Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Well, the part the computer told the mechanic here to replace came in and didn’t fix the problem. So they are calling a Volvo technician to come out here to try and fix the issue. Some kind of communication error that prevents the truck from regenning. They will fix the wiper motor tomorrow after the Volvo tech is done. Hopefully the Volvo tech figures the problem out.

 

Been a rough week,freights been on a lifeline for my truck.

 

I sure hope you are getting some compensation for this waste of time plus the frustration. It strikes me that the game of throwing parts at the problem is well under way.

 

150 a day breakdown pay, not without fighting for it though. Truck was running fine though MIL was on and last week I had that leveling valve replaced and mechanic in our shop started messing with stuff to fix the MIL and made stuff worse with whatever he did. Volvo tech been working all day now trying to fix it.

 

Truck gotta go to the dealer. Volvo tech gave a list of things to replace which is pretty much all the parts to the DPF system. At least it is still new and under warranty with only 57k on the clock….fault code says missing communication with A module. I figured it might be a bare or broken wire or grounding issue. My luck they would replace it all and still not work, lol!

 

Well, 150 per day isn't too bad, but it is still the hardest dollar that a driver can make, even if that was doubled, sitting around and waiting isn't worth it.

 

Terminal manager got me a hotel room last night and an uber both ways. Shop didn’t want me to stay in the truck and idle it in fear of something cracking with soot levels critically high. Got a driver picking me up to take me to West Memphis to get a loaner til mine is fixed. Bare necessities it is until truck gets fixed. Hopefully not too long.

 

I have returned.

These past two months have made it very clear that I am well-suited to the life of the idle rich. The tricky bit is achieving that "rich" part, which I have not yet accomplished, and which is somewhat of a necessity for the "idle" part.

Tried to come back two weeks ago, but the sudden and unanticipated departure of our nurse Brittany caused some additional complications and headaches that, for a moment, made it seem like I might not have a job to come back to. Once we got that sorted, I took another week off because my daughter moved in with me. She just turned 18 and just graduated from high school, and this seemed like a good "training wheels" sort of independence, where she's living with me, only I'm away from home for weeks at a time. Once we got her settled in, it was back in the truck.

I should mention that when I came back two weeks ago for my first attempt at returning to work, my truck was still over at the dealership. The repairs on it had been completed back around May 20th. Nearly two months later, it was still there. Nobody had bothered to go get it. Hopefully they're not charging Abilene a storage fee. They offered to drop me off, but I had to get a DOT physical in order to return to work. (Mine was almost due anyways, so I would've needed to get one tomorrow if I hadn't gotten it done two weeks ago.)

Bumped a dock half an hour ago for the first time in two months. I still got it. Getting loaded with solar panels, which are being delivered to a power plant in Mt. Morris, NY tomorrow at 10:30am.

 

Mt Morris isn't bad,they'll take you before 1030,you can head straight over before you're appointment,and get in line in the morning.

 

First trip out after not driving for 2 months, and I'm already getting detention.