August
2011
"STORIES"

 The 2008 Caterpillar nightmare is OVER!  In 2007 I received a phone call from an owner-operator stating he was buying his dream truck, a new 2008 Peterbilt with a 600 hp Cat SDP engine. The SDP is the serial number of Cat’s final highway engine. The SDP is a C15 Acert that is equipped with Cat's DPF.  I begged him not to buy it, however he already had it on order and he was going to take delivery of it soon.  On the first trip from New Jersey to California the SDP Caterpillar broke down 28 times and had to be towed 10 times.  During the next three and a half years he was only able to drive the truck for a total of 202,000 miles because of the constant downtime due to breakdowns.  There were times this truck sat in a Peterbilt or Caterpillar shop for over three weeks because they did not know how to keep this truck running.  His dispatcher would no longer load him with any time sensitive freight because he knew he could never make it to the destination without a breakdown. The owner of this SDP Caterpillar has a book repair records from breakdowns that is several inches thick.  The story gets worse. Due to this SDP owner's downtime he is flat broke, and if it wasn't for personal loans from the owner of the company he is leased to he would have lost his truck and his home.  He has 2 teenage boys. What do you do with teenagers when you're homeless?

It may seem like I am blaming Caterpillar for the problems this SDP has. I am not and nether is the owner of this SDP powered truck. These problems were NOT caused by Caterpillar, they know how to build great engines. These problems are from the rules Caterpillar has to follow to meet the EPA's requirements for emissions.  We all know that EGR, DPF, Acert and anything else that you hang on the engine is killing the trucking industry and will eventually kill our country. 

Customer's engine hanging from the hoist at Pittsburgh Power's shop.

Think about the parts and labor costs of a truck that spends a quarter of its life in a shop during its warranty period. Who do you think will ultimately pay for all of it? You guessed it…YOU! The cost of parts for 2003 and newer engines have sky rocketed.  The engine manufacturer s pass the cost of all the all of the warranty claims they are doing by raising the price of the parts.  Not only do owner-operators loose fuel mileage because of EGR, DPF, Acert and other items harming the engines efficiency, they also have to pay more for engine parts.  Having a truck newer than 2002 is a NO WIN situation, you are losing at least $12,000 per year and that my friend is a very conservative figure.  Let's look at something, the Cat SDP powered 2008 Peterbilt we are talking about was producing 4.2 miles per gallon and burned 2,000 gallons of fuel sitting alongside the highway during its regen cycles. So $8,000 worth of fuel was burned just to clean the DPF and this was while the truck wasn't even moving.  The owner of this truck finally got disgusted, and did some major upgrades to his truck and during the first trip the fuel mileage jumped to 6.2 mpg. Unfortunately this truck is equipped with 3:36 gears, the absolute worst gear for fuel mileage, so it's better to be in 17th, which is .85 overdrive instead of   18th, which is .73 overdrive.  With today's 13 and 18 speed transmissions you don't get to direct until you drop 2 gears.  Direct gear is the most efficient gear for pulling. I told him about this limitation and the best way to deal with it is to adapt his driving technique. As always using a turbo boost gauge and slowing down is a huge part of it. The best way to drive with 3:36 gears is to split out of 18th gear and pull most hills in 17th gear. Even though this SDP Cat now has the power to stay in 18th. This 2008 Pete is now in the low 7-mpg range and no longer has the reliability problems it had before.   If the owner of this Pete can log the fleet average of 125,000 miles per year and get 7.3 mpg he will save $50,555 this next year.  Now if I could get him to stop smoking a pack and a half a day he will save another $7,200 per year plus his life.  So ask yourself what is better for the environment…a factory SDP Caterpillar engine getting 4.2 mpg using 29,761 gallons per year in fuel or his upgraded engine getting 7.3 mpg and using 17,123 gallons of fuel each year?  Now this SDP is burning 12,000 gallons less per year in fuel usage plus no more breakdowns.

Pittsburgh Power tech providing service.

This week we had another case where an owner operator had so much trouble with his DDEC V EGR engine that he ended up replacing it with a new DDEC IV engine. This DDEC V had worn out its camshaft by the time it had 131,000 miles on it. At 243,000 the cylinder liners were scored due to soot from the EGR System, and at 287,000 the cylinder liners were scored again due to soot, and the cylinder block had to have the counter bores cut.  Now a lawyer is involved and the head chemists at Mobil Oil called me to discuss the lawsuit and said “" dog can only live so long eating its own defecate."  The last rebuild Detroit did only lasted 44,000 and did not cover this repair under warranty and so the customer had to pay $13,000.   During the life of the engine this DDEC V has had five EGR valves replaced, three of which the customer had to pay for, a VG Turbo, an EGR delta pressure sensor, a charge air cooler, a crank sensor, a clutch fan, and nine alternators.  This engine gets its oil changed every 15,000 miles and has a bypass oil filter installed.  Today the DDEC V engine has 569,000 miles on it and i'’s worn out again. The owner-operator of this fine truck is also a farmer and has been around machinery his entire life and is very meticulous.  His truck and his John Deere equipment is always expertly maintained and wiped down every night.  He told me; "This engine has got to go, I can no longer afford it and can't tolerate it any more."  In the photo you see his DDEC V EGR engine hanging from the hoist. By the time you read this, his troubles will be over. 

You may remember a few months ago I was planning on organizing an owner operator ride. Details on the "Wing Ride" are now a bit more specific. The three-day ride would start at 7:00 a.m.  on September 23rd at our shop in Saxonburg, Pa.  We would take route 28N to Brookville then pick up route 36 to Marienville then route 66 to Mt. Jewett.  From there we would travel north on 219 to 417 into N.Y. on to Salamanca and then to Springville N.Y. to tour the Vibratech TVD facility and see how crankshaft dampers are made and why they need changed every 5000,000 miles. We will also tour Jaybrake Motorcycle Parts. Friday evening we would eat at the Anchor Bar where the Buffalo Wing was invented. We would also travel to two more bars specializing in chicken wings. On Saturday morning we would head to Niagara Falls for the day and head back to Pittsburgh on Sunday. I may have more details next month for those who are interested.

Written By Bruce C. Mallinson, Pittsburgh Power Inc., 3600 S. Noah Dr., Saxonburg, Pa. 16056. Phone 724-360-4080.