Toasted Cam Shaft - Cummins ISX 870

I will post our issues tomorrow, but we are on our 4th set of cams and 2 major rebuilds. Now 4 months later and less than 100,000 miles there is a problem with the head that was replaced in August. They will be pulling it tomorrow. But I will out line the issues and lack of warrenty issues we are looking for more people to talk to a lawyer and try and get a class action suit started.

 

Looks like cummins is aware of the camshaft issue there is a TSB120053 that list part # for wider cam lobes and rocker lever roller release.
Also we find on the 871 that the valve stem seals lift off the guides (all isx series do it) but more so on the 871 and that will cause high blow by/crank case filter codes and more frequent regens. if exh. seals are lifted, (always find the one under the jake lifted) and you have the rocker shafts off, check them (mirror and flashlite) good time to replace them as they have up dated the grip. its another way more carbon gets in the oil.

 

Recall initiative? Lol. From the pics, looks like metal issues. Maybe a vendor providing low cost shafts.

 

Why are they making us pay for this and not admitting to the issue??????

 

Here are the details of the issues with this engine. It is a 2010 Peterbilt (387) with a Cummins 450 hp ISX. We started leasing it on May 29, 2009 had maybe 1,100 miles on it. It was drove in from TX.
From the time it about 6 months old it was using 1 to 3 gallons of oil per week and average of 5,500 miles a week. We took it to Cummins in Greensboro to have it checked on June 4, 2010 miles were 239471. They found the EGR cooler " Exhaust system : EX gas rec. egr cooler core porous (defective casting/ forg)." Never did find anything out about the oil consumption and they said it was normal. My husband and the shop manager didn't believe it, they both have allot of years in the industry.
In the shop one of the mechanics was checking internally because we had a bad miss and noticed the cams were "worn badly". On January 31, 2011 and 403530 miles on it we took it to Whites International. A local certified repair shop, most of the trucks from WLA are taken there since it is local. They changed out the cams, rollers ect... This was done under warranty. But checked no further into the cylinders even though #1 and #2 didn't pass the performance test. The warranty place told them to do what they did. So they couldn't go any farther into the engine. Shell oil bought our old cams and sent to have tested and found that anti-freeze caused the damage!
On June 24, 2011 and 487302 miles we took it to Cummins Greensboro and it was still smoking and using 1 gallon of oil every 2,000 miles. This is when they tore it down and waited on an "impartial engineer" to look at the scored cylinders. He declared it was normal wear. Anyway, they replaced the head, cylinders and the list goes on. We proved that we did the right oils changes ect... Again like at White's International.
In November of last year the shop changed the EGR cooler on 11/29/11 at 576763 miles.
On August 20,2012 and 753,260 miles The engine Hydro locked at the yard. They towed it to the shop and drained everything and replaced EGR cooler.
We left that night and got to Oklahoma (approx. 1,000 miles) and got a low coolant alarm. We added 2 gallons of water, then went on and added 2 more. Stopped again and found it visibly leaking now, headed to Amarillo, TX. Spent the night after no shops could even look at it until later the next day. Cummins was closed so we took it there in the morning of Aug. 22, 2012. They got it right in! They tore it down and found the head was cracked in the #5 exhaust port. Also the cams , rollers, lifters and also the bearings were bad. Found out that we had no warranty the last rebuild we paid for a NOW 3 warranty (200,000 miles and Tim was told was 300,000). Amarillo Cummins people said the Greensboro Cummins never registered the warranty into the system from the previous rebuild. We had asked for a copy and never did get one right after the rebuild!
Here is a list that Greensboro Cummins did wrong, pointed out in Amarillo: Never changed oil cooler : Never changed oil pump: They found #7 bearing loose : Not torqued to cummins spec : didn't change EGR cooler. These coolers and pumps most likely had metal shavings that went into the engine!


Our shop cleaned a bunch of metal off the cam sensor at 522905 miles. We feel this is proof of metal in the engine after the rebuild.
We do have paperwork and all Maintenance records, this truck is serviced after every trip.

Our truck is now in the shop again with a head or head gasket issue. It has less than 4 months on it! I been in contact with Cummins legal dept and getting no where. Contacting our attourney today to start action.

 

So if there is metal in the engine a person should have to ask a shop to replace these. They aren,'t smart enough to know there is metal in these parts! I guess the Cummins shop in TX was mistaken to replace them without us asking or were they the smart ones? Sorry for the attitude but this is getting so crazy!

 

We are taking one of the cams to test the metal. Then the head if we can get from them.

 

Wow! vaporlock sorry to hear that. wounder if we should start a new thread for cummins "cause & corrections" as not all shops/tech know all the answers on these issues (I know I'm always learning).
egr coolers, at a training coarse was told that 90% fail with in 15 mins of install for the simple reason that when the engine is hot and the coolant needs topping up, removing the rad cap and releasing the pressure is what kills the cooler, the system requires that pressure to increase the boiling point of the coolant (why egr systems have 15 psi caps) with out it the cooler creates hot spots around the cooler tubes, boils it, cracking the tubes. so only add coolant when its cold. I use my rubber tip blow gun on the plastic rad tanks and blow some air into the pressure cap, it bleeds off if over 15 psi. works good to check for leaks too. just be careful
When metal contamination is found in the engine, the oil cooler always is replaced, And the injector camshaft is hollow and holds oil/metal, so remove the frost plug in the end and flush it out if reusing it, this is often over looked.
I like working on the engine but hate having to deal with Rapid Serve when its warrenty. often find several issues when working on an engine that should be addressed but R/S only wants you to fix the original failure, that "if its not broke don't fix it" thing. hope this my help later.