FAQ HTR

Please contact me with your questions or opinions, and I will post them on this page.

Q-97 international 4700 with t444e engine. vehicle repeatedly blows the 15 amp ecm fuse located in the battery box. now the problem seems to have progressed into the engine not starting at operating temperature, however when engine is cold it starts right up , until it reaches operating temperature and if you turn it off then try to start it will just spin over as if not getting fuel. if you wait until it cools off it will start every time. I would be very thankful of any knowledge you could share with me. thank you.

A-

The battery power wiring is notorious for shorting out right where it comes out of the battery box. You need to follow the battery wiring right around to the right side of the engine where it goes through a couple of connectors and inspect for a short. Check the wiring up to the relays on the firewall at the back of the engine, you will find 2 possibly 3 relays there. One relay runs the ECM, one runs the IDM (injector driver module if you have a 3 box system) and one runs the personality module (if you have a three box system). The three relays are interchangeable so you can swap them around to see if you have a relay problem.

As stated previously check fuses at battery and wiring from fuses to relay.
Have a good look at wires at the relays marked 97AH, 97CT, these circuits are at the IDM
relay, the wires are marked. 97AH runs to pin 33 of the ECM connector and
is grounded from the ECM. 97CT is battery voltage from ECM power relay also
on the cowl beside the IDM relay wire #97AR it also gets power from pin 37
of the ECM vehicle ignition circuit (check the ignition fuse/breaker in the
fuse panel).

Codes 242,243, and 543 are expected with this concern.

Hope this helps.

Q-What electronic heavy duty diesel diagnostic programs are available?

A-Your best software for the Navistar product line is available from your Navistar dealer. The program that you seek is Part number ZTSE 4444A, and sells for about $675. CD based Navistar manuals '99 and '00, PN CD5000, $202. These programs only service Navistar see: http://www.navistar.com/ .

You can buy a pro-link from MPSI http://www.mpsilink.com/mpsilink_gna/000_Home/001_Main/HTML/Frameset_Main.html The trouble with the pro-link is some of the later model vehicles will not communicate with the pro-link. MPSI also manufacturers other vehicle software and is good for a one size fits all application.

I prefer PC based diagnostics and for Caterpillar you need “Electronic Technician” see: http://www.cat.com/ ET is available in a field user version. For Cummins you need “Intellect” http://www.cummins.com/

For Detroit you need “Diagnostic Link” http://www.detroitdiesel.com/welcome1.htm

PC based diagnostics is prefered, and in addition to the software you must also purchase an interface which is about as expensive as the software itself. Pro-link is second to PC diagnostics and is an industry standard.

Q-Gary if you have time I would like to ask you a couple of questions about a DT466E that I have had some problems with. I run a school bus garage and Iam seeing some problems with the rocker arms and valves. When adjusting the valves first I notice the rocker arms don't hit the valves straight after adjustment and the bottoms of the rockers are starting to wear uneven this is at 44000 miles. Another one with 83000 miles has even damaged the top of the valve because of the rocker hitting on the side of the valve. I cant get a straight answer out of international. I was wondering if you or your dealership has come across anything like this. Thank You for your time Wayne.

A-Wayne, I was unable to find any TSI's (technical service information) on your concern. I asked the guy at work that does most of the 466's if he has ran across this condition, and whether he was aware of any known problems of this nature, and he had not. I posted your question to iATN and had one response from another Navistar Tech in PA. He had seen 4 of these engines with this condition, and suggested replacing any bad valves and rockers. Some other guys at work have seen this condition on the 466 and other engines (M11). The condition was caused by badly worn valve guides. Usually the 466 rocker to valve stem fit very square. I would look for a cause of your engines valves to be sitting off square, I suggest you check the valve guides first, and then start looking at some of the other valve train components.

Q-Should you use the Jake brake when the engine oil is cold, or should you warm it up first?

A-It is always advisable to warm an engine up a bit first before you put a load on it. Idle the engine at 1000 RPM until the temperature gauge just starts to move, then drive gently until operating temperature is achieved. Also the use of the proper viscosity oil is highly recommended (typical 15w40 is recommended to temperature low of 20 degrees Fahrenheit).

A-The Jake brake works by utilizing the engines oil pressure to open the exhaust valve on compression stroke near top dead center. If we consider a carbureted gasoline engine where air is controlled by a butterfly valve, as the engine piston moves down while you are trying to decelerate (idle fuel) it is attempting to pull air past the closed butterfly valve, this restriction causes a vacuum, the vacuum works on the top of the piston and the effect is that you have engine braking. A diesel engine on the other hand does not control intake air, when you go to a idle fuel position on a diesel the inertia of the heavy pistons want to continue to produce power, also due to the large compression ratio of a diesel engine (at least 14:1) the compression on top of the piston actually pushes the piston back down on power stroke and the engine continues to make power, there is no engine braking effect on a diesel engine. With a Jake brake the exhaust valve is opened near the top of the compression stroke releasing all the work that the diesel had to do to compress the air , there is no compression to return the cylinder we now have engine braking. See: CBRAKE

This is how it works: we turn on our Jake this energizes a solenoid within the Jake head preventing engine oil from draining back to the oil pan the Jake head is now charged. Now as an engine push rod comes up to open the exhaust valve it contacts a master piston which has its rod extended due to engine oil pressure (ordinarily the master piston is retracted and can not contact the exhaust valve bridge) as the push rod continues to rise oil is pushed out of the master piston to a slave piston, the master piston and slave piston are joined by oil passages within the Jake head and open the exhaust valve (only one exhaust vale is opened usually, though most four stroke diesels have two valves actuated by a single bridge) in a corresponding firing order i.e. if #1 exhaust push rod was coming up on exhaust the master piston for #1 would activate slave piston on #5 (typical firing order for a six cylinder 153624) which is coming up on compression, all the work that #5 cylinder performed in compressing the air is wasted to atmosphere, we have engine braking. As #1 exhaust valve closes oil from the master piston is retracted, slave piston on # 5 retracts and # 5 exhaust valve closes (no bent valves).

A-yes, the Jake brake has no control over the engine ecm, it is the engine ecm which controls fuel. Actually the engine ecm receives a signal when you turn on the Jake, and realizes that you are trying to slow down, on an electronic engine fuel is not injected.

Torque is the work produced by the engine resulting from the pressure on the top of all of the pistons, which push on the crankshaft through their connecting rods. The actual torque of the crankshaft varies as the cylinders move to different cycle positions. Engine torque is the average torque produced by all of the cylinders throughout the cycle, and it is measured in pound-feet. It is the number of pounds at the end of a one-foot lever arm that would be required to balance the engine’s twisting effort. Torque is twisting force.

Power is work done in a given period of time. The quicker a given amount of work is accomplished, the more power required. One horsepower is the amount of energy required to do 33000 foot-pounds of work in one minute. If this same work were done in fifteen seconds, it would require four horsepower.

A- I neither endorse nor approve of any type of additive whether it is for use in engine oil or fuel. In my opinion and the opinion of several of my colleagues I feel that the quality of today’s name brand oils are so fantastic that little if any benefit can be derived from additives, further more the use of additives may react adversely with the many additives and chemicals that are already present in today’s motor oils. On the other hand if you have an engine with some sort of mechanical problem, and you want to try an additive to see if it has any positive effect then by all means give it a try. For a normally operating engine I don’t use any additives.

The Society Of Automotive Engineers (SAE) provide for scientific and impartial testing of numerous oils and additives for both cars and trucks. I can think of no benefited reason for an additive manufacturer, if that additive manufacturer had a product that truly did all of the fantastic things that it claims that its additive can do to not seek out SAE approval. The proof is in the pudding: show me the SAE approval. Any product without SAE approval is snake oil.

Synthetic oils are good if you require an oil that can take more heat than a conventional oil, or if you want to extend your oil drain intervals. What is most important in the selection of motor oil whether it be synthetic or mineral based is that the oil contain the proper amount of additives for the application at hand. A high quality mineral based oil is sufficient for most all applications, especially if you are changing your oil at a regular interval. I personally use on advice of a petroleum manufacturers research and development engineers advice) a 25% synthetic oil mixed with 75% regular oil. I am told that this will give almost all the benefit of synthetic oil and all the benefit of mineral oil.

I do occasionally run a high quality fuel injector cleaner through my gas tank. I don’t know if there is a benefit to this or not, but my engine hasn’t died yet.

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Send mail to with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 1999 HEAVY TRUCK REPAIR