2004 International 4400 Hood Design Issues

[ratwell71]

Big Safety Issue!

I was running down the highway without lights. The wires to my headlights were cut into because of poor hood design and under-carriage vibrations. My lights and wires all looked fine when I did my pretrip inspection. It wasn't until several truckers flashed their lights on and off at me that I realized that I had been running down the highway without lights.

This could have caused an accident, but thank God for the vigilance and caring of other truck drivers that I didn't.

I have since then rewired and have used tie downs to pull the wires away from the hood and bumper. Check your wires or you could be blamed for having an unsafe truck despite the fact that this is an engineering issue.

Catch you on the flip, flop.

 

[Broompilot]

GREAT POST... Just had the same thing happen except with my AC wires. Seems as though Bentz outsourced my Pro-Heat install and they did a terrible job. They forgot to use tie downs as the manufacture orginally did and thus the wires were rubbed into from the hood, thus caused me hundreds in DH down time, plus $215 for the part that was never broke just a cut wire.

A dealer fixing another problem discovered it for me and all my problems with heat AC in the sleeper are now fixed. Amazing but no one is gona take blame I can count on that SO I AM OUT $$$ not the installer God forbid.....

Check those wires on PTI I will confess these wires I would have never ever seen as to the placement of them. Now I know.

 

[dieseldoctor1]

Good thread which can be helpful to all drivers with tilt hoods. Could both of you please give us all the info you can about the routing of the wiring harness. Things like, did it cut the wires when hood was opened or shut or were they routed so that vibration wore through the harness or routed so tight that when hood was opened it pulled the wires loose etc. Pictures would be helpful but understand that as soon as you found that you had a problem you didn't worry about pictures you just wanted to get the problem corrected and get back on the road. But if you have time now if you could take a picture and show the correction and maybe draw or describe how the wires were before, so that folks would know what to look for on their trucks. Broompilot you said yours would never have been seen unless you were specificly looking for them so maybe you can tell other folks where to check every now and then. Just a thought.

.
Dieseldoctor

 

[ratwell71]

The wires were cut into from undercarriage vibrations and opening/closing the hood. This happened over a period of time. This wiring issue was not at the wiring harness, but at the headlight itself. The wire that runs from the actual headlamp. There are three wires that run from the headlight. One for ground, brights, and running lights. I had to splice the wires and use a connector to get my lights working again. I hope this helps. On pretrip these wires should be inspected.

On another note: Had the same thing happen to me with my FLD120, but it was the wire to the fuel relay. The vibration freed the wire from its connection. Cost me a tow and down time. Here's the kicker, all I had to do is reconnect a dangling wire. While I was driving my truck on the highway it died suddenly. I suspected at first that I had ran out of fuel, but my fuel gauge was showing fuel. I coasted to the side of the road and started to investigate to what the problem was. I really thought that I was going to have to replace my fuel pump because all the symptoms pointed to it, but after a tow and waiting for the mechanic the problem was a dang dangling wire. I always check all my wires now. I check the problem in this order depending on what my issue is: fuses, relays, wires, drips, smoking, fluids, etc. and I always carry a spare fuel filter, oil filter, filter wrench, splicer, electric tape, wire connectors, spare fuses and relays.