Pullin with the dreaded PACCAR Mx13

Alright fellas, I've gone and done it. I bought a tractor.

I shopped around with financing. Came to a number of roughly being able to afford something that was $55,000. I had $12k, and it took so long to get financing and a truck in a row at the same time that I actually had $19k... I looked on the used market.

I saw $80,000 Volvos and Freightliners with over half a million miles.
I saw $60,000 T680s and other trucks with X15s with over half a million miles.
And I saw $45,000 T680s with PACCAR MX13s with around 300,000.

I've driven PACCAR MX13 powered T680s before. Drove a 2022 nearly every day for half a year from Sioux Falls to Fargo and back... that truck had over 750,000 miles on it a year ago! I recently found the VIN and was shocked to discover it was a 2022. 10 Roads Express REALLY puts miles on tractors. So that truck was actually, every day, doing a big circle from Sioux Falls, to Fargo, to Missouri, and back with the other driver on the opposite schedule of me, and back, and back... 3,600 miles/week on my end, and probably 2500-3000 on his. At the time I did not realize how much work that truck was doing.

That truck didn't shut off all winter. It never had to regen, it never got maintained because of the way 10 roads routes work, and we ran it ragged. The only problem I ever had was that on a curve in Fargo, the coolant sensor thought the coolant was leaking because the liquid surged to the other side and it gave me a STOP ENGINE WARNING, upon which I checked and I still had all my coolant.

In hindsight, the thing was insanely reliable. I did have to take it to the dealership a couple times, but that was when I had already gone part time, and some newer driver had left it sitting in the yard high idling for a month to keep it warm yet never deciding to take it on a run. So when I came in for a run, I found it parked off to the side same place I'd seen it last, running out of fuel and DEF and saying STOP ENGINE. Called maintenance and took a different truck (the mail never stops!) They had me pick it up from the dealership a week later.

Thinking back it makes me angry how abused that truck was. Didn't think I could feel empathy for an inanimate object.


Anyways, long winded history of my experience with MX13s aside, and having come to realize they didn't perform nearly as badly as I remembered, I inspected a 365,000 mile, 230,000 miles on crate engine 2022 T680 from a nearby flatbed company and couldn't find anything wrong. It had an APU, low engine hours relative to the miles (before I knew it was a crate swapped engine, it was insanely high. Average like 65 miles an hour for entire life of truck.( which is obviously impossible and was the first hint this could be a good find)

I put $12k down, my payments are like $1500/month for 36 months (criminal interest but whatever, first time semi buyer D: )



I've leased onto a company, I won't discuss them here. I had the governor opened wide, made sure the latest generation of injectors (PAC2 or whatever they're called) was installed (they were), and I've got everything.

I'll be running in about a week. Tires only have a few months left on drives, steers are pretty much brand new. Next thing I'll need done is brake pads, it has disc brakes all the way around and they're a little low. Tires in a couple months. Oil change every other month or so (spoke to previous owner about this and a similar 2023 truck for about an hour and determined 40,000 miles was a decent oil change interval using 10w30 low ash synthetic)

Thing did 9.6mpg bobtail at 80 today. I plan on running 62-67mph. I saw that previously mentioned 10 roads truck do 9.0 loaded to Fargo, I expect good mileage out of this truck down at 62. Will be haulin van... for now.

APU is winterized (shares coolant), there's a bunk heater as well integrated into the unit. Inverter too, but I think I'd need an extension cord.

My only beauty standard for a truck was "not white", but I do love the way the last owner specced this truck.

485hp EPA 21 PACCAR MX13
3.08 rears
12 speed auto (my first truck had to be an auto. I have the restriction. Once I'm in business I can get the restriction lifted after buying a manual truck)

Did an ECM dump and filled the truck up today.

Found it leakin when I got home. Think I have a plugged up return valve or something. For this kind of problem, I can basically yoink off the line, blow compressed air through to clear it, and stick it back on, yes? I don't really want to go to the dealership for this if I can do it myself.

 

Dead on the money. Injector tip at 130k miles. They crate swapped the engine because of it.

I'm not really sure why one of the brake pads is near needing replacement, but everything else is pretty normal and makes sense with this truck's history. And year that shock right there is mighty rusty, the rest of the truck isn't. Thing was cleaned pretty often from what I could tell, as the frame, driveline, suspension in general had very little rust and I could tell it was the original factory finish and not a black spray paint can like some of these dealerships love to cover everything with.

I'm not really sure what you mean by high hours. 230,000/5600=41mph average. The best I've ever seen doing the math on a bunch of used trucks was like 44. Trucks without APUs are often in the 30s and I've seen em in the 20s.

I will say I've had good experiences with T680s, and from the research I've done, it kinda sounds to me like early 579s (like 2014) were better and early 680s were worse, and at some point in time that flipped. I haven't heard a good thing about a 579 made in the last 6 years. But I've had good experiences with 680s. The company that owned this truck before me had a 2016 579 (EPA 13 MX13) go 1.3 million miles without an overhaul.

I did not get the truck from MHC. There was a truck I was looking at at MHC Omaha, but those guys skeeved me out and sold the truck out from under me, after which I went looking again and found this thing for cheaper with 4 months of factory warranty left. I've had a dealership go over the truck already, they couldn't find anything I didn't. ECM dumped, and this engine hasn't had any historical codes. All I found was a couple buttons in the cab had been inactive at some point in the last 4 years and later fixed, and then the right shifter stalk recall hasn't been completed on this due to the part supply on that being backed up (it seems like an insane number of T680s have the recall). All the other recalls were.

I haven't had the fuel tanks completely full since acquiring the truck until tonight, so I didn't notice my return fuel issue.

This was a flatbed truck, and by the mileage the previous owner stated they got, I'm pretty sure it was driven everywhere at 72.4mph (the first owner company's governed speed). Said the only issue he ever had out of this was injector trouble. From the research I could do, I couldn't find anything crazy about the PAC2s they threw in this under warranty.

I had oil, differential fluid, transmission fluid, filters other than air filter all changed. I guess next is air filter not brake pads but either way it's about the same.

I've noticed I'm a whole different driver in a truck that I own.

I got this truck because it was massively cheaper than anything else I could get started in anywhere this early in its life, and being aggressive about maintenance, I think I can make it last a long time. I read your thread about three or four times. Asked myself in detail the source of each and every problem. Generally came to the conclusion that your 579 had soft hands, in addition to some bad luck, and herculean effort on your part.

If I could've gotten a $65,000 truck I probably would've gotten one of those Lonestars in Nebraska. Especially that one that had 308k on it.

In any case, I am in business.

I'm not sure if that truck I drove for all that time at 10 Roads was an EPA 17 or an EPA 21. It was a 2022 T680 with an MX13, but it was a final year T680, not a T680 Next Gen like this truck is.

 

The crazy part of this is that, I saw ONE MX13 fail in the worst conditions with no maintenance getting run like crazy and when I first started looking for a truck to buy, my rule was "No PACCAR engines"

And then I did more research and didn't like what I found for the cummins, and I couldn't afford a Freightshaker or Volvo with life left in it. I considered Macks as well but found they were sometimes even more expensive than Volvos somehow and between all that, I couldn't find a good dollar-to-life mix with the trucks I'd get if I could get anything.
I think if I were buying new, I'd get a Volvo, a Mack, or an International LT/HX with the S13. I drive one at my current job and I'm impressed by its fuel economy and power for a company day cab. (gave them two weeks notice because they were really good to me. They actually gave me a co-driver for my route so I could clock out and drive my T680 home from the dealership that happened to be on the way! Best boss I've ever had. Naturally, he's leaving soon too)

I realized the emissions system was the same on the X15 and the MX13 in any PACCAR truck, and that I'd only had emissions problems one time in one truck. Never had a regen in most of the trucks despite the idling. And I determined that idling an emissions engine is user/employer error. If I could get an APU for essentially free and not the fee because it's a used truck and they don't massively increase value, why not? A healthier engine, APU I don't pay $14k for? Yeah, if I'm buying a used emissions truck it's gonna be one with an APU as an insurance policy against previous user over-idling.

I will let you fellas know how it goes.

 

Here are some photos I took the other day, shows what I mean about most of the truck not bein rusty

Gotta replace them Toyos.

Considering swapping to 24.5s on the drives to get higher speeds at lower RPMs.