My Time With Swift

Hey everyone. Been a little while since I last posted. A good thing I guess as they have kept me fairly busy in the past week, well, except for friday.

Last weekend, I picked up a t-called load at Lancaster and ran that down to Baton Rouge, LA, then picked up a load from Port Allen, LA and headed up for IA. From there, I took a load to the Chicagoland area, then picked up a load from 7UP and headed for West Virginia. Got there the day before my hometime. Everything had been going really well, up to this point. I absolutely love it when they send me a preplan before I deliver the load the current load. Heck, when I was still at Lancaster, I got the preplan for the IA load before I even hooked up to the trailer going to Louisianna. It's just really good knowing I've got something going on once I deliver this load.

Well, friday is coming up (hometime on saturday)and I'm on my way to West Virginia with this 7UP load, and I still don't have a preplan yet. Get to the customer, get unloaded, and I still don't have a load to pick up. Somehow, I just had a feeling....

I put in a call to my dm and let her know I was empty and waiting for my next load. Her reply was that she knew I was empty, but there were no loads available. But they were looking. I knew it. Happens every freakin time. I can have a great week, rolling, rolling, rolling, then get shot down before the weekend! And it's worse if there is hometime at stake. I sat for 3 hours, checking in with my dm every so often, but just kept getting the same old story. Finally, the last time I called, I heard her talk to the fleet manager about my situation and he got me rolling. Finally!

My hometime request for this weekend was a bit different for me, but I guess not completely abnormal. I had one issue with my truck that I wanted to get fixed before it REALLY started getting cold out there....the bunk heater didn't work. I also needed some dash lights replaced, but my main concern was the heater. I requested my hometime for Saturday this weekend so I could be off specifically on sunday to attend an event with my family, and I planned on putting my truck in the shop while I was at home. So far, everything was working out ok. After the fiasco on friday, I was told to deadhead the 250 miles back to Columbus, take my hometime, and my next load was to pick up between 14:00 sunday and 07:00 monday going to NY. I actually made it back friday night, just as my hours ran out (Whew, that was close!!) and put the truck in the shop saturday morning. They lookied at it and said the bunk heater wasn't getting any fuel. They would most likely have it done by sunday, but I should call to be sure. Called on sunday, and was told it was ready to go. Cool.

Spent the day with my family having a great time, went out to dinner, then they brought me back to the terminal so I could get my truck a get ready to leave early in the morning. Then things really went to hell. For the first time since I've had this truck, it won't start. Now I'm really not happy. The mechanic says it's out of fuel. Funny, it had over half a tank when I left it. He tows it over to the fuel islands, I get authorized for fuel and begin filling it up. I'm not sure how low the drivers tank was, but when I went to put the nozzle in the passenger tank, it was completely full (the mechanic tapped on the passenger tank and said it sounded empty ). I showed the mechanic and he said that is interesting, looks like a fuel transfer problem. I finish filling the drivers tank, he gets it running with a bunch of starting fluid and gets it running on its own and I take it back around to the shop where the foreman tells me they won't get to it until tomorrow (it's aready 11 pm). When I get up the next morning, the day foreman tells me there are 20 trucks ahead of me and they won't even be able to look at it until tomorrow, and that doesn't mean it's gonna be fixed tomorrow. He seems to think it's gonna need a tank.

I don't get it. The truck was running perfect last week. There wasn't nothing wrong with it, except the stupid bunk heater didn't work. Interesting that the problem with the heater was supposedly a fuel delivery problem and now the truck has a major fuel system problem. When I asked the mechanic about that sunday night, he just said it broke. Of course he won't admit that they broke it, but come on. Any idiot can see that.

On a more positive note, I let the fleet manager know my truck is in the shop for a couple days (my dm was gone today, I'm not sure if she will be back tomorrow), and he put me to work around the yard since they didn't have a truck available for a loaner. My body hurts so bad right now. Not looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully I can get out of here soon!

Be safe out there...

 

Day 2. Truck still has NOT made it into the shop. They say they should get to it tomorrow morning. Seems I've heard that before. Fleet manager put me to work again this morning. First did a couple odd jobs, then they set me up with a daycab and had me run empty trailers to a local shipper and bring loaded ones back to the yard. It was enough to keep me busy, plus they pay me for this so at least I'm making some money. Will be back at it tomorrow again.

 

That's what I thought too. I've been an auto mechanic for 20 years or so and although I admit I know absolutely nothing about diesels, it's always been my understanding that starting fluid was a no-no with diesels. But this guy gave it a shot to get started, then continued giving it squirts until in ran on its own. Doesn't seem to have caused any damage so far.

I'm just worried at this point that they are gonna do something to really screw this truck up. And that would be a shame because although it has 214,000 miles, it is practically brand new. It doesn't even leak any fluids. When I said this truck came in running perfect, I wasn't lieing. And now this....I cry myself to sleep at night.

 

What you are suggesting is the same as giving up your Ferrari for a Yugo. No. That just ain't gonna happen. They're gonna have to fire me to get me out of this truck!

Day 3. Got a knock on the door at 5am this morning, they were ready to get to my truck...finally! I guess the problem wasn't too serious. They had it ready by 11. Turns out my truck has a lever or something inside the fuel door on the drivers side that i guess controls fuel transfer or something and someone had pulled it half way out. I'm thinking they must have done that while fixing the bunk heater, but I don't know how that could have caused the passenger tank to be full while the driver side was empty. I checked the milage and they didn't drive the truck anywhere.

I don't know. I'm just happy to have the truck back. Sitting here right now waiting to get a good load going out of here. I'm ready to hit the road already.

Oh, and so far, it hasn't been dependent on the starting fluid. I've been able to sleep in the truck for the last couple nights and I haven't had any problems getting it started. Hope it stays that way.

Be safe, drivers. I'll see you out there somewhere!