Commercial trucks are essential! The movement of goods and assuring services are provided to citizens today is more important in these challenging times than ever.
Maintaining commercial trucks has become more complex over the years as they have become “computers on wheels”. Late-model trucks often have dozens of electronic controllers, hundreds of sensors, and thousands of potential diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) associated with these electronically controlled systems.
Did you know that only some of the DTCs associated with your truck trigger a dash light? In the meantime, multiple issues can be present that may result in potential breakdowns and related tows that will only trigger a dash light when it is too late. Multiple DTCs can indicate issues with essential systems such as HVAC and lighting that go undetected until too late. Cabs without operable climate control systems or potential DOT violations make your job more difficult.
Intermittent faults can also be problematic. Did you know that a short to ground will trigger multiple DTCs of the same type 126 times, then go dormant? Intermittent faults indicate active to inactive status often multiple times by nature and can indicate there is an issue that needs inspection and potentially a repair.
Diagnostic equipment has been the number one essential tool for technicians for quite some time. Many truckers and small fleets do not have sophisticated telematics systems that monitor vehicle health in real-time. Truckers and small fleets need an inexpensive ESSENTIAL TOOL to better manage vehicle health.
Managing fault codes is also something that is overlooked. Clearing DTCs before performing a drive test to ensure the issue related to the DTC is a real problem is extremely valuable. Having the ability to check the diagnostic vehicle health after a service provider has “fixed” your truck is also valuable. How many times have you gotten a truck back from your service provider “fixed” only to find it is still broken or has another issue not originally associated with the complaint that was just fixed and the truck is back in the shop again?
Late-model trucks also have different types of DTCs. Long gone are the days of only active or inactive faults. Late-model trucks can have:
- Pending codes that indicate the truck needs to go through a drive cycle before verifying the fault exists before becoming active.
- Permanent or Healing codes indicate that the truck needs to complete a drive cycle before it clears the active DTC.
- Cascading codes can be caused by an active DTC or mechanical issue triggering multiple DTCs as a result of the root cause issue. Fix the root cause issue, all the related DTCs are cleared as well.
Triad Diagnostic Solutions offers an inexpensive tool in the Autel AL529HD that allows you to identify and clear codes on 126 brands of class 2 medium-duty through class 8 heavy trucks. Manage your vehicle health rather than letting the vehicle’s health or lack thereof dictate your ability to successfully run your truck or small fleet.
Need to also manage your diesel particulate filter system?
Diesel particulate filters can result in more headaches than truckers and fleet owners can handle. If the ability to run a manual regeneration process AND reset the DPF afterward to avoid visits to the dealer, your shop or dreaded tows, upgrade from the AL529HD to the MaxiSYS 906CV. It provides full diagnostic coverage plus the ability to manage your diesel particulate filter system on 126 brands of medium and heavy-duty trucks.
Triad Diagnostic Solutions understand these challenges and can provide the essential tools, to ensure the highest uptime possible.
Email or give us a call at (317) 939-3690 for more information.