Serious problem here, would appreciate any advice. My boss bought a new R420 unit, got it on the road on the 1st of Sept, all seemed great till I took it out for it’s 1st trip. Loaded for Inverkeithing I left the depot in Elgin all excited with my shiny new truck, that lasted about 20 seconds, I had only driven 50 yards when I discovered what i can only describe as a vibrating drone in the cab. I drove through Elgin heading west then leaving town encountered the first gradient where the motor had to do some work, the airbourne vibration was by this time beginning to really irritate my middle ear and when the motor hit 1500 revs the discomfort turned to pain. Continuing on my not so merry way up over the Dava moor I eventually had to stop after only 1 hour to give my head a rest. To cut a long story short, Scania have done various sound tests and decided the problem lies with my hearing! So after 3 different tests I discover my hearing is perfectly normal but the pain continues every time I drive the thing. (been driving lorries for over 30 years never experienced this before) Two other people have have expressed a discomfort when driving it, one described it as “like descending too fast in an aircraft”. The long and short of it is I can’t drive it, Scania have washed their hands of it and I will shortly be out of a job!
ps From day one of the problem arising, Scania have declined my requests to try another unit!!
Typical Scania they have your money and if you are not a fleet customer its goodbye. Could be a propshaft problem, running out of line can cause a whine through the gearbox.
williemac:
Typical Scania they have your money and if you are not a fleet customer its goodbye. Could be a propshaft problem, running out of line can cause a whine through the gearbox.
It doesn’t seem like a whine Wullie, from reading this post.
Only thing I can suggest is, going for a short run with another Scania driver in their wagon.
To find out if its just your wagon, or if it’s more wide spread. If it’s more wide spread, other drivers may not be able to hear the noise but could be getting frequent head aches or some other problem and not know whats causing it.
If other people driving your wagon can also hear it, or experience discomfort when driving your wagon, it clearly isn’t ‘just you’ even if you get the effect stronger than others.
This seems like one of those things that unions are really good at sorting out, are you in one ?
I thought for a moment it could be a noise generator for keeping young people away from the truck affecting you. But your too old if you’ve been driving for 20 years .
My last truck was a 420 scanny, smooth and quiet as silk. If it does it according to road speed rather tan engine speed, regardless of what gear, low or high range, it could be propshaft or mainshaft in the gearbox.
What about the diff itself.
What about the harmonic balancer on the front of the crankshaft, or even a dodgy engine mounting.
One thing’s for sure, the excuse about it being your hearing’s a load of ■■■■■■■■.
A difficult one!
If after checking your hearing you have been declared OK, then your boss would have no grounds to sack you , so job loss SHOULD not be an issue.
Your boss does have an obligtion under health and Safety to sort this out, but you may not want to get heavy with him at this stage.
If your hearing is OK then the fault MUST lie with the vehicle,(or your imagination as they no doubt suggest) either as a design fault or something particular to this vehicle.
You do not say how your boss has reacted to this problem but if the fault is particular to this vehicle then it is of a matter of financial concern to him, as if there is a fault with something not operating as it should then there is going to be a component failure in the future.
I am guessing that you work for a small operator ,as a larger one would simply have given the vehicle to another driver to alleviate the problem or actually show that there is a problem.
Could you not get your boss to accompany you on a short drive to see if he is affected?
The way I see it is, although the problem affects you, the remedy is in the hands of your boss as he is Scanias’ customer.
I know there will posts suggesting legal action, refusing to drive etc, but guess that at this time you do not want to antagonise your boss with getting heavy.
I would suggest pointing out to him that if there is a fault then it needs to be sorted as otherwise he could be in for a large bill or resulting in missed loads etc. or even worse if the propshaft is fauty and fails at the front UJ.
Perhaps you can persaude your boss to raise the issue with Scania at a higher level than local dealer.
Not driven Scanias on a regular basis for a long time but when I have I have always found them to be fairly quiet and have never encountered your problem.
Not a lot of help I know but best of luck with it.
You’ve got the gist of the problem there Simon, was hoping some other drivers maybe have similar problems. No union here but the boss is 100% on my side, after all he has a 60grand Scania ornament sitting out front. That “harmonic balancer” sounds interesting, the problem is definately “firing order” related. The last wagon was also a 420. 53reg, quiet and smooth!
Just read your post del, don’t think the boss wants to sack me, he has himself experienced this “discomfort” in the cab, he said he didn’t hear anything untoward but after a short journey (1Ml) he had a strange “echo” in his head when he spoke! He also hired an accoustic engineer to do some tests on the vehicle, the results were quite normal except for acouple of high peaks on the floor vibration graph so I hope once these are analysed something positive can be done. It is a relatively small company with 7 vehicles only one of which is an artic which I am employed to drive, so if Scania refuse to accept responsibility for what I consider to be “goods not fit for purpose” then either the boss says “that’s ok I’ll buy you another lorry” ha ha or I find another job.
I must state that I love my job and have absolutely no problems with my superiors.
I know it would not be a permanent answer but did you try earplugs or similar?
It’s good that your boss is doing what he can - after all he has a legal responsibility for your health and wellbeing. The problem is really one of diagnosis and I hope the acoustic scan comes up with something.
Certainly sounds like something is wrong with it, Could be a number of things, my first thought was prop U/J too. But could be a cylinder down, dodgy injector, valve gear probs etc.
Your boss will have to be more forceful or resourceful and take it to another dealer or independent and get a proper diagnosis and when they do find what it is, charge Scania with the bill.
I would get trading standards involved, they must sell a vehicle that is fit for purpose, sounds to me that it is unfit for a human being to operate it, you may also consider ACAS and the H&S Executive, not to get them involved at this stage, but it may put some pressure on the supplying dealer, I would also pen a letter to Scania themselves.
Tried the ear plugs etc, no difference, in fact if I stick my fingers in my ears it seems to make it worse!! Still hoping someone out there has experienced a similar problem! No comment on the “pile of ■■■” but maybe the “fanny in the scanny” had a similar problem and was trying to get rid of it !!
Bucket:
Tried the ear plugs etc, no difference, in fact if I stick my fingers in my ears it seems to make it worse!! Still hoping someone out there has experienced a similar problem! No comment on the “pile of ■■■” but maybe the “fanny in the scanny” had a similar problem and was trying to get rid of it !!
Thats it. You mentioning putting your fingers in your ears will mean you took both hands of the steering wheel.
Now your gonna get it
Bucket:
Tried the ear plugs etc, no difference, in fact if I stick my fingers in my ears it seems to make it worse!! Still hoping someone out there has experienced a similar problem! No comment on the “pile of ■■■” but maybe the “fanny in the scanny” had a similar problem and was trying to get rid of it !!
Thats it. You mentioning putting your fingers in your ears will mean you took both hands of the steering wheel.
Now your gonna get it
I thought hands free was ok joe. Or is it just me?
Bucket:
Tried the ear plugs etc, no difference, in fact if I stick my fingers in my ears it seems to make it worse!! Still hoping someone out there has experienced a similar problem! No comment on the “pile of ■■■” but maybe the “fanny in the scanny” had a similar problem and was trying to get rid of it !!
Thats it. You mentioning putting your fingers in your ears will mean you took both hands of the steering wheel.
Now your gonna get it
I thought hands free was ok joe. Or is it just me?
It is. I saw it on Ice Road truckers. That man got up and walked around his cab. So it must be fine over here
Just had another thought. The 420 I drove used to play up in a certain spot in Brisbane where I went over a rail bridge that had 25 kv wires over the track. It would lose heaps of power, make more noise than usual, and the EDC (electronic diesel control) light came on. I had to stop, shut down the motor and turn the key off, wait about 30 or 40 seconds and all was ok again, until I went over that bloody bridge. Just wondering if you’ve got any HT wires that you go over or under.
Ps, I spoke to other scanny drivers, and some, but not all had a similar problem.
.
or I find another job. 
