Taking the plunge. My journey as an O/O.

$1300 for batteries!!!!

Man, I don’t know how you do it?

9/16 wrench and batteries carried out at the KW dealer are $79 each.

I’ve hear tail that freight liner is a good place to purchase batteries for under $100 each too.

Not trying to judge but wow, Just wow.

And your concerned about 2 tents of a MPG? You need to revisit your priorities.

 

First. We did not know what the problem was, so I happily paid for troubleshooting so I did not waste money replacing parts. Especially since I replaced the batteries only a year back. I was expecting it to be a starter, to be honest.

Second. I do not have a shop, and my truck isn't old iron.

 

I looked on the NAPA website for truck batteries , for a 2015 Freightliner cascadia evolution. Prices ranged from $87.49 to $375.99. I doubt the cheap battery would hold up to the demands of the opti idle system

 

If the hotel load is drawing them down before the truck starts all the time then the average truck batteries won’t stand a chance.

 

Delete

 

I would've thought those batteries would have been warranty or atleast pro rated.

 

You don't need a shop or to have "old iron" to replace your batteries. Mine is a 2014 and I changed them myself in about 30 minutes. With that being said, don't let people beat you up because you don't turn wrenches on your own truck. For some reason guys here think if you don't work on your own truck then you're doing it wrong or something. I don't mind doing some stuff to my truck but I've got better things to do with my time than to be a mechanic along with being a driver.

 

In this instance, playing mechanic for one or two hours could have saved one or two days of pay.

 

It only failed to start once, but one time failing to start indicates a problem. I have severe issues allowing unknown problems to exist on my truck. Once I know what the problem is, I'll deal with it, defer it, whatever, but when something fails for an unknown reason and it's something important? Truck gets diagnosed ASAP.

 

Old iron is much easier to diagnose than new trucks. Typically at least a little easier to work on as well. I did not know what the problem was, and suspected a starter issue.

Once I did know it was batteries, I was already six hours labor in for diagnosing and battery testing. For my truck, I would have to remove the cowling under the driver side door to access the batteries, then replace the batteries, then reinstall the cowling. I would have to transport the batteries to the truck, and dispose of the old batteries, and a lot of places really do NOT want drivers turning wrenches in their lot. I was in Washington State, town of Pacific at the time. Not a whole lot of parking choices, and I doubt any of the ones I knew about would allow wrenching in their lots.

*shrug*