Breakdown Information

[Badeye]

Moderators Note: This thread is intending to report a problem and its resolution. If you are seeking help or information to help you resolve a problem you would best be served by initiating a thread on the class A forum proper

After some conversation with Diesel-Lover and others on this forum I thought I would try to start a thread concerning breakdowns on the road. We try to prevent this by good maintenance and driving reasonably but it can still happen. As I observed in a previous post, on a roughly 350 mile northbound drive on I-75 I saw 4 class A MH broken down. All were southbound.

If we should have a breakdown and would post the following information on this thread it could be a resource and reminder for others.

RV particulars:
Driveline (Engine, Transmission):
Miles:
Year:
Break Down Description: (You can add any description of the problem here that you think would help others in understanding the situation and problem.)
Symptoms:
Effect:
Cause:
Outcome:

This is the type of information that is recorded in the aircraft industry and other maintenance activities to track failure trends. It will take a while before we see a lot of value in this. If it continues for a time and sufficient data is available, I will analyze the data and put it into a form that I can send by email to any interested parties. I would suspect that an initial report could be done in about three months or when we have about 100 to 150 cases.

What do you think?

[CA_Traveler]

cascabel3,

Confirm the 3200RPM with the engine mfg. That is much higher than most diesels, mine 330 Cummins is 2200RPM.

[cascabel3]

RV particulars:
Driveline (Engine, Transmission): 5.9L 230 Cummins/Allison 6Spd
Miles:82,000
Year:93
Break Down Description: (You can add any description of the problem here that you think would help others in understanding the situation and problem.)

Symptoms: Stalled on incline Effect: Wouldn't start again
Cause: Sucking air with less than 1/4 tank.
Outcome: Filled tank and used manual pump

The dealer told me never to do two things in a Diesel:
Don't go over 3200RPM....which the 6 speed Allison won't allow anyway, and never run out of fuel. After picking her up, drove 50 miles to Pasadena and noticed gauge below 1/4 tank, pulled off FWY looking for Diesel. Goin up a steep incline (Lowell Ave) the rig stalled. Unable to start I postulated and prayed that due to the incline the pump was sucking air. AAA guy brought a mere two gallons, but advised me on the re-start to look for a manual pump by the Fuel pump. Friend brought ten more gallons of fuel, and after donning my headlamp and finding the pump, and having someone turn of over the engine while I pumped like madman, the engine came back to life. This process took twenty minutes. I now realize that I could have just pumped for a while to fill the fuel filters and she would have started right up. My first diesel lesson.

[ArtDude]

Hey BadEye...now that you've got some good info on this topic, how about posting a summary of the number of negative hits for each Manufacturer? That would be good info.

[binary1]

starchase wrote:
Freightliner issue. We lost our volt, water & temp. gauges along with our speedometer & tachometer while driveing down I-680.

Starchase, we had same experience (and have heard of several others) with our freightliner several years ago. The problem turned out to be the the electronic control module (ECM in technical talk). We had it replaced and never had a problem after that. I understand that sometimes getting the module wet can cause similar problems. The fix seems to be an acrylic box over the module to protect it from water. Anyway, after ours was replaced (they tried lots of other things first. . . guages, wires, stuff and more stuff) we traveled over 50000 miles and nearly 5 years without further incident. Hope this helps in the diagnosis.

As far as getting freightliner to do something, try your coach manufacturer. I never had much luck with freightliner as they were always too interested in the big trucking companies where the million dollar contracts were. (I once waited for 26 hours at a BarloWorld for an oil change)

Bob

[munkalido]

metalmangler wrote:
On that '76 Dodge, look for the ballast-resistor somewhere near that coil. They usually open, but if something has shorted yours (or some hammer-mechanic has eliminated it), that could be what's making your coil run hot. That resistor is not hard to find and not much money to buy, so you might just want to have the new one in hand and look for the thingie in your engine-bay that looks like it only older. If you find you've been feeding your coil the full 12V up 'til now, you might want to replace that after you've corrected the resistor-issue. It's probably toast inside; failure-any-mile-now, maybe with fire included. Wish you success.

Sounds good. I'll do that. thanks.

[metalmangler]

On that '76 Dodge, look for the ballast-resistor somewhere near that coil. They usually open, but if something has shorted yours (or some hammer-mechanic has eliminated it), that could be what's making your coil run hot. That resistor is not hard to find and not much money to buy, so you might just want to have the new one in hand and look for the thingie in your engine-bay that looks like it only older. If you find you've been feeding your coil the full 12V up 'til now, you might want to replace that after you've corrected the resistor-issue. It's probably toast inside; failure-any-mile-now, maybe with fire included. Wish you success.

[munkalido]

RV particulars: 1976 C-class 23' Beaver - Dodge Sportsman (MB400)
Driveline (440-1 / 727 tranny0Miles:

Year: 1976 with 48K

Break Down Description: Engine backfired, stumbled and eventually just died. Seemed like vapor lock and it's done this before

Effect: During hot driving or in traffic, the engine sputters then stalls. Should I give it gas during this time it will initiate HUGE backfires. Last year while doing this it blew apart the muffler.

Cause: While dead on the side of the road and believing it was vapor lock, I attempted to bleed the air from the fuel line. I noticed the coil was next to the fuel line and very hot so I moved it way. Engine would not start so I check the coil to see if I had messed something up. I noticed the wire going to the dist. was split so I replaced it (i had spare). Still not spark so I hitched a ride to get a new coil. Worked fine. BTW, I now carry a spare coil

Outcome: Haven't driven it enough yet to see if my problem persists but I'm hoping to solved a persistent problem. I'm contemplating moving the coil to an area that has much more air flow.

[starchase]

Freightliner issue. We lost our volt, water & temp. gauges along with our speedometer & tachometer while driveing down I-680. In addition, the transmission stayed in 2nd gear. We were towed to Freighliner in Omaha & when we got there everything worked fine. After checking some thngs they did not find anything wrong. We left and made it home with out further incident. We called Freightliner in SC who authorized some parts replacement that was done at their Grand Rapids, MI. shop.
4 days later the same problem occurred outside KC, MO & after waiting 1 wk to get into Freightliner's OASIS dealer in KC they did find some loose wires in a harness. We left KC and in less than 100 miles the problem occured again!! Our coach is currently at Freightliner in Columbia, MO. where they will try to get to it by next Monday, July 18. All of this occurred in the last 30 days. We are new to this forum & are wondering if anyone else has had these type of problems? If so what was the solution? Also, can anyone suggest what we can do to get Freitliner's attetion so they will do more than tell us to have it towed to the next service center & they will look at it? Any help or suggestions are appreciated. Our coach is still under warrenty.

[Mussad]

Cruise Control, I was on I-79 cruise control was set at 65mph and it disengaged causing a loss of power no motor, brakes, steering. When I rolled to a stop, I put it in park and it started right up. This happened twice, I finally realized that something was wrong with the c/c and it was causing a complete engine shut down. I did NOT use after the 2nd time and everything was fine.. Any comments ?

[JanLiz]

Well, came to be a bad #5 injector. People at Wolverine were great. Got us in right away on Tuesday, and we were out by 5:00. Covered under warranty.

Questions: Should I ask Freightliner for reimbursement on the
Road Service call [$466]?

What would cause a bad injector and could it have been prevented?

Thanks!

[Herewego]

Issue:
After traveling approximately 4 hours, tranny felt like it "slipped" into neutral.

Pulled over, put into park, shut down engine, and waited five minutes. Started engine, put into drive and pulled away. Drove another 350 miles with no problem.

Next morning, drive approximately 45 miles, downhill on I-77 from Va into NC, and same thing happens.

Towed to Piedmont Ford in Greensboro, NC.

Solution:
Scanner immediately gave two codes, pointing to solenoid A. After two days of testing at Piedmont Ford, they replaced the solenoid. Continued on to Orlando, and back to NY with no further problems.

2003 Ford Chassis, 4R100 tranny.

The folks at Piedmont Ford did an outstanding job, getting me in right away and diagnosing the issue. They also looked for other potential causes to rule out.

All covered under warranty, as they occured at 10,265 miles.

Good Sam tow was there in 25 minutes. Awesome job.

[JanLiz]

Well, here we are in Ypsilanti Michigan at Wolverline Frieghtliner. Our saga started Sunday July 3rd when halfway through the Pennsylavania Turnpike the Cat C7 started "pinging" mysteriously after filling with diesel at a turnpike rest stop. Drove another fifty miles to a rest stop and called Freightliner Hot Line and was told a number to call. This being Sunday night the closest road service had to come from two and a half hours away. Bob arrived at around eleven p.m. and claimed fuel may have been contaminated, so not having the proper replacement filters, he emptied out the secondary engine mounted filter with diesel conditioner. We added motor oil, settle up [$466] and we bunked for the night. Sunday we start our trek to Michigan and the noise was still there, called the road service shop and were told bad fuel has to "work its way out". On we went and the noise continued to get worse. We're now waiting for a determination from the folks here. Will keep you posted.

[metalmangler]

aemmett wrote:
This looks like a good place for my question. My husband and I will be leaving soon for a two week trip. I just opened my mail and found that my insurace on the motorhome is being canceled because the company no longer writes these policies. We were careful to get a plan with breakdown coverage. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what company we should try next?

Sounds like a typical low-blow from the 'Gecko.' They pretend *you* failed to inform them your MH has Duals, perchance?

If you aren't comfortable telling us who pulled the rug out from under you--I hope one day you reconsider. Poor, persecuted insurance companies that suddenly wish to be relieved of the burdens of RV coverage have feelings, too. The more of us who know them, the faster they can be given what they asked-for.

[NYCFive1]

I have Progressive Insurance Company. I have seen othe MH owners who also use them.

[aemmett]

This looks like a good place for my question. My husband and I will be leaving soon for a two week trip. I just opened my mail and found that my insurace on the motorhome is being canceled because the company no longer writes these policies. We were careful to get a plan with breakdown coverage. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what company we should try next?