PORTLAND, Ore. — With more than 5 million test miles logged on 58 trucks, and thousands of test-cells hours clocked before that, Detroit Diesel Corp. (DDC) says it’s ready for EPA ’07.

Tim Tindall, DDC’s program director for EPA ’07, says the launch of its three engine platforms — MBE 900, MBE 4000, and Series 60 — for 2007 represents the company’s largest R&D investment ever.

“Our test program for EPA ’07 is the most comprehensive in our history. It sets the standard for the future quality of our engines,” Tindall said at a recent ride-and-drive event attended by Today’s Trucking and highwaySTAR at Freightliner headquarters in Portland .

From the first run-up of a prototype ’07-Series 60 in August 2004, to the roll-out in January 2007, DDC expects to have accumulated more than 24 million test miles across the three platforms. “Our testing program enables Detroit Diesel and Freightliner to gain valuable test miles, both from a component and systems perspective, so that we may continue refining the engines well before the start of production ever begins,” Tindall said.

The first test vehicle rolled out of the factory on May 25, 2005, with several more put into on-road testing later that year. The original test fleet is now approaching the 200,000-mile mark — all using ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel and prototype CJ4 engine oils. The trucks have been running 20 hours a day in two 10-hour shifts, seven days a week since then.

Compared to the 2002 roll-out, Freightliner and DDC have upped the test miles exponentially. By comparison, DDC says it logged 2.3 million dyno miles for 2002, but 5 million miles for 2007; 0.5 million reliability test miles for 2002, but 3.1 million for 2007; zero customer demo miles for 2002, but 6.7 million (proposed) for 2007. In all, DDC had 2.8 million test miles behind the 2002 launch, but fully expects to top 14.8 million on the Series 60 before the Jan.1 2007 deadline.

The company says it will begin rolling out customer-test units in April, with 40 trucks going into revenue service with selected fleet customers, including Schnieder National Carriers, JB Hunt, Ryder, Penske Leasing, C.R. England, and others.

“We’ve learned a tremendous amount over the past year through our testing efforts and through our customer demonstration programs,” says Tindall. “These customer engines will have full engine and aftertreatment functionality, so we’ll continue to gather feedback from customers and apply what we’ve learned across all of our engines.”

DDC says it has been working very closely with Freightliner to optimize the testing and eventual production and systems integration of the engines and chassis. Freightliner’s EPA ’07 program director, Larry Dutko, credits the close working relationship between the two teams with moving the testing phase ahead faster than was anticipated.

Water-cooled Holset variable geometry turbo

“Given all the required changes to the engine, including the addition of a particulate filter, it really puts us in a position to leverage our relationship with Detroit Diesel to the fullest extent so that we can provide the best engines possible come 2007,” Dutko says.

As of late February 2006, Tindall says the companies are moving into the final phase of the design/integration process. Current engines are being evaluated for small design refinements: software tweaks, fit and finish issues, and the like.

“We’ve identified what we believe are any potential weaknesses, and we’ve made the modifications,” Tindall says. “Now it’s a matter of putting it out for customer evaluation, and that’s the phase we’re moving into now.”

More Than Meets the Eye:

Visually, not that much as changed on the Series 60 from 2002 until now. The block itself and the main components remain much the same, with the addition of several cooling package mounts. DDC has opted to use engine-mounted radiator mounts in order to keep the fan-to-shroud tolerances as close as possible and to reduce engine noise in the cab. The rad package is about 10 in. wider than previous versions, and only slightly taller. Total frontage area of the new cooling package is 1625 sq-in., up from 1350.

Customers can expect to see a larger EGR cooler on the right side of the engine, along with a new turbocharger — a water-cooled Holset variable geometry turbo (VGT) with an electronically controlled actuator. On the left side, there’s a new intake-air throttling valve, and a larger EGR valve. In addition, DDC will be adding a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF), and a closed crankcase ventilation system.

To find out how the ’07 Series 60 engines are performing at this point in the testing phase, be sure to read Jim Park’s “Road Test” feature in the April issue of Today’s Trucking and highwaySTAR magazines.