STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

New Year, Same Old Stuff

January 1, 2007 on 7:47 pm | In On The Road |

I was in hopes that all the “demons” were left with my old truck. This appears to not be the case. When doing my safety inspection on Friday, the 29th, I noticed a ‘puddle’ under my truck. It turned out to be engine coolant. I investigated and it seemed to be coming from the water pump. Great 3299 miles on the truck, and problems already. I contacted the shop and they comfirmed my diagnosis. They referred me to the local Cummins shop for the repair. I was put into the shop immediately after checking in. They too found the water pump to be leaking from the “weep hole” and began the work. The technician found that there was no petcock to drain the coolant from the truck, so in the process of installing one, he “lost” some of the coolant. The truck was ready by about 1500, with no charge. Naturally, it was under warranty. I went to pick up my load, and started out for San Leandro, CA. On the first steep hill I had to pull, the check engine light came on, with a fault code for “low engine coolant”. It went off after I topped the hill. At this point, I had three options. 1) Return to Sparks, NV dropping the load and waiting until Jan 2nd when the Cummins shop opens again and having them do the repair properly. 2) Continue and get the repair done at the next Cummins shop I come to after the holidays. 3) Top off the coolant myself (at my expense) and let the Cummins get by with their “slipshod” maintenance. I absolutely refuse to opt for #3. I chose #2; at least I can run a few miles. Currently, i’m in Salt Lake City. I’ve had 15 different “check engine” light occurrances for the same problem. I will get the truck into the Cummins shop first thing in the AM (Tuesday, Jan 2, 2007). THEY WILL TOP OFF THE COOLANT LEVEL AND CHECK THE COOLING SYSTEM TO SEE IF THE SPARKS SHOP SCREWED UP ANYTHING ELSE. I’ve also come to the conclusion that only Kenworth or Cummins shops will work on this truck. This way, I can document everything. Swift shops, i’ve discovered, know very little about the T-2000. I’ll not let them “experiment” on my truck.
I hope that this little episode is a fluke, and does not portend the future. One “lemon” was enough.
Update:
I took my truck to the Cummins in Salt Lake City the first thing Tuesday morning, the 2nd. They put me right into the shop. They checked everything and serviced the coolant. It took a little over an hour. They said that the technician in Sparks just failed to properly service the system after the water pump change and that it should be O.K. now. We’ll see.

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