I had to get my truck jump started to get going the other day. Second time. I let our shop know about it and we figured the batteries were due to be replaced. We also figured that once I got my load delivered we would have me cruise into a dealership and have them install four new ones.

I delivered this morning, ran up to Cleveland to pick up my next load, some fabricated steel going to Texas, and then stopped by the Western Star dealership to have them put new batteries in my rig. Should have been a quick and easy deal. Yeah, right. I am in a hotel now.

Turns out there was nothing wrong with my batteries. Somewhere in the wiring of my truck there's a 60 amp draw that shouldn't be there. That's what was draining my batteries, and in a big damn hurry. When I pulled into the shop they opened my hood and the alternator was glowing a nice pretty cherry red from trying to feed this huge current draw. It wasn't too far from bursting into flames, which would have not been cool at all.

So now I am in a hotel room while they try to figure out where this huge current drain is coning from. While I was hanging aorund they pulled every fuse out of the fuse box and the current drain was still there. That isn't supposed to happen. The one thing they noticed was that even with every possible current source disconnected the transmission was cycling and trying to find neutral. It's an electronc transmission.

That's where they think the problem exists. Either the wiring harness into the tranny is bad or there's a bad part in the shifting circuits. Who knows?

Either way I'm not going to be making my delivery in Texas on Monday morning as planned.

While on the phone with my dispatcher I explained things to her and she was all for me just going ahead and driving to Texas to make the delivery. I told her I was ok with that but I was going to make sure all my stuff was packed and ready to toss out when the truck caught fire going down the road.

At that point she decided that maybe "R" should get involved and make the decision LOL. Naturally he decided that it might be a good idea to have the damn thing fixed before I went anywhere. Good call. Cherry red alternators are not a good thing no matter how cool they look.

With the economy and business as slow as it's been I can't afford this sort of bullshit. I need to be rolling and making money, not sitting around some damn hotel waiting for my truck to be repaired. Murphy's Law is in full effect and, as far as I am concerned, Murphy is an asshole.