JoeH

On mine, the ambient air temp sensor is on the driver side in the grill, near where the trans "clean power" wires go into the harness. Your VSS should clear up when you figure out what's going on with your speedometer....

Easy enough to call the dealer and ask, my bet is in the $2500+ range. But... The years you'll get out of it...

Any change in what codes are present?

The E7's had oil pressure issues to the Jakes, there was an external oil line kit to resolve this. But by 2003 you don't have an E7 you have either an ETECH or an ASET AI/AC.

I think you indicated this truck was put together from 3 trucks? If so, maybe the transmission came out of an LE with secondary controls? Secondary control feature could be turned "on" in one of the computers? Just a guess. You could have wires plugged into the wrong sensors. Going off my memory from having just played with my transmission last week there are 3 sensors along the pass side in one harness and a 4th plug coming off the Mack harness going down to one of the trans oil cooler lines below the tail shaft. The 3 plug harness gets plugged in "rear to front" meaning the very last plug on the harness goes in the front most sensor, then the other 2 I think come out of close to the same spot on the harness but one is longer than the other. The longer of those 2 goes to the middle sensor and the shortest pigtail goes to the rearmost sensor. Beyond that all I can guess is the trans needs to get rebuilt? Really don't think I know much more than this ...

Truck got to Iowa 2 days ago, parents are on vacation now, visiting family. Mixer might be ahead of schedule, could be done in 2-3 weeks potentially.

Your gauge died?

I think this is where you post a link to the Mack eMedia book for this engine and say "follow the procedure in here to the T!"

Quick Google search comes up with way more than 4 gallons. Closer to 9 gallons. Remember, the trans fluid does a ton of work, it's not just lubrication. It's the hydraulic oil for shifting gears, operating the torque converter, etc. Builds a ton of heat and takes a lot of abuse.

Secondary shift selector would be for an LE688 with secondary controls in the passenger side. (Steering wheel, brake & accelerator pedal, secondary shifter pad...)

I think it takes like 42 quarts, probably including torque converter. Oil level should be high on the dipstick, normally you check trans levels when they're warmed up and running.

Usually states have a "drive home" permit that goes with the sale. Gives you a grace period to drive it back to your base of operations. Assuming it's drivable...

I know that feeling. But I've grown to like our mr688 because when you lift that center dash panel it's ALL there! Wide open, no skinny access panels in the dash like R models have. If you can't lift the center dash panel out due to the trash truck controls well... Yeah that would be awful. Especially because the factory wiring is buried below crappy wiring for the trash body.

Gotta love jerks!

Granites are nice but they force you into the ASET AI series engines, which are better than the AC engines, but require a few modifications to liven them up. ETECH camshaft and exhaust manifold, turbo (I think) and exhaust pipe that doesnt size down right off the turbo. The AI engine eats some of its own exhaust through back pressure created by the above restriction points. The camshaft has a bump on the exhaust lobe to tap the exhaust valves open a little during intake stroke. Will run ok with all the garbage on there but supposedly they wake up when you update those parts.

I test drove a granite once. Nicest Mack I ever drove, hopped in and it felt like I'd been driving that truck for 10 years. Everything was where it was supposed to be and forward visibility was good. Cab is huge, but I'm used to R models. The granite you listed there is a state truck with plow setup. Looks like it had the passenger side wing plow as well. If that were a northern truck it'd be junk from salt with a bloated 40k price tag. Look it over, but I wouldn't waste much time on it.

Check out baskin truck sales in Covington, Tennessee. They seem to have a decent amount of stuff listed on Truck Paper. Might be worth poking your head around there.

The truck we bought was part of a lot of 60 trucks, all Macks.

Kenworth dealer near me deals in used trucks too. They'll take a whole lot of older trade ins from large construction companies/fleets in the area. Tons of the trucks are in horrible shape but there are a few gems. We bought one about 3-4 years ago. Plow truck, had the hydraulics and everything still. Brand new double frame, probably 5 years old or newer. Engine fires up like it came off the assembly line yesterday. It's a 1988. Even the hood looks new. Probably a million or more miles on the truck, but there's no way to know. There are good trucks out there, you just need to go look at a dealer with a whole lot of trucks. Keep an open mind!

Reading through this has been helpful, our MR688 has this same leak, wondering if it's a cracked housing or loose bolts. Driving the intermediate axle up on blocks should make access a lot easier? Should lift the frame up away from the rear drive axle. Won't be able to look into this til I drive the truck back from Iowa in 6 weeks though.

Nothing like a little hands on experience! You should be proud of yourself!

Pyro gauges stick sometimes. With the engine up to temp driving around, tap the face of the gauge. One of my trucks does that.

They detoured down to Kentucky and Missouri so they could skip Illinois completely. I'll be driving the truck back in 6 weeks when the mixer is done and mounted on. I'll have to try and find out what condition 74 is in. I would take US 34 from Iowa to Galesburg Illinois, then pick up 74 to Indianapolis. Or I'll detour south to Missouri and Kentucky.

Single drive with a lift axle saves tire wear. Setup is just fine for highway/parking lot work where a truck doesn't have to go mudding. Pulling the tag axle up saves a lot of twisting on the tires, tandem, etc. If I had a truck like that it wouldn't be leaving the blacktop.

Part of identifying good/bad EUPs involves swapping eup locations around. Take a known "good" eup (one that causes motor to stumple/die when you interrupt it) put it where a bad one is and see if the eup makes the "bad" cylinder fire. Process of elimination you can find whether EUPs are bad or injectors are bad. Good plan to tear down all the EUPs first, if they're stuck and need to be freed up you may get slot more of them firing.