Letters to the Editor: Complex Engines, Soaring Fuel Prices, 55-mph Speed Limit

These letters appear in the May 19 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

Complex Engines

The article concerning increasingly complex diesel engines theoretically can be translated directly into increased revenue for dealership maintenance shops, but there are a lot of “ifs” and “buts” surrounding these statements (Click here for previous story).

First and foremost, it is glaringly apparent that most shops do not have the staff to diagnose and effectively repair these more complex engines, even in their current form.

I run an independent shop dealing with this type of repair, and I have an extremely difficult time finding mechanics who even can operate a scanner effectively to pinpoint a problem. Reports at my level from owner-operators would confirm that dealers, too, are having a hard time with this new generation of engines.

I consider that the operating systems currently in use are akin to the automobile industry’s situation in the late 1980s, before the universal adoption of a single diagnostic system in 1995. In those days, each manufacturer had its own systems and methods of extracting fault information, leading to an ad hoc array of different connectors hidden all over the vehicle for the mechanic to search for and extract the pertinent repair information, turn-off warning service-reminder lights, etc.

Certain manufacturers in the car industry have promoted restricted information to such an extent that it has backfired on them. In the case of one make of vehicle, the lack of information led oil-change stores to remove the wrong plug — rendering the transmission useless. Others program “defeats” into their systems so enterprising businesses such as ours have to take time to find those defeats and get by them.

Frankly, the heavy-vehicle industry needs a mandate on which operating system to adopt and then stick with it.

Besides the problem of not having mechanics who can deal with the new diesel engines, the other salient problem can be the manufacturer that likes to “play poker” with diagnostic information. One North American manufacturer is particularly conspicuous by this posture and is treading a fine line on the “right to repair” — again emulating the activities prevalent in the automobile and light-truck industries.

People have had the right to tinker and repair their own vehicles since the motor vehicle was introduced in the late 19th century; I think we can all grasp that. What we have had over the past 20 years or so is a continued push by manufacturers to exclude independents from repairing their products. The computerization of vehicles has provided a convenient method of restricting information to the trade in general, making it extremely difficult to extract repair information for the public and interested parties such as independent repair shops.

The “right to repair” has become a crucial issue, with its directive to disclose intellectual information to the public. As legislation, “right to repair” has been booted around like a soccer ball in Congress since 2005 — and within various state legislatures from time to time.

The European Economic and Social Committee already has enacted “right to repair” legislation, but here in the United States, vehicle manufacturer associations and the Automotive Service Association have had their lobbyists swaying Congress to do nothing.

I believe there are many of us poised to take advantage of the drastic changes in diesel-engine-control technology and ready to invest more on diagnostic tools, but, frankly, the spending involved is too risky for most independents such as ourselves. A typical set of scanner programs today loaded on a Panasonic Toughbook will set you back between $12,500 to $18,500, depending on which heavy vehicles and engine, transmission and braking configurations a shop needs.

With a distinct possibility of obsolescence in the near future, it’s a bold independent shop owner who would invest that sum without the chief accountant saying, “What’s the payback?” At $125 a scan, you would need a lot of trucks to break even.

Seriously though, I see superb opportunities for high-tech scan services in the future. The trade has difficulty finding suitable people to fill this crucial end of the business and with about 500,000 people leaving the vehicle trade annually in the United States and about 20% through retirement, it only can get worse. Or better, depending upon which view you take within the trade.

Dennis Williams
President
Linden Engineering Inc.
Golden, Colo.

Soaring Fuel Prices

[Editor’s note: The following letter refers to a practice known as “Splash and Dash,” which uses a tax credit provided in the Jobs Act of 2004 that allows a credit of up to $1 a gallon for biodiesel exports. Because World Trade Organization rules require the same subsidy for non-U.S. firms, some traders realized they could import foreign biodiesel into the United States, add a little petroleum diesel, collect the tax credit and re-export the fuel to Europe as “biodiesel.” The Splash and Dash Correction Act of 2008, now with the House Ways and Means Committee, seeks to plug this loophole by amending the Internal Revenue Code.]

The government is squandering more of our tax dollars as a free giveaway to the powerful robber-baron oil companies. It’s disguised as a dollar-a-gallon subsidy — a $1 rebate for every gallon of refined diesel they export, as long as it has 10% biological content. That’s export — not to sell to our trucking industry in this country.

Diesel fuel, which is cheaper to refine than gasoline, is being exported by millions of gallons to get this extra dollar per gallon out of the public’s pocket, instead of it going to our trucking industry to help ease the consequences of the government invading a sovereign nation — the real catalyst for rising oil prices. Let’s not forget that when our current president came into power, diesel was at a fair market price of $1.38 per gallon. Even at a high inflation rate, it barely would have made $2 per gallon by now, and probably a more realistic price would be $1.75 per gallon.

How many of the dollars driving up the market prices are being funneled via the back door from the oil companies and the Middle Eastern and other oil-exporting countries to keep the price of oil artificially inflated?

When will the president and his administration have the decency to release some of the American people’s massive, bought-and-paid-for oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to burst this bubble? We need to get oil prices back where they should be — around the $55-per-barrel mark.

These sad prices are bringing in quadruple tax dollars to federal and state governments. Is there really an incentive to help the people?

In the meantime, I have my truck parked because I can’t afford the diesel to run it.

Mike Shevlin
Owner-Operator
Shevlines
Evansville, Ind.

55-mph Speed Limit

It would be interesting to see what the feeling is about changing the speed limit back to 55 mph. The biggest way a trucking company can save money right now is to get better miles per gallon from their equipment. Many companies are turning trucks down to accomplish this, but the other problem is that it creates driver turnover. Drivers do not want to drive 62 mph if the speed limit is 65 mph or 70 mph.

If the federal government would allow additional funding to states that reduce speed limits, I think many states would jump on board with this program.

It also would allow less consumption from the public, therefore lowering fuel prices, because of supply and demand not being so great.

Randy Schoen
Driver Recruiter
Overnite Express Inc.
St. Paul, Minn.