JoeH

I believe Ambach is American Bosch, instead of Robert Bosch. 2 different brand injection pumps were used on Mack engines.

What's your battery voltage when cranking? EECU shuts off around 9.5 volts. If your batteries or electrical system is causing a drop in voltage at the EECU then it can't start. I've been lucky enough a couple times to get my 2003 to fire up with minor assistance of ether in this condition when I let off the key the EECU powers up and takes over.

Electrical is by far my weakest knowledge base. My 12v Cummins is rated around 180hp. Could run a 6.7L as well, I think you'd be fine doing dump truck work with either. I'd bet there's enough "idling" time in that line of work that the generator could pump some juice into the batteries. They're also moving 145,000 lb loads with Topsy on I believe a 9.0L CAT engine. Albeit downhill loaded, uphill empty. I still think a 5.9 or 6.7 could be up to the task of moving triaxles around.

No offense taken, I'm aware they are planning to run a Retrofit option. Not sure how fast they're getting it up and running. I know on pickups they're trying to work with third party shops to run installs. Hopefully they can scale their business fast enough to get a strong bite into the industry. Hopefully they can get their heavy truck retrofits rolling, but I've heard them say they only want to make a handful of trucks to start out with testing in mining and logging. It makes sense, but they're going to need to make sure they're prepping to scale their production to start making these beasts.

The Edison Motors Retrofit opens up some interesting options. Smaller engine/generator combo means you could run PG Adams frame rails on an older Mack. You'd need to do some front end bracket modification to swap in a different brand steer axle suspension. Hood/cab mounts and you're rolling.

I'm a fan of Edison Motors because they're the first logical electric innovation in trucking.

I'm a fan of Edison Motors, but they're going to lose out to someone who can do it bigger faster. They are dragging their feet and want to grow very slow. The industry wont wait for them. They dont have a patent for the diesel-electric concept. Someone else will come along and build their own diesel-electric design and put it into high production faster. I wouldn't use a Mack e6/e7 for a conversion, it's too big of a motor. Realistically I'd bet a 12v or 24v 5.9 Cummins would be a gem of an engine to slap in a Mack, though it's a bit loud. The whole concept is a small efficient motor recharges the batteries while the batteries provide the variable torque needed to handle the differing power demands of the road. A Mack E7 wouldnt be worth the extra weight when a motor 1,000 lbs lighter could do the job. Their logging test they just ran maxed out at I think 400 amp draw accelerating while they have access to 750+ amps. A 1.5L Cummins Onan generator puts out about 50 amps of juice. 5.9L is basically 4 of these, so I'd estimate a 5.9L Cummins should put out 200amps of recharge, which should handle a big rig reasonably. And it would leave me engine clearance in my RD688 to put one of their powered steer axles in, giving me 6x6 drive!

Words of wisdom right there. If the former owner knew what the problem was they would have fixed it.

In case I didn't mention it, the EUPs push over 24,000 psi through the metal lines going to the head. DO NOT crack them to do cylinder cut out tests!! You will poison yourself with diesel fuel. Instead, you just undo one of the wires going to the EUP by loosening the screw and pulling the eyelet off the screw head. Screws are not meant to come all the way out. You will likely get a spark, no big deal. This will turn that EUP off, so you can see if said EUP is firing. If it doesn't affect the idle then it's not firing.

Sounds like there's some unresolved lemon issues going on, it only lasted 16k miles on that rebuild til they got fed up with it. Hopefully some old timers on here will be able to chime in. I'd get a hold of every Tech Service Bulletin you can get your hands on. This engine should be CCRS which is Current Controlled Rate Shaping. Basically the EUPs get fired in 2 phases, an initial one to start the burn and a second phase to complete the full injection quantity. Pre CCRS trucks just fired the EUP in one shot. EUPs are not interchangeable. Heads are also different, the pre CCRS I believe used a leak off line from the heads, the CCRS do not.

Also not sure anyone's picked up on them, but those 2 dalmatians are good looking dogs!

Also being a 2004, this will have the AI350 motor, which uses restrictive exhaust manifold/turbo to create exhaust back pressure to feed exhaust back into the engine when an extra exhaust lobe on the cam bumps the exhaust valve open on the intake stroke. Primitive EGR system that you can delete by getting the exhaust manifold and turbo from a pre-ASET engine. 2003 was the changeover year on this. So you'd want to target 2002 MR688 for manifold/turbo part numbers.

It also means it's likely missing some software updates and recall fixes. One example is coolant can wick along the coolant level sensor wires the the EECU and corrode the EECU pins. There's a short jumper pigtail that has sealant embedded in the wire strands to fix this problem. The diesel explorer program gives you a lot of live data while driving. It'll tell you what your throttle position % is and what the output fueling is.

How many hours/miles are on this truck? Title says it sat for 15 years. That means they parked it in 2009??? It's a 2004 truck, if it got parked that young in its life id suspect this truck may have been a lemon... Doesn't mean we can't fix out whats going on, but it does give a little insight into things...

I second the alternate fuel tank test. Throw a few gallons in a 5g bucket and dip the hoses in. Put fresh filters on it and try running it.

Any codes?

The 5/6 speed maxed out around 62mph screaming at 2100 RPMs. The 2 stick 6 speed trans is a direct 1:1 ratio in top gear. 7 speed keeps the step ups reasonable and allowed an overdrive. I think you're more or less right on some of the e6 CAC's using water, but I'm unfamiliar with that version. My experience is with the endt676 version of the engine.

How's your battery voltage while cranking? EECU shuts off around 9.5 volts.

Too tall for a lowboy, trash trucks are pretty well maxed out on 13'6".

When the EUP followers fail they tend to take out the camshaft. I got lucky on mine, I caught it right before one of the roller axles failed entirely.

EUP's are the high pressure solenoid operated fuel pumps underneath the exhaust manifold. Theres one for each cylinder. Technically these are the injectors. They run at 24,000+ psi, so DO NOT crack injector lines while running. It'll inject diesel into your skin and poison you. The injector lines are the metal lines that go from the EUPs into the head to the fuel Nozzles that are installed in the heads. Dealer will tell you the injector lines are single use items, they'll want to replace those on any injectors they change out. Joey Mack will give you guidance on this. EUPs can and do fail. Id be surprised if all 6 were bad, but I had my 2003 in at the dealer a few months ago and 3 were bad. You can source parts from M&D Distributors for cheaper. Reman Bosch EUPs cost me around 500 I think. Bosch EUP followers I believe we're $150, cheaper than the PAI ones. I would replace followers on any EUP that gets pulled. I had 2 bad followers on my engine. I would start with cleaning engine grounds and checking EUP wiring harness for cracked wire insulation. All 6 sending codes sounds odd.

Id like to know what the intermittent codes are. Hook up your computer and look them up. If your vmac III software doesn't work, DieselLaptop's Diesel Explorer 2.0 program gets the job done for me.

Welcome to the MR688 club! I bought a 2003 MR688S with the AI350 almost 3 years ago and I love it! Except for the ride. It is rough on your back on highways. Tires likely aren't rated for more than 60mph, I had one come apart when I was doing 68 mph on my way back to PA from Iowa after getting a new volumetric concrete mixer body put on it. Personally I'd get the truck towed home, I wouldn't drive it. Fuses are all in the center console, there *should* be a decal in there telling which fuse is where, but I'm sure it's missing. Worth it's weight in gold is a flashdrive, Mack part number 23-021. It's available through the Mack eMedia website. I got it through my local Mack Dealer but I had to talk him into the EMedia site so he could see what I was talking about about. Listed as a DVD, it's a program with wiring diagram for every Mack chassis model from like 2001 to 2021. You can use Killem, but that doesn't dissolve the algae. You have some work to do to get clean fuel. You could also have a piece of trash floating around in the tank, getting sucked into the pickup tube occasionally. Active engine codes can be pulled out on the fly by holding the set/decel cruise control switch down for a second while the main on/off cruise rocker is off. It'll blink out a 2 digit code telling you what the fault is. I hope you got the truck for a steal, trash trucks of this vintage are mostly falling apart. We got lucky finding ours with good frame rails at 24,000+ hours and 414,000 miles. We pulled the frame out of ours and separated/sand blasted/painted them to clear up the rust jacking.

I've recently heard of the setups you mentioned being operated by leaving the truck off in reverse and using a remote starter button to back the truck up to the draw bar. But this system I'm asking about the truck is running so you can operate the mixer while moving the truck around the jobsite just from that joystick on the back.

What's it cost, how's it integrate? How does it hook up to the drive line to move the truck? How's it hook up to the steering?