Silver_Surfer:
On the old 3 pedal opticruise, the dealer can change what gear is selected for moving off from standstill, it needs to be 3rd but some of them are programmed for 2nd or 1st gear which is useless.
If it’s the new 2 pedal, I presume that they can still re-programme what gear is selected when moving off as well. When you first start the engine, revs are limited for a about 10 seconds to prevent engine wear.
A new 6x2 topline r500 v8 was £80k four years ago. I would say the same spec motor would be 100k plus nowadays and i’d say an r730 would be 110k plus.
They do have torque limiters in them as well so you can’t hammer them.
On the 3 pedal one u can do that yrself (takes about 2 seconds if u can remember the sequence),if i have our p cabbed 420 for wotever reason, the first thing i do is see what gear its set in then change it to 4th, certain runs are very ‘light’…normally reset to 2nd when it goes for the 6 weeker…dunno about the 2 pedal but i would guess it can be reset,in the same way as the 3’s. 100k think how much megaspace i could have for that sorta dough [/quot
We have 440 artics and 400 drawbars with the three pedal opticruise, the 440 guys find them ok to live with, reasonable power and pull away once the start gear has been selected properly (from 2nd to 3rd). The 400 guys on the other hand find them a real struggle on pull away and hills when running fully freighted, just no guts and the auto box keeps jumping between gears because of the lack of power.
Either way my old R420 12 speed manual beats them hands down on hills
I drive 440’s probably twice a week at full weight, you really need to start from rest unless downhill in first the engine hasn’t got the power to cope with anything higher, a ■■■■■■■ it will never be…the 420’s were more tractable and would cope with 2nd or third fully laden unless uphill.
As a poster above i drive them in MH manual override all the time, i learned the ratios to road speed on a 3 pedal 06 plate auto i had for 3 years, not only does it help to make slightly less snails progress it saves fuel and isn’t quite so frustrating as the heap doesn’t come to almost a complete halt as the trailer tyres fight you on roundabouts, and its not quite so lethal when pulling away from junctions, don’t worry about wheelspin that’ll never be an issue…depending on route usually around the 8 to 9 mpg area over a day on open roads, down to 6 or less on one run that sees leaving almost every junction and roundabout uphill fully loaded.
ellies dad:
Drove a 4 series opticruise pre 2000 and it was the worst setup i ever had,then i drove an '06 R500 opticruise it was alot better but why a clutch pedal.
because it was a manual gearbox with a lot of electronics bolted on, rather than a full auto box
Spent a day on a R400 a couple of weeks ago, loaded the container in Barnsley to go back to leeds so that meant coming back through Barnsley to get to M1, mostly uphill and lots of traffic lights. Tried creeping upto lights so that I wouldnt have to stop put it was hopeless, ran out of steam everytime and ended up stopping, clutch down handbrake on ready for hill start, lights changed, selected 1st on the stalk let clutch up slowly to biting point, released hand brake, nothing, would rev at all, in fact it stalled and rolled backwards, hand brake back on, tried again same thing just wouldnt rev for a hill start, plod eventually arrived up side of wagon and asked if I was ok, said I was fine just a stupid auto having a paddy. But how are you supposed to set off in these opticruise if they wont let you build the revs up for a hill start from lights at 44t.
Finally just held the throttle pedal to the floor, still wouldnt rev at all and just released the clutch pedal a bit faster, its a very very small margin between it setting off and stalling. It seems like the clutch pedal is electronically managed and will not increase revs as long as your foot is on the clutch pedal, which for a hill start is stupid. Are they all like this or is there a setting for hill starts to build up the revs, next time he asks me to drive for him for a day then its the DAF manual or the Volvo ishift, such a let down, thought the scanias were supposed to be the bee knees. So glad this thread has appeared, felt really stupid and didnt want to say anything and in my defence I only drive part time as a hobby and when I miss the job I used to do and to keep my hand in as it were, problem is as I dont drive full time, trucks are changing so fast that when I do spend a day or two on them its like having to learn to drive again. Gladly though it seems its not just me who has problems with the opticruise.
marsden:
So glad this thread has appeared, felt really stupid and didnt want to say anything and in my defence I only drive part time as a hobby and when I miss the job I used to do and to keep my hand in as it were, problem is as I dont drive full time, trucks are changing so fast that when I do spend a day or two on them its like having to learn to drive again. Gladly though it seems its not just me who has problems with the opticruise.
For sure we’re going bloody backwards, trucks getting ever higher BHP badges whilst the ability to put the power down on the road seems to be in reverse, if you had a good 240 290 or 320 25 or more years ago they’d pull right down to stall revs without a murmer, and romp up hills too and pull away from junctions without causing bloody mayhen due to the snails pace…had this discussion with many old timers, they all seem to agree, you seem to need about 500hp now to give the equivalent on the road grunt as a good 14 litre 320 would provide in a previous life, strangled to buggery with emissions carp.
It isn’t just you Marsden i hate the bloody modern junk, fine on the motorway but ask 'em to do some hard work and they’re buggered, of the modern trucks we have i’d rather be in a manual 460 CF than anything else, its got enough controllable guts to do the job, but satans auto box even ruins that too.
When i got my first new three pedal 420 Scania i drove it in full auto, every now and again overriding the auto when it couldn’t cope, frequently.
I’d only had the thing a few days and had a delivery at a regular multi drop (which my previous auto Volvo coped with easily), leaving the drop still heavy (22+ tons unladen anyway) meant a hill start at a set of lights and tight left turn at the lights, the bloody thing started off ok then decided to change gear as i’m on the turn with the trailer still down the hill, course the bloody thing decided to have a short ■■■ break whilst sorting the next gear out and promptly stalled out in the middle of an A road traffic lights on a hill…oh bloody joy, never happened in the previous 29 years that i can recall when i operated the gearbox meself.
From that moment i learned to drive it manually, but you do need MH or it still goes for a ■■■ break between changes.
I like scanias always have but i wouldnt want one unless it was a V8.Total lack of power and yes a pain in the backside when setting off especially on a hill or busy roundabout but see them getting it rite in the future neither!
I don’t know about the bigger ones but I’ve recently driven an 11 plate p series, think it might have been a 280 and that had the four over four eight speed
I drive all Scanias on a regular basis…Auto, semi auto, and manual.
Scanias are in the main, piles of ■■■, but the manual version allows you drive properly.
Best thing about a Scania is the seat…Thats as good as it gets…And the turning circle.
att:
I drive all Scanias on a regular basis…Auto, semi auto, and manual.
Scanias are in the main, piles of ■■■, but the manual version allows you drive properly.
Best thing about a Scania is the seat…Thats as good as it gets…And the turning circle.
Can’t fault the turning circle. One of our drops is tight as hell to get into, multiple shunts, using the road opposite to reverse into to get in a straight line, we don’t always have it on the route, but there is another near it with a loading bay on the main road. Was parked in this bay one day and watched a 3663 Scania six legger come down and sweep straight in in one move.
My Dad’s just been given an R440 Topline on demo for a couple of days. It’s got the auto box and he says it’s sluggish getting away at roundabouts. Is this normal? I’ve seen theres an “ECON” button, does this work like the Hinos ECO button? He also said something about when in auto, it wont change into top gear. Any advice appreciated!
Had a rental R420 at our place a while back that wouldn’t find top, can only think that it’s limited to 52/53mph and wont go high enough up the revs to warrent the change…had to do that ourselves!!
Actrosman:
Had a rental R480 at our place a while back that wouldn’t find top, can only think that it’s limited to 52/53mph and wont go high enough up the revs to warrent the change…had to do that ourselves!!
That sounds right, he said his Foden has a higher top speed than the Scania and he does have to change manual with top gear. He’s really surprised his Foden is out-performing the Scania on fuel, power, and payload
Not sure about the auto scanny but the manual R480 topline I drove for a few days had a rev limiter for when pulling away. it was something gay like 900rpm. It’s to preserve the clutch life at the sacrifice of a fast pull away.
hes not got his foot resting on the clutch pedal by any chance,a lot of ours were moaning that the new 10 reg scanias were really slow to pull away, fitter says its something to do with sensor or something like that,make sure foots fully off pedal,i hadnt noticed it, but i just rested it on pedal and its right, it seems to do something to cut power.
here scania.co.uk/trucks/promotion/
