00 international T444e Crank/no start

[M3moises]

Forgive me guys, this isn’t actually a bus, it’s one of my scissor dump trucks ( wil include a pic, because most people have never seen em)

Bought this from auction about a year ago for $5100. Drove it from San Diego to WA state. I’m a commercial roofing contractor, so I immediately put it to work and it’s been going ever since. It came from another roofing company, no word on why it was auctioned, but it ran fine coming home and was doing great the whole time. It’s isn’t being driven around daily, and been mainly stores at different job sites for months at a time between a few projects.

Full disclaimer, these trucks are used and abused and are ‘go go go’ until situations like this. Posted here because google search of ‘ crank, no start T444e’ had me reading here for hours. I haven’t dug too deep into things yet, because it’s sitting at a jobsite and we lose daylight early but I’ll give a quick rundown of pertinent info

Milage = unknown. Said it has 120k, but after driving, I recognize it hasn’t moved ever

Haven’t checked oil, but there’s a lot of buildup all over thr motor. Oil change and filter = first course of action regardless

Coolant was low. I don’t remember it ever overheating, but the reservoir didn’t register anything and took about a gallon to get to the min fill line

While cranking, RPMs move, exhaust smokes, there seems to be some pressure at fuel filter, but I haven’t checked it with huge. I removed top to fuel filter and it was bone dry initially .

Truck sputtered at low rpms and would kick in fine once it started moving. Also smoked while sputtering. I didn’t realize this until one of my employees drove the truck.

I can’t think of anything else at the moment, but I’ll update with anything that comes to mind while I’m at the jobsite tomorrow.

[cadillackid]

RPMs moving.. is the gauge just spinning circles while cranking? (common oiccurance as the voltage drops and causes the cluster to reset over and over.. or is it actually registering RPM?



batteries charged good? these things like to have a good fully charged battery or they flat out will refuse to send fuel to the injectors.


oil is a big one, low oil will cause the injection system to shut down and no longer function.. the injectors run on oil pressure. keeping the oil clesan is paramount, hiowever ive not yet seen one where dirty oil causes a no start.. however oil too low will defimnitely cause a no start.


unplug the ICP sensor (its a common failure point).. and the computer will throw a code but wiull use a default setting and the engine would run (ifthats the issue).. its an easy way to test if the ICP sensor is causing the failure.



a bad CPS sensor that registers erratic signals and erratic RPM will cause a no start condition.


dirty fuel filters.. ive seen clogged up fuel filters cause these engines not to start.

[M3moises]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

.

I knew you’d be coming ( almost thank’d you in advance, because I saw you gave good thorough replies on just about every thread I read. )

I will pay closer attention to some of the questions/suggestions from above. I checked the oil and the dipstick wasn’t registering anything’s took about 2 qts to get me just above the add oil line. I remember the last time i started it, it struggled more than usual to start, but ran fine and sounded fine. When I tried starting it two days ago, it sounded like the motor was simply spinning, but not hooking, then after adding the oil today , it sounded like it wanted to start after about 20 second and that lasted for another 10 before the batteries started fading. Not sure if running that low caused anything to fail

[KGZ91]

Is there single fuel tank ?maybe fuel selector valve letting air to suck in.
I'd replace icp,ipr,cps,glow plugs,fuel pump if mechanical,fuel pressure regulator on bowl
All should cost less than 500 online and few hours worth of labor

I've ran with low oil and it was kinda sputtering on low rpm when cold start

Try t6vrotella synthetic
Or maybe engine tired hauling 20k lb ,
Despite 7.3 volume,they're weren't real medium duty imo
Dt466,8.3 suit better for your mdt
Still amazed how they fit 5.9 in 20k lb big bus with 190hp 400ft lb ,lol

[Johnny Mullet]

A scanner would help you a lot here. Is there a diag button on the dash by chance?

[HazMatt]

I recollect somewhere, by somebody (CK..? [emoji848]) a statement that the injector require a minimum voltage to function.
Maybe try again, after charging your starting bank? That quick fade you described suggests I'd start there. [emoji1696]

[cadillackid]

couple thngs. running low on oil of course is bad for any engine.. but with a 444E if you run the oil low enough that the system runs dry or close to it then the HPOP runs out of oil and wont fire the injectors.


the way these engines work is you have a normal oil pump that lubricates the engine components (and registers oil pressure on the dash).. yuo then have a second oil pump and second oil reservoire which is fed by the first.. this second. High Pressure oil Pump or HPOP is responsible for actuating the inectors when the computer says Go. if the HPOP reservoire runs empty due to no oil feed from the main oil pump or LPOP then the engine stops.


the system is capable of repriming on its own but typ[ically takes a good bit of cranking..


these engines like mentioned like to SPIN to start. if you run the batteries low it seems the computer wants even more RPMs before it will fire the injectors so it becomes imperative to have a fully charged set of batteries.. thre book says it watns 160 RPM to starr.. I know ive started mine on less in super cold weather but after a dead battery it can be frustrating as even jumping it results in hearing what sounds like a nice crank over speed that would startr any car or any other normal diesel but wont start a 444E..


so be sure your batteries are charged up and good.. the wait 5 mimnutes and try then wait 5 minutes and try again method will result in frustration. turn on the charger and go drink a nice LARGE cup of coffee! or better yet come back in the morning.

[Diverdude0075]

I have the T444E in my ‘99 Bluebird. I picked it up in October and have been fighting gremlins. First, I had a bad cell in one of my batteries so replaced both. This surprised me since the sticker on one of them indicated they were only a year old.

It also occasionally sounds like the starter is free spinning. Normally I assume the flex plate has teeth missing especially since it is intermittent. I removed the starter yesterday and starter gear looks ok. Teeth that I can see look great on the flex plate. I ordered a new starter from db electric. We’ll see how that does.

Last thing is sometimes I turn the key and get nothing. No sound, nada. I think one of the safety switches is temperamental so chasing this too.

Also when I changed the fuel filter I had a heck of a time getting her going again. I didn’t fill the filter housing at first. I ended up having to use ether. I hoping my engine doesn’t frequently lose prime.

I just wanted to share some learning I’ve done with starting issues. My goal is for my bus to reliably start every time!