2003 fl70

Fl70scott

New Recruit
Mechanic
Hello, im new to this forum and wanna get some opinions. I bought a 2003 FL 70 with a Mercedes engine and a standard transmission, it's an old fed ex truck and I converted it to a motorhome. My plan is to haul my gooseneck trailer with 2 trucks on it. I'd guess I'll be pulling about 25,000 pounds roughly. Will this truck work the way I'm hoping it will? It's in good shape and I've gone over the entire thing, it has about 600,000 miles. I'm only going to be going within a 3 or 4 hour radius from home at max and probably only put 2,000 miles a year on it. Thanks
 

danthewolf00

Veteran Expediter
Get the maintenance records if you can.
Has the transmission been rebuilt or the engine?
At 600,000 that's something to think about.
 

danthewolf00

Veteran Expediter
What is the door tag say on weight????
Put it on a scale....
600,000 miles and only a clutch?????
Have someone go over that truck with a very fine tooth comb.
 

Fl70scott

New Recruit
Mechanic
I had it scaled already, I can't remember off hand what it was but I have the info at home. I was just curious if the engine was gonna have enough ass to do what I want. It seems to run pretty dang good just driving it around
 

greasytshirt

Moderator
Staff member
Mechanic
Is this the MBE 900 six cylinder? They run well and make decent power, but they have a couple of flaws. The EGR cooler is known to fail, sometimes spectacularly. It will dump coolant into the exhaust, and everyone behind you will get a spy hunter smoke screen. The EGR valves also fail regularly. These problems are easy to fix so it's not that big a deal.

The engine has a parent bore block meaning it doesn't have replaceable cylinder liners. That means doing a quality rebuild will be much more expensive because machine work will be required. The other alternative is to hone the cylinders and pray.

Parent bore block engines like the CAT 3126, C7, 3208 and the MBE 900 have earned the moniker of throwaway engines because they are not easily rebuilt.
 

danthewolf00

Veteran Expediter
I had it scaled already, I can't remember off hand what it was but I have the info at home. I was just curious if the engine was gonna have enough ass to do what I want. It seems to run pretty dang good just driving it around
That scale info should sit in the truck so you don't run over weight....that is one fine you will never want because then the cops know to pull you in and inspect your truck.
 
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