I've been back to work now for roughly 4 weeks. The truck I'm in developed an exhaust leak on the engine about 1 week after I got in it. Since then, I've told the shop every time (at least 5 times) since then. The entire side of the engine is solid black and I have an exhaust smell inside of the cab.

Yesterday, I had a few free hours and the shop was pretty much dead. I didn't ask them - I simply pulled the truck into the garage and told them to find the problem. Apparently it's the first time ANY of the mechanics bothered to look at it. The shop foreman also looked at it and told me that the leak is definititely a DOT shutdown if I get caught with it.

He told me to go to dispatch and let them know I need another truck so they can work on mine, which will probably take 3-4 days. Dispatch checked and we have no empty trucks, other than one that they decided to park because of it's age. There's nothing wrong with the other truck, and it is still legal, but they said I couldn't drive it.

He then called the Safety manager, who is also the Vice-President of the company. The dispatch explained to him how bad the exhaust is. The VP told dispatch to tell me to run the truck anyway.

Well, I had about 1hr to run last night. The last 1/4 mile was the steepest hill I've ever seen. I was lucky to hit 3rd gear. I get to the top and parked for the night.

This morning, though, when I started it up, the leak is MUCH worse. I guess the combination of the extreme pull (grossing 79,800) and the twisting the truck goes through finished off the exhaust.

So, now I have the fun of calling dispatch and telling them that it's coming back to the shop and will stay there until it's 100% fixed. This should be fun - especially since I'm scheduled to pick up a load about an hour from here that goes to New Jersey.

If they do give me any hassle, I'm going to stop at the first weigh station I come to and let them shut it down.

dont drive that POS anymore....exhaust leaks are bad news when you start getting that stuff in the cab. I was lucky it didnt end up worse but I had a truck with an exhaust leak right up underneath where the pipes run under the sleeper once and didnt realize it and luckily i actually woke up from my sleep the next morning but it made me sick and gave me one of the worst headaches I have ever experienced and i am lucky that is all. Thats is one thing you dont want to be messing with and the VP that told you to drive it anyway needs to be kicked in the kneecaps 2-3 times and have an exhaust pipe run in his face for a few hours to see how he likes it.

Ok Mal - you KNEW it was illegal, you ran it anyway, and now you're complaining? Why?

It wasn't convenient to have fixed earlier.

I'm afraid I would have already done that. By the third time they were told about it, DOT would have put it out of service. Just tell them DOT pulled you around back and you didn't pass.

Well, dispatch & the VP weren't happy, but the truck is now in the shop. I did the write up this morning, gave it to the shop foreman and told him I was red-tagging the truck until it was fixed. He just smiled and said ok.

Dispatch & the VP got pissy, but I flat-out told them I wouldn't drive it until it was fixed.

As for why I drove it before - well, I've been off work for 6 months and did what I had to do. I couldn't afford to miss any income. Luckily, when I went in today, there was a spare truck sitting there, which I'm in now.

Sometimes you just have to do what you can to survive.

yeah...i am with you mal. it would be best to be overcome by carbon than miss a day of work to get it fixed????? also i too would rather take unpaid time off behind a scale than at home on my couch??? i think you got the right idea here. and one more....what kind of ****bag shop cant fix an exhaust in a few hours???

It's tough to spend money when you're dead of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Another trucking company at it's finest... a couple hour job could turn into a dead driver. I'll say it again,,, companies only get away with CRAP because drivers allow them too.

Got the truck back today - the turbo gasket had burnt completely through...