Servicing diesel engines in extreme temperatures

Nov. 1, 2018
Think of the challenges techs face who are responsible for the service and maintenance of fleets operating in extreme conditions year-round — like a mining company operating near the Arctic Circle!

One evening seven years ago, after a particularly rough day working at the head office of a Japanese vehicle manufacturer, I scanned the on-line job postings and noticed an ad from a remote, arctic mine site that sounded similar to the one I was doing at the time.

I submitted a resume I had on file along with a generic cover letter, clicked “submit” and didn’t think anything else about it, chalking it up to a mental escape after a tough day. Six weeks later I got an email offer to fly to a tiny, remote northern town for an interview and six months after that I was working at the site in some of the harshest conditions on the planet – seriously.

During the winter there’s maybe an hour or two of daylight – and yes, it’s brutally cold, down to -80F at times. The trucks and buses need to run at that temperature because they’re considered shelters.

Conditions on site are so harsh we don’t even order parts for “arctic” or “extreme cold” conditions because they’re never suitable for the environment we work in – we’d just have to take them off and make up our own stuff that can handle the job. And the parts we do order can take months to get to site. There’s no parts store on the corner – there’s not even a road 10 months of the year until the ice road gets built. Parts are flown in based on priority and can often get bumped for groceries or other, higher priority parts. It’s not uncommon to get techs flying in to site to bring parts up in their personal luggage and to patch up vehicles in the meantime so they’re safe to drive.

And not only that, since the pick-up trucks and buses on site are used as emergency shelters as well as for transportation and protection against curious or aggressive wildlife, the vehicles simply have to work because someone could freeze to death (or, in theory, get eaten) if they don’t – which is even more important when you have live and work with the people counting on you to keep their protective-shelter-transportation working, and you kind of like having them around.

Not only do the vehicles have to run reliably, oil or coolant leaks from the vehicles are simply not acceptable because any and all leaks have to be reported to the government agencies and the company can be fined or shut down if they don’t—which is obviously not good at all. And any contaminated soil needs to be flown off site and disposed of at huge expense. Ugh.

Perhaps the biggest difference, though, is how important the company’s safety record is and how this affects to their ability to keep operating so there’s an unbelievable amount of pressure to work safely and keep the workplace clean – more than I’ve ever seen, anywhere including the Japanese manufacturer. The company is fanatic about safety and shortcuts or unsafe acts typically get a person banned from site for good.

This is the view from the front of camp at lunch time – note the sun only comes up a little bit in the winter, and barely sets at all in the summer (which makes it tough to sleep on nightshift).

Aside from these differences though, the methods used to keep vehicles running in these harsh, remote conditions are similar to the ones used everywhere – pay attention to details, be ready for common repairs and listen to the customers.

But I’ll give them all the credit, techs working in this harsh environment definitely know how to keep vehicles running and overcome tough repair challenges while keeping the costs reasonable. And since many of the challenges we face up here are faced by techs all over the country, here are a few tips from the frozen  north which may help make any repair go smoothly when conditions are tough, resources are scarce and the vehicle simply has to work.

Common problems

Techs on site are split into two groups, the heavy equipment techs who keep the large equipment and heavy duty units working, and the light vehicle technicians who keep literally anything else with an engine that can be moved or dragged across the site operating well.

Mostly these are Ford 4x4 diesel trucks with crew cabs, but there are also school buses, highway trucks, firetrucks, ambulances, pumps, small engines, man-carriers, snowmobiles, ATVs, boats, portable heaters, geotechnical equipment, elevated work platforms  and light plants… and just about anything else you’d imagine on a worksite that’s cold and dark 9 months of the year.

That said, easily the most common problems fleet wide are diesel pick-up trucks with no-start conditions and DEF/regeneration system issues.

Usually the only way to get supplies to site is to fly them in — but for two months in the winter they’re driven up on an ice road.

No-starts on site tend to happen to people who aren’t used to plugging in a vehicle when it gets cold, or when the block heater’s cord itself goes bad (which is surprisingly common).  The fixes are similar to what they are in less extreme conditions – charge and test the batteries, replacing and repairing components as necessary and verifying that the block heater and cord are operational so the problem doesn’t happen again. Usually a quick and easy repair.

Regeneration system issues are also incredibly common since vehicles idle so much on site, up 24 hours a day in the winter.  

And, just like everywhere else in the country, regen issues tend to happen at the worst possible time and in the worst locations (on ramps, on blast patterns and in the middle of nowhere). The fix is the same as ever: add fluid if required, perform a manual regen and reprogram the system if required – it’s just much colder outside when these fixes happen.

A few cost-saving and fuel-saving “no-idle” initiatives have been introduced in the past, which then typically result in an increase in no-start conditions as the trucks freeze up after being shut off (and even the occasional engine replacement when people kept trying to start a frozen truck with no oil pressure) so the initiatives tend to get scrapped for a while until a new group tries introducing them again, with inevitably similar outcomes – unfortunately it’s just not a good idea to shut off a truck overnight when it’s -80°F outside.

And, as with most other places, attempts to remove and clean the DPF filter aren’t always successful so the filters need to be replaced and it’s tough to explain the large cost involved. No one wants to hear how much those things go for, even mining companies with planned maintenance budgets!

Keeping this truck running in the extreme cold isn’t an easy job, but peoples’ lives depend on doing it well.

No doubt the system causes aggravation, but it’s nice to be able to breathe and the law says they have to be installed on vehicles so, like techs everywhere else, we work with the systems and fix them when they go bad. Some things are the same everywhere.

Modifications and damage

Most of the trucks on site have been heavily modified for the harsh conditions they operate in, and like many modified vehicles this can cause problems when the companies that do the modifications off site aren’t aware of what they’re drilling into.

One time several pickups were down at the same time, waiting for the same part (the auxiliary radiator) to arrive because they’d all been punctured with a screw used to hold a bracket for a bolt-on system during the installation process – and the parts took months to arrive, and people were going nuts because there were no trucks available. (It’s not OK to operate a leaking unit because of the environmental issues involved so the trucks were parked until they could be fixed.)

 And it was taking forever for the parts to arrive – no amount of money or begging could get them to show up any quicker. And it was not fun explaining the problem over and over again.

So, in order to get the trucks back in use (since so many trucks were down), one tech brought tubes of a stop-leak product to site and ran it through the cooling systems on the various trucks.

It worked great, and it got the fleet back in action until the parts finally arrived and the units were fixed permanently.

Typical morning, checking vehicles over that were dropped off for service.

No matter where you are, no one wants to have a unit down because the parts aren’t going to be available for a while.

Diagnosing and repairing computerized systems

Diagnosing electronic problems when it’s bitterly cold outside can also be challenging – but it needs to be done.

As everywhere else, the most important thing is to start by making sure the battery is good. Even if the battery is slightly undercharged it can cause drivability problems so this critical step is done as one of the first diagnostic steps, every time.

Another tip that may help is to print off the entire wiring schematic for a problematic system (not just the little section involved) and then use highlighters to trace circuits all the way through from power to ground – sounds simple but it really helps when there are many circuits involved in a system that share a common splice or junction box.

Front of the accommodations building and one of the few places smoking is allowed – the butts need to be disposed of in the bins so they don’t attract wildlife.

And also like everywhere else, swapping parts among units to help diagnosis problems can save time and verify suspicions about what’s causing a problem – because ordering the wrong parts can keep the unit down far longer than it needs to be. That’s one good thing about having so many similar vehicles in the same place – finding a known good part isn’t too difficult.

Finally, just like everywhere else, the pickup trucks used on site occasionally need to be reprogrammed to repair concerns – and it can really be a challenge on site since the satellite Internet connection is slow and intermittent and sometimes birds build nests in there and then can’t be disturbed. What tends to help is doing the reprogramming on nightshift when there are fewer people using the Internet connection, and being careful to set everything up carefully so the job will be successful on the first attempt. No matter where you are in the country, attention to detail is important when things get difficult or challenging.

Safety

However, of all the challenges I encountered when I started working at the site, easily the toughest thing to get used to was how fanatic management was (and is) about working safely.

Every shift starts with a safety meeting and everyone is expected to willingly participate with a positive attitude. This is not optional. Before any job starts technicians list any possible hazards or problems that could happen during the task, and they do this again if anything changes during the job that affects the initial assessment. Any hazards are discussed and eliminated or managed before the job begins. No exceptions.

Keeping the shop clean is just the beginning. Trash is meticulously sorted to keep hazardous materials out of the landfill and incinerator. And working safely is absolutely critical because it’s a long way to the nearest hospital. (The sock monkey is in the photo because it made my family back home laugh.)

The typical nicks and cuts that techs tend to get (and that I always got) are considered unacceptable on site and count against the department’s record – all of which took getting used to because I’d never experienced anything like it.

And, honestly, after a while I got used to it and now I’m actually very happy about it.

And while not every shop in the country shares this attitude, it’s well worth remembering that this job can indeed be dangerous and one bad choice can affect your ability to earn money or enjoy your life and the things you like to do.

Taking a few minutes to understand hazards in the work area and what can go wrong during a job, and then taking steps to eliminate the risk is well worth it. Along those lines, realising when a repair isn’t going well and then taking a few deep breaths or a few steps away to regroup before losing your mind can make a huge difference to the repair and your safety.  It’s tough to stay calm in the moment when things are not going right and quickly getting worse, but making the effort to regroup and step away for a break can be all it takes to change course and get things back under control – without breaking anything or getting hurt. Because no matter where you’re working, it’s not fun getting hurt on the job and it’s definitely no fun breaking things.

Spring thaw.

Whether I like it or not, working on site has changed the way I think about doing a job and I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon. Working up here has definitely had an impact on me, and I think, overall, it’s a good one.

Conclusion

Working at a remote arctic mine site definitely has its challenges but overall it’s a great experience in a gorgeous part of the world, and it’s even kind of fun – which was exactly what I was hoping for when I applied so many years ago after a rough day at the office. It’s nice when the people around you genuinely appreciate the value of a good mechanic, even though it’s tough to explain to those same people why a repair sometimes isn’t going well.

Overall, the same things that keep trucks running well at -80F are the same things that keep any vehicle running well anywhere – attention to detail, understanding common problems and listening to the customer. And even though it takes some getting used to, working safely is definitely a good idea – as is understanding why the people around you are trying to work safely and what’s important to them at home.

 Because no matter where work is, it’s nice to get home, healthy, and even happy at the end of the day. Some things are the same everywhere.

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