| Looking for help/advice on truck ... |
| 05-14-2022, (Subject: Looking for help/advice on truck ... ) Post: #10 | |||
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RE: Looking for help/advice on truck ... (05-14-2022 )StormChaser Wrote: I have been an O/O for 2 years. I have a 2017 Kenworth T680 with an ISX 15 550hp engine. 13 speed manuel Eaton Fuller Transmission, with 3.32 rear end. I am at my wits end with this truck. Seems pretty obvious so far to me that your caught up in the same scenario that about 85% of most all owner operators get themselves get caught up into these days. Going from shop to shop... wasting endless amounts of moneys due to bad decisions because you are putting too much faith in the network of over-priced, incompetent repair shops all over the place .. with no end in sight. --- This is no way to operate a trucking business these days at all. What you have been doing so far is exactly why 85% of O/O's dig themselves into a financial hole like you have described and ultimately fail at owning a truck. - TO begin with, a truck would not be in such dire straights if the person purchasing it had gone thru it properly the day they got it, and kept after all of its maintenance, etc.. - gotten it up to a reliable condition up front. USED TRUCKS do not usually get sold when they are still making their original owners money... and people who do not intend to keep them long term, (like truck fleets, etc.) sell them at certain intervals, purposefully neglecting them as possible, only barely doing what it takes to not void all the warranty. I.E.> It is almost always, not until they have become a financial plague due to severe neglect that a truck gets sold to begin with. This should have been expected up front .. like a house that you already know that the sink and shower is leaky, the floors are rotted out, the roof needs to be re-done, and all the scars of the last folks who could care less about it. This should have been expected before moving into it... but I only see time and again.. most people who buy a used truck, they have this twisted fantasy that they are always "the lucky one".. like some kind of gambling fool at the casino thinking they can beat the odds. This is always a truck owners first mistake. They can't be bothered to look past the paint job. They always somehow get all gleeful and think they can just get into the cab and start hauling freight with it instead of taking a couple weeks off after purchase, investing a few $$$thousanbd to bring it back up to speed THEMSELVES, grabbing some wrenches, and going thru it. - THERE IS A WHOLE H$LL OF A LOT OF MAINTENANCE THAT IS REQUIRED ON A TRUCK, FAR BEYOND CHANGING THE OIL.. that needs to be done to them on a schedule. Things that are done regularly BEFORE THEY END UP IN DIRE STRAIGHTS AND SOMEONE ENDS UP HOPPING FROM SHOP TO SHOP in desperate attempts to put out a forest fire of problems!. IT IS CALLED A MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE for a reason, and every truck has one. THE DAY YOU PURCHASED IT.. is the same day that it should have been shut down and the ENTIRE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE for the entire truck and all of its components gone thru and brought up to date. -- NO REPAIR SHOP IS GOING TO DO THIS!!!.. PERIOD!. The TRUCK OWNER is responsible for this.. not a repair shop that is only going to patch thngs barely enough to get out out of their doors while ripping you off. A person does not get $50,000 in the hole on repairs UNLESS THEY HAVE MADE A STRING OF BAD DECISIONS!. -- SO LOOK IN THE MIRROR ON THAT ONE.. AND TAKE THIS AS YOUR WAKE-UP CALL TO STOP WASTING MONEYS ON STUFF THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN MOSTLY DOING FOR YOURSELF ALL ALONG!. No one can help you if you continue to make these kinds of bad decisions. You seem to be looking for some non-existant magical place to take your truck to to solve all your problems.. BUT IT DOES NOT EXIST!!!. You keep running off to every repair shop you can find, and as a truck owner, you will never get ahead like that!. -- the bulk of repair shops in the USA are not there to cater to a truck owners whims!. They don't have time for that any more.. and there is no money in it for them to do so. - They do good to only put out the immediate fire, shove you in,.. and shove you out the door so that they can get more trucks a week in and out.. everything else, they could not be bothered with. your only going to find fix-it shops who at best, will fix something just long enough for you to make it another 300 miles or so.. And end up right back into the next place!... That is what they ALL do for the most part!. It is the NORM, NOT THE EXCEPTION!. If you want anything more than that, then you are going to have to learn how to actually take responsibility towards properly owning a truck for yourself instead! ... By grabbing a wrench and waking the h#ell up to the fact that you have been doing nothing but wasting moneys it seems!. - A TYPICAL TRUCK OWNER NEEDS TO LEARN TO DO ALL MINOR AND MEDIUM REPAIRS THEMSELVES.. AND ALL TUNE-UP WORK, SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE, ETC.. OR GO OUT OF BUSINESS!.. IT IS AS SIMPLE AS THAT!. -- THAT IS WHY IT IS CALLED TRUCK OWNERSHIP.. AND NOT TRUCK DRIVING!. IF ALL YOU ARE GOING TO DO IS DRIVE IT AND THEN KEEP RUNING OFF EVERYWHERE, EVERY TIME THERE IS A PROBLEM, .. THEN BY ALL MEANS.. THE SOLUTION IS SIMPLE!. GO SELL IT OR RID YOURSELF OF IT.. AND GO BECOME A COMPANY DRIVER FOR SOMEONE ELSE, BECAUSE THAT WILL BE THE ONLY WAY YOU WILL MAKE MONEY THAT YOU CAN KEEP in todays trucking world. - WHEN IS THE LAST TIME YOU, YOURSELF, pulled things apart, and cleaned them out?. - When is the last time you performed an EGR tune-up on it?. - When is the last time you shut it down for a few days, gone thru it to perform any service and real maintenence-schedule item work yourself?.. BEFORE THE PROBLEMS HAVE SET IN .. and what have you done FOR YOURSELF towards solving the trucks problems?. and... (leaky valve cover)... When is the last time you pulled the crank case filter off it and inspected/replaced it .. or replaced it with a maintenance free one so that crank case fumes will not build up and push oil out of every gasket and electrical fitting on the engine?. When was the last time you pulled the valve cover off it and inspected the cams while it was off, and check the cover gasket, and mounting surfaces, etc. to FIND OUT WHY THE GASKET FOR IT WAS LEAKY? INSTEAD OF RUNNING OFF TO SOME PLACE THAT CHARGES HUNDREDS OF $$$ AN HOUR FOR SOMETHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE (OR LEARNED TO DO) FOR YOURSELF!>?> THIS IS WHAT I AM GETTING AT!... So I would suggest you invest in some tools and start there. Otherwise, if you ARE one of those people who is not willing to learn how to work on their own truck to some medium degree for yourself, then you NEED TO START BY selling it or turn it back in, and go back to being a company driver, drive for someone else! because you will clearly make more moneys that way. TRUCK OWNERSHIP .. is about doing the things that the mega-fleets cannot do. It is about taking control of your operating costs, including repairs and maintenance ... YOURSELF.. and becoming AS SELF RELIANT AS ABSOLUTELY POSSIBLE. Without this, you have no chance in h#ll of ever making any real moneys that you can keep long term. Without educating yourself and grabbing a wrench and learning how to do most things... you are always ever going to be just around ever corner to the next problem, you will have more moneys sunk into it than you will ever be able to repay off, and it will be an endless cycle of doom. - If your valve cover gasket is leaky.. THEN REMOVE THE COVER AND FIND OUT WHY!. It will only leak like that if ... A). you have too much crank case pressure buildup in the engine all the time due to neglect, or perhaps because the engine has excessive blo-by and NO ONE has replaced the crank case filter, etc. like mentioned above. or... B). the cover gasket is damaged, because some moron did not install the cover properly, or left dirt/debris on the mounting surfaces... or used a goddamn speed-gun and over-tightened the h#ell out of it like a fool instead of using a proper torque wrench on it then installing the cover. take your pick. ============ And as far as coolant and water pump issues.. your description so far points towards excessive coolant pressure buildup for one reason or another. Either due to a blown head gasket, or due to the pressure relief cap not working properly, etc. ========= As far as the turbo screeching,... that is a common one, and it sounds like you have been taking it to some morons so far. IT IS ALMOST ALWAYS, ALWAYS.. the turbo mounting gasket that causes that, or a broken exhaust manifold bolt and an exhaust gasket is screeching. - ALMOST NEVER is it the actual turbo itself. most of of those problems you describe are fairly easy to find and figure out. Some more info about the history of the truck would help too. Does it still have all the emissions system in tact or is it deleted? ... How many miles on it?.. etc. User's Signature: ->: What I post is just my own thoughts and Opinions! --- I AM Full Of S__T!. | |||
| 05-14-2022, (Subject: Looking for help/advice on truck ... ) Post: #11 | |||
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RE: Looking for help/advice on truck ... (05-14-2022 )StormChaser Wrote: .... And by the way... THOSE TRUCK SPECS ABSOLUTELY SUCK!. - That high HP and horrible rear end combination screams "pure engine abuse and torture" right out of the gate without even knowing anything else about it. A truck that is spec'd with those horribly tall rear ends like that eats the engine up 2x faster than normal. Buying into a truck spec'd terribly like that, for example, if it had 500+k miles on it, is like buying a properly spec'd truck with more than 1.1million on the engine already. I.E.. TALL GEARED TRUCKS LIKE THAT are set up to "cheat the system" for the first owner who does not know how to drive a truck properly (or has a driver who holds their foot in the floor all day), .. by lugging the engine to an agonizing death below 1500RPM its whole life, so that it cannot make full power, all at direct the expense of the next person that purchases it later on, when the warranty is up and it gets re-sold. If you plan on keeping that truck long term.. it would be wise to invest in a proper set of rear ends for it that match your trucking operations and keep you from lugging it below 1500RPM everywhere ... just saying. User's Signature: ->: What I post is just my own thoughts and Opinions! --- I AM Full Of S__T!. | |||
| 05-18-2022, (Subject: Looking for help/advice on truck ... ) Post: #12 | |||
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| RE: Looking for help/advice on truck ... Thank you for the advice. I am aware that the responsibility is on me, that is the primary reason I came to this forum. I am able to do some simple repairs myself, but I am aware of my own inadequacy, and I am here to remedy that. As for when I purchase it, I had the truck put on a dyno at Cummins the day I bought the truck. Had it gone over, and several issues repaired. New Air, coolant, and exhaust lines. Replaced all batteries because it had marine batteries. New injectors on 1, and 3. I also had the egr tuned. I did not want to make the mistake of taking an "as is" used truck and expecting it to be road ready. I take my truck to shops because I am not an expert, and when repairs come, that I have never done, I'd rather it be done by someone who is suppose to be a professional. Instead of relying on something I watched in a YouTube video. But since that has been a failing choice, my level of mechanical competence must improve quickly. Again why I am here, and why I am so glad that you are here to educate us drivers who do not know. As for the crank case, when I got the truck back from those morons at Cummins, there was a bolt missing from the bottom of the crank case filter, and was leaking oil all over my truck. It was a custom bolt that cost me $65 to replace. While I was at it, I installed a maintenance free filter. I do as much maintenance and repairs as I am comfortable doing right now. The more I learn, the more I do. But I am also comfortable admitting that I do not know something, and after realizing how clueless the dealerships were, I went directly to Cummins hoping that the makers of the engine would know better. Being wrong at that, I went to mom and pops. And after being taking (sometimes ruthlessly so) I am in search of someone who is honest and knowledgeable. My goal is to become as self sufficient, but if a problem arises that I have never done, unless it is a relatively simple fix, I would like to have an experience hand. Here are some of the answers to your questions. She is a 2017 with 493,523 miles as of the moment of this post. The EGR is intact, and was tuned by a Cummins in Iowa on June 24th 2020. Thank you for your feedback, and for some of the possible causes for my issues. I will get to figuring out how to fix them myself, and how to know for sure if that is the problem. I don't have money to fix things that don't need fixed right now. I see all these drivers playing guessing games fixing things that didn't need fixing. Only to find out after, it was a relatively affordable repair. | |||
| 05-18-2022, (Subject: Looking for help/advice on truck ... ) Post: #13 | |||
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RE: Looking for help/advice on truck ... (05-14-2022 )Rawze Wrote:(05-14-2022 )StormChaser Wrote: .... On this specific, my truck is not lugging below 1500. At 70 mph my RPM is right at 1500. It is 1700 when going 75, and 1900 at 80. I rarely go 80, and tend to keep my truck at 70 mph. I know that Cummins are built for high resolution. What RPM do you recommend for cruising? | |||
| 05-18-2022, (Subject: Looking for help/advice on truck ... ) Post: #14 | |||
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| RE: Looking for help/advice on truck ... 1500 or higher is best for the ISX | |||
| 05-18-2022, (Subject: Looking for help/advice on truck ... ) Post: #15 | |||
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RE: Looking for help/advice on truck ... (05-18-2022 )StormChaser Wrote: ... That is because it is not geared so well. you would be better to drive it in a lower gear and keep the rpm above 1500 unless it is empty or on perfectly flat ground where your not pressing the fuel pedal in hardly... and you need to learn to slow down. 70+ mpg sucks the bottom of the fuel tanks + beats the h#ell out of the truck all day and this does not get you any further ahead for the week. Learn to slow down and keep the door shut more to keep the average speeds up instead of running its arsse into the ground. It is no wonder you don't have 2 dimes to rub together. Your driving it like a mad man..and giving all your money away to the oil companies and repair shops. - Drop a gear or 2 if needed and learn to keep it down at 63~ish and your wallet will get much fatter for it. The success in trucking is to learn to lower ALL of your operating costs across the board .. by slowing down, not beating the holy h#ell out of your equipment at those excessive 70+ speeds... and not by getting more miles a week in, but managing the miles that you do make with as little cost as possible. By driving it like a bat out iof h#ll and trying to keep up with the traffic and the joneses, chasing more miles... .. all your doing is wasting money and efforts for no profitable reason at the end of the week ... month.. year. - That is why most owner-ops do nothing but struggle.. because they get caught up into that idea because they don't know any better. THE MOST SUCCESSFUL owner ops on this forum drive under 63~ish mph, they have learned to baby the h#ell out of their equipment to keep operating costs at a minimum, and do all of the regular required maintenance.. keep after everything properly.. this is the formula for good success and entails the least amount of headache at the end of the day. User's Signature: ->: What I post is just my own thoughts and Opinions! --- I AM Full Of S__T!. | |||
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| 05-20-2022, (Subject: Looking for help/advice on truck ... ) Post: #16 | |||
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| RE: Looking for help/advice on truck ... Rawze, I have people ask me if I was stupid because if I diag a truck and do the repair and IF it doesnt fix the problem at hand I will not charge for the labor I screwed up and got it wrong thats my fault, So I tend to take a little extra time and get that shi#t right the first time lol | |||
| 05-20-2022, (Subject: Looking for help/advice on truck ... ) Post: #17 | |||
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RE: Looking for help/advice on truck ... (05-20-2022 )RollinCoal Wrote: Rawze, My opinion: - A repair shops education session due to lack of knowledge on a repair should not cost the vehicle owner expensive parts replacements, nor unreasonable labour charges based upon guessing or incorrectly formed decisions. There are times however when replacing something makes sense though too. even if something is only suspect... and not confirmed. Here is a good example of this (just arbitrary examples to convey a point, nothing more )... Lets say that ... Everyone suspects a bad ecm on the truck, all other options have been exhausted, etc. and there is no real way to confirm it as the culprit for some reason or another. The only way to find out at this point is to replace it at a cost of $2,000+ dollars + labour that also includes the time/costs of flashing the new ecm, etc. The shop also has no replacements or any other ways of using a "test" component, etc.. in this scenario .. just for arguments sake. And lets say for now.. that it did not fix the problem at all. Now there is the $2,000 bucks for the part alone and all the time/effort, labour, and maybe even some costs associated with flashing it, etc. too. The dealers$ip where the ecm was purchased will not take it back either, because they have a no-return policy on electronic parts once installed. Would this be a waste of time and money for the customer? .. Some would say yes ... especially if it did not fix the problem. HOWEVER ... In all actuality .. this has no clear answer on its own. This is because not all of the secondary factors have been considered yet. Assuming for a moment that replacing the ecm DID NOT FIX THE PROBLEM ... Lets consider a scenario where it would totally have wasted the customers money.. and a different scenario where did NOT waste their money, even though it did not fix anything. One of the major secondary factors to consider, especially with complex electronic components is age. It is quite well known that even the most robust vehicle electronic devices are only expected to have a lifespan of 8 years, as part of their design. Most of the time, an ECM will last several years past this, depends on conditions, but it can only "technically" be expected to last 8 years or so in reality. It is not the vehicle/ecm manufacturers choice but a limitation on the individual semiconductors component lifespan vs. heat cycling, higher temperature environments, etc. -- 8 years on electronic components in indeed an industry expectation standard, even if the thing is built with military-grade, high quality spec components. Given this new information now, it becomes clear that if the ecm is repalced "on suspicion alone" and it is still a fairly new one (less than say 5 or 6 years old) ... it absolutely would be a waste of someone's money to do so. -- so BEFORE this happens.. some form of negotiation or standardized shop policy should be in place between the customer and the shop.. maybe something like a significantly reduced price, or better yet, re-installing the old component with a reduced labor cost of trying, or some other way of not penalizing the customer unnecessarily for a false assumption would be the proper thing to do. HOWEVER... If that ecm was say, 7, or 8+,.. or even 10+ years old.. even if replacing it did not fix the problem.. the customer should have been made aware up front that the new one should NOT be removed if it did not solve the issue at hand.. because it is not a bad investment to replace it on suspicions no matter what the outcome was at that point. Its replacement will indeed extend the engines (electronic) operating life, and yes it is an expensive guess,.. but none of the moneys or time is wasted. There is still a significant gain by trying it.. regardless if it fixed it or not. At this point, if the customer wants it removed.. then they can pay for all of the associated install costs + any extra labor costs, etc. to have it removed + whatever re-stock fees that the shop must eat due to not being able to return it. This is not unfair, as the customer is the one to suffer this bad decision and fate of re-using a dated component that in all likeliness could fail at any moment in the future. A repair shops should not suffer costs due to some other poor fools bad choices. The only real issue is getting the customer to agree to whatever the case is. .. and to ensure that everyone is happy with the result, even if the result is to no avail. This can easily be done by having a proper, standardized electronic replacement policy (or other similar components that would fall into this type of category) in place for the shop, that covers both scenarios that is up front and standardized. That way there are no surprises or arguments .. BEFORE the work is performed, and if the customer does not agree up front, then they can always seek another solution or another repair shop. An example of a good up-front shop policy would be something as such .. in the case of an electronic component replacement that did not contribute greatly towards fixing an issue ... -- If the part is still less than 76% in its expected lifespan in age/wear, then the shop shares/eats a significant portion of the costs in some, or removed the part again all together for a reduced labor rate (and perhaps only a reduced re-stock fee if needed) for trying it out. After all... yeah the shop maybe ate the cost of the ecm in this case, but they now have one on their shelves to try/use on another truck in the future, gaining them some financial ground against their wasted efforts. If the part is beyond 76% (another industry standard percentage for these types of decisions) of its lifespan.. then it remains and the customer needs to pay for its replacement + whatever fees, etc.. because the custom is the one going to benefit from it the most.. even if it did not fix the immediate problem. -- That would be a good shop policy.. and one that a customer could be made aware of up front before all the guessing and arguing takes place on a $2,000+labour component that.. in this example scenario... did not ultimately fix the initial issue. -- Those are my thoughts on it.. and yes, I have seen these kinds of policies in the industrial world with regards to repair facilities, .. but rarely are any truck repair shops up to these standards.. and hence the arguing and grief begins. User's Signature: ->: What I post is just my own thoughts and Opinions! --- I AM Full Of S__T!. | |||
| 08-23-2023, (Subject: Looking for help/advice on truck ... ) Post: #18 | |||
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RE: Looking for help/advice on truck ... (05-14-2022 )StormChaser Wrote: I have been an O/O for 2 years. I have a 2017 Kenworth T680 with an ISX 15 550hp engine. 13 speed manuel Eaton Fuller Transmission, with 3.32 rear end. I am at my wits end with this truck. Wow well that's a lot. I have done a lot of repairs(12 year mech) and don't get many comebacks from my owner ops I work on. So please hear me out.(I work at a mom and pop shop) I have only had to replace a water pump on an x15 twice. There isnt much for issues there unless they cut corners replacing it. (Not cleaning surfaces properly or only replacing half of it(it can be separated and replace that way depending on the leak) if it was under a year it should have been warrantied. Coolant tanks on paccar for OEM are out of line I do recommend aftermarket for these there are many brands out there to choose from. The valve cover job is pretty cut and dry to seal ie laziness or damaged the seals. Gel ups are common for wintertime, but shouldn't happen if you use straight #1( lesser fuel economy more spendy but less down time ) if you choose #2 idle it in those temps. You don't have much choice. The whistle I would only assume a boost leak, and a simple pressure test is 45 mins of labor and much cheaper than blowing 6k on a turbo job. We have trucks with 700k original turbos. I have seen ripped boots on the egr connections though. That does happen too, but again way cheaper than an EGR as well. The grey smoke is very common when an exhaust leak is present. ( between the head[manifold gaskets] to the DOC ) when doing a parked Regen look for smoking coming from that area(not the end of the pipe). If there is ever a question as to leaking coolant from an EGR cooler get an oil sample done immediately. This can save you big big money for $30 test.(go some where reputable) as for the AC issue that's kind of a crap chute. Compressors are cheap and it happens. Many ac manufacturers recommend purging the system if even a condenser fails. Compressor failures go even further by replacing basically everything.(had one this week with major compressor failure that is getting a complete system) there are frequent issues with ac controllers too. They are data link on paccar trucks, so they can be tricky to diagnose, but a hotwired compressor would have easily told him a compressor isn't the cause for issue. Hope it helps for further issue. | |||
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