Pre-trip question for pneumatic lines.

The regulation is pretty simple, for simpletons to enforce I guess. If you have an audible leak you’re parked. It’s not specific to which air circuit it’s coming from. The details get a little weird. You can be put OOS for loss rate, even if you can’t hear the leak, but as soon as you can hear it you’re OOS even if the loss rate is acceptable. Another one of those things that depend on who’s in the scale that day. One might send you on your way with a Notice and Order to get it fixed, a different one you’re calling for road service at the scale.

 

Audible air leaks don't put you out of service unless it's at an "improper connection". You can have audible air leaks all over the truck. Here's the updated OOS criteria. For the subject at hand, read pages 89 - 91.

 

That’s interesting, I missed that. One subsection is specific to an audible at a chamber. 396.3(a)1 That one makes sense now. The other one 393.45(a) is kind of wishy washy, that’s the one about leaks at “other than a proper connection”. That one is kind of vague and may have led to my last problem. Had a truck held at a scale in Quebec for a few hours last fall over a dryer purge valve. It quit leaking on its own and it all went away at the shift change and away he went, so I forgot about it. The way I read that one subsection I think they mean trailer supply lines, leak in a hose is OOS but a leaky glad-hand seal isn’t is how I take it, but it doesn’t say that. The way it’s worded it could be applied all sorts of ways.

 

That particular part is cleared up here:


As far as a leak not at a proper connection, I take that to mean a leak at a rubber brake line where it is crimped. At least I'd see that being the case 99% of the time. And it makes sense, because it's not something you can fix on the side of the road unless you carry a spare line.

Then the part about the diaphragm leaking audibly puts that brake at inoperative. So the problem there isn't so much that it's an audible leak, but now you have a brake that doesn't work correctly. But in that case, you're allowed so many brakes to not work, so you might be OOS, or you might not, depending on the health of the rest of your brakes.

I like this OOS PDF, because once a year you can spend a couple days with your truck, and give it a really comprehensive level 1. Once it passes everything in the PDF, you should be good to go. Then you could keep a copy of it in the truck to show the officer if there's a dispute. At least I like to pretend that's how it works.

 

It’s almost to the point of sending a lawyer out with the truck as a co-driver anymore. Most of the enforcement problems I’ve had over the years we’re rooted in wordings in the regs, or interpretation. People in the scales these days don’t really know much about trucks beyond what they’re taught on course from what I can see. Add that to a lot of ancient regs, broad wording and interpretation you have a recipe for chaos.

 

That's why there needs to be far, far fewer regulations, and the ones that remain need to be very plainly worded.

 

You're talking about the air operated dome lids correct? If so, those have nothing to do with the operation of the unit while it's on the road. As long as they're latched you're good to go. If the control panel itself is leaking and it is resulting in a drop of air pressure at your tractor, then that is a violation. If the leak is after the control panel and only leaks when you put air to the lids, then it's not.