i went and picked up a new freightliner for my dispatcher a few weeks ago. he bought three new classics spec'd with 14.0 detroits. i drove one bobtail about 90 miles to a shop where they install our pto driven blower equipment. it seemed pretty nice and quiet, kinda like driving a car, except every so often a little light comes on to signal that you need to press a button activate some kind of "purge" process in the exhaust? seemed to come on more often if i was driving in low range, or in the stop and go city traffic.
anyway, the sales rep was really friendly about explaing the button, how often the particulate filter needs to be replaced and all about how this technology is "ground breaking" and the "future" of more efficient, cleaner burning diesel engines.
he asked me what i thought, and i told him it was great but i felt sorry for the "mother effer" who had to work on the "pos" five years from now. he gave me a funny look - people like that dont seem to understand the simple fact that crap like this is just making the trucks more complicated to work on and driving the cost of operation up in a environment where the price of fuel is rising and the price of freight is dropping. i'm sure your 08 is great now, but your operating cost wont be when you start replacing particulate filters or a twin turbo. where i come from you make stuff last, and when it wont last anymore, you rebuild it. you do what you can, when you can, yourself. it'll take a lot more than this bs for me to give up my 3406b.
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