Runaway Toyota parts in my Kenworth?

[Streakn1]

For a few days I was beginning to believe that our Kenworth had Toyota parts instead of Paccar in it. Especially when it started acting like a "run away Toyota!"

Now I'm sure some will think this thread needs to be in truck talk, and thats fine if the moderators want to move it. I just want to get the word out as this is a safety issue of concern so I'm placing it in the general forum for more exposure.

Last week we experienced sudden intermittent and un-controlled excelleration and decelleration in our 2007 T-600 Kenworth while the cruise control was set. This could have been quite dangerous and possibly caused an accident. Since we are not governed, the truck was able to take off like a scalded rabbit. Quite scary to say the least. When the cruise was off, the speedometer would intermittently fluctuate even though we were maintaining a constant speed. At times this fluctuation would cause the engine diagnostics to alert a check engine warning.

Through our "Road Relay" which is an optional advanced diagnostic system installed from the factory on our truck, we learned that the "speed sensor" on the transmission was going bad and it was instructing us to have it checked and replaced. The mechanic at Kenworth confirmed that this was in fact the problem and a new sensor and wiring harness were installed. Problem corrected and no further incidents since.

These sensors provide vital information to the engine's ecm that control speed, engine rpms, and shifting commands of the autoshift transmissions. Failure will cause the above mentioned symptoms.

 

[greg334]

Streak,
Dangerous?

I would hope that a professional driver like you could understand and control the vehicle, unlike those who who are not professional drivers and/or can't control their vehicle.

Glad it's fixed.

 

[Streakn1]

Streak,
Dangerous?

I would hope that a professional driver like you could understand and control the vehicle, unlike those who who are not professional drivers and/or can't control their vehicle.

Glad it's fixed.

In defense of the non professional drivers, when a vehicle suddenly kicks in every horsepower (475hp in our case) and excellerates at a very rapid rate, many thoughts go through one's mind and have to be processed, plus a proper reaction determined and implimented in a very short period of time. Plus dealing with all out shock of the sudden condition. If the wrong choice is made, then one is back to square one. Anotherwords still a passenger in a runaway vehicle!

Even as a professional driver, when your T/T traveling at 70mph sudenly excellerates at full horsepower heading straight for the back of the T/T in front of you, that's dangerous! LOL

The professionalism comes in with maintaining control of vehicle and a cool head! In our case the first step was to kick off the cruise. After trying to run the cruise a few more times, only to have the same results, the cruise concept was abandoned. Road speed was determined by what RPMs the engine was running and what gear the transmission was in. Professional driving at its best! LOL

 

[davekc]

Well....here is a current little semi-related story. We have a 05 M2 we paid cash for from Jon Mosier when he was at Knoxville. Ran it to about 600k something and the turbo blew out in July at Benson, AZ. No problem, loose a couple of days and our load but replaced turbo and then reloaded out.

Here is where it is related six months later.
This month, with now close to 700k, the bearings on the turbo blew out. The truck was running at 65 mph in cruise and when the bearings blew, the turbo and engine raced at maximum rpm.
When this happened he pulled to the side shut off the key but it kept running at high over-rev speed. The turbo was continually running on the engine oil (smoking like crazy) until all the oil was burnt. Sucked all the oil right out of the engine. Needless to say, it trashed the engine.
Towed truck to Cat and they confirmed the turbo failure and since the turbo was still under warranty, agreed to replace the engine. Same issues as Streakn, but ours was mechanical rather than electrical.

Good news for us is we wind up with a new engine in a truck I was debating on selling. Bad news is we lost two weeks of running. Still not a bad trade off.

Note to the new folks with used trucks. Never under estimate the reserves you may need if this happened and you had no warranty. You would be looking at 8 to 10k for a used engine replacement or 15k or higher for a new one depending on the motor type and size. And of course, no revenue being generated through the two weeks you are down. Tow bill was cheap (200 bucks) so that could have been worse.

 

[moose]

my first reaction (while disconnecting the cruise) ,
would have being to look back and see if one of those Jets did not started by itself ...

(tho'w if i get it right , you can't see the deck & cargo by looking in the mirrors )
HowBout a back up camera ,like the RV's got ?(don't know Just asking)

 

[RETIDEPXE]

Dave, i have heard of diesels running away on the crankcase oil, scary deal. I am a fan of a good warranty, was that a Cat brand extented warranty on the turbo?
thanx,
Retidepxe

 

[davekc]

Dave, i have heard of diesels running away on the crankcase oil, scary deal. I am a fan of a good warranty, was that a Cat brand extented warranty on the turbo?
thanx,
Retidepxe

That is exactly what it did. The engine was no longer under warranty but the turbo was due to a replacement in July.
It ceratinly saved us here. There is no way to predict this type of event or stop it from happening.

 

[bdmj989900]

About 7 yrs ago at the pete dealer in OKC they brought a volvo into the shop smokin and running really bad. Mechanic got it inside set the brakes and turned off the key. The engine took off. Blowing alot of black smoke. You could smell the fuel. He put it in the highest gear stood on the brake pedal and popped the clutch. When it finally shut down i saw 4 ft flames out of both stacks. Blew off all the air to air boots. (I think when the mechanic got out of the truck he had to go clean his pants.) Fuel was dripping out of drain holes on bottom of the stacks. After they took it apart the bottom of one injector was gone. It was pumping way too much fuel and they said it just "ran away". I have heard stories about this happening but never saw it till then. Guess anything can happen.