04 western star 4900 with MBE 4000 ???? Good truck or Not

What is the mileage on the MBE? they typically dont go as far as the other engine manufacturers before rebuild time, but they do get great fuel mileage.

 

There's a reason the MBE is an uncommon engine. Western Stars of that vintage are usually built a lot tougher than a KW or Pete.

 

I had a '06 MBE in a Century. It got 7.5 imp mpg (6.25 us mpg) average over a whole year pulling tandem and tri-axle dry van in western Canadian prairies and Rocky mountains. It was very reliable but I did do an inframe at about 600,000 miles. They don't like to get hot, the head gaskets go on them.

 

I ran it for another year , then went back to super B-train hopper bottom. Needed a heavier spec'd truck. So I got a 2013 Western Star 4900 with a 560 DD15. Now have a 2016 Cascadia 600 DD16.

 

I cant speak about repair costs. but out of the hundreds of MBE I have seen in the used truck business, most dont seem to go much past 700,000 miles before its time to rebuild, there will be exceptions to this of course.