Battery & Charging Systems | Semi Truck Repair

Are battery and charging system checks a regular part of your routine preventative maintenance schedule?

While many fleet managers stand by the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” we prefer to be more proactive in our preventative maintenance programs. After all, the idea is to prevent further maintenance, right?

The JAM fleet sees a variety of system checks on a rolling calendar basis. For example, at the end of May/beginning of June, we scheduled our vehicles out of service one at a time, checked their A/C systems, recharged if necessary, and then put them back in service. Planning these types of PM services during a vehicles downtime ensured we weren’t shorthanded (or short vehicled – as it were) and it also made sure our vehicles were properly maintained for the upcoming season. (Have you ever driven a vehicle with no A/C on a 90 degree day… after you just got finished wrenching under the hood of a hot truck??? It’s akin to walking through the fiery gates of hell. Seriously.  It’s about that bad.)

In the same vein, right around the time school starts back for the little ones, we start running each vehicle in our fleet through a battery and systems check. Our batteries are load tested to make sure they’re at full strength and their cold cranking amperage (CCA) is up to par for the dropping temperatures. Charging systems, alternators, and ignition systems are also checked to ensure that we can get our vehicles started, and once they’re started, keep them running. If there’s a problem, we catch it right then, in the shop, and correct it–instead of on the side of the road, when we’re supposed to be en route to a service call or a delivery. We value our time and our money; and we realize that taking these precautionary measures saves us both.

(Hint: In keeping true to our mission of “Creating Raving Fans” we’ll be running a FREE battery and systems check promotion next month. Stay tuned!)