jzack

Thanks much Rob. You may have just saved me a good chunk of change. I'll ask my dealer about a rebuild kit for my E-7.

I grew up in my Dad's '79 Superliner. It was a beautiful truck with a show-truck paint job that would turn heads everywhere we went.....life was good. So it really pains me to see the Bulldog disrespected, and slowly bled dry by an arrogant foreign company. To all the Mack employees, hold your heads high! You have built THE BEST, LONGEST LASTING trucks the industry has ever seen. My family owns a small trucking company that has relied on Macks for over three decades. My current truck is a 94 CH (the one in the avatar) that has worked almost every weekday since it left the factory and has NEVER left me on the side of the road once. Quite a feat considering it has seen 15 Minnesota winters! Think Ice-Road Truckers. Our company had a couple of Volvo's in the mid-nineties around the same time my truck was new. Guess what? They are long, long gone. The drivers didn't like them, and they were hard to keep on the road. They have probably been scrapped or made into soup cans. Who knows? Maybe I even hauled some of their recycled remains on my flat-bed. So, to all of the Volvo Truck employees, no disrespect, but don't think for a second your company is in its current position because it builds a better truck than Mack because YOU DON'T. Yes, maybe you have a better business model, impressing shareholders by selling thousands of 5 year throw-away trucks that drive like campers to dumbfounded fleet-managers nationwide. I can here the Volvo execs now, "how could Mack be so stupid building trucks that stand the test of time, can't make money doing that!" They have forgotten what trucking is all about for a small company like ours. Only a company that has been building trucks since trucking began remembers. That company is MACK TRUCKS! For me, my fondest memories are of waking up, peeking out the sleeper of that old '79 Superliner and looking out, wondering where we were. The scenery always changed but one thing stayed the same. I remember seeing the Bulldog, sun sparkling on its back, always confident, leading the way.

Funny thing, I'm having almost the same problem with my 94 E-7 350 right now. Every morning my truck needs to be re-primed. Called the local Mack service manager and he said probably take 2-3hrs to diagnos....ouch @ $108 per hour. So before I bring it in to let a mechanic hook up a pressure guage and eat a sandwich while he watches for the needle to drop (at least thats what I picture him doing) thought I'd try for advice from the Mack savvy folks here on the forum. Here are some clues- 1) Gradual Worsening: this problem would pop up once a month, then once a week, now every morning. 2) Manuel priming has limited results: first 2-3 pumps are air, then I can feel the fuel in the plunger, but I can never get it to feel rock hard no matter how long I pump it (I know that sounds bad). I've run this truck out of fuel before when I was younger and dumber and I remember it popping right off after pumping the primer until it hardened up. Now it can take 10 seconds of cranking to start even after the manuel priming. 3) No Visual Leaks: similar to the earlier fellows problem, I don't notice an outside leak or smell any fuel in the garage. If anyone with knowledge and/or experience with the electronic Bosch V-mac I system, and recalls a common problem or two that fits the above symptons, I would greatly appreciate the advice. Thanks, Jeff

If you lose your jake again, check the wires to make sure one isn't worn through and shorting against the motor. This was the problem when I lost my jake.

Nice welding! You just saved yourself a ton of $$$ too. New mufflers and stacks ain't cheap. Just replaced mine a while back ($500 give or take) and I just have a one-stack Mack with a window in the back.

Sounds like you could have coolant in your ECU. I know of another 2001 Vision that had that problem with very similar symptoms as yours. I think the sensor on the overflow bottle goes bad allowing coolant to pass and follow the wire all the way into the ECU in the engine bay. Pretty sure there was a service bulletin on it. Expensive to fix but she'll run like new again.

My E-7 350hp has 820,000mi and 26,000hrs. Never been cracked open yet. Still has the original turbo even.....so yeah, I'd say pretty close to bullet-proof.

I'm almost 100% certain a 95 E-7 427 would be electronic. The early electronic motors (93-97's) had electronically-controlled Bosch pumps that looked very similar to mechanical pumps (easy to mistake the two). Look for a wire-harness attached to the pump. Another way to tell is ask if it has push-button cruise-control.

Thanks for all the great replies all. My guess is Swishy is right and the batteries were over full to begin with or they just have a bad vent design (they ARE from Batteries Plus). Not noticing nearly the leakage as before and they all have held a good charge for months now so I don't think it was a bad battery or electrical issue. Jeff

Say isn't your CL a factory 454hp? If so did Blixxton make a "special program" for your truck? Just asking because I was told the Blixxton only works for the Bosch pump used in the 300-400hp V-macs. Could explain why your not as impressed with the performance as I am....

Talked to an owner-operator who owned both and he said there was no comparison, E-9 hands down would outpull his E-7. Although fuel milaege was a different story. Just guessing but I think Mack "specs" their motors to stay within the limits of certain drive-train components like Fuller transmissions. Doesn't have much to do with what the motor is actually capable of.

the bandit

Sorry, not really trying to mislead anyone here. Just stating my 350hp mack now pulls as well, if not better than a 460hp mack after adding the Blixxton. Same conditions, same load, in the real world, not on a dyno. I'm not selling Blixxton's nor do I work for them. I'm just an owner-operator driving the same Mack for 15yrs and am very happy I didn't have to trade her in when I became dissatisfied my little 350. Jeff

Well I've run a Blixxton on my 94 E-7 350hp for about a year now with no problems and I just love it. I leave it on the 30% setting and still get 6.3 to 7.3 MPG. I can easily hang with our 99 460hp E-tech in the hills, even gaining a truck length or two! Not bad for an otherwise stock 350. Doing the math, 30% added to a 350 is about 455hp, so their claim is pretty darn close. Pyrometer has gone up 50 deg.F, nothing serious, I've only had to back out of it once because of exhaust temps. I can also say throttle response has improved greatly at low RPMs. 30+ psi at the manifold from 1200RPM on up really wakes up the E-7. I do get a puff of black smoke after each shift. Talked to Alex and he said the new program no longer waits for boost signal before applying fuel. Guess that explains the smoke, and better throttle response. Jeff

Maybe its 10 minutes....not really sure because I always bump my idle up too. I wouldn't think its adjustable because I heard its a safety issue to prevent colder than normal cylinder temps that could allow unburned fuel passby the rings and into the crankcase.....not positive though.

Probably overrides the auto shutdown. My CH has one anyway. After 5 min of idle time a buzzer sounds warning you the engine will shutdown unless the override button is pressed.

I never heard the duel exhaust thing, could you provide a link to that page? If we are looking at the same product I actually read that they decrease your back pressure. This is why they have been popular on school buses that have that extremely long, restrictive pipe that runs the length of the bus body.

I ordered a QPM (Quiet Performence Muffler) for my truck a while back but haven"t had a chance to install it yet. SUPPOSEDLY, they will relieve backpressure yet remain just as quiet as stock. They also claim to lower EGT's and get you better fuel mileage. In fact they guarranty better mileage or your money back. I have heard that your Jake is quite a bit louder with a QPM though. It looks like a big auger system stuffed into your stack. It is patented so there may be something to it..... The mfr. is Grand Rock, I ordered mine through Berube's. Jeff

Thanks Mackpro, we'll try the number and see, like you said it couldn't hurt.

A friend of mine has a 2001 Vision (100yr anniv. edition) that started to stall at random about a year ago. Well last week it got so bad he brought it in to the local dealer and what they discovered was really odd. One of his coolant temp sensors was actually pushing coolant up the wire! Eventually it made its way all the way to the ECU and caused all kinds of havoc. Mack said he needed a new ECU ($1800), a new wire harness, and all this would take 8 hrs labor. A hard pill to swallow in these economic times! Since this was a unique circumstance out of anyone's control, could my friend get anywhere by taking this straight to Mack Headquarters (maybe a 1-800#) and asking them to take care of at least part of his repair bill? Thanks, Jeff