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

Ok, here’s a true, accurate and concise update of what transpired yesterday at 3:30pm, 1 hour before Valley Detroit was closing for the weekend. This is my story, and trust me, I’m sticking to it.

After I was done with my breakfast at Cracker Barrel, exactly 1 mile up from the shop, then 1 mile back, I noticed a nice little park, right across from the shop. So off I go and find a bench under a nice big shade tree. I spend an hour there looking on my phone for a motel, air line ticket, and Uber. Just in case.

When the truck got towed, of course they had to pull the drive shaft, so the truck was parked in a spot right in front of the shop. Now, as could only happen to me, these folks, whom I have nothing but good to say about, just moved into this location, literally. Nothing for customer amenities was available, no lounge, no tv, no vending machines, and the only bathroom was the ones in the mechanics locker room. One side note, I’ll never have a disparaging word to say about a truckstop men’s room ever again.

When I was done researching my little vacation needs, I walked over to my truck. The mechanic just got the computer hooked to it and said that I could sit in the passenger seat. Nice young guy that knew his stuff. He told me the computer will tell him exactly what went wrong. Nope. An hour and 15 minutes later, the scan was complete and nothing came up, no fault codes whatsoever. Here’s where I realized this was going to turn into a comedy hour.

While he was doing the scan, one by one, all the mechanics, including the operations manager came over to my truck to look at the engine. Come to find out, this is a new generation Detroit engine, that was just released, and not one of these mechanics have seen one, until I showed up on the back of a wrecker.

When the mechanic read the report, he started asking me questions. I told him exactly what happened. I was pulling the hill on the 60 freeway by Alta Deena, and right as I crested the top, I heard a bang from right under the passenger seat, followed by what sounded like a machine gun being fired then the truck started billowing smoke. The smoke was so bad, that it was coming in the cab. I pulled over, jumped out and went to investigate. All I saw was the smoke pouring out from under the right side. I notice I had stopped under the 71 overpass and had the right thought process to move the truck and trailer from under the overpass just in case we had a fully engulfed barn fire going. I figured loosing a truck and trailer with a load would be much cheaper then buying the state of California a new overpass.

When I told him exactly what played out that got me in his presence, he got out and removed the side panel. Boom, right there in front of him was the issue at hand. A metal clamp, with a metal gasket gave out. This clamp and gasket is between the engine and after treatment system on the exhaust pipe. So all the smoke was from the engine out. So now the fun begins.

I said to myself earlier when all the mechanics were looking over this new found engine, that this might be an issue if they need parts. And I was right. This clamp and gasket is on national back order. So what does this mean for me? Read on.

After numerous calls with the Abilene shop, Knight breakdown, Detroit, and Freightliner, we find out it’s a Freightliner warranty issue. Me personally, I couldn’t give a rats arse whose issue it is, the truck is a brand new ‘22 with 6600 miles on it and is dead in the water because someone in their infinite wisdom, put these new generation trucks and motors on the road with no spare parts. Finally, a person from Knight calls me and explains to me what’s going to happen. Let me say this, this person, was not in breakdown, this was a person with direct knowledge whose sole job is to handle these issues if a truck is going to be down for an extended period of time.

My dilemma through all this? What am I going to do. Hometime was starting Monday for a week followed by a weeks vacation, and I’m sitting in Southern California. I pushed all the hometime and vacation back 2 weeks. We aren’t going away until November, hopefully.

I was told that by Monday, a part should be located. If not, they will take one off a new truck not on the road yet and ship it to the Detroit dealer, whom was given the ok by Freightliner to do the warranty work.

I was going to fly home, $600 round trip, not an issue, except I couldn’t put in a return date because no one knew when the part would show up.

Motel. Found one based solely on reviews. Years ago when I was at Calex, I did a reset in a motel in Redding California in the heat of the summer. The reset ended with numerous bed bug bites that didn’t show up until after I checked out. So I’m very careful about motel stays, especially in California during the summer.

I found the cheapest one I could based solely on reviews off TripAdvisor. It just so happens to be across the freeway from the Ontario Petro in Ontario Mills mall. With taxes, it came to $805 for 4 nights. Now, before I did any of this, I called into our operations manager back in Richmond. I explained to Cam what my dilemma was. He already knew about the truck issue. He, without question, told me whatever I wanted to do, I have his ok and that I would be reimbursed. I told him I thought the best thing would be a motel, and that flying home, although good for me, really isn’t the right choice. He agreed. He also offered if I wanted to fly to West Memphis, I could pick up a truck there and keep rolling. I respectfully declined that offer. I know the trucks they have on the yard there, not good for me.

So after the phone call with Cam, I booked my hotel stay for 4 nights. It was just about closing time, so the mechanic that worked on my truck was told to bring me to the motel then he could go home. Hopefully, with everyone involved, no one is blowing smoke up my backside and I’ll be up and running sometime next week.

Meanwhile, I get free breakfast here at this Radisson Hotel, I’m within walking distance of the mall, there’s a grocery store nearby to pick up some things, I have enough clothes to last me and a laundry if need be on the same floor as my room, and, if things get very boring, I can walk over Milliken Ave to the Petro and hang with my brethren.

 

They offered to fly me to WM and get a truck off the yard. That ain’t happening.

 

We talked about that. Unfortunately she’s very busy with Real Estate and we have the 3 stooges to worry about.