Western Express used trucks

with big company trucks it is a gamble. I work in relatevelly big company in Ukraine and all trucks are different. Last year we used to sell '98 Volvos. Some were junk some are on very good shape. This year I pirchased Schnider truck and I found older ('99) in much better condition then '06!!!!

 

You may ask if they have the maintenance records. If you want the truck it would be safer to have them do a dyno and oil analysis. Between the two it should give you a fairly accurate picture of the engine. At one time you could buy a truck outside of the Select program for about $20,000 less. They might need a larger down payment and decent credit, but the savings would be worth it.
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If it is anything like the 2002 columbia I drove? RUN AWAY while you still can.

I tried to get my truck serviced in North Carolina. The 10 speed had this weird shifting problem where sometimes when you went from low range to high, all the gears wouldnt work. Had it at a freightliner and at the NC shop, they couldnt find anything wrong with out actually looking (ie opening the case and looking for possible wear). The NC shop would not replace the air filters in the truck (black smoke out of the stacks) saying " a dirty air filter will keep more dirt out than a clean one". Yeah, right, and the truck could only get 4mpg, wonder why.

 

And after that I will never belive Ukrainian workshops are bad!

Range stuck in neutral is easy to solve problem and it is related usually with small valve, one spagetty air line and sometemes with shift ciylinder.

Black smoke is usally related with bad injectors ore EGR, but not with air filter, becouse there is MAP sensor on this engine and whel air filter is blocked with dust you loose boos pressure but ECM knows about this and limits fuel (smoke limiting strategy).

4mpg - something's really bad. twony minutes with laptop and DDDL and good workshop guy will tell U what's wrong!

 

Aah good for hindsight, but the repair shop in NC thought the best way to fix the truck was to take a creeper and slide under the bell housing and declare that it has had a new clutch recently and I had nothing to worry about. Everything fixed in 15 mins of work, "please stop bothering us with this truck". Even docked my pay for not doing anything.

 

it is like to check company truck in company workshop)))

bad clutch release bearing may do too many bad things, especially in volvo ore merc. When bearing throws balls.... eeeeh! ball is bigger then distance from flywheel to engine and balls may ruin a lot!

 

These numbers can tell you alot about a company.

Off hand, I would look elsewhere !!

http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SMS/Data/carrier.aspx?enc=uHXbztI7NjyR0aRTro3HLI/nxJU6Ll+pSYNP7DANtt4=

 

Trade-In ready ??????

Does that mean the truck will start and run long enough for a road test ??

Or does it mean alot more ???