Cummins 1998/Frightliner engine problems - HELP!

There has probably been enough said....sorry to here ol mate has been given the shaft!
As i have seen all too often before!
I think the problem goes well back though...in past years, in a less disposable world...we were able to rip something apart, find the faullt, whip down to the parts man..who, by the way actually knew something about the gadget you had in a million pieces on his counter!!
He even had enough brains to find the part in a book and could then cross reference another book and tell you whether or not they made seperate parts or even a kit for the broken jigger you had!
He could even give you a price that would leave your backside mostly in one piece.!
Not anymore though..we keep no stock but we can order it for you, providing you leave a deposit and pay the freight!
Don't forget we can't pull that doover apart now though..it's too dangerous...someone might get dirty or grease on their hands...then it would be an oh & s matter...
arrrr we dont know what that is...but we think its broken...not sure..it might not be,,anyway give us all ya cash and 2 of ya kids and we'll try and order one in..well we would if we knew what it was!!!
I think we have seen the best of it fellas...
The mechanical world has gone soft! so are a lot of the jockeys that point em at you on the highway!
Sooner or later the whole scene will grind to a halt..particularly when we stop paying theiving scumbags for doing nothing! That would include many aspects of retail, wholesale and governing authorities..
Anyway thats my bit too!!!

As a foot note..without promoting too much strife...can we list, by state, some reputable suppliers or services within this forum..?????
Maybe we can take a bit of pain out of sourcing the right man for the job...
do it easy
chocs

Bretto, the reality isn't computers versus mechanical. Anyone who runs a workshop generally does a cost of labour, your expenses, rent, insurance outgoings etc, plus your wages bill every month divided by the amount of hours worked. To give you a rough idea, our costy of labour is about $65 an hour. This is the cost to break even, which is why $100 an hour is probobly a workshop charge out rate. There are plenty of good workshops to go to, and the reality is that none of the truck dealers or engine manufacturers are on the list. The guys that have a bit of talent and go through thier apprenticship don't take to long to be snapped up by the independent workshops. Another thing about the truck dealers etc is that they are run as a seperete entity to the sales department to eliminate any favours being done, and they pay thier apprentices the award, which won't attract to many talented people I can assure you. The dealers are there for one thing, to sell trucks (or engines), not to look after them once they are out of warrenty. There are a lot of very good workshops in Brisbane that either specialize in Cummins, Detriot, and auto electics etc. Ask a few blokes and you'll find them.

That's the boy Swishy, as my T shirt says "I'm not an alcoholic, I'm Australian!"
cheers mate
Bretto

Maybe one of the reasons everyone is paying to much at Cummins is from what i was told the other week.

Engine rebuilding mechanics wages 2 1/2 K per week take home 38 hour week.

Trevor

SloSpeed - now I can't speak for your neck of the woods, but in March this year when work was quiet I actually applied for a vacancy here at Cummins - the position was that of a heavy vehicle mechanic with engine rebuilding expertise. Long story short, yeah i got the job, even at my age of 51 ! BUT when it came to wages, i was told $24.45 and hour plus overtime after 40 hours a week. Needless to say, $978 a week and then tax off that just didn't float my boat. The HR person there suggested that they could kick the tin to $27+ an hour after three months, but that was further insult to injury.
At $2500 a week, I would be there in a flash. I reckon I have more than enough qualifications to get a job at that money :- too old and slow, can't remember stuff, failing eyesight, can't work diagnostic computers
Amazingly, Cummins workshop here charges $122+gst an hour, and pays their blokes less than $30, good margin if ya ask me.
I do know BigCam that there are many many good blokes in the field still, and to those who do the job properley the first time then $110 an hour is justified. But those good blokes are indeed hard to find and busy as all hell. It's a merry go round.
ahh well, look at the time, beer o'clock again
Bretto

No wonder all the Automotive Machinists who operate the crank grinders, line borers etc all left the trade in disgust! (like me) They are probably still on $480 a week.

-Stu

It seems a bit rich if these companies are charging the same rate for diagnosing a problem compared to actual repairing time with tools.Maybe thats how they can make such easy money by letting a mechanic spend 2 days looking for a problem rather than doing actual repair work.Then they say to the customer "you owe us $2500 grand for trying to find the problem rather than fixing the problem.

Thats the beauty of owning the old bangers that so many of us enjoy,Chances are you can find someone who know's them back to front and can accuratly diagnose a problem without trying to line their pocket at the same time.How many people have been able to determine a problem just by talking to someone on the phone about it,i know i have as i'm sure many of you also.Nowadays with a new rig the service department dont even want to know about the problem"you'll just have to bring it in mate and we will sting you what we can They can stick their plastic crap where the sun dont shine and i'll keep my old iron thanks.

last year when I was in the states, got talkin to some truckies there, a lot of owener drivers were having the same problem with the modern computer s#*t and were rebuilding older trucks to get around the problem.
Did not ask if they had the same problem as here as in needing to have a new looking truck?


Jake.

Aussie TD-40, interesting you mention about the guys in the states. I just got off the phone from a mate over there who left Oz about 15 years ago in search of fame and fortune. We just spent nearly an hour discussing the real differences between the two trucking situations.
He has an 8 wheeler, but not what we call an 8 wheeler. His has one steer axle, 2 drive axles, and one lazy axle; with a rock body on it. In Arizona they all got kicked out of local council stuff in favour of the new trucks; but now a couple of years later they are all back in again as the blokes with the later gear jacked their prices through the roof citing expensive maintenance costs and regular failures and a reson to increase rates.
He's got an "old" Peterbilt - old even by USA standards : 1982 with an 8/92 TTA Detroit @475hp (so he reckons). In the last few months of their summer, he has done what I am about to do : put a later model makeover on the truck so it doesn't look so old - he changed the bonnet, lights, paint, and a few other things to make it look like a 2007 'Bilt. Worked for him, more work than before...
He did say that the long haul guys all sold their 1990's and later trucks and now have pristine maintained 1980's trucks which are 110% reliable; so much so that even US Mail uses subbies with early trucks to deliver their stuff for reasons of reliability.
Amazing stuff eh?
Bretto

Bretto, its a bit sad, but it does not have to be a new truck in a dealers yard to get the stuffing ripped from a blokes wallet....

do they get much simpler that a Butter box with a perkins??? Local Perkins specialists been in business a million years probably did the engine conversion 30 odd years ago..
Hard to start and idles too fast... over $3000 and no difference... ther than they cranked the guts out of the starter ($600 changeover) they even acknowledge they did it...
no discount... but dont rush me for payment or it will be in 10 cent pieces...

Hope your mate's truck is now earning him his dollar.... the mechanics need it.

/me