Is there any engine out there that DOESN'T have problems?

Not being a Trucker yet : take my feed back with a grain of salt.

My cousin that has been at it for 20+ yrs that I know of said the engines are all pretty good in general as long as you do your maintenance.

The big issue is the cost of the repair when it does happen. He ran a list by me of who would cost more and who was cheaper, BUT I forget the exact line-up.

Like anything Maintenance is KEY!!

I personally had a Chevy Suburban that I finally retired 2 yrs ago that had 300,000+ on it. I knew the previous owners (my parents) and knew how well it was maintaned. Only reason I retired it was because we had already bought a replacemnet for it. It ran just fine, only thing that ever gave us a problem more than once was the A/C which I expected cause I fixed it myself and I'm no PRO on the A/C system.

 

You may want to consider a truck with a 15 or 18 speed, you are going to have some heavy weight behind you, a 10 or 13 can handle it, but a 15 or 18 will handle it a lot better.

 

Take the guy from Ryder's advice with a large grain of salt. If you search these forums for MB engine problems you will find lots an lots of bad news. I like an MB engine as a mechanic, they keep me working

 

Hi all,
I am also about to buy my first truck. I'm either going to get a 2005 KW T600 with CAT C15 475HP (BXS) 10 speed with 3:36 ratio (488K miles) or a 2005 Freightliner Century with DET 12.7 ultrashift with 3:58 ratio (400K miles). Which would be a smarter choice for a new owner operator. I'm most concerned about repair costs and fuel mileage. I will be running in the Northeast.

 

Go with the detroit.

 

15 speeds are old outdated technology. They are only rated at 1650 torque and the deep reduction ratio isn't as low as an 8LL or an 18 speed. A 13 speed will handle 99.9% of anything a 18 speed will except extreme off road heavy haul due to a higher low gear. Up to 120,000 lbs any trans will work but the 18 would be the best. 10 and 13 speed are both capable of heavy haul. I gross 107,000 every day and have done it with both 10s and 13s with no problems at all. I do have an 18 speed now and it is nicer but I've done it with an 8LL also and they all worked just fine. Torque is what you need for heavy loads. The difference between 1850 lbs of torque and 1650lbs makes a world of difference.

 

So what year would that have to be? 06?

 

Now 101 k with cat c 13 without troubles,oilchange every 20 k ,not more extra oil meaby 1/2 gallon for the 102k total,mobil delvac elite oil,for me the best engine ,before Detroit only troubles with the water ,gasket was broken,changing egr and cooler more then 7 000 spend and loosing