Ramone
Your mention of dipsticks (for oil ) reminded me of when I started with Calor Gas.
They were running a selection of Iveco’s with both the Cursor engine and the engine that preceded the Cursor. I did my training with different drivers and on different trucks.One morning we were allocated a Iveco with the Cursor engine and whilst doing the checks the driver who I was with said that these iveco’s don’t have a dipstick they have a gauge above the header rail over the windscreen, which he duly showed me . Just switch the ignition on and see where the needle on the gauge goes to, i was told. This being my first experience of Iveco’s I had no reason to question him but he assured me that was how you checked the oil on an Iveco.
A few days later when the training was completed I was allocated an older Iveco, being extra careful with the checks I turned the ignition on and checked the gauge above the windscreen, saw in what little light the cab light was giving out, the needle swing over, that’s OK I thought and moved on to the next part . Windscreen washers were empty so lifted the grill to find the washer bottle and lo and behold there is a dipstick!
Belt and braces here I thought so dipped the oil as well to find that it was on the bottom of the stick. Now which one do I believe , dipstick or gauge? Playing safe I found the fitter and asked which one do I go by , dipstick or gauge. You shouldn’t have both he said which truck is it. The old Iveco over there , i said, he went across looked at the dipstick and then said where’s this gauge ,I duly pointed it out and was told ,on these old Iveco’s that gauge is the ampmeter!! The oil was topped up. A few minutes later a 6inch tall driver left with his delivery.
After that which ever truck I was driving if it had a dipstick it got used, technology wasn’t making a fool of me twice.
gingerfold:
Returning to my “conked-out” DAF 85 at Abington Services on Wednesday evening, well what a saga that was. It was a failed alternator and of course with a modern truck everything else fails. Gone are the days when you could drive an AEC Mercury from London to Bolton with a failed alternator (daylight hours of course) as I once did. The repair people came out to him, jump started the DAF and took it 4 miles to their garage. Put a new alternator on, wrong one, took it off, found the correct one and fitted it. The breakdown happened at 4.15 pm, finally got going at 10.45 pm, got to the drop at 11.20 pm, for an 8.00 pm booking, we had been running very early as it happens. Earlier my mechanic had asked the driver (been with us a month, ex-Army lad) to look under the DAF to see if the fan belts had been thrown off. Poor lad didn’t know what a fan belt was and was looking in the glove box for them. And to top it all the repairers managed to lose the battery cover, so I went absolutely ballistic at them yesterday morning and told them they would be paying for a new one. Oh, the joys of transport.
At my last job i dealt with Main dealers from Daf ,Iveco ,Scania and Volvo and to be fair they were all very much the same .The only thing they all could do very well was produce ridiculously high bills. Breakdowns too were always long drawn out affairs with no urgency whatsoever. I would think that if a manufacturer could now produce a straightforward vehicle without the electronics, that could be repaired easily in a workshop of their own much like the old british vehicles could be then they would be on a winner.The problems lie with the restraints forced upon manufactureres to produce “clean” engines obviously the efficiency is something that all hauliers want, but are we being told the truth about emmissions or just being taxed on another level. I doubt very much that Foden or ERF could have survived alone and if they could what engine would they use?
■■■■■■■ of course!
Back to the Foden with the XF cab, ■■■■■■■ signature…
ramone:
Would it be possible to build a road legal lorry today without sensors just a straightforward engine with a manual gearbox ,a dipstick and abs that didnt go wrong everytime you switched trailers...... oh and a lorry that didnt need a mechanic with a laptop to repair it ■■?
The problem is that such complicated electronic technology in engine management is probably essential now in meeting legislative requirements regarding emissions and operator expectations regarding fuel consumption.Things could probably be simplified in that regard with a change back to spark ignition and LPG fuelling.Instead of electronic controlled diesel injection systems and all the associated emissions crap.
As for ABS the Maxaret system was about as simple as it gets.
So i will try a diiferent approach , say i had a 1986 Scania and the engine blew up and i could buy a second hand one from a 2010 Scania could it be fit without the electronics and would it be legal?
You would need to do a lot of work to the top end, all the variable valve timing and such would need locking out, it would also need a drive for a mechanical fuel pump, so you would need to chop into the block to get to the timing gear.
So the answer is no…
What do the African markets make of all this then , many of our older vehicles end up over there so how do they cope with them , i`m pretty sure they wont be using laptops for diagnostics , most of the mercs , ivecos and volvos are autos have the africans started buying these yet , i would think this market would be screaming out for a “New” Foden or ERF
This old S36 Foden that we ran could hold its own with anything in its day running at 32 tonnes gross, It made a few bob in its day for us, Regards Larry.
newmercman:
You would need to do a lot of work to the top end, all the variable valve timing and such would need locking out, it would also need a drive for a mechanical fuel pump, so you would need to chop into the block to get to the timing gear.
So the answer is no…
What do the African markets make of all this then , many of our older vehicles end up over there so how do they cope with them , i`m pretty sure they wont be using laptops for diagnostics , most of the mercs , ivecos and volvos are autos have the africans started buying these yet , i would think this market would be screaming out for a “New” Foden or ERF
I’d guess that if/when their existing stock of good old fashioned motors gets beyond further use and repair they’ll be zb’d.There’s probably no way that their market would be viable to cater for on a seperate basis.
Having said that I’d guess that there will still be a major component remanufacturing industry around for a long time yet so on that basis I’m sure that they’ll be clever enough to be able to make an old school remanufactured ■■■■■■■ Big Cam and a Fuller box work in that worthless broken down pile of electronic Euro crap that by then they’ll be able to import for peanuts. Unlike here where it will be a case of if that over complicated piece of unreliable electric junk breaks you’ll have to buy a new even more complicated pile of junk to replace it and just put up with the trade in that the Africans will pay for the glider kit.But look on the bright side you’ll be getting a few more MPG and contributing to our green agenda while it’s running before it breaks.
Unlike here where it will be a case of if that over complicated piece of unreliable electric junk breaks you’ll have to buy a new even more complicated pile of junk to replace it and just put up with the trade in that the Africans will pay for the glider kit.But look on the bright side you’ll be getting a few more MPG and contributing to our green agenda while it’s running before it breaks. 