So here is the deal: I have found a 1985 W900 for sale for $2-3k. Nice looking truck W900B, black, aluminum front wheels, 7" stacks. It needs to be cleaned up a little and some minor work done to it. The biggest problem is for one that the batteries are dead and from what I'm told the engine black smokes and has a lack of power. I haven't seen it run yet due to the battery situation and I'm a 2 and a half hour drive away AND I'm a student at Lincoln Tech in the diesel program right now.


The oil is some of the nastiest if not THE nastiest I've ever seen; it looks like tar almost. From what I was told about the truck it was hauling a full load when it when to black smoking. They shut it down immediately and had it hauled in on a lowboy and its been sitting there for about five years now. The air cleaners appeared clean and the hoses looked fine; so I'm thinking turbo. Anyone have an idea where to find a good used turbo? I believe it is a Holset.

So here are my questions, where can I come up with some used batteries just to be able to see it crank? What is the value for the truck as it sits? Ball park figures to educated guesses welcomed.

I have the engine serial number and cpl if anyone needs it to help me out, just pm me.

And the biggeee, What do ya gotta do to crank that bad boy up to run the kitty cats under? I've seen it done but have since lost contact with anyone I knew running old mechanicals. I've been told by Cummins an N-14 will bolt in does anyone know anything about that???

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated,

Shawn

 

Well, without seeing the truck it is impossible to give you a ballpark "whats it worth" NEED TONS more info. Anywhere from 2Kto 20K is what an old KW W9 Cummins BCIV is worth.

On the black smoke deal, as you already know, black smoke is unburnt fuel, needs more air. So that said if it "just happened" then I wouldnt hesitate to say (and because of the "tar" like oil) the Turbo seized and the engine probably over heated do to the retards failure to PM the poor thing. The engine oil probably has 50+ thousand miles on it. I bet the oil stinks too doesnt it?

Unless you have 15 grand just lying around, RUN, dont walk, RUN away from that truck! I will be willing to bet the whole engine needs to be rebuilt, crank turned, new cam, yadda yadda yadda.
A Cummins BCIV is nothing to sneeze at, Pittsburg Power has been tuning them for a VERY long time and I will include a link to some awesome reading about that engine on how to make reliable POWER. And on the turbo, it should be a HT3B or BHT3B (BHT3B is wastegated) and yep thats right the most popular bottom turbo in a cummins set of twins.

If it were me, and the truck was in good shape, the tires were no less then 50% and the brakes were no less then 50%, and the interior was OK, I would offer 2 grand, only do to the fact all you are getting is a truck with a CORE engine (remember the tar for engine oil?). The turbo can be rebuilt, just get a kit from a diesel shop to rebuild it.

There thats my 2 cents, I love the 80's semi's dont get me wrong, its just going to be a livid pain in the ****! And a money pit.

http://www.dieselinjection.net/frames.html go to "bruce's horsepower and torque articles" There is much more then A LOT of reading, but take the time to read it all.

 

If you are scared of it give me the # I'll bring it to the house and have another piece of "lawn furniture"

 

I drove an old Autocar with a Big Cam Cummins in it for about 3 months and the engine was awesome. Pullin SOB. It would be a cool truck to have but I gotta agree with Cowboy here on the to many unknowns and the engine oil. Sounds like a big money pit.
Can you get us some pictures?

 

x2

 

I'm not scared of it; just haven't had time to try to do anything yet. I'm a full time student at Lincoln Tech in the Diesel program and I work at NTB as at mechanic full time.

I'm itching to go out and do something with that W900 though. My girlfriend is getting tired of hearing me talk about it.

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Here's the full story on what I was told about what happened with the truck. It was fully loaded at highway speed. The truck lost power; went to black smoking but still ran. It wasn't ran long after that. It was loaded up on a lowboy and has been sitting ever since with no one doing anything to it except me going out and looking at it. That's why my foremost problem is getting batteries and of course making the time.

Also, the owner told me it probably melted a piston. I don't know too much about diesels. Thats why I decided to go to school after all. Anyways, I did pull the plug out on the engine. No water in the oil. But it does smell like diesel. And it was nasty; tar like really. No metal in the oil.

So, I've been wondering... Could it be a turbo locked up?

Do any of you have any information on the Big Cam IV 400 HP engine that is in the truck, the engine serial number is 11211061 cpl 642. I know I'm jumping the gun, but I've had nothing better to do than to think about this truck. I've read a little bit online about big cam motors and understand that the LPF liner cam out in 87. This truck is an 84 engine. Wondering if anyone local can come out and machine the block for the LPF liner so I can do an inframe rebuild to rebuild it to a later cpl for the 444 hp.

I really want to see if it is just something simple like swapping out a turbo so I might just be able to drive it in. However I'm prepared to have a guy lowboy it in.

So far what I've been able to learn from MHC is that it is an 85 model W900B. It is a 400 hp big cam. It has an Eaton Fuller 13spd OD trans. It has sq 100 rears w/ 4 bag air ride.

Anyone know if it is possible to take the ridgid mounted cab and convert it to an air ride cab?? Just curious on that one. I'm really interested in going custom on it. It already has the 7" stacks on it and it is just begging for more. I am thinking stretch the frame 48" and go to low profile tires.

 

Heres an idea, see if the diesel school will let you work on it there. A motor rebuild is a big learning experience for the class. A rebuild kit isn't too costly, (check that with Cummins).
When I went to a tech school we worked on our own vehicles often.
I really like the W-9's, but my favorites were the older ones with round headlights.

 

They don't want it sitting here diabled for a lengnth of time. They might let me bring in componenets.... And I have no access to any facilities out side of the school to pull the engine outside of school.

Lame right?