Profile For Mike E.

Be sure that the thingamajig that makes the whatchamacallit turn on the dohickey is not cracked, bent, broken or missing!

And remember the thingamabob next to it needs to be properly secured with no loose or missing whatsits.

All of this can be avoided by carrying a yellow widgit.

Bring an extra bottle or two of blinker fluid

HAHAHA, you guys!

Btw. Doc Brown said to make sure you check the Flux capacitor.

On it! Thank you, sir!

Anytime, I'm here to help.

Also, since it's not a DeLorean, he cranked the speed down from 88 to 67.

LOL! I wanted to get mine set to 66 or 67, only for passing though. Sucks when both of you are going the same speed but then you hit a hill and they slow down, but by the time you start to pass going down, they are still there!

Btw. Doc Brown said to make sure you check the Flux capacitor.

On it! Thank you, sir!

The missing Battery tie down rod needs to be replaced,,,, Unsecured and Loose write up,,, Battery hardware is important and cheap

Yep, $14.23 :)

Think of it like this. That mileage, and if prior owners didn't keep up on regular maintenance and oil changes, the internals of the whole engine assembly is covered in blackness. So upon initial start up, and a few miles even the new oil, WILL look as bad as the old stuff! Same on automotive diesels will be true. I'm an engine building specialist by trade, and it's nothing new. I started out on big rigs, Cummin's,Cat's,Internationals etc. Just the nature of the beast, and most big rig engines should get near 750k-1 million miles easily before a total in-frame (usually!) Remember, the oil coolers and other spaces/parts inside, will still hold small amounts of dirty oil, it never ALL comes out. Not like they let it sit overnight draining, it's get em in, get em done, get paid! lol

Thank you for this!

Also, I'm all for the technical aspects. I may understand little to nothing, but I will have to learn this stuff eventually. As long as you don't mind explaining certain things, that is. :p

Just out of curiosity Mike. Did they do a blowby test on a dyno? I'm wondering if that's not leading to the oil being so dark so early on. I won't get into the technical aspects of how many inches of blowby there should be blah blah blah and I'm not honestly sure on the specs for that motor in regards to possibly being due for an in frame rebuild.

Yeah, I'm not qualified to really say anything about that, but an in frame at 500k sounds extremely early. Especially for this motor. But, what do I know.

The way I'm reading it, he noticed it on his initial pre trip when picking it up. It might have a couple test drives on it but not enough miles on it yet to leave it looking like it's been in there a while.

It does have 464,000 miles on it, but that's kind of what I'm thinking. I checked it before (expecting it to be black) but after the PM, it would probably have a good 30 miles on it. I wouldn't think that would be enough to turn it as dark as it was. So like I had said before, I'm just wondering if it would be a good idea to just change the oil again sooner rather than later. I just want this thing to be in the best condition it can be in.

As I also had said before, my best guess would be that whoever had it previously, didn't take the greatest care of it. So maybe it needs this. And to be honest, after all the stuff I made them aware of that they kindly ended up fixing in the end, I think it further proves my opinion. They wanted $2,300 (at VoMac) to fix stuff and thats not even including the 5th wheel stuff that the truck sales place fixed for me.

I took the truck and hooked it up to a trailer at my terminal to act as if I were carrying out my regular duties. The 5th wheel wouldn't even lock into place! So they had to replace the springs and the locking mechanism. I am unsure of the correct term. I heard it cost somewhere around $1,000 to replace or get a kit. Glad I don't have to worry about any of that!

But it is running great now. I will be taking it to Chicago tonight for my first trip. Hope everything turns out well!

I realize it's been over a year since my last post. I don't even know how to find it!

Anyway, my question is this. I recently picked up a Volvo VNL64T300 day cab and had VoMac do their "standard PM on. I wanted to look over everything they did and upon checking the oil, again, I noticed it was STILL black. Now I know that cars are different than trucks, but BLACK, STILL..?

Any knowledge of this will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance

You need to bring the service manager out to look at it. If they did not change the filter then you now have 10 gallons of dirty oil. They would need to change it again. It might be darker than normal but it should not be black.

I know they changed the filters. It looks like there are 3 next to each other and then a 4th on another side. I don't know much about the VE D12 so I have a lot to learn as far as that goes. I have a lot to learn in general, but I really wondered about that. Maybe I'll have another oil change sooner rather than later? It seems whoever had this vehicle before did not take the best care of it. The dealer did a lot to make sure it was ready. All I really have to do is replace the coolant filter and for some stupid reason, one of the rods that attaches the flange to the batteries is missing. Unbelievable, but I won't complain. Other than that, it turns out to be a pretty decent vehicle. Just needs some TLC!

I realize it's been over a year since my last post. I don't even know how to find it!

Anyway, my question is this. I recently picked up a Volvo VNL64T300 day cab and had VoMac do their "standard PM on. I wanted to look over everything they did and upon checking the oil, again, I noticed it was STILL black. Now I know that cars are different than trucks, but BLACK, STILL..?

Any knowledge of this will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance