5/16/2010

I got to the house Weds. after delivering in Pittsburgh and dropped the truck off at the shop. I wrote it up because my A/C went out on me the day before I got home. I came back to work Friday night and picked up a preloaded trailer delivering 0430 Sunday morning in Kansas City.
I noticed Saturday my A/C still wasn't working so I called the shop to ask if they got a chance to look at my truck, he said that he didn't and he was actually looking for me this morning. He felt pretty bad about it, but I said it's no big deal, I've dealt without A/C before I won't die or anything. LOL

He told me to try and switch the breakers around just to see if that would work, well I pulled into a rest area on I70 in IN and did that, I fired the truck up and turned the A/C on and I was looking down at my phone when another driver came running up to my window and I looked up and saw smoke coming out of the hood, so I turned the ignition off and opened the hood and seen the belts were burning that run the A/C compressor and the alternator. I called the shop back and he told me to unplug the compressor from the motor, so I did that and went on down the road, I stopped in Vandalia, IL for a few hours and took a nap and then I took off and about the time I got to the I270 split outside St. Louis I realized the alternator was not charging.

I pulled off at the Flying J and called the shop back and told him what happened, he had me check the compressor and confirm it had locked up. This is a major design flaw on the CAT motors because if the A/C locks up you're automatically going to lose your alternator too when the belt snaps. There are two shops right next door to the Flying J, both of which were closed!
So that wasn't going to be of much help, so they told me to take it to the TA back in Troy about 10 minutes away. I had completely forgotten about that or I would have just went there to begin with. So I hooked up the jumper cables to the reefer and put some charge to the batteries and drove over to the TA with just headlights and bottom lights on, shop told me to use only minimal necessary lights of course.

They got me right in and hooked up a single belt from the main pulley to the alternator in about 45 minutes and I was back on the road and made it to my destination in Kansas City about 0330.
After which I went to the little truck stop down the street and went to bed then got up this afternoon and drove down here to the TA in Strafford, MO for my 0600 delivery in the morning in Springfield, then onto Oklahoma City for 2030 tomorrow night. Luckily it's been very cool the last few days so no need for A/C, problem is it got a little to cool and I also have no heat, and the blower in the bunk doesn't work either. So I'm having all kinds of problems. LOL
I'll be on my way straight back to Ohio after I get empty in OKC though.