Question for diesel mechanics

A friend of mine drives a Freightliner bus with a Caterpillar engine. The bus is electronically governed to go a maximum speed of 67 miles per hour and his company's mechanic won't change it to 70. He said that he heard that a person can make their own programming device by downloading software from the internet, and build their own cable to connect from a laptop computer to the programmer socket on the bus, to reprogram the bus to run faster and to change other settings. Does anyone know if this is true?

Reply to
j
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It is possible BUT it is also going to get your friend FIRED in less time than it takes for the software to update. The COMPANY owns the bus NOT your friend. If he has such a problem thinking that 3 mph is going to help him then maybe he should not be driving a bus.

Oh and IF you make one wrong adjustment you can also cause major damage and then YOU get to pay the bill since you altered the program.

You may also want to tell him that on just about any heavy truck/bus built with computer controls the service center and the owners can pull up a LOT of information about how he drives and what he is doing with the vehicle as well. MPH, rpms, gear and brake use, idle time, are just a few items they can look at easily.

Reply to
Steve W.

Yes. You can change all KINDS of stuff from the programming interface, which is really just a serial port sending ASCII commands. You can really screw things up totally if you aren't careful.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Hell yes it is true. It's cheap and easy too, just like your sister! ( sorry, couldn't pass it up...LOL). Go for it! Why should you care if your "friend" causes thousands of dollars in damages, gets speeding tickets, or risks the lives of 40+ poeple. Shit, we have too many people already.

Aren't buses on a schedule? Does he need a longer piss break? Even if he gets paid by the mile, the trips are only so long anyway. If he gets paid by the hour, I'd think he would want to go slower.

If you can give us good logic as to WHY this needs to be done. I'll tell you how.

Reply to
Hustlin' Hank

It should be obvious that it is true - but you were not really asking that question now were you. Unless it is his bus you might want to consider seriously whether you want to be a partner in tampering with what many juries might consider to be a fundamental safety feature.

Reply to
John S.

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