The ramblings of a rookie

It has been a rough week...

My Western star has been exhibiting power loss since I came back from surgery.... Not major, so it has still been very functional. Minor power loss on a 600+ hp engine is easy to ignore.

It had also been pushing coolant out the overflow in small but consistent amounts. Since winter has set in I've only had heat while rolling and cold air while parked. So it hasnt been good, but with a shortage of trucks and 3 new Pete's on the way in the boss wanted to delay repairs.

Fast forward to Wednesday. Over the course of a 600 mile day the truck pushed out 4 gallons of coolant and the heat while driving faded to Luke warm. Coolant system tested positive for combustion gases.

Boss ordered a new head and gasket set. We got the head off and verified a bad fire ring.... No big deal.... However in the same spot there was a gap between the liner and the block large enough to drop a penny in. Block erosion. The truck has blown 2 head gaskets in about a year and now we know why

I'm bummed because I'm in a loaner turd daycab 10 speed... But we have a 3/4 crate engine coming that should arrive next week. Swap engine, bolt on all the pdi goodies from the old motor, retune it (cyl 6 showed evidence of running lean) and I'll be back at it with the old girl.

I also spent 2 days in a Mercedes powered Columbia this week. It's like learning to drive all over again. 600+hp Detroit to a 450 Mercedes with 1.3 million on it lol. That was hell


Hope everyone else is doing better haha. I will be shortly I hope

 

Well... The ole thread is pretty well dead at this point, but still...

A little over two years into my driving career now, and I've made a company change. I took a position hauling a live floor trailer that I mentioned a while back in this thread. I'm a week in and I love it!

I've been given an 06 Kenworth W900L with a 550hp 6NZ cat, percentage pay, home all but 1-2 nights a week unless we have a big natural disasters cleanup or something. It can be a dirty job (sometimes we haul trash), but the money is phenomenal, the truck is beautiful, and the dispatcher seems to be top notch.

Life has been busy, so I don't check in on here much any more. I do hope everyone is staying healthy amidst all that is going on, and making the best of the situation we are all in.

Stay safe out there folks