How do you like your International Prostar?

The only thing that will shut one down is fluid losses or the fuel is getting interrupted. If you are receiving warning lights you are getting codes.

What are the codes?
What year and is it an ISX?

 

Shutdowns like that are not common. Like CC said we need to know what engine and if any codes are getting logged, not much else to say.

 

Late for an unbiased review from somebody that's actually lived in a truck for 3 years. I'm in a brand new 386 right now and I love the truck over all, but the steering column adjustment sucks big time. Not every truck driver has a belly the size of a 33 gallon trash bag, so how come the wheel is fixed right in that position? Where I'm comfortable sitting, I'm not comfortable holding the wheel so I have to adjust my seat just to comfortably hold the wheel which makes sitting uncomfortable lol. Yeah, the ProStar did spoil me big time.

The ProStar was for more flexible and far more modern. I hate stuff on the dashboard so not being able to put stuff on the dash isn't an issue for me. The model I had was a 70" midroof with a top bunk and 2 airline cabinets. Storage took some getting used to and took some tricks to getting it all to work. I put 4 big plastic drawers under the bed, removed the passenger side cabinet and installed a 4 cubic foot fridge/freezer and mounted my tv to the airline cabinet. All my clothing went in the cabinet behind the driver seat.

I had a 435 Cummins with a 13 spd and 3.55 rears. The truck pulled really well, and thanks to a friend of mine who has the cummins software, he changed the throttle calibration to where it actually feels like you got total control of the throttle. The truck went through one A/C compressor, one EGR Cooler, some random air leaks here and there and a DPF service. The truck has never asked me to do a parked regen since I never idled thanks to my Tripac.

3 years and 450,000 miles and never once had it ever gave me any issues or left me on the side of the road. Now, the downfall of the sweet ride of the prostar is the Bag over shock design. My cab shocks gave out and you can't just replace the shock anymore. You have to buy the whole assembly at $700 a pop retail x2 if both sides go. Both my shocks died after about 2.5 years and man was it fun getting stuff catapulted at you from the back in crappy construction areas.

The seats are wide and comfortable, the steering wheel is always in the perfect position for anyone and the steering wheel controls are easy once you memorize them. But I do have to agree that the horn controls are ### backwards. The Prostars have weak door hinges so if the wind catches the door, you just tweaked your hinges and now your door is out of alignment. International is aware of the problem so they replace the hinges with heavier duty ones and realign your door under warranty. The turning radius was barely tighter than my 386 I have now and that truck was a whole 2 feet shorter in wheelbase.

As for knocking stuff over in a Prostar, and that truck is considered a wide body, I suggest losing a few pounds or don't even go near a narrow body truck like the petes or KWs. I loved my old 2010 Prostar and I would gladly give up the Pete for another one preferably a condo, but one downfall of the condo is the top bunk doesn't fold up. The curtains are pretty thin but they're not cheesy like on the Volvos or the Freightshakers. They use magnets to stay shut and that alone makes life just a bit easier on the road. The quality of the plastics and fastening of panels is better than the Cascadia, but let me tell you, that comes with a penalty. The cabinet that I pulled out to put my fridge in weighed about 60lbs. It was made out of wood with metal reinforcements and then layered in pretty plastic panels. You start looking at all the rest of the things and it's a nowonder there's no squeaks or rattles in the truck. But still, the weight of it bobtail was over 20,400# with a tripac and 1/8th of a tank of fuel in my 120gal tanks!

I wanted to buy it out at the end of my lease but when you start adding up the costs of things that could go wrong and comparing it with more traditional trucks, the traditional trucks are cheaper in the long run. But if you don't mind forking over extra money for necessities like cab shocks, then by all means do it.

My dream truck would have the cab of a prostar, the sleeper of a VN780 and the turning radius of a Cascadia. How do we go about making something like this happen? I love my Pete, but I would ditch it in a heart beat for another Prostar. Would I give up my Pete for a Crashcadia? NO!

It was a pretty truck thats for sure:





http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t94/CACressida/Prostar/####ptt.jpg

 

I drove a 09 prostar for a while and didn't like it, it would sometimes not go over 55 MPH but you could hit the cruise and it would accelerate to 70 plus it was a regen engine and it didn't ride very good

 

No wonder your Prostar was heavy CACressida you got half of Best Buy in the cab.

 

only drove the daycabs. the one with a cummins wasnt bad because it had some power and shifted right. I dunno what was wrong with the maxxforce but i could never shift the thing cleanly. the whole truck just had a cheap feel to me. the steering wheel with bottons was crap. the way i had the wheel angled i couldnt even see the dash gauges. no power in the engine brake at all. pretty much worrthless unless ur bobtail. small side windows. no dash storage. couldnt put anything on dash unless u stood up and grabbed it. seat offered no recline. furtheest it reclined was 90 degrees. i had to basically break it to recline it more. just a very uncomfrtable truck. kinda dreaded driving it everyday. got into a newer cascadia dd15 and the truck just felt stronger and so much more room. u can see the fit and finish with the prostar is cheap and flimsy. look at the plastic trim cutouts around the dash and door. so thin and cut poorly with gaps. my new gig has a new prostar a new cascai and new vovlo. there getting a new one for me to use im trying to convince them to get anything but a prostar. i rather drive a old columbia with a detroit

 

Looks nice though.

 

I'm glad I'm not alone in this feeling! I used to love to hate on Freighshaker, and still take shots at the horrendous looking Cascadia every chance I get, but I agree, the CrapForce powered Prostar makes my 14L Century look like a BMW! But alas, I have to drive the old girl out to pasture today and exchange it for that abomination. I don't know how I'll cope with: a worthless engine brake, that comes on when I don't want it do, won't come on when I do want it, turns the brake lights on whenever it's on, making me look extra retarded as I'm picking up speed going downhill supposedly riding my brakes all the way. Let's see: rides like crap, seat won't recline, lumbar in your shoulder blades, bottom cushion adjustments unadjust themselves as its riding like crap, can't hear the city horn, can't find the big horn, when you do find the "big" horn, you just embarrass yourself, windows will eventually stop working, if they aren't already, and finally, WINGMAN! Yikes... I know what you mean too trying to shift. Thing makes you feel like it's your first day. That motor is just plain weird. Impressive RPM range, but it never makes you feel like it's trying, at least til you have the tach in the stratosphere, which it of course only lets you do for sure if you're pulling a grade, and don't downshift too early.

 

Really nice job arranging stuff in the sleeper! Can u please tell me what brand/model is the fridge in the picture that you posted? was it reliable? I am looking to buy a fridge that fits in the Prostar. Thank you!

 

Really nice job arranging stuff in the sleeper! Can u please tell me what brand/model is the fridge in the picture that you posted? was it reliable? I am looking to buy a fridge that fits in the Prostar. Thank you!