ISX Low Oil Pressure

Volvo drivers are nuts. I told you that before

 

Also, I just replaced my oil pressure sensor. In talking with my local shop over the phone discussing a low pressure situation, they stated that the oil pressure sensor is a common failure. Mine was actually pushing oil out. It would do fine but occasionally drop to 20 psi or even jump up to 60 psi. You might want to take a look at it along with the other things mentioned.

 

I know that there are a lot of you looking for answers to low oil pressure issues with an ISX. There are 7 trucks in my home terminal going through this right now. All of them are 2009-2010 with the ISX engine. If you're losing oil pressure at or below 5000 miles after an oil change, spinning on a new filter brings it back to normal, but only for 3-4 thousand miles, a serious drop in fuel economy, elevated oil temp, get your truck into a shop that has a dyno. It will cost you around $300.00, but I assure you that is money well spent!!! PLEASE don't mess around with the parts changers and labor hogs!

If I had done this, I could have saved many thousands of dollars. I could list all of the "recommended procedures" that I've paid for, but I'll just give you the big ones.

$1,800.00 to have the static timing adjusted. (it was verified at the factory of setting 4.25 degrees before a useless advance to 4.75 degrees) No help.
$850.00 for a new oil cooler. Old one was indeed plugged and should have been a clue.
An oil change every month for a year.
A new filter every week in between oil changes. (was told that it would take awhile to get all the accumulated soot out of my engine) Important! Where did THAT much soot come from???

Because I didn't listen to my gut, and because I waited so long to finally get mine in for a dyno appointment, I in-framed an engine with 500K miles on the clock. Believe me, I kick myself every morning as soon as I get out of bed...
The dyno showed 32 inches of blowby. Leading causes of that much blow by? Toasted liners and broken rings. Get your truck analyzed the right way!!! You might have to change a liner and piston, but you'll save thousands over an in-frame. 4 out of 6 of mine were totaled. One piston was cracked and could have gone any minute. This problem does give you some warning. Losing oil pressure starts at 15-20K miles, then rapidly gets worse. Finally, you'll get a crankcase pressure code and by then, it's all over but counting out $100 bills. LOTS of them.

It may be something simple and comparatively cheap to fix. Could be a sensor. Could be an oil pump (although rare). Could be a leaking jake solenoid. InSight won't nail the problem down guys and gals. Get it to an authorized Cummins shop and get it dyno'd!!! Like the old commercial said... "pay me now, or pay me later".

Until they find a way to filter the soot out of the EGR, this will continue to be a problem. The intake plenum of the head was packed with soot. Over a pound of it. Lesson learned and passed along. Good luck to you all!

 

So... what are you saying? All you really need to fix your truck is a $300 dyno run?

 

Yeah... That's what I'm saying...

No. And I'm sorry for not making it more painfully obvious. I'll clarify.

Get the dyno early and find out what the exact problem is and get it fixed before it gets worse. Because it WILL get worse.

I think that message is in my original post, but you'd have to be able to comprehend what you're reading...

 

I fail to see your reasoning. If you dyno a healthy engine, what do you expect to find? If you find excessive blow-by, do you expect a cheap repair to fix it? If you dyno the truck after the first time the filter plugs up, it is already too late, is it not? When the blow by starts to climb, that is because the rings and/or liners already have wear or damage. You can't reverse that. Once you have excessive blow-by, that's it, game over. I am sorry you feel you were ripped off, but the static timing is actually quite critical and not doing it may lead to a future repeat. Improper timing will lead to incomplete combustion and more soot, less power and decreased mileage. The changes are small, but over the long run are actually really significant. Injector problems can arise without warning or signs. Injector spray pattern can fail and spray fuel against the wall of the liners causing carbon packing which will lead to scored liners. These types of defects are a slow death with little to no performance drop off until it is way too late so it is hard to pin point. I fail to see how to prevent that, unless you replace them every so often. Keeping the EGR in tip top shape is the best prevention. Making sure all your sensors, venturi and sensing tubes are all clean is important. There are lots of threads and posts around here about this sort of stuff.

 

I agree with everything you said in your latest post. There are indeed several things that will cause carbon packing. InSight will find a bad injector but only if the tech isolates the injectors one at a time. It will also find bad sensors. The problem I'm referring to is specifically with certain "pre DEF engines for lack of a better term". I don't know of the newer trucks having the problem. The thing about the dyno is that it can isolate every system one at a time or in groups. Of the other trucks that I mentioned. All have had injectors checked, EGR systems cleaned and inspected, and ultimately it was elevated blow by that was found on the dyno, that lead to pulling the head and checking cylinders. Their blow by was no where near what mine was, primarily because they learned from the errors my tech and I made in diagnosis. I had virtually no degradation of performance. The only performance signal was the crappy fuel economy. Which still hurts my head trying to understand. To the static timing issue. Cool, I understand how timing plays a serious role in any engine. But to proceed to advance it further after it was determined to be set correctly, in my opinion was gouging. 8 additional hrs of labor. If you dyno a healthy engine, you expect to find a healthy engine. If you dyno an engine and find elevated blow by, yes, it is indeed too late for something. One cylinder vs an inframe. That factor is reduced by time. Therefore, my recommendation to get it done early.

I suppose pulling the head right off the bat would work too... If it is indeed the same or similar problem. There's lots of advice out there for this symptom. You have to pay close attention to the mfg year of the engine. For instance, my truck is a 2010 KW, but the engine was built in 2007. That brought to mind the piston change that was made for the DPF engines. Was it done on my engine? No... It wasn't. Would Cummins give any policy help? No... Too many miles. Very convenient. Anyway, the problem seems to be much more prevalent on these particular years of manufacture. Oh... Before I forget... In my first post I put 2009 to 2012.. Should have been 2009-2010. I'll see if I can edit that.

My intent was to at least give anyone having the problem a more absolute route to determining the cause(s). You obviously know how things can add up quickly. In my fairly educated and experienced opinion, if oil pressure problems start, you can go the step by step inspect and replace method and cure symptoms until you finally arrive at the cure, or you can get a more complete picture of the health of your engine for $300.00+/-. I've talked with several Cummins techs since finding the resolution to my problem and they have all said that they would have recommended a dyno right off the bat. Could they be fishing for revenue? Of course. Do I think they were? Not really. What does the average tech make from requesting a dyno on a guy's truck? Probably nothing.

I never really bought the internal oil leak theory. To me, oil pressure would be low(er) regardless of how many miles were on the latest service, and changing the filter would have little affect. But I promise you one thing... I will take much better care of the EGR system after this!!! Any advice on intervals for checking/cleaning those components?

 

If the timing was changed because the static timing check said it needed it, then you did not waste any money. Cummins is now admitting that most, if not all, engines timed with the regular timing wedges are not timed perfectly. The engine will run just fine, in general. This is more critical with CM871 series, (engines with DPFs) because the more soot you produce will plug up the DPF quicker and lead to frequent regen issues. CM870 series, (EGR only), since the soot just blows out the stack, it isn't as critical. The more soot that gets recirculated will lead to more carbon packing and liner polishing/scoring. Engines being built now are static checked. Any engine in service, if you call Cummins they will highly recommend this is one of the first things you do with any performance, fuel, or frequent regen issue. In all honesty, we have done several. Some customers notice no change in performance, but improved regen frequency while others are seeing higher power with better fuel mileage and better regens. The static timing needs to be done by someone with patients and attention to detail. This is precision measuring with a lot of steps. Therefore, it is expensive to get done unfortunately.
As for checking/cleaning, I would say once a year or so. Again, it is more critical with 871 engines. The intake manifold pressure/temp sensor is really easy to pop out and check for carbon packing. If it is dirty, it is a good indicator of the rest of the system, and everything else should be checked. The sensor connectors should also be checked for any corrosion inside. I like to pack a little dielectric grease inside the connector anytime I have one disconnected for any reason. The exhaust back pressure sensor starts to "die" after a while, (probably due to heat), and starts to mis read. This can really reek havoc for the whole system. It would be a good idea to simply replace this sensor if the engine has been in service for a while. Replace with new, and keep the old one for a spare or test sensor.

 

It's been about 10thousand miles since my last oil change in my 2009 ISX and I just started getting some low oil readings to. I just changed my exhaust back pressure sensor a week or so ago and that's been helping greatly. When I accelerate or am at cruzing speeds of 1200-1300 rpm's my oil pressure is fine, reading about 35-40 psi. But when idling I've dropped down to 20psi... And even getting a check engine warning light come on, then go right back of... I'm planning on changing the oil pressure sensor but I do have a few 20thousand miles left on my engine warranty... I got 535000 mi on my ECM.... Anybody care to shed any experience on this?....