Central Refrigerated Truck Stop II

Probably depends on who you get as a DM. I told mine last week that if I could get routed through my home town to pick up my newly transferred CDL it would be great. Today after a drop in ABQ I'm headed home. Wasnt expecting to take a ten but that's how it worked out.

As long as your communicating with your DM I see no reason why a flexible home time schedule wouldn't work out. I'm yaking home time end of month... but in July I plan on asking for home time in California. My dm has already said that's fine. So its all about communication.

As for DDT my trainer told me that it stands for drop dead time and is an allotted amount of time on a meat load to get a ten hour break. My only two meat loads have been ready far before the DDT.

unloader

 

meat loads frorm liberal are usually ready at the apt time, but at least when i went there you couldn't leave with it until after the ddt.

 

well you all warned me, so the blame is on me for being stupid.

10MAY I took my truck to crswvc for a laundry list. needed a new tail light (Why are they riveted on?), my fuel gauge was stuck at 5/8 for a couple days, I was losing ~1 gallon of coolant every 10-15 days, and since id be there, might as well get my PM done(only had 5k left on the oil). It took all day, and they found some other things to fix (2 wheel hub seals leaking) but it got done.

11MAY I had a pset for a load that would be dropped at crswvc at 1200 headed back into my normal loop, but once it finally made it through inspection and the trainee had it parked, I saw she was red tagged. The trailer shop said "you're looking at 1800, theres two trailers ahead of you." No big deal, there's extra time on the load, so I'll roll out early tomorrow. While I'm waiting I get a couple new steers (6/32 and 7/32 left on them). Also, what should've been a warning sign, pretrip showed that they replaced the tail light but didn't bother to hook the wiring harness back to it. I should've known..

12MAY I roll out as planned. Everything is right with the world. She prances up the climb-out as she should, and whats this? The elusive tail wind! I thought you were a myth! 33 miles into WY everything changes. CEL, STOP-ENGINE! Grab an off ramp, pop the bonnet, and see I've lost a lot of coolant in those 130 miles. A lot. I only had a partial gallon of extra coolant, not enough for this, but fortunately theres a TA 3 miles away that can run me some coolant. How much? 4 GALLONS! Full in WVC, 4 gallons low 130 miles in. Thats enough to limp to TA, but it doesn't matter. I knew getting on the interstate something more than a leak was going on. I hear the turbo, but I don't feel the power (some of you already know what that means, and I hoped I was wrong).

Blown head gasket. Confirmed by two shop mechanics.

How (delete) inept can they be? From minor coolant leak to a blown head gasket in one fell swoop!

So, those of you who know the chain of command better than me, who do I need to talk to monday morning? If they try to stick me with this I swear to god I'll pack my (delete) up and get on a plane home before you can say "wait a minute". I'd rather stay out here, but the fact is I know I can walk right in to a job making 80+% of what I make now. If they try to stick their (delete)-up on me thats just what I'll do.

 

Gd luck. that's just wrong.

 

Mark Hadley. Head of shop.
good Guy, helped us out.
after him Nick Burbage.
GOOD LUCK!

 

Thanks. Who is Nick Burbage? Where do I find him?

 

Well I nailed down my back-up plan with a job offer this morning. Really hoping I don't have to take it, but I'm always a better negotiator with a back-up option. Got all my important possessions packed for what I hope is a loaner truck, but since I travel light it would also pass for a carry on and a checked bag. A trainer grabbed my load this morning so I'm free to get out of here. The wrecker should be on it's way now to tow me to smith's detroit diesel in SLC. Anyone have any experience with them? What I'm most wondering is if they will be honest and tell me why a 314k mile truck blew a head gasket or just try to cover for the shop at central and pin it on me.

 

Did the shop address the original coolant leak? Also what was the fix? Did you check the coolant before you left from there? I am thinking your head gasket could have been on its way out and caused the small coolant leak, but not knowing what the shop did everything is a guessing game. They could have worked on it and drained the coolant, but did not refill it. Also certain engines you have to make sure you do not have an air lock (air bubble) in the head when refilling coolant . Since that will cause a blown head gasket. When the shop pulls the head they might be able to figure out what caused the head gasket to fail.

Did you see a spike in the coolant temperature before it gave you the stop engine?

 

Coolant was fine when I left west valley, and climbing out the temp never exceeded 225º, which is normal for this motor. I never got an invoice for the work done, so step 1 is to get that invoice. I know that the gasket could've been compromised, causing the leak, but the last thing I knew was the shop had "fixed" it and was pressure testing the system, so I assume there was another source for the leak that was identified. In any case, a pressure test is how you identify a head gasket problem, so if it was on its way out I should've been told rather than being told "it's all done." I know they filled the coolant, but I already figured they may not have bleed the system and left air somewhere. I dont know detroit motors, but I know many motors need to be bleed to eliminate air pockets. That seems like the most likely cause of the problem, because she pulled good out of SLC, the temp never exceeded 225 (190º on the flats), and I made it 130 miles running good.

 

Better get some paperwork quickly from the WV shop before they have a chance to change their story. Seems like you know some stuff about mechanics. I read so many posts were people own trucks and don't know any basics about trucks and trailers.

Good luck to you and it looks like you have a plan B all ready to go.