davelees1
Seasoned Expediter
I had the main belt, tensioner and idle replace on my M2 about 6 weeks ago and took three weeks off over the holidays. Yesterday was the first hill climb for the truck since then, south on I 17 from Flagstaff, AZ. The temp went up to 200 degrees and kept climbing. The fan never came on. We managed to get up the hill without going over 225 degrees.
I later found the airline was off of the clutch, apparently left off by the guy who put the new belt on. Hey, at 100 bucks an hour, these mechanics we trust our lives with get a little sloppy sometimes and besides, you are usually 1,000 miles away when you find they screwed up. Since I couldn't reach the fitting, I took the truck to the Freightliner dealer in Pheonix. I showed them the problem. After waiting 4 hours, they said they had the clutch out of the truck and it was leaking badly and needed replaced. I said OK.
Four hours later, the truck was done. I got the bill, it was over a grand and included $650 for the new clutch. I demanded to see the old clutch and the problem with it with air on it. They hooked it up to an airline and there was absolutely no leaks at all, there was nothing wrong with it.
I raised holy hell and said I would only pay for an hours worth of time. They said thay would put my old one back on. Apparently, the clutch that was installed on my truck will be sold as a new part to the next unsuspecting guy.
Later, they said the repair would be free of charge. It still cost me over 12 hours of down time. Usually I trust these places, but I will always demend to see the problem with an old part before I even pay for it, even if it's as small as a fuse. Sometimes it does pay to be a SOB!
I later found the airline was off of the clutch, apparently left off by the guy who put the new belt on. Hey, at 100 bucks an hour, these mechanics we trust our lives with get a little sloppy sometimes and besides, you are usually 1,000 miles away when you find they screwed up. Since I couldn't reach the fitting, I took the truck to the Freightliner dealer in Pheonix. I showed them the problem. After waiting 4 hours, they said they had the clutch out of the truck and it was leaking badly and needed replaced. I said OK.
Four hours later, the truck was done. I got the bill, it was over a grand and included $650 for the new clutch.
I demanded to see the old clutch and the problem with it with air on it. They hooked it up to an airline and there was absolutely no leaks at all, there was nothing wrong with it. I raised holy hell and said I would only pay for an hours worth of time. They said thay would put my old one back on. Apparently, the clutch that was installed on my truck will be sold as a new part to the next unsuspecting guy.
Later, they said the repair would be free of charge. It still cost me over 12 hours of down time. Usually I trust these places, but I will always demend to see the problem with an old part before I even pay for it, even if it's as small as a fuse. Sometimes it does pay to be a SOB!
