What A Day...

We all have these from time to time. So yesterday I got a load assignment to reposed a load from the SLC terminal and my preload plan for after that load.

I left at 11:30 last night to make my 0030 appt time today. 7 hours later I'm getting the bills, and took my time to get the 8/2 split so I could run some more today.

With 4 hours left in my pick up window, I rush to get a washout and learn that my next load is ready but the trailer is out of fuel so I need to hurry and get there to take it to the nearest fuel spot.

I arrive to find out another Prime driver has picked it up to take it to get fuel. He is leaving as I am arriving. They actually don't let him leave since the product has no fuel to run the reefer , so they fuel him up in the spot.

He drops the trainer I hook up, but they need to inspect the load first to make sure it's still ok to send out. (Meat load) everything is good the reefer starts right up after its pre trip is done.

In my way out reefer is off. It wasn't far from being in temp so I thought nothing of it. Even when I checked the temp it didn't register with me it should be running. Pre trip passed no issues.

So security can't let me leave the reefer won't turn in and the product is over temp. So I pull back on lot and talk with RA and dispatch. Let everyone know what's going on. With RAs help I spend 2 hours trying to prime the fuel pump, or lines I'm not sure maybe both. No go, the reefer cranks but doesn't turn over.

RA gets a mechanic out here he drains some of the fuel out, puts his own desire in the unit starts up but cuts out after about 2 minutes. We notice it's out of coolant. We top that off, but the unit won't start up and run smoothly or stay running.

So short story is it's been a 17 hour day so far I have driven 80-85 miles, and I'm now awaiting fir the load to be transponder and fir the office to print new bills in a holiday. Looks like I'm not going anywhere for a while.

That sucks Eric. I have had to deal with two reefers this week that were run out of fuel before I got them. Thankfully in my case I am hauling compost loads this week so the freight was fine. We haul them in reefers to keep the smell down and keep them from leaking.

I had a trailer doing similar thing other day. When I hooked up to it, it was off and alarm for low fuel. I checked tank which was 3/4 full and cleared alarms. Reefer started briefly but same alarm came on after cpl mins, along with auto shutdown. R/A set me up with the trailer shop who guided me through bypassing the fuel guage, reset and had no more issues besides constant false msgs about trailer being off, was running fine entire trip