2003 International 4400

[Ironworkerdelivery]

Hey guys. I hate to be the inexperienced pain in the ass. But I'm 24 and I just got my class B permit. I drive a 2003 International 4400 with the 7.4 (I could be wrong) inline six cylinder turbo diesel. 6 speed Eaton fuller tranny. The truck has 451900 miles but it has less than 500 miles on a fresh top end rebuild. It is incredibly gutless and the oil pressure won't maintain a norm at all. One day it runs 20 at idle and the next it's 5 psi. At 1500 rpms usually it would sit at 60 psi and now it is running 30. Is this due to the sloppy whore of a bottom end or is it an oil pump? The truck is really only worth 500 thousand miles but being new to the field with only a permit I DO NOT want to be the person that blows this thing up. And honestly it is one of the best running trucks I have seen in a long time. (I was a diesel mechanic for about 5 years.) The clutch needs to be adjusted, the mirrors shake, the radio doesn't work but all around it is a good running/driving truck. It just needs that half a million mile work done. (It got dropped off at Dave Moody Logging yesterday to get all that work done) The problem here is that I don't know what the problem is to tell the mechanic to fix it because I always worked on frieghtliners and peterbuilt trucks. International is a completely new thing for me. I can drive the truck just fine but I'm not knowledgeable enough to know how to fix this fucking half a million mile monster. If anyone has any ideas I'd be happy to fillyou in with the info (that you don't have) to make a reasonable diagnosis that I can bring to my boss. I want them to get a new peterbuilt but honestly that's not feasable for at least two years. How can I make this truck driveable to the point where I'll be comfortable

 

[mndriver]

Likely a bad pressure regulator on the oil pump. That's where I'd start. If that tests good, then I'd pull a main and a rod cap and have them inspected with plastigage. It's a calibrated piece of plastic that's tells you clearance on the bearings to journals.


The variable oil pressure makes me suspect the oil pump first.

Before opening up the oil pan though, I'd sent in an oil sample and have it tested. This would be a regular maintenance item for me as well. It'll tell you long before anything major needs to be done that your engine might need.

 

[r3gulator3]

Tell your mechanic you have low oils pressure.

Do you notice a lot of smoke?

The low oil pressure is causing your lack of power also. No one calls it a 7.4L this ain’t the car world you have a DT466.