Vehicle Controls and Pre-Trip Inspection
What this domain tests
This section checks that you can find and use every control without looking, and that you inspect a heavy vehicle before moving rather than discovering a fault at speed.
The cockpit drill
Before moving off: adjust the seat so the clutch can be fully depressed with the knee slightly bent, set the mirrors so a sliver of your own vehicle is visible, fasten the seatbelt, check the doors, confirm the gear lever is in neutral and the parking brake applied.
Daily pre-trip inspection
- Walk around: tyre tread and sidewalls, wheel nuts, lamps and indicators, bodywork, tarpaulin and load lashings.
- Under the bonnet, engine cold and vehicle level: engine oil, coolant, brake fluid, power steering fluid, windscreen washer, fan-belt tension and condition.
- Air-brake vehicles: run the engine until pressure reaches the governed range, listen for the low-pressure warning, drain moisture from the reservoirs, then test the brakes at walking pace.
- Confirm the load is secured, doors latched, and the fifth wheel or coupling locked with air lines connected.
Worked example
The dipstick reads below minimum on a cold, level engine. Reasoning: oil is checked cold and level because a running engine holds oil in the galleries and gives a false low reading, while a genuinely low level risks bearing damage. Action: top up to the mark with the specified grade and record it - do not simply drive off.
Traps
Opening a radiator cap on a hot engine; checking oil with the engine running; skipping the walk-around because the truck was fine yesterday; releasing the parking brake before air pressure has built up.