Well as of May 1st I feel I have become an expert on the subject of "Surprise Break downs and how expensive one can be". Broom Pilot, I was feeling your pain that Sunday when we met at the Flyin J in Dallas and you told me about having to replace 2 new steers, Little did I know what was ahead for me the next day as I carried a load from Dallas to Greenville, SC. It was a beautiful afternoon with half the trip behind me, light load (1 skid (600#) truck was purring, life was wonderful. Then it happened, 33 miles West of Meridian, MS something under the hood went BOOM!! Smoke, Steam and a loud squeal!!! I was right at exit 100 so I hit the exit ramp came to a stop on the shoulder, killed the engine and grabbed the fire extinguisher. I popped the hood and was hit by a large cloud of antifreeze and steam. No fire but a lot of smoke.
I checked hoses and looked for steam coming from the engine block but saw nothing. The steam seemed to be coming from coolant tank. I checked the oil stick but saw no water in the oil.
I called my Carrier and they called me a wrecker and got me to Meridian where we transferred freight and left me at the Freightliner dealer who was closed until 8AM.
After someone came in and took a look at my truck I was told it could be several things but they could not get me in the shop until next week. WHAT ?????
They called their sister shop back in Jackson, MS and was told if I got the truck to them they would start on it right away. OK call the wrecker I need to get fixed ASAP so go ahead and do whatever it takes and pay the price($420.00).
Finally got truck to Jackson at 4PM and they took it right in. The Manager of the service dept. even took me and my wife to a Motel and recommended a good place within walking distance to eat. I was pleased because I was very impressed with his professionalism and the neatness and cleanness of their shop. The shop floor was spotless
and the mechanics had clean uniforms and were themselves very neat and clean.
11PM I received a call from night supervisor at the shop to advise me that I had dropped a valve in #3 cylinder and had done some pretty extensive damage to the engine and asked my permission to proceed to repair. Of course I said yes! The next morning the Manager called me and asked to come pick me up and come to shop to discuss damage and cost of repair. He gave me some options that would get me up and running and the option of a complete Inframe rebuild. The cost was $2000.00 more for the complete rebuild but came with a 1 year unlimited milage warranty and should give me 500 to 750 thousand miles of engine life. I went with the complete rebuild. Time to complete job was 2 days after receiving parts and there was a Freightliner Warehouse in Jackson. Truck should be ready by Sat, AM.
We received a call at the hotel Friday night that truck would not be ready Sat, due to parts not in stock at warehouse and had to come from Detroit Factory and would not be in until Thursday of next week, so Sunday or Monday before truck would be ready. WHAT!!!!
We were already climbing the walls being in that room for 4 days, so Sat. AM we checked out and rented a car and drove 600 miles home to SC.
IT GETS BETTER!!!!!!!
On Friday we received a call that parts came in but several were wrong including the CYLINDERS?!?!?
Well to say the least the Redneck came out in this otherwise mild mannered country boy and I inflected very much verbal pain on the poor guy on the other end. I demanded to speak to the Manager who had taken the afternoon off and was surprised when he called me from home 15 minutes later. He apologized and said he was going to air the parts in overnight and if the factory wouldn't pay for it , he would!
Well we received a call on Thursday AM That truck was ready and running so we drove back to Jackson and picked it up yesterday and all is well except this break down cost me almost 10 grand not counting the missed runs income of being down for 3 weeks.
Two points to make with all this:
1. Always be prepared for the unexpected expenses and count on it being the worst case scenario.
2. NEVER count on Freightliner to have what you need in stock!!
But if you do break down try to do it in Jackson, MS. Because as far as doing a good job and being genually concerned about getting you back on the road, they are.
(Sorry I can't mention the discounts he gave me, and parts and labor that disappeared from the original invoice to the revised invoice, in order to offset my lost time and inconvenience.)
Hey Broom, I don't feel quite as much pain for your tire mishap as I did three weeks ago, LOL
The same rain that spoiled the picnic made the grass grow greener.
Who said that ?? I said that!!!! Why?? I dontno!!
Dan
