I bought a 2005 Freightliner. I had to do it in the dark as I don't know too much about this. I did pay a mechanic (a real one not a shadetree one) to go check out the truck.

However last night I downloaded the maintenance schedule for the truck. I see things are supposed to be changed at certain intervals. So I took back the truck today cause they were supposed to have it aligned and they didn't do it. While there I asked what was done to it and he said the tranny fluid and rear ends (sorry if I write this wrong, I'm learning though) so I asked for paperwork for it. That is if someone asks me if it was done I don't say things like "well they told me it was done", I verify everything.

Anyway I had them all running around and nobody could figure out if it was done or not. I have to go back tomorrow. I know the coolant is supposed to be changed at I believe 300,000 miles, but this was a Covenant truck and I don't know what they did. So to be safe should I just have the Coolant, Transmission and rear end fluid all changed? Or should I just send them out for some type of analysis.

I have a warranty on a lot of the parts still and so I don't want them to come back to me should there be a problem and say I neglected something.

Thanks

 

I would just spend the money and have the piece of mind that it was done, and that you can verify it was done.

 

And maybe do it some place other than where you bought the truck...say Petro or TA..where they will keep that record in their system for you. Unless you are gonna use the dealer for a lot of your work.

 

A good way to make sure a Dealer is changing the filter (I dont have a trick for the oil yet) is to write a random letter or number on the side of the filter that you can easily see but would not stand out as anything important to a mechanic. After the service is done go quickly look for the number or letter you wrote on the filter to see if it is still there. (I know it's usually obvious that a filter has been changed or not but this is just an extra helper )

 

inspect the fluid; does it smell burnt? does it appear cloudy? what colour is it?

most drain plugs are magnetic. they collect a forest of filings over time; if you remove the plug (while blocking the opening to avoid draining)..., the plug should be very clean if the fluid was changed, if the plug is covered in filings, it probably was not changed

 

Thank you for the tips and help I appreciate it.

 

Good idea! I doubt, that there is anything, was done, to that truck!
And I'm 100% sure about cooling system. Even most of O/O neglect this very important service. I do "flush and fill" every 2 years.