Minor Athem issues

[Mackpro]

We have one Athem in our 25 Mack fleet and so far so good , but we had a few minor issues ( which I found out is very common) and one design change made a maintenance item a lot harder to do. First off the all Mack poewrtrain has been great . Only a couple of software updates have cleared up any codes we had. The M-310 trans and Mack rears have been good as well. We have heard of oil consumption issues with the common rail engines but our 4 have been normal. Here’s the issues we see. First , the door control panel that works the mirrors, windows and locks have gone out twice . This is super common, the control panel is actually a ECM and can flash out a error code if needed . Volvo butted in and forced their light control module in on Mack . So all the lights go through this ecm , there are 6-7 fuses that power this contraption . We replaced the fuses with breakers due to on going fuse blowing due to the many random trailers it pulls.  Lastly the cabin air filter which was super easy to check/replace/clean  is now way harder  to access due the rest-design. It’s in the same place but harder to get to . All in all it works every day and I can’t complain any more than that .  

[Bullheaded]

Western Star is bad for that too. The cab filters are a pain in the ass to replace.  You need to pull a plastic push pin (that usually breaks) then remove a torx head bolt to remove the dash panel. Then you need a 10 mm socket to remove a bolt that holds the cover on the filters. Then they you have to slide one in the slot, then try and lift it perfectly straight and hold it there so that you can slide the second one in.

And the worst part is they are useless to begin with.

 

I much preferred the aftermarket Cab Fresh filters I used on my Mack CH and International 5600i and 9900i. They filtered everything out and were easy to service.

[james j neiweem]

No sense taking something apart that's useless to begin with.