It’s official. I hate Scania 4-series to the same extent I hate Renault Premiums 
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Second shift completed for a local haulier in a topline Scania 420 4-series, on a 53-plate.
How can driver’s like them ? ? ? I just don’t get it. They are truly [zb] with a capital S.
Now don’t get me wrong, this one on the face of it looks like it’s a pretty tidy and well looked after motor :
Tried to unlock the door with the key; no joy. Key fits in the lock okay but the key won’t turn either way. Eventually had to get a pair of plier’s on the key and use excessive force open it up.
Went to check fluids. Pulled front corner out and it fell off in my hand. All the hinges had snapped off. Great. 
Got in, fired it up and cranked the blower on to the cold setting and set it at blower speed 4 and opened the vents. Despite the noise of the blower whizzing away there was [zb] all air coming out of the vents, regardless of what position the vents control knob was set at. Also, why does it blow out warm air when the air temp is less outside and the engine hasn’t be on for some considerable time? Really bloody annoying. Had to open the windows instead but that just results in a hurricane like effect with all your notes being blown all over the place 
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Turned the headlights on and immediately considered going home and bringing some candles back with me as they’d more than likely provide more illumination. (Yes they were cleaned before anyone says, and the height adjuster adjusted correctly).
Went to couple up an empty trailer and that was when I really got mad. There is a notice on the board in the foyer stating that lift-axles must be in the lowered position before coupling up loaded trailers but there is no explanation why. I asked a driver about this ages ago and he said it’s something to do with the air dumping from the unit if you don’t lower it. Still didn’t really answer my question and I still don’t know why this is necessary.
Anyway, getting back to the tale, lift-axle was up and I had just started lowering the drive axle suspension with the console as I was reversing under. Once I knew I was under I started lifting it up to “catch” the trailer and lift the legs off the ground ready for the pin to engage. Suddenly the clutch pedal went rock hard, my left foot was catapaulted up off it - which of course resulted in reverse gear being fully engaged instead of my feathering it and the unit slammed under the trailer extremely forcefully before the engine stalled.
Upon re-starting the engine I noticed that air tank no.1 had emptied itself from 10 bar to under 5 bar, just like that. Once the air built up again everything worked as it did before. Really annoyed at the above happening. Why did it do it? Very dangerous and never had this happen with any other truck make.
Got out on the road and things didn’t improve. Why do all Scania 4-series have that feeling that the transmission and steering components have only been very loosely “secured” to the chassis? They wobble and shake about like there’s no tomorrow and I’ve known better steering response from a barge. Talking of the steering, why is steering wheel the size of Kent needed ?
Now the exhaust brake is playing up. It was working as I was driving round the yard but now when I need it coming down the hill out of the estate to a T-junction it’s suddenly stopped working, despite the switch being in the ‘on’ position. This carried on throughout the night, working whenever it felt like it and not when I needed it most.
Next problem was the seat. No, it wasn’t back related either. The problem is that the seat very slowly drops down as you’ve driving along. Then it lifts you up a bit, then drops you down etc. If you try to lift it up further using the ‘raise’ switch you find that it’s already at the top, despite only just being able to see over the dashboard .
I parked up for my break and decided to get an hour’s kip on the bunk. Virtually impossible due to having a tractor chugging away in the cab with me. Really? Surely not? Well okay, slight exaggeration then, but I’m actually referring to the tacho barrel which makes 300dB of noise in your lug-hole regardless of what you set the mode switch to.
Soon after trailer swapping at my destination and making the 2 hour journey back the full beam wouldn’t disengage at all and I had to drive back with it locked on. I turned the headlight level adjuster right down which helped but I apologise to oncoming vehicles 
. Oh and not forgetting that hitching up to my new trailer to bring back, fully loaded weight wise and with the lift-axle in the down position I was once again catapaulted under the trailer at warp factor 9 and air tank no.1 emptying itself again, despite not even getting chance to touch the suspension console this time .
Surely nothing else can go wrong? Yes, it can! Was running down Leeds & Bradford road just coming round the chicane over the railway bridge at the bottom of Idle High St when the driver’s door flew open . It’s a very good job I was wearing my seatbelt as my leg was rested against and it was only the seatbelt that stopped me falling out. I can assure you the door was firmly closed as you can allus tell with the Scania’s when they’re only on first notch as the wind whistles round them like no tomorrow. Reported it when I got back and apparently this has been to Scania on Geldard Rd three times for it to be repaired and guess what, they can’t find anything wrong with it .
They’re an absolute bag of [zb]. Any driver that likes the 4 series needs their head examining, seriously.
In fact, I’d actually prefer to drive a Renault Premium over a Scania now.
Oh I nearly forgot to mention the upper bunk smashing down to with a few inches of my head as well, when I was driving along. Couldn’t do anything about it as I was in traffic. Pulled away on an uphill gradient and then nearly crashed and 13 tonne of [zb] off the bunk rolled off it into my lap, including a portable TV, maps, mags, cab cleaning gear, bedding etc .
