BurbMan wrote:
jfkmk, I killed the battery cranking the engine, so the only thing left to do was push....
pnichols, it's still worth it to carry the belt even if you can't change it. If you get roadside assistance to a local garage they can change it quickly if they have the part...sometimes getting parts can be a couple-day delay.
My alternator quit on our recent trip to Navarre FL, and fortunately the local Advance Auto had one in stock. I figured since the serp belt needs to come off I may as well change it too. So I web order the belt and alternator on Mon afternoon, and go over to the store Tues morning to pick it up. They have the alternator, but no belt. Guy scratches his head and wonders why the website let me order one when there are none in stock.
No problem though, they have one in the Ft Walton Beach store and will have it sent over today. Wed morning I go back to the store, no belt. Apparently Ft. Walton Beach didn't have one either. Guy apologizes profusely and says they will have one sent over from Pensacola.
Thurs morning, back to the store, no belt. Not only no belt, but 4 guys behind the counter, and nobody knows anything about a belt coming from Pensacola. There is no record of anything that happened the last 2 days, I felt like I was in the twilight zone.
After I get a little curt with the kid helping me, he says, well wait a minute, what part # are you looking for? So I tell him, he pops over the to belt rack, grabs one, and says look, we have one in stock, why did the other guy say they were having one sent from Pensacola?
Cue twilight zone theme music....Since I installed the alternator on Tues afternoon, I wasn't keen on doing any more work while on vacation, so I wound up changing the belt when I got home....
You just made my point and my day.
That's why I wish my E450 had both twin fuel pumps and twin alternators. If what you experienced had happened to you in, say ... Plush, OR or Dubinky Wells, UT ... you would be glad that you had an installed and operating backup pump or backup alternator in your rig so as to get you somewhere closer resembling civilization.
By the way, I do not trust or believe that both new identical in-tank fuel pumps put into service at the same time would fail at anywhere near the same time. Modern engineering and workmanship - in all of it's glory - still can't come close to guaranteeing that (from my experiences with innumerous other products). Reading back in this very thread, I see electric in-tank fuel pumps failing all over the map time-wise. I'll bet if I had twin pumps, one could very well fail at 85,000 miles and the other fail at 195,000 miles. Yes ... you should replace both whenever either one failed, but the extra labor cost would be small, with most of the cost being the extra new pump ... but that would be a price some would be willing to pay so as to NEVER be let down with a failed fuel pump at the wrong time and place.
