Maintenance alert system for heavy-duty trucks

A real-time maintenance alert system for use in a heavy duty truck having an engine including an engine controller having a communications data link, the system comprising:

• an engine item sensor operative to produce a signal representing information indicative of an engine item condition;
• a non-engine item sensor operative to produce a signal representing information indicative of a non-engine item condition;
• control logic at the engine controller, the control logic being configured to process the engine item condition information and to determine a presence of an engine item real-time fault condition, the control logic being operative to produce an output signal at the data link in response to the presence of the engine item real-time fault condition;
• and
• a display device having memory and configured to transmit and receive information over the data link, the display device processing the control logic output signal and storing a status of the engine item in the memory, and generating an output signal indicative of the engine item status, the display device directly receiving and processing the non-engine item sensor output signal and storing a status of the non-engine item in memory, and generating an output signal indicative of the non-engine item status.