No Surprise Here

Oh joy of joys!!!!!

The only reason I am continuing to write about my eternal dilemmas concerning my trucking woes is, because.......

I could not make this crap up! I mean, Yeah Sure, a truck driver is known to be very creative with his/her storytelling. But lets face it, this has long since past the definition of outrageous.

I encountered yet another such event this week....

A few weeks ago, when my alternator quit working, I had noticed that my power inverter had given up the ghost as well. Upon returning to the shop, I gracefully ( with absolutely no animosity whatsoever I SWEAR) asked the head mechanic to check my battery posts to make sure that everything was hooked up properly. I have four batteries and umpteen dozen cables.

After a few minutes of inspecting the inverter and glancing at the battery box, he assures me the problem is with the inverter itself and will order me a new one. I use the inverter to charge my phone, power my laptop, run the microwave, so it is an item I would be fond of continuing to use.

This week, while cruising around New England, I noticed that my headlights would mysteriously darken themselves. I did not notice any ritual to this occurrence, just that they would occasionally all but vanish. I had cleaned the lenses the day before, because dirty headlights will also lead to a lack of illumination. After an evening of wondering "WTH", trouble finally ensued in the form of......

Every single warning light and buzzer would come to life, instructing me to immediately pull over and shut off the truck.

At first, this scared me!! Scared the daylights out of me!!! The first warnings indicated that I had just released my fifth wheel...meaning that my trailer was no longer attached to my tractor. You better believe this scared the snot out of me. I warned the fellow behind me to duck and roll, because I was sure that my trailer was about to go careening into the unknown and my truck was going to self destruct in T minus 30.

I also received warnings that I had locked in my "four wheel drive", not something you should ever do while traveling at high way speed. In fact , you should only use this function when stopped and ER stuck!! Or to prevent getting stuck in a boggy situation, just like four wheeling.

Next...I supposedly had discharged my air tanks, had a major loss of coolant, low battery power and the list goes on and on....

Then just as abruptly, the truck decided all was good and the bells and whistles went silent.

HUH???

After going through this routine several more times with even longer intervals of blaring buzzers, I came to the conclusion that the truck was indeed panicking unnecessarily..Yes, I did pull over and check it out.

So, after relating my symptoms over the CB airwaves and quieting my own anxiety, a friendly voice told me that he had experienced the same problems and I should check my battery cable ends to make sure all was connected and not grounding itself out. Otherwise the truck might freak out and refuse to move.

Do you think I was surprised to find that one very large positive cable was not attached to anything, but rather gently nestled up to the battery post and during the course of my journey would obviously lose contact causing the truck computer to react. At first glance, the cable appeared to be in the proper location, but remember I have a dozen cables connected to those posts. So, after a quick tug test and corrosion check, I found the problem.

Funny thing is, after it was reconnected and the truck no longer had issues, I also noticed that my power inverter was working like a dream!!!

Thanks Boys, for continuing to remind me that you are a bunch of freaking idiots!!

I would have been totally embarrassed had I gone to a large commercial shop and been charged several hundred buck s just to have a cable attached to the battery. But, like the boss said, at least then the Head Mechanic would have to face the music.

I preferred to keep this to myself, because the less those guys touch my truck... the safer I feel. So, I never even mentioned it. I am sure it will get back to them at some point... People just love to gossip!!