Well went to pick up the 2006 cross country out of winter storage and bring to rv dealer to have a few items repaired and did not make it far. The alternator seized up and broke the belt off the engine. First we have State Farm ins and they were great with arranging a tow 30 miles away. The tow cost me out of pocket 58.00 and insurance covered the rest which was about the same as what my annual premium is. Question its already going to be taken apart for the alternator and belt and having oil change done on the engine and generator. How often do water pumps fail on the Cummins 300 isb? I'm thinking may be a good time to replace it. How often do you replace engine fuel filters? Coolant flush? Air filter display says that's still good. Anything else worth looking at? Thanks for input

Fuel filter? At minimum yearly. More often if you put a lot of miles on.Water pump failure? About as often as any other motor.Fuel filter? Every oil change, which should be yearly at minimum.Coolant? Every three years.

Thanks for input we have had the rv for 1.5 years. I will have the coolant and fuel filter replaced. As far as water pump, I guess I'm debating on waiting for another issue or do it now. The motor has 31,000 miles and we drive it about 7500 miles a year.

Just replaced my engine fuel filters today. It's been over 4 years and they likely could have gone much longer. If they were like the air filter with a visual indication we probably wouldn't change them nearly as often.

Lot of people say filter change is "cheap insurance" and I think most of filters go to the garbage still having 3/4 of their life remaining. If you are handy and can change the filter, just carry spare with you. I did it with my F450 flatbed truck. Ford recommends new filter every 30k, I was towing heavy for 86k before engine started to hesitate on grade. Took me 10 minutes on the side of the road to have new filter install.Air filters are more tricky. I can make 100k miles on air filter in California, or 5k miles on roads in Mexico. Have installed filter minders even on cars that did not have one.Water pump used to be lifetime item on diesels.So did alternators. Brushes might wear out at 100k mark, but bearing freezing???

Now it is recommended one change the air filter every three years. It is a papper filter element and the three years is supposed to insure the element does not disintegrate and end up in the turbine or engine.

Had my first break down yesterday | Good Sam Community

18 Replies

cross_country
Explorer
Mar 22, 2016
Oh, I did not know full amperage could be delivered from an alternator at any rpm, rather that rpm up to a prescribed speed dictated the output of the alternator. I guess that would be worth checking, save me a lot of unnecessary worry about the battery state of charge. Thanks.
prstlk
Explorer
Mar 21, 2016
Oil and filters 10K we are full time so it's usually less then year. My coach is an 07 and the Allison calls for x miles or yearly. I take a sample and send it to Blackstone labs yearly and will change it when they say so or at 75k.
I know it's overkill but I use full synthetic in everything I own. Gennie I do yearly or at 200 hours.
rgatijnet1
Explorer III
Mar 21, 2016
cross country wrote:
Just a thought. When your RV has been sitting along time and you are not sure of the state of charge of all of the batteries the alternator may be expected to charge, it may be an idea to run your generator to charge the batteries before loading the alternator beyond capacity. The result of overloading the alternator will cause the alternator to seize and the belt to rip off.

I don't believe that you can run an alternator over capacity. A 140 amp alternator is designed to put out 140 amps, all day long, without failure. It will not put out 150 amps. If the alternator failed it was probably because a bearing failed. The alternator has sealed bearings but if the alternator is located where it can get a lot of road spray, or other debris, the seal can fail on the bearing and the bearing will seize.
cross_country
Explorer
Mar 21, 2016
Just a thought. When your RV has been sitting along time and you are not sure of the state of charge of all of the batteries the alternator may be expected to charge, it may be an idea to run your generator to charge the batteries before loading the alternator beyond capacity. The result of overloading the alternator will cause the alternator to seize and the belt to rip off.
Snomas
Explorer
Mar 21, 2016
I change fuel/water filter every year w/oil change. I had my diesel gen set quit working because of a dirty fuel filter once. Air filter every 3 yrs, coolant filter as per test results, oil filter yearly. desiccant filter as needed. water pump is original (14yrs old 97K mi on MH)
I had to have alternator rebuilt @ 55K miles. Had a breakdown with a fuel module that failed, also when water heater hose broke & lost all coolant. Also have had to replace exhaust manifold, head, turbo charger, high pressure fuel pump & fuel lines , lift pump, muffler,hydraulic pump, radiator & fan.The diesel engines will go 300K or more miles but the parts running off them won't. Only had to be towed once in 20 yrs of Rving and 3 Motor Homes. Guess I'm lucky!!
GTMADNS
Explorer
Mar 21, 2016
Yes it's a 5.9. I told the dealer to check over the engine and make suggestions if they think something needs to be repaired
jplante4
Explorer II
Mar 21, 2016
gbopp wrote:
CA Traveler wrote:
No guarantee a new/rebuilt one will last any longer than the current one. But consult your crystal ball.

X2. I've had new/rebuilt parts that were bad right out of the box.

Worth doing an X3 on. My plane partner and I decided to replace the vacuum pump on the plane seeing that there were 500+ hours on it. For those unfamiliar, the vacuum pump runs the gauges you need when flying in the clouds. New one failed after 50 hours.

Water pumps come under the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" category. Additionally, you almost always break a bolt or a hose clamp trying to get the old one off, adding to the down time and expense.

I like the idea of carrying a spare to ward off the bad water pump juju.
45Ricochet
Explorer
Mar 20, 2016
I take it you have a Cummins 5.9L engine?
Water pumps do seem to fail around the 70K mark. Pretty easy repair on a Ram truck anyway. I'd stay away from the reman replacements and pay a bit more for a Cummins pump.
Rollnhome
Explorer
Mar 20, 2016
Except for engine oil I have all oils, fluids, and coolants tested before changing. If they test normal why change them out. As far as changing out the water pump, why fix it if it ain't broke and what guarantee do you have the replacement will not soon fail. I would be more concerned about keeping the radiator and CAC clean. Air dryer I change every three years as recommend I also change all filters as recommend.
Keep the engine cool, lubricated, and internally clean it should last a long time.
gbopp
Explorer
Mar 20, 2016
CA Traveler wrote:
No guarantee a new/rebuilt one will last any longer than the current one. But consult your crystal ball.

X2. I've had new/rebuilt parts that were bad right out of the box.

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Had my first break down yesterday

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