Freightliner with a MB motor??

[jharvey3]

Anybody here got any opinions on the Freightliner medium duty rigs with the Mercedes Benz motors?

How difficult/expensive are they to maintain and work on?

Any thoughts?

John

[Birken Vogt]

All I can say is a neighboring fire department has one and their mechanic says among a flurry of cussing that they are very expensive and difficult to work on.

However, he likes to cuss anyway so I don't know if that means anything [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Birken

[dbennett48]

I was talking to a tank truck driver (delivering fuel to the station) about his M B engine in his truck. He really liked it. Said that it drove as nice as a Cummins and had plenty of zip for a 350 hp motor. He didn't have anything to say about maintance though.

Dave

[rancherman84]

our local snap-on dealer has one and has a few sensor probs.but knothing major.
oh yeah guy i work with just bought one to haul his fiver with and athough he hasen't used it much yet he likes it so far.he likes to cuss alot to [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Gone Fishen]

I work on them and this is what they say. And of course what I say is last. One of the local short/long haul's says they are easier to maintain, they have 35 MBE 4000 engines and most are 400 to 450 hp. They pull as well as the Series 60 with 500 hp. The engine brake needs to be kept on the higher rpm for better working abality. They get slightly better fuel economy than the series 60 and better yet than the Cummins. I have seen most of the trucks in the shop for minor work, 5 for major work. They are retiring 12 older trucks with the MBE engine. They are buying 18 new trucks with the MBE engine in them.
My comments- a lot of hand work to repair. Not necessarly heavy, just a lot of fuel/water/vent hoses to work around. Most problem seen, loose fuel lines and the older ones had a problem with cracking fuel filter housings. Codes can be obtained via a scan tool made by MPSI with the proper card of course. Your cost about 1600 with all adaptors. The other scan tool is used by distributors only. I can use either one.
The MBE 900 engine in the smaller class trucks comes in a 6 cyl. and 4 cyl. Fed EX has a bunch of 4 cyls with 2 recalls. 1 recall is for a programming change. No big deal. the other recall is on the EGR engine it was shipped with the wrong lower t-stat housing. Overheating is the symtom. Again not a big deal. Pleanty of zip in the few I have driven. I think you will start to see more of them in the future. If ordering one be sure to get it with the optional engine brake. [900 only is optional] Yes it works good and you cannot hear it in use. It is to expensive to add on later. Like I said if ordering get it then, do not let them try to sell it if not on the engine.
The 4000 comes standard with the engine brake however there is a optional turbo brake. [a little better brake] Hope this helps some.

[Louisville_Joe]

I wonder what the 900 would look like under the hood of a Ram.......

[lww]

Hank, have you done any wiring or worked with schematics for the smaller engines? Next week we will be "marrying" an M2 to one of our concrete pumps, and I have to integrate a fairly demanding PTO program. Don't remember the engine spec'd, but it would be a smaller 6. Our product is much like the fire trucks whereby driveline is run through a transfer case on route to rear ends, with PTO mode being a disconection of that power up through numerous hydraulic pumps. Infinate rpm control tends to nix some of the basic pto options that engines like the cummaparts offer.
A good schematic goes a long ways towards finding desired circuits.
Lorne

[Birken Vogt]

[ QUOTE ]
If ordering one be sure to get it with the optional engine brake. [900 only is optional] Yes it works good and you cannot hear it in use. It is to expensive to add on later. Like I said if ordering get it then, do not let them try to sell it if not on the engine.
The 4000 comes standard with the engine brake however there is a optional turbo brake. [a little better brake] Hope this helps some.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think expensive would begin to describe it...from what I understand it is a completely different cylinder head. It has a 5th valve added for the engine brake feature.

Birken

[Gone Fishen]

MBE4000 has the 5th valve standard as I said. The MBE 900 has 3 valves standard and the 4th as the option. Yes the cylinder head is the same however it goes thru another several steps to 'cut' the holes and cut for the other valve seat ect. There is a programming change also. Something else major but I went to school 3.5 years ago and I cannot remember that far back.
As far as the schematic's I have several given to me in class however they might not be specific enough for the pto option you might need. If you are useing the electronic engine there can be programmed 3 different pto speeds. Again my memory fails at this point. The rpm can be set with 0 droop and then raised or lowered as necessary useing 'cruise control' logic for rpm settings.

[Gone Fishen]

We see Allison guys often and of course there are rumors. Dodge has a good thing going with the Cummins. There were tests done at several secret locations one being done in Phoenix. A RAM truck was selected and repowered with a 6 cyl. Of course they did some playing around trying to blow up the trans and drive train ect. These guys love to tinker with hp and torque. They have the laptops with the goodies. It was done and it stomped everything at the track. To bad we never see these tame engines unleashed. Story last year, tests done in Baker grade in Calif. Last year. DDA guys were playing with radiators and hp/torque. Last year Caterpillar was there also. Of course the race was on. The DDA guy just kept punching #s on the laptop and stomped the competors but had to back out 1/2 way up because the engine was getting up to 260*F. Now of course the Cat passed the series 60. Oh well all in fun. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[jharvey3]

Thnaks for the input, my brother is looking at one, new of course, for running hot shot loads and I didn't want him to get something that was going to cost him more in the long run.

Thanks again

John

[James Keveson]

We have a bunch at work with the 800 series motor 280HP. the motors pull great, run nice .

The rest is JUNK..Sorry.

Here is why I feel this way. you shouldnt put fuse panels and relays OUTSIDE the tractor. Everyone we have at our place has electrical gremlins. My truck you make a turn the wipers come on, with the switch off. The lights come on when switches are off. the tractor abs light is on one minute then off the other. there is a panel of fuses and relays located between the frame rails just above the trans output. it gets wet and all sorts of things happen. there is always ecm codes popping up. You start from a stop the engin warning light comes on. Sometimes they dont even want to start, so now road calls are getting expensive. And the windshields ALL leak, ya roll the windows down and the weatherstrip in the channel goes into the door. Now you have to get the door panels removed to get it back.

all of these trucks have less than 30K on them. they are all 2004 freightliner business class M2 tractors. The local frightliner dealer had my tractor for 3 1/2 months . they could care less for fixing them customer service is pathetic. I do understand they are mad because they bought them directly from freightliner. The trucks were shipped from the plant directly to us . BUT we buy all parts from them and even send the trucks down for occasional work when the shop is full. So at this point they are looking to replace them with IH units with the 466.

Like I said they pull great for our use but to many electrical and quality control issues.

James K.

[signals34]

I just purchased about a month ago a 2005 freightliner mt-45 fed-ex truck with the mbe-900 engine. I have the 190 hp, 4.8 liter ,520 ft lbs. The truck runs great, it does zip around, the trans is the allison 1000hs auto. excellent pkg. The only thing I'm disappointed in is the fuel mileage. I'm getting about 7 mpg. My route is all city, stop and go, no highway at all. so I guess that has something to do with it... but the truck and engine is great...