Check gauges

[JJR512]

Friday night I'm driving an ambulance for my private/commercial company. I start to notice a smell of coolant. Temperature looks fine, it's near the end of the night, I decide to continue and report it when I get back. A bit later I notice some white smoke coming from the tailpipe while we're transporting a discharge patient to a nursing home. My partner calls the dispatcher who instructs us to deliver the patient then return to the office. We continue on to the nursing home but by the time we get there, the temperature gauge is practically maxing out. Just as I'm about to turn it off, the gauge goes back to normal. We get rid of our patient and call the office; the dispatcher insists that we try to drive the unit back to the office, about 10 miles. Most of the way back, the unit is expelling profuse quantities of white smoke, the temp gauge keeps going up to max and back to normal, and the unit occasionally runs really rough and sluggish. But they insist we drive it back. I guess their theory is they'd rather pay a larger repair bill than tow bill; oh well, whatever.

I got a shot of the temp gauge just as I got back to the office:

Additionally, a red "Check gauge" indicator was lit up under the tachometer, and a wrench icon was lit up on the lower left side of the instrument panel.

 

[reaper]

Blew the headgasket! They should have had it towed! Now they toasted the engine.

 

[MMiz]

Our service would have had us pull over and have it towed. It looks like you have a problem on your hands.

 

[mikeylikesit]

either your temp gauge is faulty(i doubt it) or the head gasket is blown(your oil will look like chocolate milk brown)

 

[mycrofft]

Headgasket.

.......................

 

[mikie]

ouch, that would have sucked if you were transporting a patient and you needed a tow!

 

[KEVD18]

i had a similar deal once.

me and my partner signed on for the day. fwiw, he was an assis. supv at the time. so dispatch tells us that yesterdays crew has reported that they had noticed some coolant leaking out. we were told to drive the vehicle down to fleet, which is 40.28 almost entirely highway miles away. well i knew this was a bad move and i said so. they insisted so off we went.

maybe ten miles into the trip the temp guage has spiked and the motor is running a little rough. we pull off the highway into a service station and phone home. dispatch supervisor say put some coolant in it and get back on the road. we're an hour behind on the board. so we do, or try to. i literally watched the coolant pour out of the motor as fast as i poured it in. so i called in again. they said, and i quote, "i dont care. just get the truck down to fleet".

at this point, blowing this motor isnt just a possibility, it has become my goal. i had three separate recorded phone calls where i said this was going to end badly. they decided to ignore me, so game on! so we get back on the highway(bone dry mind you) and head for fleet. as we progress, the top speed of the ambulance is rapidly declining. theres smoking and knocking and all sorts of really bad noises. towards the end, the top speed we could manage was 15mph with the accelerator pinned. we're in the breakdown lane with the lights flashing so we dont get hit by people merging on. theres noises, smoke and uproarious laughter coming from the cab as me and my partner cant get enough of this. and then....

BOOM!!! we literally grind to a halt. oil starts pouring from the engine. i see what i can only imagine is some sort of engine part about 75ft back. smoke in abundance. as predicted, this trip didnt end well. we maid it almost half way. it would have been 300-500 for the tow. instead, they paid the tow, me and my partners pay for most of the day while we did nothing, and whatever a new motor cost.

this is one of the many examples of what is wrong with the private ambulance industry in massachusetts. i have laughed every time i have though of this story and many more like it.

 

[Jon]

Kev... it isn't just in Mass.

Way too many private companies only see the "now" not the future costs. Part of that is that the dispatchers and providers have the rental car philosophy "it isn't my vehicle". I saw the same thing when I worked security full time. They only worried about maintenance when the vehicles didn't run.

Why is it that preventive maintenance seems to begin and end with oil changes?

I remember when I was working Security full-time, it was pulling teeth to get bald tires replaced. And they wonder why we had accidents in the rain.

 

[Grady_emt]

Blown the Head Gasket myself once, couldnt make it to our contracted shop, nor back to base. Called Supv. who immediately sent out our logistics folks with a new truck for us to swap into, and they stayed with the buggy until the tow truck go there and rode to the shop with them.

We have a contract with one of the local tow companies as well. We pay $125 flat, no matter the distance/truck/problem, and they have to be there within 30 minutes.

 

[mikie]

We've had plenty of truck problems! It is nice having the cheif of the department own a auto mechanics/repair shop! We get all of the parts at cost and if it isn't a huge component or problem, we can usually get the truck turned around quickly. Though, if severe enough, we'll have to get the dealer to service it.