As I put it to the boss the other day: I could show up at shift change with a six-shooter, kill all the mechanics, and still have a loaded gun.
Let's start with the simplest of the problems: The truck would only charge in the morning, then quit. We buy a lot of trucks from this dealer, so we have a dedicated email to use. So among the list of other problems, I had fairly well documented what was happening with the alternator.
The response from the mechanic (term used loosely,) was "unable to replicate problem." And then, "Remote sense wire found loose, tightened, should resolve problem."
After multiple edits to remove references to my desire to choke the living crap out the idiot, I asked if anyone had read the literature on this alternator and noticed that it should charge with or without a remote sense line hooked up. I had removed the line at one point in desperately trying to get the thing to start charging, and apparently didn't secure it tight enough. No response.
The next day, the Uptime Coordinator test drives the truck and notes that the voltage was a battery base level, indicating no charging occurring, and also notes another problem the mechanics "could not replicate." Sweet, other repairs are moving along, hopefully they'll have an alternator found by the time everything else is finished.
Yesterday, get an email in the morning, "truck is ready." Then shortly after noon, paraphrasing "Not so fast!" The Uptime guy drove the truck again, and still no charging. WTF? It is here I should mention that this alternator is not available in the Freightliner parts system, at any level. Which means an emergency ticket has to be issued. Which should have been done Tuesday morning, not Friday late afternoon! (Correction, we notified them Friday before Memorial Day that we were going to need an alternator.) Initial estimate is 14 days. Which mean we're looking at a truck down for 3 weeks for a fucking alternator?!?
I had almost just purchased a generic pad mount alternator to mount up to get me home, but the dealer in Grand Junction didn't want to sell me one as it would "Void the warranty." So instead, I paid Love's for a few hours of time on the battery charger overnight to allow to get back home for the holiday weekend. I wish I'd just done that anyways!
This motor also has a minor issue, most likely an injector, where at very low throttle settings it runs very rough a certain low rpms. Like running on 5 cylinders rough. As in, it runs so rough during a regen it will wake you from a dead sleep. The specifics of when and how well spelled out in the email. That, of course, is also an unable to replicate. SMDH.
Luckily I've been able to use another truck this week, so I'm at least making revenue. But this whole concept of these dealers acting like the driver of the truck doesn't have a clue is getting real old. I realize this isn't a new problem, and I realize they mainly deal with steering wheel holders who don't have a clue, but some of us have been around a long time and have a very good grasp of what makes the big truck run. I would venture a better grasp than many of the parts-changers that are called mechanics these days. If I was stuck with this as my only truck, and only way to make revenue, I'm not sure I wouldn't have gone postal already, just because of the sheer incompetence.
This I do know: this truck will never see this dealership again once the warranty is up.
