Autos vs Manual transmissions

The Volvo’s in our fleet start having transmission trouble starting around 500K miles.
I’m sure pulling a tanker may have a impact.
The Mack’s all have 10 speed manuals and have no problems with the transmissions.

 

I've always used galls/miles on paper to work out consumption and have never trusted the gauge on the dash either, never seen any kind of accuracy from one in a car or truck.

But the computer on my new Cascadia is unbelievably accurate, too close for a calculated guess I reckon, anyone know if there's some kind of flow meter on them ?

I wouldn't go back to a manual now as have got too lazy, but although I like this DT12 a lot I honestly think it takes more skill to use it properly in winter conditions than a manual especially for those that dont have the manual option available.

There probably should be a concern for newbie fleets that use the amt to lure fresh meat into the truck but restrict its options to the point of potential danger to the new operator.

But it's pretty clear the savings offered by amt suit the financial bottom line , these are not being bought for fun or by mistake but because they save money, all other considerations be ######

 

If manuals are still the best thing on the planet, why is so difficult to put them in gear? If I had a penny for every manual I've heard ground, and not by some mirror fogging mega fleet rookie, in the last 20 yrs, I'd be relaxing on a beach, sipping rum drinks, served by scantily clad native girls for the rest of my life. Sitting at the Pilot in Grand Junction on Thursday, I'm fueling, I heard at least 4 trucks on the fuel island grind going into 1st. I can sit at the UPRR or BNSF any day of the week and hear 2 or 3 grind. I get it, you're opposed to innovation and technology, maybe you're afraid of it, I'm not sure.

Yes, I've replied to those comments, and overwhelmingly, it still comes back to known issues with the autoshifts of the first 5 or 6 generations, software or how a company has truck programmed. If you believed everything posted on here about automatics and autoshifts, you'd be inclined to believe that every driver who drives one:

A. Suffers from permanent whiplash due to the inability to control the throttle while backing
B. Is flying off mountains at twice the speed of sound because the transmission is incapable of holding
C. Is some snot nosed, mirror fogging rookie who can barely tie their shoes
D. Is forced to park and live on welfare from Sept. 1st to May 31 st because you can't drive an automatic on snow/ice
E. Is parked in a dealership/service center while their transmission is rebuilt for the 1 millionth time in less than 100K miles because it's falling apart.

And yet, Europeans have been running these trans longer than we have, in heavy haul applications, without issues. Every day, I get behind the wheel of my truck and have zero issues driving in under any conditions. A month or so back, I posted in the flatbed forum, the load ran at 87,000 lbs from Denver to Grand Junction, now to believe the people in here, I must have ended up on the runaway ramp when my brakes failed because the transmission didn't work, and yet, I dropped off Eisenhower holding 8 th using my hill control @ 37 mph and used the foot brakes exactly twice, I dropped Vail in 9th @ 45 mph and used the foot brakes 4 times. Hmmm, seems to me like that's not a problem, that's better than 90% of the trucks I see drop off those hills.

Further, as I've commented in the past, I get to talk to salesman and service managers that come into my employer, unlike most, I'm not relegated to some tucked away room hidden from view, and asked my opinion only when spoken to. I voice my opinion, I've argued with these people, I've argued with engineers from Mack and shown them issues that I've had, I've filled out questionaires. Anytime Mack sends a questionnaire for the company about the quality or how the trucks operate, my boss will usually make copies and hand it off to us drivers for us to fill out, then he returns all of them. I've hauled flatbeds, containers (including 20' and 40' containers loaded with liquid totes), tankers, ISO containers, vans and reefers. Of all my coworkers, 8 of 9 have at least 20 yrs exp., with 4 having 30+ yrs each, to the man, none of them will willingly give up their autoshift or automatic and go back to a manual. The one driver, his brother works for a regional LTL, he runs Grand Junction to Denver 5 days a week, recently for the first time he got to drive one of our daycab automatics while hanging out for a couple of hours, he's been driving freightliners and international manuals, after 20 minutes in the truck, he's now begging his bosses to buy him one. Since he all he does is run the mountains, he's seen me many times (since I'm the one that does the majority of the mountain work), he even commented on how good my truck seems to handle the grades of Eisenhower and Vail.

 

Wow long post maybe people should learn how to use a clutch brake. Seriously @striker you are the last remaining driver waving the auto flag. Every real driver knows it’s just a crutch for the unqualified or chain smokers that can’t shift and smoke at the same time. Give it up man.

 

The ecm does it off the pulse width on the injectors. You should use both against what you actually pump to verify. If the guage is off you might have a problem with the crossover not feeding off bith tanks equally. The sensor is only in one tank. So it can be high or low depending on which isn't feeding. Those hole-in-the-wall ts often have sediment in their tanks.

With the ecm fuel rail pressure and injector problems can throw it off. Mostly over reporting usage due to under pressure or clogged injector. A mechanic can put in a wrong sized injector causing you to use more fuel. Injectors can be the same housing size but different aperture size meaning the both fit but flow different rates.

Fuel, spark and air are all required for fire. Ok, maybe glow instead of spark, but you aren't getting fire from cold diesel. Fueling is one of the things you can check easily and often. Pay attention and you can catch a problem before it just won't go no more.

 

Yes they are because they’re right

 

Sorry, but it just won't fly.
So, are you gonna tell me I'm unqualified? After almost 25 years?
Go ahead, I've gotta hear this...