To most people, semis are as big and powerful as it gets on the road. However, to those of us who drive them, we know that they can often be just as temperamental as an early model car. When you’re on a tight schedule, nothing is as frustrating as turning the key to your truck and finding out it refuses to start. Fortunately, the following tips can often be the solution you need before calling a semi trailer repair shop.
When your computer doesn’t start, most technicians will first ask you to check and make sure that it’s plugged in and all the other wires are connected. The same goes for your truck. You can avoid a lot of unnecessary anxiety and even an embarrassing service call if you start out by confirming that all the cables and wires under your hood are in the right places. Check your battery connections and make sure the connections are very clean. If your batteries are equipped with a fuse, also check that. You can check the fuse box to make sure all of your fuses are working or you can contact a semi trailer repair shop.
Obviously, another place you’ll want to take a look at is your fuel gauge. Long hours on the road can make even the most experienced veterans forget to fuel up from time to time. If you still see problems, you will need to contact a semi trailer repair shop.
Along the same lines, you want to check your sensors too. There are probably almost as many in your truck as there are wires and they can be just as influential. If any of them are not plugged in or wires are chaffed, this could cause a not start issue.
If your semi-truck uses glow plugs, this could also be at the heart of the issue. They could need as many as 20 seconds before they’ll allow your engine to work, so be patient before ruling them out.
These problems are among the most common that keep truckers from being able to get their semis on the road. Run through this list if you ever have the same problem before call a semi trailer repair shop.