The practice of winterizing a fleet has changed drastically from even just five or 10 years ago. Gone are the days of making adjustments on each truck based on historical perceptions or relying on experience.
Today’s advanced maintenance data analytics and technology has equipped progressive fleets with the tools and resources they need to make more informed decisions, eliminating the need for guesswork. Furthermore, while many fleets must begin to make adjustments in October and November, winterizing today is actually an annual process built around seasonal preparation.
Fleets and their maintenance/technician departments must have a plan – not just for the winter, but for the entire year. Everything starts with preventative maintenance (PM) and the ability to calendarize the PM plan. The maintenance a fleet does and prepares for in the spring and summer will have a different focus than that of winter, and fleets must be able to identify the trends and areas that colder climates may affect more so than in the warmer climates.
For example, a fuel filter that has some water in it in April and May won’t offer many problems. However, that same filter in November and December will be a completely different story if you’re operating north of I-70. This can result in a breakdown on the side of the road, which affects everything from driver morale, safety, routing and other costs like on-call maintenance.
Setting the appropriate annual plan will be key to establishing the right PM checklist at different times of the year.
Another key area to focus on is your fuel system. Many maintenance professionals and technicians still look at it as a filter, but today it’s a complete system. In the winter months trucks move into higher idle applications. For many of today’s trucks we talk about a five-minute idle set, but the reality is that the truck allows a five-minute idle after it reaches normal operating temperature. Therefore, that increased idle during the winter months is going to cause additional soot to enter the diesel particulate filter (DPF) and can impact the entire system.
More specifically, you have the seventh injector, which is inserting additional fuel for the engine burn. There is also the filter, which includes the crossover pump, as well as the fuel blend, which has great consideration. Fleets can see as much as two- to three-tenths MPG reduction during the winter months, not only from just the change in fuel and different blends, but also cold tires, cold transmission, cooler fluids, etc. A truck that typically reaches 7.3 MPG could drop to 7, even if you’re doing everything correctly.
