Why You Need to Activate All Your Senses to Look after a Heavy Duty Truck
Posted on: 8 December 2021
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If you have a delivery service and need to carry lots of goods on a daily basis, you may have invested in a heavy-duty truck. This will be the workhorse of your business, and you must ensure that it is always in tip-top condition and ready to bring in the money without fail. This means you must be alert when behind the wheel and spot the early signs of a problem before they manifest into something much larger. As you will need to keep a close watch on the transmission, in particular, what are some of these tell-tale signs?
Squeaking
When you are out on the open road, pay attention to what happens when your truck shifts between gears. If you begin to notice a rumbling or even a strange squeaking sound, the system may be suffering from a loss of hydraulic pressure. This could be linked to a transmission fluid leak or simply mean that it is time to change the fluid altogether.
Jumping
If the vehicle seems to pop out of gear for no reason and this is more than just a very occasional thing, you may have a problem with your torque converter. Several issues could arise here, including a loss of pressure or an internal clutch problem. This is quite a serious situation as the transmission could jump out of gear when you are driving at speed causing sudden deceleration, and this may not give any warning to the vehicles around you.
Burning
A burning smell may be an indication that your transmission system is overheating. Most heavy-duty vehicles are fitted with an oil cooler to compensate for naturally high temperatures, but this may be clogged with debris, and especially if it has been some time since the vehicle was serviced. Again, the oil level could be low, or the fluid may have degraded to such an extent that it cannot protect the moving parts as it should. Needless to say, this is also a potentially serious problem. If you don't deal with an overheating transmission quickly, then you may cause considerable damage to the internal components. The vehicle will also be off the road for a lengthy period, and this is the worst-case scenario for your fledgeling business.
Time Is of the Essence
Remember, your job is not to diagnose a problem but to spot it as early as possible. Take the vehicle to a qualified mechanic, and they will apply their expertise to the issue. And remember, if you schedule regular truck services, you may be able to avoid all of these problems in the future.