Maintenance

By Contributed Pete Haskell, Director of Heavy Duty Sales with Luber-finer

In the heavy-duty trucking business, fleet managers must be ready to expect the unexpected as seemingly minor unexpected maintenance can ultimately lead to a major system failure

Tags: Under The Hood, Maintenance, Filters, Luber-finer, oils

By Deborah Lockridge

Three years from now, you'll see a new API diesel engine oil-service category, designed to help meet federal greenhouse gas/fuel economy standards, which have a final phase-in date set for model year 2018 trucks.

Tags: Under The Hood, API, oils, Chevron, Shell

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

For years, some fleets have turned to synthetic engine oils for easier starts in cold-weather climates and to help them extend oil drain intervals

Tags: Under The Hood, Maintenance, Engine Oil, synthetic oil

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor & Tom Berg, Senior Editor

You don't have to go far to find a fleet having trouble with engines. Mostly they report emissions systems problems, not surprising given the short time the engine makers had to meet the Environmental Protection Agency's tight timelines. To be fair, owners of diesels meeting EPA 2010 standards are reporting fewer problems than they had with the first few generations of EPA 2007-compliant engines

Tags: Under The Hood

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

Uptime and utilization are everything, so you don't want a truck sitting on the shop floor during basic battery maintenance. Most fleets pull the batteries at the first sign of trouble and replace them with fresh batteries to get the truck moving again, planning to deal with the bad batteries later. But what killed the batteries in the first place

Tags: Under The Hood, batteries, Maintenance

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor in Chief

By January of 2016, you'll see a new API diesel engine oil classification, designed to help meet federal greenhouse gas/fuel economy standards. In fact, you may, for the first time, see two separate categories

Tags: Under The Hood

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor in Chief

High diesel and crude oil prices may make headlines, but the cost of engine oil has risen, as well, making an extended-oil-drain strategy more appealing

Tags: Under The Hood

One of the biggest misconceptions is that batteries charge the same throughout the year. They simply don't! In warm weather (above 40 degrees), batteries are very easy to recharge

Tags: Under The Hood

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor in Chief

Oil and coolant are like your blood and your sweat, respectively, and they have to work together to keep you aliv

Tags: Under The Hood

By Rolf Lockwood, Editor at Large

Diagnostics took a while to become a high art, though for for a long time it was a human one.

Tags: Under The Hood

By Jim Beach, Contributing Editor

Lead acid batteries - the most common type of battery found in trucking and automotive applications - were developed in the mid-1800s. After more than 160 years, the technology still delivers, because lead acid batteries are relatively inexpensive when compared with other types of batteries

Tags: Under The Hood

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor

Grease has been called the "Rodney Dangerfield of lubricants." The late comedian was often known to lament, "I just don't get no respect." Likewise, grease is often an afterthought when it comes to truck maintenance

Tags: Under The Hood

By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

Synthetic oils make up only a small part of the lubricant market, but they are set to take on a more significant role

Tags: Under The Hood

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor

Twenty years ago, putting coolant in a heavy truck could be a bit like a kid's chemistry experiment. You started out with silicate-based coolant/antifreeze designed for cars and light trucks

Tags: Under The Hood

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Cleanliness is next to godliness, so some truck operators change motor oil religiously according to manufacturers' recommendations. Others extend drain intervals but use supplemental filtration and oil analysis to do it safely and make sure the oil stays clea

Tags: Under The Hood

By Commentary Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

One of the main concerns in front of the Technology and Maintenance Council of the American Trucking Association is corrosion caused by road chemicals. The problem has escalated in recent years with the adoption of magnesium and calcium chloride

Tags: Under The Hood

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor

The recession has everyone pinching pennies. Close management of your engine lubrication program can offer cost savings in a number of areas - if done properly

Tags: Under The Hood