12 and a filter. That will keep me going until 2021 in California. I think.

I would even be willing to purchase non-Paccar if there is something more reliable.

Anybody know about the Volvo? (It's hard for me to even say it.)

Thanks!

 

(God have mercy on my soul) I cant belive im saying this.....volvo's D16 along with the I shift tranny have some pretty impressive numbers as far as mpg and torque. I do not remember them off the top of my head. they have problems with injector cups. they have updated them from copper to stainless but the are still having issues. they also have injector harness issues they dont have the problems that cummins is having. the volvo looks a lot like the paccar mx inside. I think the issue with volvo is finding good techs to make quality repairs. volvo is most excellent at standing behind their product and getting you back in service asap

 

The problem with Volvos is parts availability. When you go down its for a couple days if they don't have parts in stock due to the limited number of dealerships. I have heard the D13's w/ I-shift were weak but do not recall what HP setting they were at. I would closely take a look at cummins powered Volvos if going with Volvo. That way your not limited to Volvo dealerships.

 

Used D16's are cheap on the lots for a reason. Have asked about them several times over the years on this forum & not much in the way of positive response was ever posted. If you are running C12's retrofitted, build the glider to match what you have. Would think it would be easier to know most of the faults & keep parts on hand than to have a one off to deal with.

 

If I were in your position, I would take a look at western star.

 

I've been told the D16 has been sorted and actually works good, but I don't see a need for it. My D13 is 455 Eco tq. 1450-1750 and pulls as good as my C15 did. A lot of that is because of how well the engine and ishift work together. I'm always 80k heading south (this last week was Texas) and out of the maritimes and thru New England lots of hills. I fuelled in Halifax then ruther glen va. Got 6.7. In ruther glen it gets a little flatter from there to houston, and the fuel is not winter blend i got 7.8. I was 79k and change.
I idled 17 hrs between Houston and my reload in Beaumont Texas and headed north, gross 79k and change, even with the idling and bad weather and wind I got 7.4.
My d13 hasn't had a screw touched on it and 300k in I'm happy. With all the horror stories I hear with the ISX I wouldn't touch one with a 10 foot pole.

 

Hey Scania man;
you are out of touch. The engines you had experience were long gone. We are not in 2003 my man. This is 2014. Stop misleading people with your hate for MX. I am a neutral guy.[
Respect.
QUOTE=Scania man;2621664]Let me tell you something Jo from oh, I suspect you are a Paccar employee! Send me a pm of your personal details and I'll give you my misery with Paccar engines, how ye nearly broke me! How crap those engines actually are! And how you can't accuse me of slander as I have documented evidence of just how good your engine isn't!! And mine were euro3, the reliable ones![/QUOTE]