Stanley, I want to thank you for a piece of advise you gave me way back when I bought my MDT. I told you that I had bought a Stalick IH 4700 toter to pull our new fifth wheel. You advise me take my VIN number and go purchase a spare CMP sensor. I did, and I have carried it around now for two years.
Then today while heading north on US Hwy 97, we pulled into a rest stop south of La Pine OR for a bite to eat. We stop and I left the truck running to cool down and while it idling there at the rest stop the engine dies all of a sudden, then the "Brake Pressure" light comes on and the beeper is beeping. I look up, expecting to see my wife turning the key off, and she was no where around. The truck just quit. No warning no nothing!! I tried to start the engine again but the starter was spinning the engine at a much higher rate than I had had experience in past startups. I thought "Now what's wrong", It acted like the engine was not getting any fuel. Man this is strange! I had more than 3/4 full of fuel. I tried the hand pump in front of the filter, it was solid like there was pleanty of fuel in the filter and fuel lines. As I recalled the many articles I have read on this website, that you and other have posted, I stopped at the CMP sensor advice that you spoke of. We fortunately I had a spare and within 10 minutes replaced the old one with the new and the engine fired right up just like before. Man was I ever thankful. So again thanks Stan and all of the others who have contributed to this blog. There is a lot of good information here if you take the time to read and heed it. Now come Monday I am off to the IH dealer here in Bend to get another spare sensor.
Thanks
Gene

Great news! Always glad to hear that something I said saved someone a hassle.

If anyone decides not to get a spare cam sensor for their IH make sure your wife doesn't read the forums or google cam sensor or you are in big trouble. :-)

And if you order one online, ahead of time, before you gotta have it like "NOW", you can find them pretty cheap. I bought 3 of them, maybe 6 months ago, after the new version came out for maybe $15 each. (That's a Ford 7.3 TD part, not sure if it's identical to the IH or not.) Either way, shopping ahead online can save some bucks.

Brian

Good move having one of those rascals on hand. Mine went out ...corner of Nellis and Boulder Hwy in Vegas...right outside of Sam's Town...in the left turn lane...5 er in tow!!! Changed it right there in traffic. 10 min...max then down the road like nothing ever happened. New one is on call in the tool box.


Rick C.

Mine is an '01 DT 530, I had the sensor replaced last year when I was at the Idaho LOW.
If it has been replaced is it prone to fail again or was that a problem with that paricular sensor of that particular vintage?

My F-450 just went through a recall for that part and had it replaced.

I don't know if it is fixed or not but I'd toss in a spare anyway. Heck you might be able to sell it to another dead IH owner for a good profit. Could probably rent him a 12mm wrench for a couple bucks too.

I've gotten the recall letter. But I haven't let them install the new sensor. I kinda wondered if they would get excited about my having it chipped and either give me a hard time or disconnect my chip.

The "old" sensor is less than 2 years old, but it's still the old part number. (Ends with an "A", I think. My new ones end with a "B".

Are they all 12mm bolts? Or are they 10mm on the Fords? I haven't checked... Coulda swore someone told me 10mm, though... I have either in the toolbox.

Brian

They didn't even put it in a bay. Did it in the parking lot less then 5 min.

...probably, your chip will get your remaining warranty canceled......good luck with that!.....geofkaye

Thanks, Jamey, that's more or less the info I was looking for. I should probably let them do it if they won't mess with anything else.

It's not that they'll do anything to a warranty. There is none. The truck is 8 years old with all but 300,000 miles and the third owner. If there ever was a warranty, I never knew about it. But I have gotten a couple of notices for the CMP Sensor issue.

Like I said, I just don't want them messing with anything else. Sounds like they won't bother as it's probably a "cash cow" for them.

Much appreciate the thoughts.

Brian

Well Gene, between you and Stanley getting me motivated, I finally sat down with my friendly International Service guy and came away with a nugget of wisdom. It goes like this: the only sensor he had in stock was for a 444 and my engine is the DT 530E rated for 310/960. He related a story of how, on one of his customers trucks that was configured for 250HP with the 530 and hauling gravel for a living they had replaced a sensor and he phoned them a couple of days later saying "this thing pulls like a mule now" he was able to pull hills fully loaded in a higher gear than before. They found that they had inadvertantly put a 444 cam sensor in his 530 and it resulted in him gaining power.

I installed the 444 sensor in my 530 the day before yesterday (5 min's. - used a 1/4" drive ratchet and 10m/m socket with a smear of white lithium on the O-ring) to test and made a 1000 mile run to Elkhart yesterday returning today and the truck ran fine. I was running bobtail so any HP improvement was not noticeable. It will remain in the truck at least until I pull the trailer and get a chance to test in 9th & 10th gears.

P.S. He also informed me that the cost of these sensors has dropped to $49.50 Can. from the previous $100.00 neighbourhood.

quote:

Originally posted by bstark:
P.S. He also informed me that the cost of these sensors has dropped to $49.50 Can. from the previous $100.00 neighbourhood.

It's amazing how inexpensive previously outrageously priced components become when the manufacturer -- and every manufacturer does the same thing -- begins replacing large quantities of that component under warranty, isn't it?

Halving the price at least cuts the dealer's parts markup (typically a fixed percentage of the dealer cost) in half, and that is a direct warranty cost to the manufacturer. The lost income represented by the amount of the price cut is only that -- foregone income, not an out-of-pocket cost -- and really doesn't matter, since they're selling few, if any, of those parts at retail anyway, since most are being replaced for free under the warranty.

In 9 years of fulltiming with a 7.3L PSD I replaced two, and it's at 10 minute job if you start the clock after finding the spare!

Now with my CAT C7, I've evidently got two of those darn things to worry about. I think I can see them behind the air compressor, and it seems that it would have to be removed to replace them. If my understanding is correct, if one fails it sets an ECM code, but the engine will run ok on the remaining good one until they can be replaced?

Hello All
I want to say thanks for the info on this thread about the sensor failure. I went to IH this past weekend and bought a sensor and went ahead installed the new one. The truck is a 2000 model with 29K miles but we are getting ready to go out on a a 10day vacation with it and we all know that if something happens than DW is not going to be happy. Also it takes a 10mm socket with a three inch extension to replace and it took about five mins to replace. The cost was $104.68 but well worth it. The 444 and the 530 are the same sensors from 1995 to current. This is what the book showed at the IH dealers saturday. Now I have a spare that I know is good. Again thanks for the heads up.