International Trucks

[Midnight Flyer]

I bought my 9400 simply because it was in the best physical shape amongst the hundreds of used trucks that I crawled into and over. The interior space was the final sell point. I have a C-15 with a 13 spd and .355's.

I'm thinking that since CAT is now out of the business of making big truck engines that used rigs with yellow motors will command a higher price than those with Cummins or Detroit.

[tracer]

I'm thinking that since CAT is now out of the business of making big truck engines that used rigs with yellow motors will command a higher price than those with Cummins or Detroit.

Especially older engines that were made BEFORE all the ecology-protecting-fuel-mileage-killing gizmos were added....

[MichiganDriver]

I drive an 09 Prostar and I love the driver's seat. And I think they deserve points for trying to make a nice interior but just like in other trucks it feels like it was designed by a suit in an ivory tower, not by a trucker. There's a drawer unit with a slide out desk that's da bomb. At least on paper. In actual use on the road it vibrates like you wouldn't believe and makes horrible noises. I dunno, maybe fancy ball bearing roller assemblies work better in the kitchen than they do in a truck. Just a thought.

I've had a funny electrical problem ever since blowing a fuse. I had a faulty plug on my fridge cord and didn't know it and when I plugged it in the fuse blew. Replacing the fuse restored power to that circuit but now my lights don't act right. The radio is dark when it should be slightly lit (for driving at night) and slightly lit when it should be brightly lit (for driving in bright sunlight). The dome light won't stay on now unless the key is on, although sometimes the dome light stays on even after opening the door and exiting the truck (when I park for the weekend I have to stand outside the truck and watch the dome light to make sure it goes off. The parking lights and mirror lights sometimes stay on when the key is in the off position. etc etc

The truck pulls to the ditch exactly like in this thread - see post #8.International 9400, what to look for? 255,000 miles and 2 1/2 years of fighting the steering wheel and I'm ready for another truck.

The shiny chrome bumper on the front? It's not - it's plastic!

Maybe I just got a lemon though. I do love the seat and it's been dependable, I'll give it that.

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

I drive an 09 Prostar and I love the driver's seat. And I think they deserve points for trying to make a nice interior but just like in other trucks it feels like it was designed by a suit in an ivory tower, not by a trucker. There's a drawer unit with a slide out desk that's da bomb. At least on paper. In actual use on the road it vibrates like you wouldn't believe and makes horrible noises. I dunno, maybe fancy ball bearing roller assemblies work better in the kitchen than they do in a truck. Just a thought.

I've had a funny electrical problem ever since blowing a fuse. I had a faulty plug on my fridge cord and didn't know it and when I plugged it in the fuse blew. Replacing the fuse restored power to that circuit but now my lights don't act right. The radio is dark when it should be slightly lit (for driving at night) and slightly lit when it should be brightly lit (for driving in bright sunlight). The dome light won't stay on now unless the key is on, although sometimes the dome light stays on even after opening the door and exiting the truck (when I park for the weekend I have to stand outside the truck and watch the dome light to make sure it goes off. The parking lights and mirror lights sometimes stay on when the key is in the off position. etc etc

The truck pulls to the ditch exactly like in this thread - see post #8.International 9400, what to look for? 255,000 miles and 2 1/2 years of fighting the steering wheel and I'm ready for another truck.

The shiny chrome bumper on the front? It's not - it's plastic!

Maybe I just got a lemon though. I do love the seat and it's been dependable, I'll give it that.

I had some electrical gremlins in my IH too. i had to replace the ALT/BATTERIES/CABLES and then the relay point on the firewall for them all to work right.

[barf]

MichiganDriver must have got a lemon. I own an '09 Prostar Limited Sky High sleeper and like what he does but none of those problems (except radio light).

I added a Carrier APU. My biggest beef is the weight. This truck weighs 21500 full fuel, and my company likes to put 44000 in a reefer. That would put me about 82000 if ran full fuel and hadn't stripped about 600lbs off the truck.

Seat is comfortable but armrests break too easy, after a year I swapped left/right seats and already armrests are broken.

I have shelled out a fortune on DPF repairs (Cummins ISX), makes me think I shouldn't have bought new tech, stuck with an '06 or older.

Something that really scares me is the freezing humidity inside. Maybe this is only a problem because I have an APU that recirculates air instead of fresh air. In winter, when the temp goes above freezing, or I drive inside a shop/wash bay, the humidity melts and it RAINS inside my truck. Upset with the factory radio light, I put a nice double DIN DVD playing stereo in the truck. This lasted a couple months until I was heading south one trip. Temp went above freezing in Okla, I swerved off the dead straight interstate into a rest area, and about a cup of water came out of the upper console and fried my stereo. I'm back to the factory radio again. I'm worried what the long term effects of this moisture will be, I want to keep this truck for years.

FYI MichiganDriver: I cut the wire that tells the radio when dash lights are on, and ran a short wire from it and poked the other end in the hole that has 12V+ always. Now radio light stays at brightest always, which is still dim enough at night. I'd attach a picture but my truck is over at International right now!

[MichiganDriver]

Barf - you'd better get that APU checked out. I've got a Carrier APU also and I've never had a humidity problem. If I'm not mistaken that's an electric heater and I can't imagine where humidity would come from. Electric heat is about as dry as it gets. No matter the cause though, you should get it fixed. All that moisture hiding behind plastic panels in your truck is a breeding ground for mold/mildew and it could hurt your health. Check the R/V forums if you want more info on the problem. The unvented gas space heaters they use sometimes can cause the same problems you're having.

Thanks for the tip on the radio - I'd do it but I'm still a company driver. Within a month or two I'm jumping ship.

[tracer]

I drive an 09 Prostar and I love the driver's seat. And I think they deserve points for trying to make a nice interior but just like in other trucks it feels like it was designed by a suit in an ivory tower, not by a trucker. There's a drawer unit with a slide out desk that's da bomb. At least on paper. In actual use on the road it vibrates like you wouldn't believe and makes horrible noises. I dunno, maybe fancy ball bearing roller assemblies work better in the kitchen than they do in a truck. Just a thought.

I've had a funny electrical problem ever since blowing a fuse. I had a faulty plug on my fridge cord and didn't know it and when I plugged it in the fuse blew. Replacing the fuse restored power to that circuit but now my lights don't act right. The radio is dark when it should be slightly lit (for driving at night) and slightly lit when it should be brightly lit (for driving in bright sunlight). The dome light won't stay on now unless the key is on, although sometimes the dome light stays on even after opening the door and exiting the truck (when I park for the weekend I have to stand outside the truck and watch the dome light to make sure it goes off. The parking lights and mirror lights sometimes stay on when the key is in the off position. etc etc

The truck pulls to the ditch exactly like in this thread - see post #8.International 9400, what to look for? 255,000 miles and 2 1/2 years of fighting the steering wheel and I'm ready for another truck.

The shiny chrome bumper on the front? It's not - it's plastic!

Maybe I just got a lemon though. I do love the seat and it's been dependable, I'll give it that.

It was probably my post My truck kept pulling to the right despite all the alignments, but I managed to fix that when I changed the tires to the FACTORY SIZE. Check what tire size is written on your door panel. That's what you should have on. My truck had regualr 22.5 tires but the panel sticker said 295 Low profile. Once I switched back, steering immediately improved. No one was able to explain this, including the tire guy at MacKinnon where I worked at that time. But the only change I di to the truck before steering got normal again.

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

MichiganDriver must have got a lemon. I own an '09 Prostar Limited Sky High sleeper and like what he does but none of those problems (except radio light).

I added a Carrier APU. My biggest beef is the weight. This truck weighs 21500 full fuel, and my company likes to put 44000 in a reefer. That would put me about 82000 if ran full fuel and hadn't stripped about 600lbs off the truck.

Seat is comfortable but armrests break too easy, after a year I swapped left/right seats and already armrests are broken.

I have shelled out a fortune on DPF repairs (Cummins ISX), makes me think I shouldn't have bought new tech, stuck with an '06 or older.

Something that really scares me is the freezing humidity inside. Maybe this is only a problem because I have an APU that recirculates air instead of fresh air. In winter, when the temp goes above freezing, or I drive inside a shop/wash bay, the humidity melts and it RAINS inside my truck. Upset with the factory radio light, I put a nice double DIN DVD playing stereo in the truck. This lasted a couple months until I was heading south one trip. Temp went above freezing in Okla, I swerved off the dead straight interstate into a rest area, and about a cup of water came out of the upper console and fried my stereo. I'm back to the factory radio again. I'm worried what the long term effects of this moisture will be, I want to keep this truck for years.

FYI MichiganDriver: I cut the wire that tells the radio when dash lights are on, and ran a short wire from it and poked the other end in the hole that has 12V+ always. Now radio light stays at brightest always, which is still dim enough at night. I'd attach a picture but my truck is over at International right now!

My '05 with the Artic package never did this, and the truck was over insulated! I think you seriously have a problem there and the APU will not cause humidity. The heater will dry out the air. In fact, i had to carry a small bucket of water w/sponge to keep moisture in the truck when running the bunk heater or I'd wake up with split lips and bloody noses!!

[barf]

I didn't want to take over this thread with my moisture problem, I think my truck just needs to be sealed a little better around the CB. There's a cold draft around it, and moisture from me living/cooking in the truck probably makes its way up through there. And its missing insulation behind the upper console.

Being that this post is about International Trucks, I listed my main problems with the truck, but forgot to mention: Other than those problems, I really like my truck. It rides and handles excellent, I don't regret buying it at all. I love the dash layout, and lots of room inside.

[boneebone]

I drive an 09 Prostar and I love the driver's seat. And I think they deserve points for trying to make a nice interior but just like in other trucks it feels like it was designed by a suit in an ivory tower, not by a trucker. There's a drawer unit with a slide out desk that's da bomb. At least on paper. In actual use on the road it vibrates like you wouldn't believe and makes horrible noises. I dunno, maybe fancy ball bearing roller assemblies work better in the kitchen than they do in a truck. Just a thought.

I've had a funny electrical problem ever since blowing a fuse. I had a faulty plug on my fridge cord and didn't know it and when I plugged it in the fuse blew. Replacing the fuse restored power to that circuit but now my lights don't act right. The radio is dark when it should be slightly lit (for driving at night) and slightly lit when it should be brightly lit (for driving in bright sunlight). The dome light won't stay on now unless the key is on, although sometimes the dome light stays on even after opening the door and exiting the truck (when I park for the weekend I have to stand outside the truck and watch the dome light to make sure it goes off. The parking lights and mirror lights sometimes stay on when the key is in the off position. etc etc

The truck pulls to the ditch exactly like in this thread - see post #8.International 9400, what to look for? 255,000 miles and 2 1/2 years of fighting the steering wheel and I'm ready for another truck.

The shiny chrome bumper on the front? It's not - it's plastic!

Maybe I just got a lemon though. I do love the seat and it's been dependable, I'll give it that.

Take the driver's seat out and trade your truck in and put the seat in your new truck.

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

Take the driver's seat out and trade your truck in and put the seat in your new truck.

I am going to do this when I sell my FLD. i got a $1,000 elite Seat in it now, and I'd rather go spend $250 and put a cloth one in it and put the nicer one in the new truck