My Mercer Experience 8-31-15

Well, I left the house and got about 30 miles from home and got the dreaded check engine light and stop engine light. I got off at exit 9 and got to the loves. Smoke was coming out of the engine bay. Popped the hood and there is coolant all of the right side of the engine. I can't tell where it's coming from. Mostly looks like it's around the EGR valve and cooler. I called mercer and told them I won't be making my appointment and that they'll have to get someone to haul the load. The on-call lady was pretty rude because it's 2am on Monday morning. She just sent a message to the agent and my coordinator but neither will be in until 8am and that's when the load delivers. I'm really not sure what to do here. There is no way of unloading me. I don't mind someone taking my trailer to deliver the load but it has all of my equipment in it and I'm not sure how I would get the trailer back. I called the wife. She is coming to pick me up aND I guess I'll go home and get some sleep and get up in the morning and see if I can get someone to tow it to a friend's shop a few miles back.

 

I gave myself a few extra hours like I always do but this will not be a quick fix. Getting into a freightliner dealer on the same day you call is like pulling teeth and my warranty people said the only places near me that are approved are the FL dealers. None of them are open until the morning so I'll go home and get some sleep and call the 2 dealers near me and see which one can get me in the quickest. If I could find where the coolant came from I would feel a lot better. Most of it is on the turbo, egr, and under the egr cooler. Egr cooler is fairly new so I wouldn't suspect that. I guess I'll have to wait and see what the shop says in the morning.

 

Yes I did. Crack/hole in the EGR actuator.once it got warmed up it would just spray coolant everywhere. My a/c is also out again. He is replacing the EGR actuator, fixing the a/c, pressure testing my charge air, removing the password off my ecm, and removing my governor. Everything out the door tax and all $1600. Not too bad for what all he's doing. He's a close friend of a close freind and he does very good work. Bham freightliner didn't have the parts so he called Memphis and told them to over night them so I can get back on the road tomorrow.
Tl
The tow bill on the other hand was $550 to go 20 miles. He towed truck and trailer and I was loaded. I understand he has to get permits and everything but $550 for 20 miles? I could have just ran the truck and kept cranking it every time it shut down and been better off. Oh well. Stuff happens.

 

Not regretting my decision at all. The tarping/holes is just lack of experience on my part. Comes with the territory of being a newbie flatbedder. The fill-in was just bad luck. I happened to start the week my coordinator went on vacation and I could have easily picked my own loads but I didn't feel comfortable doing it yet. And there is 24 hour help BUT after 5pm and before 8am, there is really nothing anyone can do. The agent and my coordinator both called me at 8 this morning to see how I was doing with the repairs and I told them it would probably be Wednesday before I could deliver. They said no big deal. I've only been here for a few weeks but so far I'm loving it and I definitely love having more independence instead of being told where I'm going to go and only being paid a flat rate like my last company. I've spent almost $10k on this truck in 4 months. Something breaks every week. If everything comes through this week, it will be sold and I will be in another truck. The repairs are what's killing me. It's not mercers fault. Trucks break and this one was probably traded in right as everything was going to hell on it. Anyone want to buy a nice cascadia?

 

Also to ad, I spoke with a CRST guy at my first ever pick up with mercer. Very nice guy and he said he was very happy there. He even showed me how to chain down the odd pieces. You are correct that there is no such thing as the perfect trucking company. However, what's good for me may not be good for your husband. The ONLY negative I have against mercer would be e-logs. I've always been on paper and the on duty time kills your 14hr when you're chaining and strapping and tarping. Other than that, I have no complaints.