Cummins vs any other

Eh beats the hell out of a techemsa those are what we use for door stops

 

If you want a motor that actually pulls then cummins is the only choice.

 

Over the years, CUMMINS have put a lot of groceries on my table. They are my engine of choice.

I am sure others feel the same about their favorite brand.No right or wrong, good and bad in all engines.

 

My recommendations are based on maintenance data from my carrier. I would hope that anyone investing in a new engine would look at breakdown rates from a good source. At Prime the cummins ISX15 has a 3 year average breakdown rate of 43%! The older engines, like ops have said, are gold and deliver power and reliability. With the requirement of the DPF and SCR systems, Cummins fell flat on their face. It was so bad that Prime Inc refused to buy any more, opting for the PACCAR MX (still not satisfactory, but a better reliability rating) in their new Petes.

As an aside, there have been statements about carriers cutting down the power or whatever on these engines. The new engines are built for progressive shifting/driving. This comes with lower shift points. Cummins, like Detroit and Paccar, has built their engines to be able to operate in the progressive shifting mode on the ECM, or they shouldn't have put that mode into the ECM. The engine problems don't come with operating at lower RPM's, but more about the engineering and the engine producing too much soot for the DPF and SCR systems to handle effectively. They chose the wrong DPF/SCR systems and they chose NOT to reengineer the engine for the higher backpressure produced by the DPF/SCR systems.

Knowing that several huge fleets took a chance with the ISX and found out that they were not reliable engines should be enough for anyone to analyse the info and make a good choice.

 

You can say what you want about cummins. But I will say this, of that 43% breakdown, what were the issues? I am willing to bet many of them were EGR issues or turbo issues. I am thinking those two items should be looked at more as a maintenance thing instead of a breakdown thing. When the day comes when I go order a new truck, as of today, my choice will be cummins.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Detroit and Cummins had followed Caterpillar's lead in telling the EPA we cannot make reliable engines for trucks. So we won't. Your move, EPA .....

 

that just proves how ignorant the industry is toward the maintenence and repair of egr engines is. Regular EGR TUNE-UPS on those SAME TRUCKS and that 43% would have been likely 12%. In the 600k miles of my own 'Red Motor's' life, my downtime for actual engine problems has been less than 5%.


The bulk of downtime created by 'Red Motiors' is due to the fact that everyone seems to be under the impression that an 'oil/filter change' is all that is needed for keeping the engine healthy. This is very, very wrong. Waiting for engine codes, fuel mileage losses, derates, etc. before servicing these engines is a terrible and ignorant way to go about making money when you own one of these.


http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...3-cummins-isx-cm871-technical-discussion.html

 

The majority of issues, like stated before, were DPF and SCR issues. Cummins FAILED to reengineer their engines to handle the increased backpressure of the DPF filter as well as the increased soot of the EGR. That is DIRECTLY a Cummins leadership issue. You may have a "red" engine that doesn't breakdown, but industry wide data shows that you were one of the lucky guys. For every good cummins ISX on the road (and they are very reliable when you get a good one) there is an equally bad one. That means that you have a 50/50 chance of getting a bad motor. DPF issues cost thousands of dollars and because the technology is so subjective, they can justify voiding the warranty for the engine for almost any reason related to the DPF system.

Yes, if the EPA and California CARB had not required all the added on crap, Cummins might be at the top of the heap (I think CAT would be it's main challenger) and we can play IF all day long. New trucks have DPF and SCR. If you buy one, and get a Cummins ISX, it is not brand loyalty or a passionate love for the engine that will have you bankrupt within the first year. It will be the $1500 tow charges, $$$ hotel room charges (they are rarely opened on the weekend) and the repair charges that start at $2500 on the DPF and SCR systems that will have you filing chapter 11. Gamble if you may, I am not bashing, just presenting DATA that shows the reliability, or lack of, of the Cummins ISX engines.

 

I will agree with you on the DPF equipped engines. However I have not heard more bad than any other engines out there that have DPF + SCR. Any truck built in that era, 2008-2010 or so with DPF only weren't worth their weight in scrap metal. I used to have one. (cat engine)

Anyone here with experience with the DPF + SCR cummins equipped trucks, care to chime in? The more miles you have on it the better. I am interested to see if there ever will be a truck that comes off the line that will live for as long as the old technology is living for.

 

I've been running a isx for 3 years only problem I've had was the egr valve and cooler and will smoke a paccar mx or detriot on hills.

 

Our breakdown rate with the DD15 is at 18% right now. 2008-2010 had a 24% breakdown rate. Much lower than the Cummins breakdown rate. The Maxxforce was the worst with over 55% breakdown rate.