Okiki Olufokunbi

I appreciate everyone's input. I do have an update. After the techs saw the scarring on the main journal that fed oil to the #2 rod journal, they decided to have the oil pump checked out at another shop. As of now, the rebuilt motor has non coated bearings in it, a serviced oil pump system and a replacement crankshaft. The oil pressure on cold start of the rebuilt engine is now 30 psig instead of 60 psig, which to me is really strange . This can suggest an oil flow restriction issue, or a bearing journal size mismatch ( I don't know if this mismatch can really happen though). But the engine has gone through three 3 hour run on idle operations ( 9 hrs total) , and no reported problems. It is rather frustrating that no main failure cause could be determined for this engine failure; but it seems to be more oil supply related, or an installation problem, rather than a material of construction issue. But I do feel that the coated bearing will be more prone to initial distress than the non coated ones, for the same amount of oil starvation, because I feel the PTFE based coating may be more prone to cold flow and initially and flake off at a lower temperature than none coated ones. But regardless, oil starvation is bad, period. Does anyone know if there is an online version of the mack E7 PLN manual available, and where to obtain one? The paper manual one I have is with the Truck in Africa, and I need to really understand the manufacturer designs and specs on these engines, as there are more E7 PLNs added to the fleet. Thank you all, and I will provide additional updates if there are any,

It is very possible. I was not onsite, and cannot vouch for how clean the replacement block was. I was told it was cleaned, but as one of the other poster's mentioned, clean is relative, depending on which part of the world one is. Not as excuse though, it could have been the problem

Thanks for the feedback. They used lube oil, and not any specialized assembly lube.

Thanks for all your assistance. I am still in not sure why the oil got lost. The engine is being rebuilt again, with non PAI bearing parts this time. Is there a way to check for oil supply to all the journal points with the motor not running? Another failure will be devastating .

With the thrown rod event, I got that feedback from the driver about an unusual sound, but they did not address this in time. it was the number 5 that threw the rod, I will try to get the details correct, but there was a missing bolt of the connecting rod, and the other was bent.

here is a pic of the crankshaft. I see some scorring on the main bearing journal next to the failed rod bearing journal. The comment about thrust bearing installation ( in the 1 tab location.pdf) is interesting. I expect to receive pics of the main bearings this weekend. Another question that is arising is why the other rod bearings started wearing down too, and pieces started shaving off them.

Did the discovery and fix solve the problem?

The oil pressure was at 60 psig on idle (2nd startup- prior to failure) , but no one recalls what it was when the engine shut itself down.

Thanks for the response so far . Is the PAI- 8332-P1 an oversized rod bearing? I did order a standard kit from the PAI dealer back then, and the Techs that measured the replacement crank (now damaged) assured us that the replacement was a standard sized crank . OO

Hello folks, I do need some assistance and help in trying to understand why an E7 PLN engine failed hours after the rebuild. The truck operates out of Africa. I have attached some pics and will attach more as I get them. The engine had to be rebuilt after it threw a rod, poked a hole in the sleeve and broke the cylinder block. This happened because the connecting rod bolt came loose and the rod came off the crankshaft journal. So the rebuilt involved a new block, and a new crankshaft amongst other things. The truck had an inframe sleeve replacement a year prior, and the pistonless PAI kit was used during the replacement. The PAI Main and rod bearings that came with that sleeve replacement job were not used back then, but was used with this rebuilt. Apparently these PAI rod bearing were coated bearings After this rebuild, with the installed PAI main and rob bearings, the engine was started up and then left running at idea about 3 hrs. It was then shutdown for about 8 hrs, and restarted again. 2 hours into the second run (at idle), the engine shut itself down and would not restart. After letting the engine cool down, the engine was started up again, but it began to give a knocking sound. It was quickly shutdown, and the oil was drained and the oil pan drop. The aftermath was ugly my friends. The number 2 cylinder rod bearing had overheated, spun around and extruded. The rod bearing oil hole was virtually plugged off with metal shavings and coating material. The other 5 rod bearing were all scarred up, and already have shavings. Their oil holes were still open, but had already started being plugged with shaving materials. But they did not look like they had spun. The new crankshaft was again shot. It was quite obvious that to me and all so far that the journals seemed to have lost lubrication, but number 2 likely went all the way dry and stopped receiving oil completely. I am trying to understand why, so as to really get to the root cause of the failure. How does oil get to the individual rod bearings? Unfortunately I don't have my E7 manual with me, but I was under the impression that each of the main bearing got supplied oil from dedicated Engine block oil gallery , and then the main bearing would supply the rod bearings through the oil paths in the crankshaft. Is this incorrect? One of the Tech was contending that the oil flowed down from one journal end of the crankshaft to the other but is he correct? This was the first time the Techs have ever used coated bearings in any of their rebuilds, to their argument is that the coated PAI connecting rod bearings were not good, and definitely wrong for the application. The Tech are of course skeptical, and contend that the rod bearing started shaving off as soon as the engine was started, and finally the number two shaved off to the point of plugging off the oil hole, stopping oil flow, then overheated. Has anyone here experienced a failure as a result of using coated rob bearings or PAI rod bearings in particular? Please let me know if you have any more questions or need more information to diagnose. I have my opinions at to what happened, but wanted to get your inputs first. Thank you for you time OO

thank you turckster OO

Hello. I have a 92 CH613 with an E7 non-etech engine. I am getting a fault code 4-3. I look up the code, and read MPH sensor inactive in one source, but the other source says its a clutch fan output sensor error (or something) like that. Can anyone help to tell me with one it is for my truck, and how to fix it. Thanks OO

The culprit appears to be leaking core hole plugs in one of the cylinder heads. The two heads were removed, the oil was changed, and the heads were re-installed. Upon starting the engine, one of the heads had some water contamination. The other one looked normal. Thanks Turckster.. OO

Guys, thanks for the response, but I turned it off prior to asking the question. The heads have been pulled, and they are not leaking or cracked. The water out of the breather is quite cold, so I do not know if this means anything or not. The oil in the sump does not appear to be contaminated. I will appreciate any help as to what may be causing this issue. Thank you OO

Hello, I am getting a stream of water and some steam coming out of the valve cover breather pipe on my CH613 with E7 Vmac non-etec engine. I am also looking coolant/water out of the reservoir. The vehicle has not overheated.The intensity increases as I rev the engine. I will appreciate any help as to what may be causing this issue. Thank you OO