What separates a PM from an oil change
An oil change is a drain plug and a filter. A preventive maintenance service is the hour someone spends under the truck with a flashlight and a tire gauge while the oil drains, writing down what they find.
The oil change keeps the engine alive. The inspection keeps the truck off the shoulder of I-75 at 2 in the afternoon with a load that was due in Detroit at 4. The breakdown that costs a tow, a roadside call, a missed delivery and a driver’s day almost always announced itself at the last PM. Somebody has to be looking.
The intervals
Every OEM publishes a schedule for its engine and chassis, and the numbers move with the oil you run, the duty cycle and the idle hours. As ranges:
- Engine oil and filters: 25,000 to 50,000 miles on most current heavy-duty engines with the OEM-approved oil; shorter for vocational, short-haul and high-idle trucks. Oil analysis can justify the long end; nothing else should.
- Fuel filters: every oil change, or sooner with bad fuel.
- Coolant: test every PM for freeze point, pH and additive level; change on the OEM interval for the coolant type.
- Valve lash and overhead: often around 150,000 miles for the first set and longer after; engine specific.
- Air dryer cartridge: about every 12 months or 100,000 miles.
- DPF ash cleaning: 200,000 to 400,000 miles, shorter for vocational.
- Transmission and differential fluid: on the OEM interval for the fluid; synthetic goes much longer than conventional.
- Chassis grease: every 10,000 to 25,000 miles, more often in winter salt.
- Annual inspection: every 12 months under 49 CFR 396.17, to Appendix A to Part 396.
Check your OEM schedule. We keep the common ones on file and we build your PM calendar from the engine and chassis you actually run, not a generic chart.
What a PM covers here
A service
Oil and filter change, fuel filters, chassis lube, fluid levels, and the walk-around inspection: tires and pressures, lights, belts, hoses, leaks, air system drain and leak check, brake stroke check, wipers, mirrors, horn, the DVIR items. About two hours.
B service
Everything in the A, plus: air dryer service, coolant test and conditioner, battery load test and cable check, clutch adjustment, driveline and U-joints, suspension bushings and torque rods, king pin play, wheel bearing endplay, brake lining measurement, aftertreatment data review (soot and ash load, DEF system). About half a day.
C service
The B plus the annual DOT inspection to 49 CFR 396.17 and Appendix A to Part 396, performed by our qualified inspector, with the inspection report and sticker. Add valve lash, DPF cleaning, fluid changes and the OEM’s long-interval items as they come due. Usually one day.
Trailers get their own PM: brakes, lights, air system, landing gear, floor and doors, tires, and the annual inspection.
The records
49 CFR 396.3 requires every motor carrier to systematically inspect, repair and maintain every vehicle it controls, and to keep records of what was done, when, and the next due date, retained for a year while the vehicle is in service and six months after it leaves. An auditor asks for these. So does an attorney after a crash.
Every PM here produces a record that lists what was inspected, what was measured (brake stroke, lining, tread depth, battery capacity), what was repaired, and what is due next. Fleet customers get the records by vehicle so the file is ready when the audit letter comes.
In the bay or in your yard
Bay 16 runs PM during shop hours, Monday to Friday 8 to 5. For fleets in the Toledo area, the service truck does yard PM during the same hours: A services and inspections at your lot, so the truck does not lose a half day driving to us and back. B and C services and anything that needs a lift happen in the shop.
Four technicians, ASE certified, Cummins certified and International certified, NAPA Certified Truck Care Center with the parts counter on site, so a PM that turns up a cracked belt or a leaking hub seal gets the part the same visit. Repairs found during the PM are quoted before they start. Nothing gets added to the invoice that you did not approve.
Work carries the NAPA Over the Road Nationwide Limited Warranty, 12 months from the repair date.
What it does to the downtime number
The fleet that runs PM on schedule knows its downtime: the hours a truck is in the bay, planned, during the week. The fleet that runs to failure finds out its downtime on the shoulder, and it is never the same number twice. We do not print a savings figure because yours depends on your trucks, your routes and how far behind the schedule is today. What we can print: an A service is about two hours in a bay or at your lot, and most of the roadside calls we take are for things an A service catches.
Start with a conversation
Call for the current labor rate and the fleet terms. Tell us how many units, what engines, what duty cycle, and where they are kept. We will draft a PM calendar from your OEM schedules and tell you which services can happen in your yard. Call (419) 724-2475 or use the fleet request form and ask for the fleet conversation; it takes about fifteen minutes.