Pullin with the dreaded PACCAR Mx13

Precisely, this is why I was able to get a truck with as young a motor as I did. I gambled on that particular issue being solved or not. I'm curious what particular injectors were in that truck, but it happening in a 2024(?) newer version than mine is interesting.

Absolutely chilling in this truck for now. Would've been real hard to get a decent DD15 powered truck for the $12k I put down... truck is paying its own note of course. Honestly, I started this whole thing with $14.5k and I've pretty much made it through the initial risky period.

I can afford to solve essentially any issue that could arise now. I WILL remain in business.

Was always interesting to hear folks on here claim you were gonna fail if you didn't have $100k. $20k is a reasonable Absolute minimum for sure..

I'll have a more detailed response about the DD15 later but, while I've never driven one, I've driven nearly every other emissions motor. I don't know what HP rating the isx powered International prostar I took my CDL test in was rated at.

But this 485hp is the most responsive and powerful engine I've been behind so far in a semi, and I've only been passed uphill by choice by other semis since owning this.

MX13s also create peak torque low in the RPM range, around 1000. Reading the DD15 graph was almost deja vu for peak torque and peak HP, but it was formatted differently. I think the DD15 held higher torque at peak HP than an MX13 does.

I've done some pretty aggressive stuff in this thing and gotten good mileage. My first IFTA filing of 7.26 is because I didn't run a ton and I had several 79k gross runs at like 0 deg outside crossing Iowa, which is a triple whammy for bad economy. I can't get good economy in cold Iowa deadheading, especially on that east to west state route that connects to 380

At like 60k gross I ran from Rapid City to Sacramento at or near 79mph virtually the entire time (slowed for grades and Cali) and got 8.5 for the whole trip. Truck loves those interstates out west.

I don't know what to think about the mechanical fuel economy science. I'd love to try a DD15 powered truck, but I'm unsure the most efficient way to acquire one and I don't actively like any tractor they're available in.

I love the old long hood Western Stars but for some reason 98% of them you find for sale from the emissions era have weird or dumb configurations, they're all real bespoke and not suited to what I'm currently doing or intend to do.

I agree, if I could get a DD15 in any truck I wanted, I'd try it in a T680 or perhaps a W9.

In other news, because I'm insane, I've decided that my favorite truck gearing is 18 speed manual + 3.08/295r22.5 or 3.36/24.5s

Not easy to find in an aero truck for a reasonable price!

I intend to make this engine last to 1.2 million, it has been done before. Even 10 roads express was able to get a 2022 T680 to 1,168,000! Sold for like $12.5k at auction iirc

 

Just ran a couple bottles of diesel kleen through my fuel tanks... mileage went up a lot. I feel stupid not researching the additives earlier. I know you can do better than diesel kleen, I just got some as slight insurance against the injector stuff.

Deadheaded at 75mph from Denver to La Junta... at 12mpg. Never seen numbers like that before, 8-9 would be good normally. Once I got loaded, not too heavy, like 15klbs in the van, still doing 8 at 75 and 10 at 70.

I need to sit down and do nerd research, the $16 I spent today i already made back in fuel twenty times over, TODAY.

A few months of trial and error and research and I may practically speaking have lower fuel cost per mile than those Cascadias with lift axles and all.

 

I used the silver bottles, not white. Truck got a lot quieter, especially at high torque/low RPM 1000-1100. The silver says something about lubricity.
I was looking for biocide and didn't find any.

Anyways power went up, acceleration improved, fuel economy improved, the whole nine yards.

I was loaded with 11,000lbs/5 pallets, nice and light yet all on top of my drives today, and I hit 14.2mpg on that short distance rolling average MPG that T680s display on the dash. Literally the highest number I've ever seen on this. Was between 9 and 10.5 almost all day, on state routes in the middle of nowhere Kansas/Nebraska/SD. Hit 13.7 just south of Yankton and reached 14.2 just north of Yankton. Went down after that because you can't manipulate the hills as easily afterwards.

Reason I was looking for biocide is we found some algae sludge in the fuel filter while doing an oil change/filters n allat. The tanks themselves are clean, I can see reflection from the bottom when I shine a light inside all the way through the diesel. Never ran any additives of any kind before replacing that filter and finding that slimy sludge.

I suspect what happened, and what is causing my fuel tank equalization issues is that algae gunk is somewhere in a line or crossover valve or something. At the end of the month I'll get those replaced, lines cleaned, whatever I need to do to solve this.

Does biocide actually dissolve that gunk as well as killing that stuff or does it just kill? Any chance it would clear out those lines and I could run it once, replace fuel filter a few times and it might fix the equalization issues?

(return fuel fills passenger/secondary tank WAY more than primary/driver side tank, if I fill both tanks to full and drive all day, driver tank will be at 1/4th and passenger tank at 3/4, and if I only fill driver side tank, passenger side tank ends up with slightly more fuel than the driver side after a day of driving, actually filling the passenger tank more than it was to begin with)