444 cummins

evening one and all mate of mine is looking at a k dub with a 444 cummins up front this one from what i can glean from photos is a mechanical injection so is any one out there in truckland familiar with these motors and what is their issue's and what will we look and listen for on start up dont be shy need to know in case he is making a mistake by buying it thanks lads whale

John, I had never heard of a 444 Cummins before your post so I Googled "444 Cummins problems". There is plenty there from US forums: low flow cooling system is a problem also stepped timing injector pump a problem from what I read. Sounds like one to steer clear of if you've got the choice.

Hi John, I have owned 444's in the past and have run them for 1.5 million plus with out a problem.
They are a great motor, but do not open them up as there life will be cut short.
I have found the people that dont like them, dont own them. Lindsays had them in there ltl's and did millions of miles.

ISTBC but I think the 444 was a continuation of the 855ci Cummins successor of the Big Cam 400 and before the N14 came out.

I don't think there is as many around as the older Big Cam's.....or later N14's.

i run a 444 ,they are big cam 4 and suffer with some issues the older 855s didn't seem to as bad like camshafts thermostats stc valve and baffled radiator (low flow cooling) being the issues iv'e had ,the original engine was a big heap of s#$t that had done a lot of work and wasn't maintained b4 i got it but surprisingly got 90k before the ultimate let down,i fully rebuilt another engine spared no expense new everything inc radiator as u would anyway and is going really good but if i had my time over i would put a n14 electronic in instead but it goes good gets not bad fuel economy for what i do,i guess what i'm saying is if the bloke selling has a maintainance history i would consider it but if not i wouldn't buy another truck with one an ole 400 in my opinion is a better engine and goes nearly as good far as i'm concerned cheers col

I agree with 82cabover maintenance history is a must. You have to keep on top of them or they will be big trouble.
The last of them with the step timing was the better motor. My only bad experience with them was electrolysis in the piston liners. If the motor is puffing steam out of the breather forget it. I always ran Cummins approved coolant and this didn

hello scout' pauwri clarky 82 cab thanks for reply i too looked at a few usa site's and what started as a question about the 444 on a diesel site ended up with me talkin to a corn farmer about his header any way a few pro's and cons about this motor i suppose it's the same story matinence'how it has been driven etc etc the truck looks okay his issue is that the purchase price will just about tap him out so he needs to get a fair run out of it and build up some more" bullets" more comments fella's c'mon whale

They dont call them cripple 4 or cripple 5 for nuthin

welllll.....there might have been cripple 5's or triple troubles but the triple 4 (ntc-444) never earnt that name...its a bloody good engine!!!....its biggest downfall was the lo-flow cooling system....when the radiator packs it in then convert it to normal hi-flow and away you go.
they are hard on camshafts because of the stc injector set up but!!!!....original cams still get 800 odd thousand k's before they fall apart....replace them with another GENUINE
cummins cam and off you go again for another 800,000.....the non genuines dont have as long a service life.....
just speaking from experience!!!!....not out of my ass!!!
newto

hello newto was speaking to my mate/mechanic down the road who thrive's on cummins (luvs the 903 does a mean hot set) he said that the 444 runs two thermostats one being a bypass he fixed that by taking one out and putting a plug in its place and the stepped timing is fixed by resetting the settings in the injector will have to ask him what he did exactly as he was at albury at 2 in the morning on a changeover when i spoke to him but he said the 444 was a motor that could be tickled up for some very good power cheers whale