We have a firetruck that is causing us a problem.  We're a small volunteer department. We bought new apparatus on a used chassis a few years ago because that is what we could afford. There is a company in Alabama that specializes in these.  We bought a tanker from them several years ago and have been very pleased. This chassis was a rental (Ryder I believe).

The 4700 wasn't here very long before it developed a couple problems The simple one is it seemed to be losing power. The big problem was the engine quitting or the truck not starting.  Took it to the IH dealer west of us (We're halfway between 2 of them) who replaced the high pressure pump, throttle position sensor, etc.  The next time it failed they were covered over so we had it towed to the dealer east of us.  They found a bad wire and had us up and going in 2 hours!  This winter it started losing antifreeze into the oil.  In frame overhaul and it's back going.  I drove it home, backed up to the firehouse, and it died.

It started right back up but that made me a bit apprehensive. Yesterday we had a kitchen stove fire.  Firefighter started the truck and went to put on his gear (SOP for us).  Truck died.  Cranked like there was no tomorrow, but would not fire ... kind of like pulling the coil wire on an old Chevy. 

Typically when this happens the driver cranks it until the batteries are down, so we either jump it or put a 110 volt charger on it.  After the batteries get back up it will usually fire right off.  So to me it seems it is very sensitive to low voltage. Talking to IH service and one of our firefighters who is a mechanic they seem to think the varous computer components should not be that sensitive.  If it has the juice to crank well it has the juice to work right.

One possibility throw out is a bad electrical connection or wire.  Giving the voltage just a little boost is enough to overcome the resistance or bad connection and get things working.

I need ideas.  Replacing it is not a possibility as this time.  We are still a year or two from havng it paid for.  Even if someone gave us a new chassis it has been estimated it would take $5-$10,000 to get the aparatus switched over  (This is one where the pump is driven by the main driveshaft.  When pumping the truck will not move).

Anybody have experience with a 4700 with a 466E that can point me in the right direction?

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