Day by day adventures of a new solo OTR driver

Well here is how everything turned out for today - after 90 minutes of no activity and still no preassignment the Qualcomm turned itself off. After turning it back on, shortly afterwards the preassignment showed up. They had me drop the empty that I brought across from Buffalo, NY. Then, they sent me back to the same drop yard in Buffalo that I brought this empty from in the first place, and pick up a relay load to take back to NC. Nice! Why I couldn't have just been given that load earlier... I don't know. I laughed when I looked at the route the QC wanted me to take... cutting straight down through NY and PA on 2 lanes, through tiny towns, etc. SORRY, NOT GONNA HAPPEN. So, got back on 90 and headed east this time, stopped at a truck stop to scale the 44,000lb. load because of course whoever dropped it didn't, and ended up just deciding to spend the night here. Only about 345 miles for today, I could have squeezed about another 30 miles out and tried to make the next service plaza, but I decided against it since I'd be screwed if that plaza was filled up.

 

Some, yes. But I believe it only kicks in after 2 hours or so up to a max of $75/day... I think. I'm not exactly sure on all the details.

 

I drove that route up to ny from pa on those roads. They were no fun! Think it took 5 1/2 hrs to make 180 miles. Was supposed to go back the same way headed to Jersey. Luckily my truck broke down 5 miles from my pick up. So I spent the next couple days in a motel with a sports bar in the parking lot. And they repowered the load.

 

Dang that's a bad road when a driver says he is lucky his truck broke down. Good post made me laugh.

 

Diesel,i would advise you keep a track off those.
They might be forgotten from time to time.

 

after 4 days of reading your thread from start to finish, due to the suggestion of someone in the "Running with Schneider" thread, i must say im very glad they mentioned it to me. This thread has helped me more than you could ever imagine. I start my training Tuesday at the Indianapolis OC and this thread has given me an idea of what it may be like, more than any other. From what I've gathered, we are VERY much alike. Im only 22, and am a "redneck kid" as you self explained yourself, I even drive a Cummins too! (although mines a Common Rail and one ton) but man do I miss my old 12 valve! Anyway I just wanted to pitch in my $0.02 and say thank you again for an honest, and very entertaining for sure! Once im done with my TE and out on the road if we cross paths, and im sure we will, we'll have to meet for sure! Im hoping I have better luck, because Im not sure I have your patience! I have some, but your amount is unheard of, especially in people out age!

 

Also, I plan on starting a similar thread. I highly doubt it will be as well written or as entertaining as yours, but it will be something for other new drivers to reference for wanting to have an idea what it's like out there and something for me to be able to look back on a couple years down the road and laugh and see how far I've come, ill let you know when I start it and if I have any questions, many thanks!

 

AND IT ONLY CONTINUES INTO TODAY... MY GOD...

Ready? HERE WE GO.

Alright, start off the day heading east on 90, reach Rochester and start heading south. Really nice driving through the rural parts of NY, not too many hills or back roads to deal with. Reach the PA border and start hitting the crappy 2-lanes but whatever, all told it sure beats the original route the Qualcomm wanted me to take.

Get close to Carlisle and traffic starts backing up. Once for no reason, everything just slinkied because someone probably saw a ghost and mashed on the brakes, then everyone else did, and it continues. Second time right before the exit for the Carlisle OC. I smell some coolant... odd. (Remember this). I see a truck sitting in the middle of the expressway hooked to a wrecker getting ready to move him out of the way. Figure he shoved a rod through the block or something and couldn't get to the side of the road in time and coolant leaked out everywhere.

So, I reach the OC and have the mechanics replace a hose clamp on my power steering reservoir, the hose that connected to the steering box was leaking a bit, I had tightened the clamp before but it just kept working its way loose again. I see what looks like a little bit of coolant splattered on my frame rail, I stick my finger in there, it doesn't smell like it though. Probably just a tiny bit sloshed out the overflow when things really got heated up sitting in traffic, with the AC on, etc.

Grab a burger and take my 30 minute break and start heading south again.

I'm noticing the temperature gauge isn't bouncing like usual... its hovering around 200*. I've never seen a big diesel that didn't have a bouncing gauge unless it was REALLY working hard... the cooling systems are usually "too efficient" under normal conditions, so I'm guessing the gauge bounces as the thermostat opens and closes. Odd. But, its a heavy load, a hot day, I've got the AC on, maybe the ol' DD15 is just working hard.

Finally get through to VA and son I'm just flat out gettin' it through the traffic in Washington. I'm way over in the left lanes just hauling butt, I notice something flash on my dashboard and I look down and both the orange CHECK ENGINE and red "YOU'RE F**KED" (aka STOP ENGINE) lights on are. I glance at the oil pressure and temperature gauges, they are both within operating range.. hmm... then I remember about this thing shutting itself off if that red STOP ENGINE light comes on.

I immediately start praying to LITTLE BABY JESUS AND THE GODS OF ALL THINGS DETROIT DIESEL DO NOT SHUT THIS THING OFF BEFORE I CAN GET OVER TO THE BREAKDOWN LANE.

I somehow manage to plow my way across all the lanes to the breakdown lane, as I'm reaching for the key to shut it off, both lights turn off. WTF? Still idling, everything OK, temp still reading a little higher than normal, but not overheating... hmm...

Oh well, plow my way back into traffic. I cannot even open the passenger door because of the 20 foot wall next to me, and opening my drivers door would invite grandpa driving his RV to remove my door and my arm as he passed by me at 75MPH in the 55MPH zone, so I can't get out and open the hood. Drive on a few more miles... Check engine light comes on again. Red light comes on again, then turns off a second later.

At this point I know what it is, its the fricking coolant level. It has to be, nothing else would make them flash on and off like that. I can still smell it. A few miles down the road they both come on again. I pull off and stop again. Shut the engine off this time, start it back up. No lights. Ok, I still can't get out of the truck here without putting my life at risk, so I''ve just gotta keep moving as long as I can as long as I'm not going to blow the truck up.

Merge back in and keep going some more. Reach the construction zones. Absolutely no shoulder. 4 lanes of traffic probably averaging 70 MPH. Orange light comes on. A few seconds later the red light comes on. F*** YOU. Mash the SHUTDOWN OVERRIDE button, slam it in 10th gear and put my foot on the floor. OVER MY DEAD BODY WILL YOU DIE ON ME HERE.

FINALLY reach a place with enough room to pull off and that I can get out and take a look at things. Put out my triangles and pop the hood, coolant level is low, as I thought. So... plan A? Call SEM. Its Sunday. At 5pm. No, screw that. Plan B: Play mechanic (as usual). Choose plan B. I keep an empty DEF jug in my box just for a situation like this. So, I have no extra coolant... but... my fridge is almost entirely full of bottled water. Good enough. Empty all my bottled water into the jug, then fill up the reservoir. HOW DOES THAT MOUNTAIN SPRING FRESHNESS TASTE DETROIT? DO YOU LIKE IT?

Slam the hood shut, grab my triangles, back off into traffic again. No more lights. Still running warm though.

Finally get past that whole part of Virginia, getting closer to Richmond... hit traffic again. Start wondering about what is going on... I watch the temp gauge carefully... when traffic slows down, I heat up a bit.... when I'm moving... it cools off. Odd, almost like the fan belt was broken. But it didn't look broken when I stopped to fill the reservoir back up. Then it hthit me... I know what it is... its the fan clutch.

I realized I hadn't heard the fan kick in in a long time... when I reached the welcome center I pulled off and stopped and checked the belt a second time to make sure... the clutch for the fan wasn't engaged. When I pulled out, I did hear it engage as I went through the first couple gears, but it cut out shortly afterwards, and it would never come on at highway speeds even when it should have. This explains why the temperature was staying fairly constant and not cooling off and then warming back up.

So... I made it to a truckstop outside of Richmond. Between those adventures and the traffic I am going to be an hour late for my delivery tomorrow. Whats new? Messaged support shift... hopefully I don't have to deal with my "buddy" Adam.

I have a preassignment to GA, but I will call my DBL tomorrow after making the delivery in NC and see if I can get a load into Charlotte, assuming that its not 112* tomorrow and the fanless radiator can't keep up.

Its muggy as hell, but at least its not 90* here tonight... I'm not going to idle with these problems.

What a day. What a week.

 

Thats def a ruff start for this week diesel

 

Had a coolant problem last week, both lights coming on and of as well, but my coolant level was good. Turned out to be a bad sensor.