Was fuelin up this am and the station was getting a delivery of fuel also. Looked like a fairly new Freightliner conventional (if I remember right) on the front sides there was a name plate that said Mercedes Benz powered. Didnt know Benz was suppling big rigs like that.

 

If I'm correct, benz has been supplying engines and building big rigs for a while now.

 

Apache - that is the Sprinter - offered by freightliner and dodge - powered by MB's commonrail 2.7L diesel. It's a great engine, and if they offered it in their small C-class it would be unreal! The C270CDI is offered in europe and it's a torque and mpg monster!

 

Lightman, I don't think the sprinter was delivering the fuel. Thats the van type delivery rig correct? I think the dealer I know here has a few on the lot.
I also saw a big rig Freightliner with MB emblems on it the other day.

The med duty Frieghtliners will probably have the Aisen auto in them too.

 

There are 2 engine groups form Benz the MBE 900 (Small bore)
and the MBE 4000 (big bore) These are for Med,Heavy trucks.

 

Sort of off subject but avoid filling up at a station if you see a tanker there unloading.
Dumping fuel in the underground tanks will stir crud up from the bottom that will take an hour or more to settle back to the bottom.

 

Never thought of that Thanks for the warning. While on the subject, lately theres been a bunch of all gas stations starting to use one of their pumps and tanks for diesel. How do they get all the gas out? or do they.

 

Back on topic-
Apache, if you want more info on the M-B medium and heavy truck motors, go to Detroit Diesel's website, they are the North American distributor of M-B engines. They also import the VM Motori diesels like the Jeep Liberty will be getting.

Edit: M-B engines are standard in Frieghtliners and Sterlings because they are DaimlerChrysler subsidiaries. Keepin' it in the family.

 

The MB900 and 4000 engines are holding up pretty well. Had to get certified on the pair last month and they are pretty much a spinoff of the Series 55 Detroit with some MB inspired changes. The Germans do some quirky things like banjo bolts for coolant and oil connections. As well as steel ***** to plug off the ends of the rifling passages in the block instead of plugs like we are used to.

These engines were pretty much Detroit and MB's first joint venture. In 2007, look for the Series 60 Detroit to be gone and replaced with a new MB/Detroit cross breed.

 

Like Monty says , they are pretty much Detroits , we have been losing some customers to MB, factory says we have a shortage of metal so some of our best cust. are getting MB in the trucks.

 

Shortage of metal??? Maybe shuttin down all the US steel producers is why. Time to start smashin more beer cans for japan. I would imaging thats why steel prices have skyrocketed lately as well.

 

Freightliner, as well as Detroit Diesel are owned by Benz!
BIG MIKE

 

These engines are made in South America. We have 8 of the 906 engines in our fleet, they have not been very good. Head gaskets, oil Coolers and many fuel leaks. The DT 466 is a much better engine

 

No headgasket problems as of yet that I have seen here, however, the unit pump o-rings as well as the unit pump to pass thru tube lines have been very prone to leaking. The older style 900 had a metal locating ball on the pass thru tube. This allowed the transfer tube to stay in place while torquing the lock nut and lines. The newer 906 EGR versions do not have this locating ball. This is causing incorrect seating to the line and injector. The lines also seem to have a tendency earlier in the production engines to be overtorqued causing line breakage.

Beware of the non OEM fuel filters for these things. The filter assembly houses a check valve for the return that is actually held open by the filter at the bottom of the housing. This allows the fuel to stay in the housing and not loose prime when the filter is pulled. The non OEM style filters have been causing problems due to them not having the same exact specs as OEM and letting this check valve stay closed during operation, which is causing low power

 

That can be true Bill if there are'nt any big filters on the pumps or they don't move alot of fuel.
I fuel up my tanker truck at our card lock as I'm unloading fuel. We have three of them & in 22yrs I've never had to change a fuel filter between service intervals which was 10,000 miles on a 1987 cummins big cam 3. Now I go 15,000 on a 2000 cummins N-14 460

But if your getting your D/O at a service station that only pumps 1,000 gals. or less a day I would'nt fuel up while getting a delivery. I have one station that only pumps about 500 gal. a day & I only bring them D/O every other week.