I drive a F650 rollback for a small company. The last two weeks I've had a fuel leak 4 times. The last time this happened, the service shop replaced all of the fuel lines instead of the one in question. Today as I'm driving on the turnpike, I smell diesel and pull over and of course it's leaking again. The service shop called the boss and told him that someone cut the line. So the boss is calling the police to "sort this out". It seems the shop says that the two guys working on the truck have 40 years experience and they can't find anything that would cause the fuel line break. So naturally they are blaming the driver.
Now, the service shop has had major problems before. In the summer, the brake fluid level was dropping so I took the truck in and told the service manager where the leak was. Two days later they called to say it's not leaking. My response was "what is causing the fluid to drop?" They had no response. After two more attempts and failures to find the problem I told them the rusted lines were weeping. They changed the lines and problem was solved or so it would seem until two weeks later when I got a soft brake pedal. When the shop installed the new lines, they neglected to secure the lines and they rubbed on the frame in several locations. I'm not mentioning all the smaller issues that I fixed myself over the past few years.
Logic would tell most people to find a new shop. Well, my boss uses this particular place because the labor rate is cheaper than anyone else. Of course, when you have to take the truck back two, three or four times for the same issue, your not saving money. This gives you an idea of what I have to deal with everyday.
Anyone have any experience working on a Cummings in these trucks? It appears its up to me to find the reason for the line breaks.
cdowd
HalfDork
11/11/16 8:05 p.m.
Sounds like you are having a bad day. Do you have a competitor that may want your truck out of commission? Or they need to find a reliable shop. Hope you can get it figured out the stress must be awful
Where is the leak coming from exactly?
Is the "cut" across the new hose or down the length of the hose? If it's down the length of the hose it could easily be a defective hose. When they are new and split like that it can look like a knife cut to the untrained eye.
It's a metal line and I haven't seen it. I'm getting this info second hand from my boss. The service department for the Ford garage is claiming it was cut.
I think it is caused by a vibration. Either the engine/tranny is rocking or there is an isolation damper or something missing on the lines.
If it's metal, it can't be easily cut like a rubber hose.
Also there sounds like there is a lot of incompetence going around. If two "40 Year Combined" mechanics or the shop owner are saying a metal line has been cut but no one has said "You need to come down and look at this, so you understand what we're talking about", then there is a problem.
Also, the fact that your boss went straight to calling the police to "sort this out", without going to the shop and seeing for himself what is going on, is also a problem within itself.
If I were you, I would find out where this line exactly is and physically see it for yourself if people are accusing you of damaging it. If it's a metal line, it would be very blatant in the type of cut in the line, especially if a hacksaw style blade was used.
My boss called me today as I was using the wrecker to finish yesterday's work. He said he doesn't believe I would sabotage the truck but he can't understand what happened. I intended on going down to the shop today to look at the line but of course things got even worse. The wrecker I was driving today threw a charge light. So I had to limp it back. It doesn't help that the wrecker has been leaking tranny fluid. He asked if I could change the alternator but on an F4 50 it's buried and tranny fluid is everywhere. I quit working on the trucks a while ago, except for a basic maintenance, because he never has tools where they should be if he even has the right tools and right now the air compressor shut down. Basically he doesn't believe in maintenance until it shuts the truck down. If I do perform any work on the truck I usually bring my own tools.
I need to get home and relax all this stress is aggravating my UC.
You just highlighted the problem.
"Cut" metal line? I think they mean kinked, straightened, and cracked.
Time to polish up the resume'?
In reply to 914Driver:
I've been trying but the health issue makes that difficult. I spent 20 years in a high stress career which is why I switched jobs. I was unfortunate to get the wrong owner/boss.
I was considering getting into flipping cars (read the thread on this board and now I'm not so sure) and then a part time job. That would give me more freedom to go to doctor/treatments without disrupting the working hours.
Afternoon shift would help but most of what I see are meant for the young. At my age I'm not going to lift 50 to 80 pounds all day even though I could.
Rusty, my father was a driver for many years at the same company and his boss would send (on a tow truck) the vans to some kind of hack and wack shop with ZERO quality control. A number of times the van would not even make it to the gate before breaking down, this pissed my father off and he would talk to the boss about it. After a wile the boss said he was bitching about the trucks and to stop bugging him about the vans and just drive. So my father said the hell with it and drove the van till it stopped, blew apart, or caught on fire and burned to the ground (twice).
After replacing 8 engines, 10+ trans, two full vans and who knows how many other repairs the owner called my father into the office and wanted to talk about how to keep the new vans on the road longer than 50K miles. Hard head makes a soft ass.
Paul B
What Donebrokeit said times eleventy billion.
My old boss would never listen to me about maintenance. Told him one time his power steering lines were leaking. Didn't listen. Didn't listen. Eventually he had the lines replaced...along with a burnt up pump. $900 in parts and labor for a $50 line. Oh well.
