Profile For BC & MJ

I have an orange engine light on in my 2014 KW T680 all the time. It's been that way for months. I checked the manual and it's not the actual check engine light but just a "notification" light.

The other day when I was stuck at my shipper with two bad trailer airbags, I was playing around with the display.

Turns out the notification was about my fuel level sensor. I can look at active "warnings"- aka the check engine light (serious problems) and "faults"- the blank engine light (minor issues that don't affect major systems or functionality). There is a common problem in these Kenworths that the fuel level sensor will stick open, sending a message that the fuel level is low. My fuel gauge bobs up and down once it hits about 3/4. It's done that for awhile, but road assist said that it's not a major problem and they can fix it at the next service. I just keep a closer eye on my fuel levels. Hence the fault.

I said all that to say, check your display menu (if you have one, not sure about the FL) and see what pops up and communicate with your road assist about it. It may be a simple, non-threatening issue that is a simple fix.

Yes I checked that when I had the light, but it didnt list anything. Said, 'no active alerts' or sonething of that nature. Oddly enough, it cleared after the next fuel stop and hasnt c Ime back on.

We were issued a 2017 Freightliner Cascadia in June, had 15 miles on it. it is an automatic, which at first we saw as a blessing since i had injured my 'clutch leg' and it was becoming difficult to shift after long distances of driving. BUT, we now have over 20k on this truck and despise everything about it! it has a very poor work ethic ... is very inconsistent in how it pulls loads up hills. sometimes it pulls a 40k load up the hill as if it was feathers, other times it lugs down to 25 mph on an upgrade pulling 9k. we are convinced that there is some kind of exhaust leak, perhaps when it regens. when we use the AC, we become very groggy. before we realized it was most likely the truck, the symptoms went undetected until we were disoriented, headachy and sick to our stomachs. now we just dont use the AC. oh, why not get it checked out at the shop, you ask ... well, the downtime that it would take to get it checked. we are instead going to o/o and getting a Kenny.

the orange engine light has come on twice without any kind of functionality issues. it simply goes out after awhile. the truck has a 'collision warning' which has slammed the brakes on without any obtructions anywhere close to the truck.

all-in-all ... i am paying tuition to an academy for teaching me how to drive a truck. let me do what i was taught and junk this thing!!

** Let me clarify ... he had 1.5 hours left on his 10 hour break, and the pick up location is 1.5 hours away and was told to pick it up by 7p (which was about 1.5 hours at that time.)

Mj how an 8/2 works is if you take 8 hours in sleeper. It stops your clock so any un used time on the 11 or 14 are saved. Example you work 5 hours, with 4 hours of driving. You take 8 hours in sleeper. You have 9 hours on the 14 and 7 on the 11. Take 2 hours off some place and you get your 5 and 4 back. Much easier seen them explained. But I teach my students that if your not on duty, you should be in sleeper, you never know when sitting and waiting when you will move agen and napping is always good. That's how I do it. Others might have another way of doing it.

so I have read the 8/2 split provision to my husband and, as I suspected, he has never heard of it. Admittedly, I am not totally clear on how it works with actual situations, so wondered if I gave you the current situation, perhaps you could correct me if I am wrong:

Husband delivered this morning and has been on a 10 hour break, with approx 1.5 left. he gets a load assignment to pick up a load approx 1.5 away. Does the 8/2 split come into play in this situation? He could travel to his pick up point, rest for 1.5 hours and then move on to his delivery point. Is this correct?

MJ I know this is not a question you asked but dose your husband know how to do an 8/2 split? Most if not all swift training locations do not teach it and I find it quite useful when it come To managing my clock.

I do not know the answer to that, but I suspect he does not because I have not heard him mention anything like that. I have completed the key sections of the High Road Online Course but just started reading the log book section this morning, so I am familiar with the term. All the suggestions, encouragement and information generated by my initial post will be shared with him and hopefully we can implement much of it and see good results.

MJ, you guys are just going through the usual rookie problems. Your first six months will be nothing short of trial by fire. There is so much too learn at the beginning, and there is no better teacher than experience. Hang in there and keep coming in here for help and advice. There are folks in here who will be happy to give you some solid advice.

A lot of people throw in the towel before three months go by, and now you know why. Learning how to manage your clock properly will make a huge difference in the time you have available for driving - the time you are making money.

I believe that is right on target! Thus far, my perspective has been through my husband's eyes which, is not a bad thing, but it is limited to his confidence level -- both with his new career as well as learning other social skills. This has been a HUGE step outside of his comfort zone, as well as culture shock. It has been fun to watch him grow. However, we are changing it up a bit on Christmas Day ... I will be riding with him to gain familiarity with the equipment in preparation to earn my CDL-A. Our planned next step is to work OTR as a team.

We will be better together!

And as far as 'trial by fire' ... BRING IT ON BABY!! I don't run from much!

This buddy has been on home time (same geographical area as where my husband completed his 34 hour reset) since Wednesday, but has 2 loads waiting for him when he goes back on duty tomorrow. Common sense says this is most likely an issue with the terminal personnel.

For one, just one driver is not enough of a sample size to go by. And it sounds odd to me that he has two loads waiting on him? Does that mean he has two loads back-to-back? Or does he have his choice between two loads?

And what do you mean by "same geographic region"? Within 10 miles? Within 250 miles? Companies will only deadhead drivers a certain distance to get loads so that matters quite a bit.

I would keep trying to state your case but this time of year is going to be tough. Things are just slow for a lot of companies right now.

Definitely try to get a bigger sample size. Talk around to more drivers and see what they're saying.

This is exactly what I was looking for ... perspective. Working to discern what is a learning curve on our end vs something we just need to work through. I have been reading a lot on how to manage the clock better, which I believe might help. Also we are going to implement the words of wisdom concerning trailer hunting to see if that will help too.

Working out the kinks ...

UPDATE: husband completed his 34 hour reset at 9p last night, as of 8a this morning he was told that loads are slow, but they are looking for something for him to pull. Meanwhile, husband speaks to a buddy that went through school with him, who works out of a different terminal. This buddy has been on home time (same geographical area as where my husband completed his 34 hour reset) since Wednesday, but has 2 loads waiting for him when he goes back on duty tomorrow. Common sense says this is most likely an issue with the terminal personnel.

Again, I am adult enough to know that every company has their issues, and just because we are experiencing logistical issues with a few doesn't mean the whole company is bad. We just need to know how to resolve this quickly ... it has really put us in a financial bind.

got it! thanks!

Y'all -- I just love this forum!! Thank you so much for all the great guidance, and information. After reading and reviewing the material that has been mentioned, we hope to have some insight as to how to get through this in a positive way.

murderspolywog -- your comment about slowdown after New Years kinda scares me, we are already hurting for miles.

CS -- thank you for your message, I will email you directly.

When you say "no pay"....who's paying for the gas you used, driving those miles??

RV -- not sure what you are getting at ... but, obviously the carrier pays for the fuel.

My husband and I are new to the trucking industry (3 months), so we are trying to learn what is just part of the game (what we should just adjust to) and what is an issue with the particular carrier, terminal or personnel. The carrier in this instance is Swift Trucking. I am not interested in bashing the company, or personnel ... just want to know if what we are experiencing is consistent with the industry and, if not, maybe some guidance in how to overcome it.

Many times my husband is dispatched to a location to pick up an empty trailer, but when he arrives the location does not have any empty trailers. This has resulted in hours wasted waiting to be dispatched to another location, only to learn they too do not have any empty trailers. Case in point: 2 days ago, he delivered a load and was bobtail; then received a dispatch to pick up a load, but before he could pick that up he had to wait until they could find an empty trailer to take into the site. he waited ALL DAY which ran him out of hours. the next day, they still could not find him a trailer, late in the day, they finally told him to go pick up the load without an empty. The customer told my husband that they didn't care whether he brought in an empty ... so the load, which was supposed to be delivered 2 days ago was going to be late due to dispatch glitch. He pulled the load a little over 100 miles to the receiver, but time was running too short for them to unload before hours ran out again, so he found a truck stop to stay over night. This morning, they tell him to park the load (which was due at the receiver 2 days ago) at the local terminal, go pick up an empty and take it 350 miles south. He gets to the place to pick up the empty ... they don't have one. So there he sits ... clock ticking. He put himself off-duty, but the clock still will run him out of hours before the end of day.

For 3 days he has been going in circles because dispatch insists that he have an empty to take to any customer that has an outgoing load. It has burned up 3 days driving time, no pay. Now he is coming up against a 34 hour reset ... again, no pay.

Help! Is this generally how things work? If not, what would be the best guidance to overcome this frustrating issue?

Thanks y'all! We will most likely get a POB in the same city where our storage unit is located. Also working to go paperless with any mailing that offers such I suppose would be helpful.

Appreciate the responses .. love this forum!

My husband and I are planning to go OTR as a team, and truly embrace the lifestyle ... giving up our apartment. Curious what others do about mail delivery without a home base. PO Box most likely, but not sure where? Thoughts?

Don't ask for anyone's blessing. I'm 53 and doing this for me, because I know I will enjoy it immensely. My 3rd and final career until retirement. . Did my time in office administration, 20 years in Healthcare. . Now onto something new :-)

Now if I can just get parallel parking mastered and get a few small chinks worked out on my double clutching, I'll be good to go test with DOT in the first week of December. Yes, the Kentucky State Police no longer do our testing here.. Vehicle Enforcement does lol.

Lynette -- I logged on to find out if I was the only lady over 50 with NO trucking experience to start a new career ... and found your post. I am just now studying for my permit, the more I learn, the more interested and exciting I get about the possibilities.