i have a few modernish trucks, we are plagued with never ending electrical warning lights coming on, We take them to the main dealers, they either just cancel the warning lights, and they come on the next day again, or spend ages looking for the fault, cant find the problem, charge a fortune and eventually get to the problem, it seems to me like they just arent interested in electrical faults either as there too much hassle for them, really ■■■■■■ off with it now.Has gotten to the satage of looking at 113 scanias and f12 volvos again, does anybody else have similar problems.
I think you’ve just started the longest thread on this forum, possibly the whole internet 
Electrics are crap, they are controlling things far too much, on paper they’re a good idea as they increase efficiency and make lorries much better, but in the real world they’re a [zb]ing nightmare, nothing needs to be broken to put a lorry on the side of the road anymore, all it takes is a two bob sensor and you’re going nowhere 
Worst of all is the fact that fitters (technicians as they like to be called now ) haven’t got a bloody clue how to fix anything anymore, they plug the laptop in and replace the parts that it tells them to replace, half the time the part they replace isn’t the cause of the problem it is just a symptom and then they keep chucking parts at it until finally they get to the root of the problem…if you’re lucky
If you don’t run into the LEZ, the 113-360 is the perfect lorry to run, all you need in your parts store are filters and a couple of alternators
newmercman:
I think you’ve just started the longest thread on this forum, possibly the whole internetElectrics are crap, they are controlling things far too much, on paper they’re a good idea as they increase efficiency and make lorries much better, but in the real world they’re a [zb]ing nightmare, nothing needs to be broken to put a lorry on the side of the road anymore, all it takes is a two bob sensor and you’re going nowhere
Worst of all is the fact that fitters (technicians as they like to be called now
If you don’t run into the LEZ, the 113-360 is the perfect lorry to run, all you need in your parts store are filters and a couple of alternators
No what you mean there , I had umpteen diff parts fitted to a xf 95 once wich I imagine cost Daf 1000s (r n m contract) cos the computer said this that n the other when they actually got to the root of the problem it was a tupne hapne part that needed changing glad I wernt paying the bill had the fitter TECNITION been allowed to investigate manually a lot of money and time could of been saved
You’ve answered your own question, it is time to buy Volvo or Scania.
DAF XF105, numerous electrical faults, I drove it from new and it was a nightmare, the worst was when the electric windows started going up and down when you pressed the brake pedal, the wipers would come on intermittently for no reason, I had lost count of the fuses and bulbs I replaced, every time I got in it I had to replace something, in the end I was in Holland when the windows would not go back up at all, so I went into DAF and they ended up replacing the wiring loom in the cab, it had been chafing where the cab moves on the mounts, the UK DAF dealer had looked this truck over at least half a dozen times trying to diagnose the problem, DAF in Holland said it was a common problem and had been flagged as a problem.
Not enough time is spent in testing these machines before being released on the open market, I think they put a truck out after basic testing and see what the dealers report back.
is it realy true if so how far back would you have to go to get a problem free ish truck been thinking about this myself for a while now alot has to be said about running an older motor i heard of some real nightmares with some newish trucks with very expensive parts that would as said put it on the side of the road that dont even exsist on an older motor
Years back an old od I knew ran an old Leyland Terrier (7.5 tonner), he then got more work and “upgraded” to a Leyland Reiver, he was so nervous about buying this other wagon because it had and air operated two speed axle, he used to say “just summat else to go wrong wi it”, in fact he ended up buying a Volvo FL6 in the late 90’s and kept it till he retired in 2004, never put a spanner on it he used to say.
I must say from personal experience that older motors were okay in the day, first truck I had was a J reg Scania 111, it was well worn when I had it but it never broke down on the road, the new trucks I have driven are a far cry from their older counterparts, super quiet and comfy now compared to noisy and heavy then, I am not sure that old trucks would cope in the modern world as such.
My man spent four days off the road with electric problems, got it back half an hour later, all the warning lights back on, vovlo fh12 the same, the truck mechanicals are fine, its the electrics which go wrong all the time, we have had abs light come on at test today on the fh, so that failed, Got an 010 man, edc light on, engine managment light on, all been back three times, none of the main agents are any better than the others, find me a 113 topliner, on air with a tag, and iwill buy it, put an exhaust on it for london, and reckon in the long run it will be way cheaper
You wouldn’t want to go back any further than a late 3 series, but even then I would have reservations, the old mechanical pumps were never as good on fuel as EDC and you also have a problem with fuel getting into the oil and wearing out the bottom end prematurely, modern coolants would eliminate cavitation, so porous liners would not be the problem they once were, or you go EDC, but as simple as possible, the early ones were a joke, so that really restricts you to a Euro 3 Daf, a Euro 2 FH or Scania 4 series, most of them are in Africa or the Gulf now, so you’ll be lucky to find what you need, bit of a nightmare really 
Either that or go brand new and turn them over every two years, that’s a huge drain on cashflow, but it seems to work for the big boys 
You’ve hit the nail on the head nmm. Years ago old motors were fairly cheap to maintain. But anything built this side of 2006 costs a fortune when it goes wrong. I truly believe build quality has suffered as a result of emissions compliance. Using inferior parts seems to be the only way to remain price competitive, due to the high cost of achieving emission standards. If you can’t afford to lease a brand new motor every 2 years, the only way to eliminate the costs of breakdowns, then you may as well throw the towel in, you’re just ■■■■■■■ in the wind.
New vehicles are pretty fuel efficient and largely emission free.With I shift etc. pretty much numpty proof.The crunch comes when no one without main dealer diagnostics cannot do anything to revive a poorly one.The real killer is that the all singing…etc. piece of kit that the dealer (only) has is only as good as the person who interprets the info.And then you pay… and pay,negating all those fuel savings.
Glad you mentioned i shift, thats a load of pants too, 900 quid for a gear stick, next truck i buy will be with a manual gearbox, and if you cant drive it, your probably in the wrong yard anyway, i dont reckon modern fuel consumption is that much better, we average 7.2 mpg, which is rubbish really.
Why i bought a Hino, no electrics just a normal old-fashioned lorry. All those CANBus systems scare the bajeezus out of me!
I think the problem goes alot further than just the electrics in the truck and maybe also what a fleet truck and what an owner drivers truck should be 900 quid for a i shift gearstick where the hell do they get that figure from thats got to be a joke
im running an 05 volvo fh , 12v and radio packed in , checked fuses ok , 2 days later ,after a night out truck would not start , ran it back to louth , once i got it going again, checked the batteries (6 months old) you never know.
batteries at the time ok , monday morning flat as a ■■■■, got it going and all off a sudden radio and 12v working,took it to volvo turned ignition off while i went in to see them, cmae back to truck ,no radio or 12v but it started ,they checked batteries ok , fuses ok , no power to radio and 12v checked dropper and found that it blew fuses so they changed dropper, everything working fine ,truck has been parked for a week , whilst ive been on holiday, been to it twice to fire it up ,yesterday flat as a ■■■■ no radio or 12 v ,anyone had a similar prob or any idea what to try next,
Silver_Surfer:
You’ve answered your own question, it is time to buy Volvo or Scania.
Silver_Surfer:
You’ve answered your own question, it is time to buy Volvo or Scania.
I’m not sure they’re necessarily any better, a chap I work with has just had to replace the main wiring loom on his 56 plate FH12 and it has cost him a fortune in both parts, labour and downtime. The old loom was slowly disintegrating and after getting the 3rd or 4th broken wire in it repaired he decided to just bite the bullet and replace the whole thing.
Paul
repton:
Silver_Surfer:
You’ve answered your own question, it is time to buy Volvo or Scania.I’m not sure they’re necessarily any better, a chap I work with has just had to replace the main wiring loom on his 56 plate FH12 and it has cost him a fortune in both parts, labour and downtime. The old loom was slowly disintegrating and after getting the 3rd or 4th broken wire in it repaired he decided to just bite the bullet and replace the whole thing.
Paul
Paul, to me the Volvo ‘thing’ referes to version 1 trucks, the electronics in the version 2 vehicles are totally rubbish & I’d rather go to work in my old F16 than our 05 reg ishift FH460. I don’t like ‘auto’ box’s in trucks, although as often mentioned on here the Volvo auto is without doubt the best of the bunch, we had to replace the lever on a 55 reg Stralis & that was £1,100, the boss has the old one as a paper weight on his desk to remind him of the pain!!!
Ross.
Yeah i was refering back to a 3 series scania, or an old f series vovlo, just an update on my man, it spent four days in a man dealer, then i had to drag it out cos i actually needed to do some work, i dropped it off again last monday, and its still in there now, i have so far spent 1300 quid on parts, let alone labour… rang em friday, they replied, we havent as yet sorted all the lights, so i then had to hire a unit to add insult to injury!
what about an erf again…
richmond:
what about an erf again…
We both know a man who can help you out with one of them
Think i saw a posting on fb that said he had sold it… bit too new for me anyway, was thinking of restoreing me yard shunter a c series…if you could get the parts, man still in dealers to get warning lights off, day8 now, buyers beware… trouble is, i got two of the blighters…