the MBE How many have had it and are they good? Mercedes benz

Looking at buying another truck, its a 2007 Columbia Class Freightliner with a 10 speed Autoshift and a MBE, 400hp (not sure which one) 300k miles. Im just using it to haul 5 cars at a time and to tow school buses 1 at a time. My question is how good is the MBE (Mercedes Benz engine)? my father owned a diesel for 17 years and it ran like a champ no issues, but that was a car and it was 82' so it wasnt electronic crap. I hear from friends its an electronic nightmare, but friends are friends and they talk. So experienced truckers Give me all the info, the good if any and ALL the bad. Im not going to blow 15k for a Turd. All our other trucks are mechanical except one so i know the advantage of not relying on engine electronics.

 

MBE's are not very powerful, they are not as loud as the Detroit. It's the luck of the draw, you may experience good fuel mileage, but for ease of maintenance buy one with a Detroit. The values are lower on the MBE's for a reason.

 

Look at the price of a freightliner of the same year with a Detroit. You will notice a big difference in price and its not because they feel jolly about giving a good deal. I wouldn't buy one but if you aren't driving to many miles it might be ok. The last thing someone told me is they are ok but you wait forever on parts and they cost twice as much. I am thinking you have to inframe them much sooner than most others.

 

Sad but the DD's and MBEs are made by the same company.

 

The company that I worked for a couple years ago bought 7 '07 Columbia day cabs with the MBE motors, was doing local reefer, the mileage ranged from 370,000 to 250,000 on them, they got pretty good fuel mileage for the work we were doing mid 6's, but, they drank oil like crazy and they and leakage problems with oil. Now I hear that they cost more to work on then a cat motor, might want to check that out......

 

my company used to have three '04 Columbia's with MBE motors. They pulled hills great, engine brakes sucked, almost non-existent. Constant fuel leak problems, water pump issues, belt tensioner issues as well.

 

yeah still debating the truck. i have a month before the guy buys himself a newer truck and is ready to sell this one so ill keep taking peoples experiences.

 

Mercedes is a lot like Volvo. The European engines are biased more towards fuel efficiency. As for the engine brake, ive heard the MB one might as well not be there but the Volvo one does its job, not nearly as powerful as the intebrake on the two Cummins ISX equipped trucks I have driven from our fleet, but it does a decent job with the mid range weight loads we typically haul. I really do like the Automatic feature of the Volvo unit.

Is the MB as proprietary as Volvo. Most truckstop shops won't touch a Volvo engine but with most TA/Petro shops being co branded as Freightliner Service Points, does having a MB make it an issue they'd automatically send you to a dealer for?

 

I know of a used Freightshaker with an MBE 450hp, Meritor transmission 10 spd, 650k in framed at 333k don't know why but it was done. Truck runs smooth and quite. 20k is asking, is that a really scary combo transmission and engine? Isn't the MBE a Detroit 12.7 block? I know nothing about a Meritor transmission any suggestions?