gonna show you what I'm made of

esterday, I forked out some cash to have my truck washed during some down time in southern Pennsylvania. It was all pretty and shiny. Then I went across the street to fuel. While doing so, I checked the oil and upon seeing that I was low, proceeded to fill it with a half gallon of motor oil. Later that evening, I headed for West Virginia to pick up my load, then headed across the mountains toward Columbus.

Imagine my dismay when I stopped for the night near New Stanton, PA to discover this:

In a brilliant display of absent-mindedness I had neglected to put the cap back on the oil pipe after filling it that afternoon. The hard-driving necessitated by pulling a 43,000 pound load over the mountains for three hours had caused quite a bit of back-wash of oil to be thrown upward out of the pipe. The entire left side of the motor is coated in oil. I got her washed again this afternoon, but there is still oil flying out from underneath the hood from the nooks and crannies. It'll be a while before that dries out.

Way to go, me!

Tags: truckgeek

20 comments — :

( 20 comments — Leave a comment )

moonpuppy

2006-05-23 09:54 pm (UTC)

awww, that's sad.

how much does it take to get a truck washed?

soopageek

2006-05-24 02:03 am (UTC)

For a basic wash, between $30-40 depending on where you are.

navygreen

2006-05-24 02:26 am (UTC)

Ouch! I had no idea. It sucked anyway, but now knowing that, it REALLY sucks.

democritus

2006-05-23 10:01 pm (UTC)

Ahh damn that sucks.

stemware

2006-05-23 10:30 pm (UTC)

I've done that in a car. It generally contains itself to the engine compartment, though.

(Deleted comment)

2006-05-24 02:09 am (UTC)

Heheh. And this photo was taken the day after, right before I washed it for the second time. I can only imagine what my expression must've been like the night before when I first saw it.

stormodacentury

2006-05-24 01:10 am (UTC)

Ack. I did that once, but it was nowhere near that bad - I was able to clean it up more than sufficiently with paper towels.

hockeyfag

2006-05-24 01:24 am (UTC)

apparently he missed the day in trucking school where they said to double check the cap after you fill it ;)

2006-05-24 02:06 am (UTC)

Hehehhe. Actually, I know what the problem was. I have this fancy new funnel that I was using for the first time. It has caps that go on either end so that the oil residue doesn't leak everywhere once you return it to the sidebox. I was so busy remembering to put the caps back on it that remembering the oil cap on the motor just slipped my mind.

In short, I'm a moron.

2006-05-24 02:04 am (UTC)

I did it once, too. In my first year, in my very first truck. I feel like such a rookie.

bustednut

2006-05-24 03:11 pm (UTC)

Hehe, exactly why I'll always refuse to wash my truck, it's greasy, ugly and dusty. Oh and blows oil all over the passenger foot rails. I figure if it's not clean it can't get much dirtier.

Kind of sucky that it would happen right after a wash though, how much oil in total did you lose?

2006-05-28 03:19 am (UTC)

I'm awful about keeping the truck washed, too. When I was a company driver I got one free commercial wash per month, but I was lucky if I got it done a few times a year.

2006-05-28 11:36 pm (UTC)

I tried to reply to this this morning through the email browser and apparently it wouldn't let me.

When I got to Volletts to leave I found out my truck was completely washed and detailed. I didn't expect that at all. Also it just went in for the annual safety, and as it turned out that couldn't have happened at a better time. When border crossing I was watching and there was a state trooper eyeballing me and another truck, I thought sure as shit whoever's done with their paperwork was going to get pulled in by him. It was me, he did an inspection of the truck and all the paper work. On the good side I got a piece of paper that says the truck fits all standards for Michigan highways.