From desk to own authority part 2
#831
03-16-2007, 02:10 PM
Steve....you know it is snowing on the homefront??!! Here come the penguins.....they are going to get you.....
tootie
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Never pis$ off anything that can bleed for 5 days without dying. Adopt a Minpin minpinrescue.org
#832
03-16-2007, 03:31 PM
Originally Posted by SteveBooth
Maybe not enough Tequila the day before. Not sure what I tripped on or maybe my subconscious did it on purpose because I really wanted a new seat!
I left late yesterday around 6am but I guess it was 3am local time. Something just didn't seem right like my eyesight wasn't that great. I had trouble seeing the speedometer and kept rubbing my eyes. My headlights were not that bright for some reason and then I could see some of my LED lights on the air cleaner were blinking randomly. I looked at my trucks computer display and it was blinking once in a while also. I looked down at the volt meter and it was below 12v. So now I know the alternator is out the window. I'm trying to read my truckstop directory but not enough light in the cab. I grab my flashlight and see there are no major truckstops for at least 150 miles except for some private place 40 miles down the road. I'm now into conservation mode turning off everything I can. Headlights and trailer lights only, dash lights all the way down, cell phone charger unplugged, inverter off even though nothing plugged in but they still use power. I pull up the voltmeter on the computer and it's now reading 11.5 volts and dropping slowly. I make it to this truckstop and from the looks of the sign they do tires and oil change only. I pull up and some guy with no teeth comes out. I think the place is call the Savoy or something. I tell him my alternator is probably out but I guess you don't work on trucks here. He says sure we do, got one in stock, take about 45 minutes. You gotta be kidding me!!! There is a 24 dinner next door so I head over and have the most awesome steak and eggs and a waitress who flirts with all her customers. More tips that way. I go back to the truck and he's charging my batteries. He said it would be a strain on the alternator to charge the run down batteries. They had an alternator tester there and he said it was completely dead and putting out 0 volts. Looking back now I think it's been dead for a while and those Optima Yellow Top batteries have saved me by recovering every night. So, back on the road and $300 lighter I feel like I drove all day at 70 but at the end I only went 350 miles. Not sure how that could be until I realized my trip meter on the GPS reset itself with the low voltage. I have about 1800 miles to go and deliver on Monday. I'm hoping to be there in the morning so I can make it home early in the afternoon. It's about 2 hours home from the drop off point. I'm close to a Walmart here and it's a 24 hour super store so I'm going to stock up now for my next trip out instead of running around at home in the last second.
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Don't drive like an ass!  
#833
03-17-2007, 05:26 PM
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Well, made it 650 miles today and it wasn't that bad although I don't think I could drive much longer. I didn't feel tired but my eyes were and I was ready to stop. This was the first time it felt great to eat and get right into bed.
I ran with the pack yesterday through Texas and into Tennessee. The speed limit was 65 and we were all doing 75 or so with a front door man about 3 miles ahead. Not sure why someone would want to sacrifice themselves by doing that at a risk of getting a ticket. I stopped a few times but only for 10 minutes. Enough time to make coffee and take a walk around the truck and trailer to check things out. I'm going to try and do that same today so I should be in good shape to drive maybe 4 or 5 hours on Monday and get to the customer site early in the morning then dead head home. I'm in bed last night having a glass of juice then all of a sudden there is a big noise and crash and my whole truck is rocked back and forth. The juice goes everywhere and I jump out of bed and look out the curtain but nobody is around me. I get dressed and jump out of the truck. I check out my truck and can't see anything wrong or anyone near it. I look across the way and there is trash everywhere and all over a flatbed that's parked. There are at least 10 of us walking around the trucks checking them out. I talk to the flatbed guy with all the trash and he says that guy coming back up the isle just hit the huge concrete barrier and trash can. I then realize it was the shock of him hitting that sent a shock wave through the parking lot making us all think we were hit. He's heading back out of the Pilot and I can tell he wants to run. As he goes by I see the back of his trailer and both rims and wheels are completely torn apart. The tires are ready to come off and the rims are squished together and look like bananas. The trailer is hopping up and down. I get back into my truck and get on the CB and yell, hey, guy in blue truck leaving pilot, your tires on the trailer are ready to come off. He says, what, you talking to me, what do you mean? I call him a few choice names when I realize he knows what's going on and wants to run and hide. F%^& him. Maybe I'll see his truck on the side of the road when I leave this morning. I have a shimmy in my truck at speeds over 65mph and today I asked a driver to look when I was along side. I knew it couldn't be the tires because this has been going on for a while and I was told that the tires would show signs of wear right away and they are perfect. He said one of the drive tandems was jumping up and down. He was an old timer running with a friend and said the shocks were shot. I said what? Shocks don't have anything to do with that. He said yes they do when your talking about dual axles close to one another. It causes them to get out of sync then bounce????? WOW, never though of that, learn something new every day. So I should be home early afternoon on Monday and will just hang out. This time though, on Tuesday I'm going to get my truck ready to go right away instead of running around at the last minute when I get a load. I'll probably take enough time at home to get my taxes ready and drop them off to be done. I know between my full time job and starting this new career I will be getting back most of my taxes that were deducted from my old job.
#834
03-18-2007, 04:32 AM
Steve, $300 was not a bad price for an alternator "on the road"... I think I paid close to $400 for one in Rock Springs, WY when mine quit me. I need to get one to keep under the sleeper. Put that on my list. 8)
I just had a pretty good run~ Boise to Bozeman, MT, then to Fargo, ND, down to Omaha, to Kansas City, then back to Boise. It is good to get out on "the big road" now that my 300 mile insurance limit has been lifted. That was my first time to many of those places. A good trip. 
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"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." Theodore Roosevelt
#835
03-18-2007, 04:53 AM
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Sounds like your doing OK. Don't get lost out of your 300 mile playpen now!!!
I'm limping along here. I have a bad injector and nobody will replace it other than a dealer and nobody is open on Sunday. It's not bad but I can't go above 1700 RPM which seems to be the limit. It takes a while for me to get going but I can still do 75 once I'm in 10th so it looks like I'll keep going today and tomorrow then put it in the shop when I get home. Does anyone know how much it costs to replace one of these and would it be wise to replace all of them while they have the valve cover off? I think back on it now and it was getting worse and worse. I should trust my feelings when I think there is something wrong. I bought some injector cleaning yesterday and I think that's what put it over the edge!
#836
03-18-2007, 05:14 AM
I'm no mechanic, but are you sure it's not a clogged fuel filter? How do you know it's an injector?
#837
03-18-2007, 05:51 AM
I replaced one injector when I had a miss in a cylinder and hammering and poor running. They replaced the wrong one... when I took it in for the diagnostic, of course, it ran fine. Intermittent problem.
I ended up doing all six injectors. Mechanics I spoke to said it was better to do them all rather than just fix one. My truck has a bit over 500k on it and I don't know if they have EVER been replaced. Previous owner didn't do them I know, and he ran this truck about 100k. So, I did them all. Not cheap for a Cummins. About $400 each for injectors, and labor on top of that.
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"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." Theodore Roosevelt
#838
03-18-2007, 06:11 AM
Change your filters for sure and see what happens. A lot of talk about the new ULSD clogging up filters. An article in Land Line mag this month had a guy ready to change his fuel pump and the new filters cured his problem. Give it a try, ya never know. That's of course if you didn't already do that.
#839
03-18-2007, 07:06 AM
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If I keep the pedal to the floor like in 3rd gear it runs rough and starts to puff a lot of white smoke. Another trucker said that it's an injector stuck open.
Holy crap, $400 for one injector!!! I pulled over for 10 minutes today and shut the engine off. When I started out again the problem was gone? I think it's back again but not sure. I only did 480 miles today and it was tough. Up one hill downshifting with everyone else and crawling up the hills then down the other side laying on the brakes the whole way. Very heavy traffic going though TN and VA. I swear, not a single person in Tennessee or Virginia lives on flat land unless they are at the bottom of a hill living in an 8ft travel trailer!!! GMAN? This driving really takes it's toll on me. Not like out west or Texas where you can sit back with the cruise on, listen to music and drive for hours and hours without seeing anybody. Give me the boonies any day!! |
