An old man's career goes flat, Snackbar moves to open deck

Yep I asked my company to remove me from any future TQL loads after my last fiasco, they are absolute jerks and I hate that they have so much purchasing power in our industry.

 

Managed to get 2 of my 3 stops unloaded today, but No. 3 is outside Queens and I didn't feel like doing battle with NYC today. The DHL customer in Newark was super busy, so it took a little while to get their portion of the load unloaded. So now I am taking refuge in the Vince Lombardi service plaza

 

Wow almost never any parking there

 

Got my Queens stop done without getting honked at once. It was actually easier than I expected, other than the backup coming across the GW.

I did have a hiccup this morning with my truck. Pulled out of my parking spot at the service plaza and tried to give it some throttle, but nothing happened. Managed to make it down the row a bit and backed into a spot. I finally got an engine light and a active code. According to Google, I had a VG turbo actuator problem. I shut it down, waited 30 seconds and restarted it several times...same issue, so I was on hold with Toledo to warn them not to put me on a load, and turned the key on to check the fault number before I called breakdown, and like magic, there was no longer a fault code and I had throttle again. Then coming across the cross Bronx x-way back towards the GW, I get a "parked regen required" message pop up., not in this traffic, nope. Once I got free and out of NY going across 80 in Jersey, I checked the soot level on the screen, and it was back in the green.

Toledo did say, once empty find the closest spot to park, but I said F-it and dead headed all the way to the T/A in Columbia NJ. There is another couple pushes of winter schmutz coming into the area, and Columbia has a less crappy forecast than other locations...and I don't give a flying fornication if they don't like me heading this far west...I for one couldn't give a rats ### if it pisses them off.

 

Columbia is essentially the best spot in that area anyway..don’t blame you one bit..I would’ve done the same

 

When I was at First Fleet, we had mostly Volvos in the beginning. If we had a dash issue we were told to take the key out, put it on the dash and find something to do for 10 mins.

Key back in, worked 95% of the time

 

I’ve spent many a day at that truckstop waiting for containers to come in off the ship. I’m enjoying my hometime, waiting for the snow to start flying. Supposed to get 4-6 inches tonight and another round on Tuesday. May get interesting since I’m heading out next Wednesday morning.

 

Lube the shaft that comes out of the actuator. You get a buildup on the shaft and it binds up. Turn the key to on and you will be able to work it back and forth.

 

I pulled up the T/A locations on their app. It was almost exactly the same distance from my delivery to Columbia or Bordentown. I figured the Love's in Bordentown would have been overflowing by the time I got there, so that would have meant spending another $25 at the Petro-cesspool. I thought about the Bloomsbury T/A, but that place is a hazardous place to park on a good day, let alone adding snow to the mix.

Now I sit and wait. I am due home on the 17th, so I imagine I will just have to sit until they find me a load home. I doubt they can get me a short run, then a load home. So, that means a 3rd 1400 mile(or less) week. Just more proof that I need to act like a shepherd and get the flock out of here ASAP.

 

This engine is still under warranty, and the actuator is enclosed off the side of the turbo. I'll let Volvo mess with it once I hand SPD the keys. It's their POS, let them work on their junk. Besides, the EGR cooler is almost leaking bad enough to be replaced, plus it still needs a washer fluid reservoir. They can kill 3 birds with one stone before the next poor schmuck gets assigned to it.