Cummins ISL Recall description

Many of you are probably aware by now that Cummins is recalling their ISL diesels produced between 10/17/2005 and 4/18/2006 because some (presumably only a few?) may have connecting rod wrist pin failures that will result in a seized engine. Rather than rebuilding all the engines when many will never need it, Cummins is installing a sensor to warn if a failure is imminent.  An owner who had the recall remedy done at a Freightliner shop reports this:

They give you a new valve cover with a sensor mounted in it. The sensor is wired to the ECM and the ECM programed to pickup  excessive blow by measurements from the sensor. This is supposed to give you a "STOP ENGINE" signal and shut you down before the engine blows up.

It remains unclear whether there is any early warning or you will suddenly find your engine shutting down as you drive along the highway somewhere (hopefully not too far from a shop and not in the middle of downtown traffic!). Engines failing the sensor test or actually seizing up as a result of the failure will, of course, be rebuilt under warranty.

Cummins ISL Recall

Stupidest fix of a manufacturing defect I have ever heard of.  Obviously Cummins doesn't give a hoot about the affected customers. I can just imagine how I would feel trying to enjoying a trip knowing the engine may spit its guts out but not to worry because Cummins has installed an alarm warning one just before it happens.  Sorry I don't buy it and I am just absolutely amazed Cummins got the feds to buy into this fix.

Personally, while we are not affected by this recall, my confidence in Cummins has been impacted to the point that I do not plan on buying another motorhome with a Cummins engine and I have told the manufacturer of our coach my feelings on this.  I just hope that others that either have been affected or that feel the same as I contact their coach manufacturers and let them know how they feel about this.

Would not suprise me to see a class action against Cummins come about.  If it does it could very well cost Cummins more than it would to fix the suspect engines properly.

Just imagine if you have one of those affected engines how much this would affect your enjoyment of traveling your coach knowing that it has an idiot light to let you know if the engine which has defective parts is about to come apart. 

Wonder how this will affect the resale value of coaches with the affected engine.

IMHO if Cummins is really interested in the best interests of their customers they would get rid of all management personnel that came up with and approved coarse of action, and fix the problem properly.

Ron,

This is similar to the Dometic "FIX".  One of my friends got the "FIX" and a month or so later the refer failed.  At least it didn't catch fire which is all the "FIX" was supposed to prevent but the failure mechanism is still in all those refers that are out there.  Now if one fails after the "FIX" and someone gets killed or injured let alone loses a RV, it should get interesting for Dometic too. 

I thought the Cummins fix was to light the light and if you didn't pull over and stop with in a short time, the engine would shut down.  I have a CAT so am not worried.  VBG

James Godward said:

Ron,

This is similar to the Dometic "FIX".  One of my friends got the "FIX" and a month or so later the refer failed.  At least it didn't catch fire which is all the "FIX" was supposed to prevent but the failure mechanism is still in all those refers that are out there.  Now if one fails after the "FIX" and someone gets killed or injured let alone loses a RV, it should get interesting for Dometic too. 

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I'm surprised additional action has not been taken by Dometic.  Like you said it could get interesting for Dometic and costly.

I thought the Cummins fix was to light the light and if you didn't pull over and stop with in a short time, the engine would shut down.  I have a CAT so am not worried.  VBG

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I just can't imagine anyone enjoying a trip knowing that the idiot light could illuminate at amy time since Cummins did not take action to correct their  MANUFACTURING DEFECT.

Hello all new to the rv world we just bought our first DP a 2005 Newmar Dutch star which has the Cummins isl 8.9 … well guess what just happened to us? Looking like we need a new engine, we had a mobile diesel tech come to us broke down 1400 miles from home on a cross country trip and engine starts knocking and the dreaded red engine light came on and stop motor! So we pull over call a tow and mobile tech and he doesn’t get a definitive be code (I guess). But came up with a critical error or something I’m not sure anyways looks like we need a new engine! With this being an 05 does anyone think it’s maybe the wrist pin issue (not that Cummins will help by the sounds of it) but we are at a total loss! Our dream RV is now useless…25k for a new motor! Any advice for this broken hearted traveling nurse?

I would look at the information and talk to Cummins.

Very sorry to hear about your disastrous trip. All you (or the repair shop) can do is contact Cummins with the ESN (Engine Serial Number) to see if the engine is one subject to the recall and what Cummins will do if it is.

Cummins was rebuilding or replacing engines that actually showed the wrist pin failure. They simply avoided replacing every single ISL that might possibly fail sometime in the future. In other words, they only fixed the ones that were actually broken. The recall was intended to provide some warning of that, but apparently your engine didn't get that warning update. Or maybe it did, and the owner disconnected the warning light and quickly sold the coach. Sorry to be cynical like that, but it's a possibility.

I don't know if there was any time limit on how long repairs would be available but typically there is not.

Thank you so very much for the info and insight! Our rig goes to the shop in am have to decide on rebuilt or brand new motor!… I guess I would have to have the motor torn apart to see if it was the wrist pin? I am going to reach out to Cummins in the morning and see if they will do anything if it is that? It sux that we got our new to us MH in may it only has 69k on it and the motor goes?? I thought they could easily get 250–300k on them We shall see ! Thanks again for all the advice and info I appreciate it

Gslpn627 said:

It sux that we got our new to us MH in may it only has 69k on it and the motor goes?? I thought they could easily get 250–300k on them

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Yes, normal wear & tear would deliver at least 500k miles on the basic engine block, pistons and crankshaft. Obviously a faulty wrist pin would short circuit that, so odds are that is what happened.

I've read that there is a lifetime warranty on wrist pin failures IF your engine is within the group of serial numbers in the recall, but that is not from an official source.

This thread on another site has some further information:

Yeah unfortunately ours wasn’t on that list! Previous owners had it all gone over and asked about it, Cummins and dealer told them it wasn’t on the recall list! But I know something major failed! This MH was meticulously kept we have every service record! Doesn’t seem right

Sorry to hear that. I was hoping you would get help from Cummins. You will probably know more once they tear it down, but that doesn't help financially.