I'm going to buy a used Schneider Truck

Thanks guys for your well wishes.

Day#3 at the shop

So today, drained out the bad DEF Fluid and cleaned out DEF tank. Lots of residue at the bottom of the tank. In order to remove the DEF tank, truck coolant had to be drain since there is a coolant line attached to the DEF heating element. Decided to flush the coolant system and put in new cooliant. We added 12 gallons of premium DEF at over $5 a gallon.

Checked and cleaned the DEF injector uptop near the turbo and it looks ok. Cannot check the DEF Doser Unit located on the bottom right side of the One-Box because the 2 bolts are too rusty and someone had tack-Weld it to the One Box. If the shop unweld it, i might have more issues. This is a big no no......shop warned me that I might have to rebuild or replace the One-Box if the DEF Doser goes bad. Ouch...

After reinstalling the DEF tank, I got two more error codes along with my original two. At this point, going to reset the error codes, force regen and see if more codes show up.

Darn, what did I get myself into this time... in the past, I've always have mostly clear cut issues. This EPA crap is messed up. Derating the engine just because of a stupid non essential EPA check engine component is out of spec is just wrong.

After force Regen and clearing all codes, I head for home. Even stop by Blue Beacon and washed my truck. Truck looks great. Parked truck on my driveway at home with no more check engine or Emission lamp on. Weww...Total of around 150 miles so far with no problems. My MPG went from mid 8 to 10mpg after this latest fix. Please let this be the end of this problem.

 

So what is my impression so far with this ex- Schneider truck ?

This is my first used truck that has DPF and DEF so I'm paying for my lack of knowledge. I did my homework about these systems, driven trucks with these systems and have no issues. Hell, in my current job as a fuel hauler, most of our trucks uses the DPF system without DEF fluids. All of their trucks have check engine lights. We just ignore them because the truck ran good. Now that I have the DEF component added, I can not ignore the check engine lights because it will derate the truck to a crawl. Had I known, I would of stick to a DPF only truck.

So what could I have done differently to avoid my current mess ? Knowing that DEF goes bad now, and the truck has been sitting for almost a year, I should of tested the DEF fluid for contimination and quality of mixture ratio. Second, I should of opened up the passenger side skirt and check the One Box for rusted bolts on sensors and especially the DEF Doser Unit since it is at the bottom of the One-Box. The One Box gets real hot and if the trucks ran mostly up north in the snow, more rust will cause problems in breaking bolts. There are so many sensors on the One-Box that looks so rusty. In my case, someone had repair or inspected the Doser Unit and may have broken the bolts and decided to tack-welded in place. Now I one more worry to try to resolve later.

According to my research on these newer EPA 2010 approved trucks, many new buyers end up like me, losing lots if money in this EPA money pit. Usually within the first month, truck keeps ending up in the shop for Regen, DEF, DPF issues. I have the last 7-8 months of all the repairs done to my truck and non of them were related to DEF/DPF issues. So this truck had no issues with the EPA crap prior to being retaired. It is only after sitting for 8 months and being put in service again did the DEF/DPF issue act up.

With these newer trucks with DEF/DPF systems, here is how things usually go.

Month#1, buy truck and pay thousands to register and tag the truck. You will also pay thousands on truck insurance too. Then you fix a lot of minor issues, may even need new tires which are costly. So after investing thousand of dollars into the truck to make it comfortable, the dreaded Check Engine and EPA lamps comes on. Take to shop and they diagnose something and charged around $1k or so. Then acts up again, this time the shop decides to change some sensors starting with the least costly sensors Nox sensors cost $800 or so for the set. Or maybe even SCR sensors. Then the same problem acts up again, and the shop changes more expensive sensors or pump like the Doser unit. They may even tell you your DPF filter is bad and need $2k to $4k to fix. Then if problem still act up, they continue to change other parts and finally, they declare that your One Box is bad and you need another $12,000 to replace. Dealers like Freightliner and Detroit will not put used parts so you are stuck with this new or certified refurbish part. If you think that the Dealer will warranty their work, no. They will blame that the part they change was bad and that the new issue is not related to the original work. One thing about each visit to the shop is that you will be going to different shops due to travel. The new shop will begin the troubleshooting process again from the beginning of the diagnostic proceedure because each mechanic will need to verify for themselves. Each Force Regen and cool down cycle may take 2 hours long and you are paying for their time even though they will be working on other jobs while your truck Regen. According to the diagnostic procedures from the manufacture, they need to regen at the beginning of the troubleshooting, and atleast after the repairs. Note that the Regen itself may only be 30min to 1 hour but the require cool down takes time too. The Diagnostic on my truck took almost 2 hours for the complete force Regen and cool down diagnostic procedure. Dam, 2 hours for each Regen is a lot of wasted time you are paying. During the Regen cycle, their software will show your truck's operating parameters and see if they are within specification. The main problem is that in most cases like mine, after resetting the codes and and force Regen, error codes goes away. Only after driving 100 miles will codes reappear if problems weren't solve. At that point, you already paid and left the repair shop. Then to the next repair shop.

Now you got to understand that during these episodes of trips to the shop, you are losing money on Tow bills, you may have to hire other trucks to deliver your load, you may lost your account. The lost of revenue is great. Oh, no income for you and your truck payment is going to be due. Rent or mortgage at home is due. Then you have to rent cheap motels and finally, the shop bills. Usually, downtime will cost way more than the actual repair bills. Now if you have a driver driving your truck, you will most likely lose the driver because he is stuck in a cheap motel not making money.

Most dealership like Freightliner takes 2-5 days to have a free bay to check out your truck. Then they may need time to order the parts. Consider yourself very lucky if you can get in and out in 3 days for any shop visits.

So for anyone who wants to be an owner operator, think again. These problems are not new to me to I shrug my shoulders and continue.

As I said, this will be my 8th truck and I might be financially prepare for huge down time and have contigency plans in case this truck is a good for nothing money pit. My wife doesnt work and i have kids so I need to be able to provide for them. My rent is $1,300 and I need to put food on the table. Hopefully All of my preparations is enough.

In getting this truck, put in as little down as possible to conserve cash. I have $30,000 in cash and Credit lines to work with. My contigency plans is that if this truck continues to have EPA component issues, I will have the ECM Tune and reprogram. Or Rebuild the engine on my older truck and sell this truck at a steep discount. Only reason why I didn't rebuild my pre emission truck was because I wanted to go to California.