"... truck lost oil pressure and ... engine seized up.“There was no power for brakes"

Trucks have two brake systems, the service line and the emergency line. The service line provides normal braking, but the emergency line stays pressurized to keep a set of springs from locking the brakes.

And if the engine seized, why didnt the drive wheels lock up? Did he hit his clutch?

 

When the engine seized it could have broken the clutch, transmission, u-joints, etc.

 

I doesn't work like that.....

A driver ALWAYS has the option of "pulling the valves" to stop the truck.
It isn't immediate, but it is FAST.

The spring brakes are held "off" by air pressurre. Pulling the valves will release the springs and apply the brakes.

But the story given above sounds like the cause wsn't as reported.
That often happens nowadays with the media.

 

This was discussed on another thread. I would first question why the engine "seized up" going down a hill ... perhaps running at 2700 rpm? (let the load get away from him) Then if the engine did "suffer a major failure", maybe the driver decided he'd save the engine and kick it into neutral ... ok, good luck with that, too. And if the brakes are by that time very hot, you're heavy, you're fast, you're on 6-7% grade, you're not going to slow much by pulling the Emergency and/or Parking valves. If that was the case, we could do away with emergency ramps and rely on today's spring brake fail-safes.

But I refuse to believe an engine would happen to seize up on the downhill side of Eisenhower with "proper operation and control" on the decent. It just doesn't compute.

 

Lies I tell ya! Besides all that the low oil level sensor would of shut the truck down before it locked up. He might of over revved her and threw a rod but someone would have mentioned the noticeable "BOOM".

Then we have the brake issue. I think he just smoked and faded and didn't want to admit he sucks on hills!

 

Trucks have a rev limiter but 80,000 lbs and gravity could take you beyond if you let it get away from you. If they used too low a gear they could possibly over tach one but an experienced driver will use all his resources with proper gearing, engine braking and controlled braking. Like you said letting the brakes cool in between applications.

That guy in the story could of had mechanical problems but something doesn't sound right the way he described it. More like poor maintenance and poor technique. The DOT will investigate and figure it out.

 

This sounds like something other than mechanical failure. He either let it get away from him or he wasn't paying attention. I'd love to see the report on this when they check the truck. They all have tattletales you know. Oil pressure dropped and made the brakes and horn not work? Never heard of that before.

 

From the news story ..

... pretty good advice. Plus it gives a front and center seat to "watch the action". I shouldn't make light of these incidents. I think we've all let one get away from us at some point in our driving history. I did early in my career, 1st time on the grapevine, early 80's, NB, steel plate probably in excess of 79k, little/no experience with long grades, no engine brake. I made it down alright. In fact a CHP female officer got out in front and on the radio and made sure I got down. I think we were doing about 75 at the bottom and she said have a nice day and we parted ways.

This driver here if I remember correctly was from Rifle (or somewhere in CO) I believe so It's hard to imagine he had little experience on grades, and probably that grade in particular.