Need advice from someone EXPERIENCED with new freightliner glider kits

If you are in a small shop with limited troubleshooting equipment some times all you can expect is for them to do is replace the most likely defective part first and work down from there hoping your part isn't the least likely part to go wrong.
A lot can be blamed on the mechanic, but not everything. Far too many don't appreciate honest communication skills and refer you to a competitor for better service.

 

Agreed, but Freightliner of Des Moines is not a small shop. We're not blaming them for the problem, we just don't appreciate that all they did to "try" to fix the problem was hook it up to computers. One of our complaints when we dropped it off is that it acted like it wasn't getting enough fuel. In the 6 pages of paperwork I have from them it doesn't show anywhere that they even checked the fuel lines. They didn't even drive it to see what it was doing for themselves. When the computer didn't show a problem they were done with it. That's just lazy.

 

After the flush of the fuel lines the truck no longer seems to have a miss in it. He says it is running better than the day he brought it home. Great news - we have been keeping in touch with the dealership we got the truck from (Harrison Truck Centers in Waterloo) and they are extremely dissatisfied with the way Freightliner of Des Moines handled things. Harrison is fully reimbursing us every penny we had to pay to Freightliner. They said they have learned a good, hard lesson with this situation - Any truck that they sell that has problems needs to be brought back to them and only them. We knew that to begin with but just wanted to avoid the extra down time by driving twice as far. Lesson learned on both sides. Harrison Truck Centers is a well recommended dealer/shop in my book. Stand-up guys that want HAPPY customers. Now if they could just build a shop a little closer to us.....

 

How close are you to Clear Lake IA? There's a Harrison Truck center there too.

 

It's mentality.....plain and simple.

I saw that attitude even in the army where they are willing to spend big bucks on test equipment. People are afraid to pull out manuals and actually rely on them to troubleshoot a problem correctly. It's faster, more accurate and a lot easier if you do so with an open mind.

I do that on my cars, did that in my career in the guard and do that with my truck.

 

I think it is wonderful that your dealership is standing behind you. Freightliner told you they didn't want to get involved when you took it in so you shouldn't have expected much. Seems to me you were getting more help on this thread from FYDA of Cincy than the Freightliner shop in Des Moines. Hope they find your problem. This has been a very informative and interesting thread. Please keep us updated.

 

lets think this statement through.... 1700 miles per week/4 mpg @ $4/gallon = $1700 in diesel..... 1700 miles per week/7 mpg @ $4/gallon = $971 in diesel... You mean to tell me he would rather throw away $729 in diesel, than take a day and go get it looked at properly????

 

It's not lazy. It's fraudulent incompetence. A dealership service department puts themselves out there as a franchised service dealer and post all the grand certifications on the wall, you set an expectation that when you pay their premium shop rate that you're getting the very best possible technician to solve whatever it is. If that isn't possible, you expect that their extended dealer network and direct line to the manufacturer will back that up. At least that's what they want you to believe.

This right here is a trigger that sends my professional demeanor out the window. I had this happen at my local FL dealer more than once. It goes all the way from the top where they act like they're doing you a favor by even allowing you onto the property, to the service advisors that think there's nothing wrong about charging book flat rate of 0.5 hours to change an air filter element. Yeah that's right, about $60 to release four clips and remove the lid, change the element, then snap the lid back on. Where can I get that job? I'll be an air filter changing guru. About 30 a day would be a lot easier than what I do now. Ever been to a class 8 truck shop where none of the technicians have a CDL? Brilliant. The very techs doing the advanced work are not legal to test drive to verify a diagnosis or check their work. In one case, I had to actually make a trip over there and demand that either someone test drive or go out on the road with me or my driver. The driver was actually there already waiting around. After all that, they finally agreed that yes indeed something was still not right. That something turned out to be an egr cooler split wide open big enough you could fit your hand through the opening.

Q: How do you miss that?
A: By not giving a crap and not looking.

OP: Good luck to you and your husband getting this worked out. Looks like you're making progress.

 

Agreed. Sometimes electronic inspections won't pick up a problem and sometimes it will. Finding a good mechanic when you need one is very important. And some can't be trusted with an oil change or a tire repair. I hope you find the solution you are looking for.

 

Approx 220 miles from Waterloo. Approx 200 miles from Clear Lake.