2009 International IC with Maxxforce 7 engine - recommend or not?

[cYbton]

Hello Guys,

we're new here in the forum and need your help.

We're from Germany, currently staying in Missouri. I think we want the same like almost everyone here - we wanted to convert an used school bus.

Currently we're searching for like an 8 window size bus and don't find anything in the locality.

The only bus we found was an 2009 International IC with 6.4l engine. It has our size, isn't rusty and has only about 140.000 miles. We think it's almost perfect. But our research shows that this bus has an Maxxforce 7 engine. We was searching in this forum and found only bad news about this engine.

Is it right, this model has the MF 7 engine? Is this engine really bad?

We don't have much time in the U.S. because of the visa. Can anyone recommend this engine and made good experience with it?

[cadillackid]

correct, the Maxxforce 7 was one of the worst.. if ther bus isnt goign to stay in the states you will likely have toiugh time getting parts and service for it..


tghe Maxxforce 7 CAN be updated to be sort of OK. but its not an engine i would choose unless you are reallty familiar with working on and upgrading them..


the list goes a mile long for issues these had in their first couple years...

[crazycal]

That 6.4 liter engine is horrible. Same engine in the Fords and I see them all the time for sale with less than a hundred thousand miles with a bad engine.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by cYbton

Hello Guys,

we're new here in the forum and need your help.

We're from Germany, currently staying in Missouri. I think we want the same like almost everyone here - we wanted to convert an used school bus.

Currently we're searching for like an 8 window size bus and don't find anything in the locality.

The only bus we found was an 2009 International IC with 6.4l engine. It has our size, isn't rusty and has only about 140.000 miles. We think it's almost perfect. But our research shows that this bus has an Maxxforce 7 engine. We was searching in this forum and found only bad news about this engine.

Is it right, this model has the MF 7 engine? Is this engine really bad?

We don't have much time in the U.S. because of the visa. Can anyone recommend this engine and made good experience with it?

Maxforce = max effort and money to keep it alive.

[Johnny Mullet]

Run far away!

[PNW_Steve]

If you are not finding buses locally I would suggest looking at the auction sites or traveling to a dealer.

I have had or heard from others of good experiences with Harlow bus sales, AAA in Phoenix and Wolf Creak in Oregon.

As far as auctions go:

govdeals.com
Publicsurplus.com
422sales.com

Good luck.

[cYbton]

Ok guys thank you all for your information. We won't buy a bus with this engine. Now we're looking for older school buses. Thanks for your help!

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by cYbton

Ok guys thank you all for your information. We won't buy a bus with this engine. Now we're looking for older school buses. Thanks for your help!

FWIW there was another person on the forum here who is planning to build a skoolie in Germany. Apparently, buses 25 years or older are exempted from diesel emissions regulations, so you would need to get a 1994 bus or older to benefit from this. Beyond that I have no idea what the emissions standards are for Germany right now, but it is generally the case that the newer the (US) bus (starting in 2004) the lower its emissions will be - but also the more it will cost to fix problems (and the more problems you will have due to the emissions control systems).