Amber Triangle/Warn Engine* Indicators

Here's what happened:

Had a steady amber triangle idiot light on the dash with the words "Warn Engine" in the readout part of the cluster. Stayed on steady for two days, so got it into the shop. The code being thrown indicated a problem with a DPF pressure sensor and the DPF was unable to fire as long as that light remained on. Anyone with a newer truck knows this just isn't a good thing.

Both pressure sensors were replaced. Code remained active. Notes to International, questions, more notes.... Checked the circuits up at the engine end to see what up, yo? One circuit receiving information from seven different sources. Oops. Looks like a short. But, it was the end of the day and everybody was going home. Get to it in the morning.

Next morning, code had cleared itself. Ran the h*** out of it to see whether it could be duplicated, no code. This, after the lead guy, following instruction from HQ, was preparing to overlay the wiring harness and rebuild the entire thing. That would be the sensor harness. But, since the code had cleared and not reappeared with a good hard run, thought it just might be a slow computer finally catching up.

I was released and made a beeline for the truck wash. Truck all pretty, ready to r.....crap!! Code was back. Alright. Back to International. After I gave it a little thought (don't say it. I oiled those gears last week!) I suggested we find where the water was getting into the system. Knowing the weak link in any electric system is its connectors, I suggested we start there. Mechanics like to double-check things with computers these days, it seems. It was the same code.

After poking around some, the leak was found. The wiring harness for the DPF sensors is put together in two pieces. The connection between the two is on the driver side, under the cab by the frame, about 3/4 of the way toward the rear of the truck. Mechanic dude opened it up and literally dumped water out of it. He hosed it down with that stuff that cleans and dries electric things and let it dry for about ten minutes. Put it back together, code gone. He siliconed the crap out of it to keep water from getting back into the connection.

International has been made aware of the problem and will be deciding what the final permanent fix will be. At which time, I will return to the shop that worked with me to figure it out and have them do the repair. So that this shop can collect the money for fixing it.

So. I have heard some folks saying they get a mysterious engine warning that shows up intermittently. Next time it happens, ask the shop to check that connection for water tightness. Mine had all weather protective stuff intact. Visually, it should have kept water from getting to those connections. Yet, water got in. I suspect there may end up being some sort of service advisory on this at some point. For now, you, at least, have the skinny on it.

 

Follow-up:
a new wiring harness was built for my truck. Just need to get back to the original shop to have it installed. Yeah, I know I could have it shipped, but those guys did a great job working with me and I think they deserve to get paid for their work.

While I'm there, I'll have the DPF pulled and cleaned. They have the equipment on site. It's almost due, it seems to be firing off more often than "normal" and I ran five gallons of coolant through it when my EGR cooler took a dump. Might as well get it done while the truck is down anyway. It's either that or wait a month, take it to a shop that has to send them out and wait for three days.




Oh....and I found another reason that light in the dash illuminates. Something I didn't know about, and apparently, most PM shops don't, either. If your light comes on when the engine is under load and then goes off when you're just cruising, have the crank case filter replaced. Or do it yourself. Wish I had known about that sooner. I found out the expensive way.

 

The crankcase filter is located on the driver side, up high, near the front of the motor. Looking at it, it doesn't look like a filter cover and it's painted the same color as the block. Take the screws out and pull that cover off. You will find a squarish filter in there.

 

You cannot wash the filter. It runs about $60.