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?

[Lyman]

Ok, finally got an update for you on that Dutch Star problem. Had to call the shop, since they left right from there. They finally got into the shop on the 10th, and were gone later that day. Shop replaced a Horn relay (missing), and ABS relay (blown), and the dash gauge problems were caused by a faulty Interface Module, part # 00-41217. There you go.

[rickbpdq]

RV particulars:
Driveline (Engine, Transmission): Chevrolet 454, 4L80E
Miles: ~28000
Year: 1997
Break Down Description: I was getting ready to hit the road, and I stopped by my nearby grocery store to get some provisions. After storing my purchases the coach wouldn't start, just heard click-click-click from the starter.

- Tried auxiliary start: no improvement
- Tried auxiliary start with generator running: nothing
- Tried manually jumping the coach and chassis batteries, no dice.
- Tried jumping the chassis battery from my dinghy.
- Thoroughly cleaned connections and battery posts: nothing.

Now I'm beginning to suspect a failure with the starter. Went to Auto Zone and bought a new starter, and installed it myself. Exact same symptoms: just clicks when I turn the key.

I called by brother-in-law who knows a lot more than me. It turns out there was some corrosion and buildup between the copper battery cable and the circular connectoids on the end.

We removed the positive battery cable that runs from the battery to the starter, and we took it to an auto parts store. The auto parts store removed the old connectoids, and crimped on new ones. Unit cranks fine now.

We purchased additional eye connections which we installed on the negative cables on-site.

I'm lucky this occured just a few miles from the house, my dinghy was available, and I had a strong cell phone signal. Had this happened in the middle of nowhere I'm sure I would have been on the hook for an enormous towing bill.

I find it odd that I had the problem with such a young, low mileage unit. I'm sure if I would USE the darn thing more the corrosion wouldn't have had a chance to build up.

It turns out the original starter wasn't bad, but I keep it on-board in case of a future starter failure. The starter is very easy to change on this unit.

After this debacle I also cleaned the connections where the negative battery cables connect to the chassis.

Also, I've purchased spare a battery cable which I keep inside the MH so, if the alternator fails, I can wire the house and chassis batteries together, rather than having to jury-rig the auxiliary start switch.

[larryabramson]

2001 DutchStar Class A, W22 Chassis

We had our brakes worked on (new calipers and abs sensors) twice before the recall. After the recall work, we drove it about 50 miles and the brakes were smoking again. Took it back to the dealer and again, they replaced the calipers and abs sensors. Left on a trip, got about 350 miles and the abs light came on, then I lost ALL brakes. Managed to get it to a campground, then called Workhorse the next morning (2001 W22 chassis). They agreed to tow it for repair, even though it was out of warranty (actually, they have covered all the work so far even though it's now 1.5 years out of warranty) to a different service center after we finished our vacation. It's been there 2 weeks and they checked everything and told me they would replace everything, if necessary. So far, they have replaced the rear calipers, the bad master cylinder, 4 brake hoses (3 tested bad so they replaced all) and the caliper guide pins.

Tomorrow (well, actually today..08/17) will be the test. The VP of Workhorse is picking it up and driving it back to us and will test the brakes, determine if it's porpoising, etc. We shall see!!

Larry

[mtrumpet]

Great stories Lyman. Some eye-opening info in them too.
Keep 'em coming!

[Lyman]

Thanks, metalmangler. Latest problem from someone in the park? Hmmmm.
2002 Newmar Dutch Star Cummins Diesel on a Spartan chassy. Has a decent 4wd toad. Driving through Colorado, someone tells him to pull over. His connector to the toad has come loose and is dragging on the ground. Ripped it up good and the connector end is gone and the wires are damaged from dragging the ground. No diodes, the dealer ran wires from the front of the toad to the back and put in extra light bulbs, so he replaced the cord and all is good there. (For those of you with toads where you have diodes in the lines from certain dealer installs -- if you are connected to the RV and turn on the headlights (and some other systems) in the toad, you create a feedback loop. Burns out the diodes and will do very weird things to your RV electrics. Make sure you unhook that connector before doing anything involving electricity with the toad or no lights on the toad and some very weird issues that could end up being Electronic Control Module related).
Anyway, he's back on the road. About 40 miles from here, his gauges suddenly go bonkers. All read wrong. He pulls in here (Fountain Creek RV Park in Colorado Springs) and calls a mobile maintenance man (who we that live here have never seen before - he'd just dropped a business card in the office - the normal guy we see is really good and does have all the testers. But being a biker couldn't be reached and is probably at Sturgis for the big bike rally). Anyway, no ODBC tester; he just starts checking some mains and fuses and relays. A couple relays he replaces. After 2 hours, no fix, but gives up. Charges 90.00. His neighbor and I have no ODBC tester either, but we are both pretty good with electrics (prior military jobs and I work for HP) and know from watching the maintenance guy that he didn't bother to check all the fuses. So the search is on. Guy doesn't know where his dash fuse box is. Look everywhere and can't find it - inside and out. Ask him about the cover on the top of the dash, he says the dealer told him it's an airbag under there (hey, they're making advances all the time, who knew?). We exhaust every possibility; turn off the battery disconnect, wait 2 minutes and reset. Same problem. Unhook toad, same problem. Check every fuse and circuit breaker we can find with a ohmmeter, mainly checking for continuity; find a cuple bad and replace them, same problem. Finally he pulls that cover on the top of the dash. Lo and behold!!! Fuse board. Every fuse is good, all the relays check out, but can't get the ignition (F9) relay to budge. Likely burned inside and fried itself to the contacts. Not going to break the circuit board (I work computers - doesn't pay to ruin circuit boards for nothing) by prying it up with a screwdriver; suspect that's what caused his other 2 relays which deal with the ignition to go bad. For the record, all gauges point straight up (although sitting still, for instance, the speedo reads 40 mph and he has 1/2 tank of gas when he knows he has under 1/4). Sure, pull a couple relays (I don't recommend this, the maintenance man did it and I just shook my head- good way to fry other systems; got the feeling the so-called maintenance guy didn't know squat; but I'm not going to interfere - some of those guys get pretty upset when you do and the Dutch Star owner was paying for this and didn't want to upset him either) while the engine is running and either nothing on the dash, just red lights everywhere, or the gauges are working, or going crazy. That's how he came to replace 2 relays under the hood maintenance man figured they were fried so replaced them and said that's all I can do, got paid, and left. Twit. Quit for the night, this guy's had a hard day and at least he had SOMETHING to check on. Went online and printed out his recalls from NHTSA (3 - one for fumes, 2 for brake systems) and the Newmarcorp.com recommended service centers, one of which is 8 miles from here. And point him to a decent restaurant so he and the wife can eat.
After dinner, we sit down and have a beer, and then off to bed (after all, I have to work in the morning and he has some calls and decisions to make).
In the morning, he calls Fleetwood (authorized Newmar service center here) and they can't get to him until Thursday. He calls Spartan. Their service center is closer and can get him in tomorrow, and while after an hour they agree it may be the relay, they want to make sure (and if they break the board, they have to pay for it). Then he buys us each a 6-pack for our trouble. We (his neighbor, who I ride motorcycles with) say thanks, 'twerent nothing and we'd do it for anyone. So his neighbor and I invite them to dinner and a local (awesome) German restaurant and pick up the bill, letting him take the tip. He balks, but we remind him we've both been places where stuff goes wrong and all of a sudden something happens and money starts going up in smoke (my trip to Havasu, his neighbor's trips to bike rallys in a class A towing the bikes where he had to pay for an engine one trip, a tranny another, and on the last an air conditioner). He acquiesces at that point, we come home, give him directions on how to get to the maintenance center Spartan told him about, and we all sit down and have a couple beers and about an hour worth of really good conversation. Nice evening. We'll see what happens at the maintenance garage, and I'll keep you posted.

Oh, and by the way. I did relay a couple of the experiences people on here have posted (took 5 hours to read through 38 pages, but I enjoyed it), but not all. Didn't want to turn the guy and his wife into people just waiting for the other shoe to drop. He has Michelins. Does check his pressure before moving that thing. Knows now to get and keep spare fuses and maybe some other parts. Laughed that I immediately thought of Utahans when I read She Who Must be Obeyed. Laughed about the wife towing the RV with the 4wd when you have coverage to get towed (laughing with you folks, not at you - it's all a learning experience). Knows he can (did you know?) talk to Newmar and Spartan and Cummings and order manuals (parts, service, and user) and schematics, although he may have to pay for them. The manual with the RV is good for some things, but has no real schematics (doesn't even say where the fuse boxes are),and he knows a darn sight more now about his rv than he did (like dealers may not know what they are talking about when it comes to air bags in an rv), talking to us and a couple other neighbors (one of which has of all things a 2003 Dutch Star who just happened to pull in 3 days ago for a week stay). I know the service center he's going to will have the right ODBC unit (after reading these posts and living in a park, I'm going to buy the whole kit(odbc1, 2, and the foreign one complete with code manuals for all makes and models 1983 through 2007) for 299.00 off of a website I found. Would have loved to have been able to isolate the exact cause for him, and I've used those items before, just never bought one.
I'll keep you posted on the results of his problem.
And just in case...anyone know how to turn off that annoying air pressure alarm they have on those Dutch Stars? Until there's enough pressure, the thing goes off after the engine is started. Dang that's annoying. Also, if he hits a hard enough bump on the road, one of his jacks will evidently drop an inch or less, but enough to activate the jacks down light and alarm. Scares the bejesus out of him and the wife. He stops immediately every time and verifies the jack is indeed up, but that alarm......he'd love a way around that. I advised he ask the maintenance shop tomorrow, but thought some of you would have an idea as well. Seem like a pretty smart group of people here, and I've certainly gained a lot of information from you as well.
As a final note for now, he and the wife are dropping off the rv in the morning, taking the cog railway to the top of Pike's Peak around 1 p.m., and spelunking in Cave of the Winds tomorrow. Always make the best you can of what seems like a bad situation and learn to laugh. At yourself, and at what others have gone through. Commiserate with them too, as we did with all of you. Sure makes life in an rv more bearable. For instance; the guy and his wife who got pulled over by a new highway patrolman in Arizona for not wearing seat belts. Class A, older one, say late 70's early 80's. Those didn't have shoulder belts, just lap belts (which they did have on but the cop could only see that no shoulder belts were being worn and presumed....). Had to invite him inside and show him there weren't any holes for them so they hadn't removed them, they were just not installed back then. At least the cop got an education and a cup of hot coffee and a sandwich out of the deal. He won't be pulling over any more Class A drivers for that, although he's likely learned also that the newer units do have shoulder belts. They are friends of mine and we all laughed our rear ends off over that one. As I expect you are right now.....lol. And as you are online, check your vehicle's recalls using NHTSA.com. Especially as if in this case, you've bought it used and aren't registered with your parent company - they don't know how to tell you there may be a problem with your unit if they can't find you. He's going to have those recalls checked tomorrow too.

[metalmangler]

Lyman, you're doing just fine here! Hope to read (& learn) more.

[Lyman]

2000 Pace Arrow Vision. Less than 12000 miles. Parked, but lived in all the time. Only 2 companies will insure if you live in them full time, did you know that? Anyway, she's covered.
Winter, I don't even think about draining the ice maker connection, and pop goes the weasel. Come home from work, water and ice outside the unit. I find the problem and turn it off, but have multiple problems inside. Heat works but blows the circuit breaker. Lights don't want to work. Finally locate the house batteries (under the steps) and they aren't getting a charge, even with the generator or solar panel. Check every fuse in the RV and out on the pole. Have to replace a few (HEY PEOPLE!!! BE SMART!!! KNOW WHERE ALL YOUR FUSE BOXES ARE LOCATED. You can check that it isn't that before you call someone who charges 65.00 just to show up and replace a fuse) fuses. Still, no charge. OK. I know it's the inverter. Call the mobile maintenance guy, and 600.00 later I have a new inverter and climate control unit (all under the fridge - guess where the water was leaking to inside?). Common problem with Fleetwoods - Turn off that water and blow that blue valve out every winter, folks). Batteries work fine now, although I did have to add distilled water to every cell. NOTE TO SELF: Check water level once a year and unplug and run batteries almost down to nothing before plugging back in.
I do have some stories from people that have limped into the park, I see about 90 rv'ers a day from all over. But I'll get to some of those later.

[Lyman]

Well I'm not sorry to qualify; learned a lot from reading those problems, and from having my own. I'll get to those in a moment, but a couple notes responding to others:

RDG: On your Bounder starting a hill at 50 and ending up doing 20 or less at the top - I think you'll find my post informative.

GotTheBug: On your Batteries not holding a charge although they've been there less than a year - you too may find some good info in a moment.

ToBNamedL8r: 1100.00 for a fuel pump on a gas engine? Next time, send me a round trip ticket. I'll fix it and show you how, and you can pay me with a 12 pack of beer. It'll be cheaper and quicker, I'm sure, lol.

So on to my stories:

1st MH was a 1979 Pace Arrow on a GMC frame; 27' with a 454 under the hood. Acquired it used in 2001 from a dealer since it had roof a/c and an over the driver/passenger compartment pull down bunk, and was cheap. It was in seemingly good shape mechanically and appearance wise, so ok.
I live in Colorado Springs, we (my then wife and her son) go camping about 4 hours away a couple times, and I notice and attend to some wiring problems, and not much later she decides to visit her aunt in Buffalo NY. Get her all packed up and off we go. No real problems other than the gas gauges don't work - and we don't know exactly how much fuel we can carry, but I'm one of those crawl under/over/around/through everything people, so we get it pretty well figured out on the way there, and what documentation I can get from GMC and Fleetwood on schematics (water and gas only, no electric available) and how many/what gal tanks we have I've received. Get there (Buffalo), step up on her porch, look back to the unit, and to roof has peeled back about 2 feet. Hmmmm. Wonder if that affected gas mileage any (ya think? lol). Off to the local RV store. Buy some roofing tar, some tape, and some putty. Roll the roof back down and tape and tar the sides. Up front I putty, tape, and tar the thing. That roof isn't going anywhere now, trust me. We're there a week visiting, and I occassionally get under her and trace this wire and that one and pull the ones that the guy before added that go nowhere (our belief is he broke things on the road and temp wired them to something else because he wanted a reason to not have to listen to his own she who must be obeyed at home, and be the hero on the road when he suddenly fixed something (that he broke in the first place)). Must have pulled about a mile of wire, and even there are some stories. My favorite? Been running fine, no problems. One morning doesn't want to start. Cranks. No start. Need gas, fire, air. Check for spark, and notice a wire running from the tach side of the distributer should go the the cruise. Pull it off. Starts. Hmmm. Let's see if it acutally goes tot he cruise....Uh-uh. Not here, buddy. Runs to the fuel solenoid that switches which tank you are running on. Just isn't right, you know? YANK!! (well, unplug from here, unwind from there). Suddenly, low and behold, the gas gauge works when the selector switch is in either tank feed position. Hey. I'm a genious, he's an idiot, lol. Never did fix the cruise, by the way. What for? So I can go to sleep driving? Nope.
So it's late and we're on the way back in Nebraska, wife and son asleep, about 2 a.m. and we've been tag team driving. About a mile from a rest area I'm rounding a right hand corner on I-70 and BANG!!! (Ever notice that every time something in a motor home goes wrong, it's always accompanied by a loud BANG!! and dust suddenly in the air???) I holler an expletive and I'm suddenly trying to hold onto the wheel and she dives to the left and crosses into the left lane and heads for the median. The BANG!! and sudden lurching wake up the wife, she grabs her son and braces for impact. It's a wide median, and down I go, trying to keep from flying into the oncoming lane, fishtailing, and ended up with all the drawers open, stuff everywhere, and not spinning or rolling the RV. Whew. We clean her up, do a walk around, and find nothing. Wife says I fell asleep, I tell her, well never mind what I told her. Ended with fine, you drive to the rest stop. She does get her to the rest area and we spend the night. Another walk around in the morning. Still can't figure it out, but it is pulling to the left while driving once in a while. All the linkage looks good and we get home safely though, just have to fight the wheel a little.
So I check all the tire pressures, they are good, and I check the air bags which are front only. I put in air, I hear it coming right back out. Hmmmm. I climb under and the although it was hard to see until I was under there, the air line for the bag had come off the fitting. There's my bang!! and the reason for the subsequent behavior. Falling asleep at the wheel, my ***. This was a violent jerk for those of you who haven't experienced it. At 65 mph, this is not something that you want to experience. I couldn't keep her on the road if I didn't to roll her. Had to go into the median and make a semi controlled skid in the direction I needed to keep her headed in mud and wet grass to get her under control and stopped. No way to match the right hand corner when she pulled left.

Always keep two hands on the wheel.

We make 2 more 4 hours trips in her, I've fixed the wiring on about 20 more things now, and she's pretty solid (the rv). So I'm headed to Lake Havasu for a biker rally towing my 2003 Indian Chief. Just as I'm leaving town on the freeway, I get a BANG!!! and dust fills the cockpit. Left driver side rear outer tire is flat. So I drive her about 2 miles to the next exit, turn her around and head for the truck stop. They can't change it, but keep promising they can for 4 hours. I go down the street, he has the tire and gets it done in 20 minutes. I pay for it as he sits down and puts the lugnuts on. Something really tore that tire up, sure didn't see anything.....fade to about oh, 45 miles later. I'm hearing a definite rub and smelling burning rubber every time I am in a left hand corner. But not in the right hand turns. Ok. Off the freeway we go, into Pueblo, CO. Find the closest place out of the way and pull in. Start looking and each tire. Hey look. If I sit down my the tire that was just changed, I can see what's left of the tail pipe wedged in above it. Now why didn't the guy changing the tire see that? Must not have looked up, huh? SO I get out the jack to take some pressure off the thing and find me the biggest guy I can find. WE start moving it around and finally manage to push it completely through the hole it had made into the interior of the RV through the wheel well. I store it, give the guy 1o bucks which he won't take, duct tape the wheel well inside and off I go....fade to about 12 miles north of Las Vegas, NM on I-25.
You guessed it. BANG!!! Engine is running fine and the throttle responds, but she's steady slowing down. I pull to the side and pull the doghouse. Linkage looks fine, it's working. Shut her off, restart and move the lever. I'm going nowhere fast.
Ok. Shut her off. No signal on the cell phone but ***NOTE*** I know that dialing 911 will connect with whatever carrier has a sattelite in the area. That's a federal law to deal with emergency situations where your carrier doesn't have a signal.****
I call 911. New Mex Hwy Patrol gets a tow truck headed my way, and the guy knows I'm towing a bike and I'm a 27 foot class A to begin with.
Tows me into Las Vegas to the Diesel mechanic's shop (These guys are awesome - I recommend them highly!!!). I stay in the rv, and I'm in the garage in the morning. They know the problem in 20 minutes. Now I've been dealing with what seems like dieselling in this engine for about 2 years when I hsut it off. Not all the time, but when it acts like that, just hold the accelerator down, and she'll finally die. These guys in 20 minutes determine that the last bolt hold the flywheel to the torque converter has sheared. AHA!!! And they will go to the local salvage yard to look for the converter and the flywheel for me to save me 2 days waiting for Albuquerque to drive the stuff up there. 900.00 and about 6 hours later, I'm on the road.
Great rally, let's get back. Going uphill, I'm suddenly only able to maintain about 5 mph. Once on the level I can do 65. Ok. I pull over on a hill and leave her idling on the rear tank. A little 10-100 and back to the driver's seat. Put her in drive, hit the gas and she starts dying. Flip the tank switch to the main (which is full and has no pump - the electric pump is on the rear tank which just went dry), and not enough vacumn to pull the gas into the engine. I'm contemplating how I'm going to do this since I can't get to the tank gas line connection, and finally pull over a guy in a pickup, hoping he he has some gas or a siphon hose. I explain the problem. He says, don't you have gas in the bike? I slapped myself in the forehead so hard I shoulda had that V8 and we both start laughing. I'm on the road 20 minutes later, but still can't get her going any faster uphill, whereas on the trip to Havasu everything was fine.
Get home, and walk into a divorce, I get the bike and that motorhome, she gets the house and the 92 Pace Arrow. Ok, I take it to get emissions for the new title, she's running ragges. Turns out 4 of the 8 cylinders weren't firing. 4 plug wires had gone bad. What the heck??? First time for everything. Replaced wires, rotor and plugs. Plenty of power now. And she passed.
Lived in her in a RV park for 8 months. Traded her in for a 2000 Pace Arrow Vision 36' with 2 slides, a real bed and washer/dryer. Been living in her since then, and still in the same RV park. I'll finsih in my next post.

[Golfingene]

Sorry to qualify for this forum, but here goes, it happened Mon 8-1-05.
RV particulars: 2004 Winnebago 39K Journey
Driveline (Engine, Transmission):Cat 7, 330hp, Allison 6-spd
Miles:17500
Year:Built 12/03, bought new 4/04
Break Down Description: Suddenly Overheated, after cooling restarted, drove 1 mile overheated again. Had to be towed 40 miles to Sparks, NV.
Cause:Horton Fan Hub failed. Bolts, bearings, failed and it separated from engine.
Outcome: Still in Caterpillar Shop in Sparks, awaiting parts (7) coming from 5 different areas of US and Canada.
THE CATCH IS...Kenworth (through NHTSB) issued a recall for this same engine and fan hub combination in APRIL 2004! Had it been recalled by Caterpillar or Winnebago, I could have avoided this costly breakdown. BEWARE Other C-7 Cat drivers...

[askfwe]

'93 Allegro Bay
Sudden loss of throttle control
Driving down the LA freeway system pulling a toad. The accelerator pedal went to the floor and stayed, the engine went to idle and the speed decreased accordingly. Turned out to be a broken throttle cable. Opened the doghouse and wrapped a line around the carburator linkage and pulled on it to apply power. Drove about five miles to a service center who replaced the throttle cable. Glad the CHP wasn't there, they would have probably objected.

[dlloyd]

2004 Holiday Rambler Scepter
ISL 400
13,000 miles
Exhaust Brake solenoid failure.
Exhaust brake would not release.

Had to manually (with a wrench) break the air line to exhaust the air from the cylinder and then drive without the exhaust brake (not recomended, but I was in the middle of nowhere on I77 in WVA). The brakes heated up enough to smell pretty strongh. Cunnins shop replaced the defective part (solenoid) under Monaco warranty but I was deadlined a week waiting for it. (I now carry a spare) Note: the solenoid manufacturer is ISO certified and has few failures.

[ToBNamedL8r]

RV particulars: 97 Yellowstone Capri Bunkhouse
Driveline (Engine, Transmission): Big Chevy V-8 auto tranny
Miles: 29,000
Year: Mar 05
Break Down Description: Engine stopped running when leaving campsite to go to dumpstation
Symptoms: engine died - tried to start and would run for a few seconds and stop then would not even do that after about 5 tries
Effect: Not able to move
Cause:Fuel pump died
Outcome:Had fuel pump replaced($1100)
:E

[PaulNWAS]

90 Southwind 454 Chevy P30 Chassis 98 Windstar in toad 4 down
Last November 7Pm 55 miles West of Sheridan Wy on I90 going up a hil at 70MPH hear loud "Bang" with total lost of power. Immediate;ly thought "Oh &*% I've blown the tranny"" Coasted to stop. Crawled underneath with flashlight surprized to find tranny intact, but discovered last segment of drive shaft missing! Contacted Good Sam (thank goodness I had reactivated my coverage before leaving on trip) Got excellent service and was towed into Sheridan campground. Of course being Friday night knew was stuck for several days. Fortunately there was truck service shop needby. They came out and measured for new drive shaft and early Monday got us on the way. No more problems on that trip and returned home.
However, in prepareration for another long trip east this summer, took unit for complete service (belts, fluids, lube, etc) discoverd lt rear springs. shocks were falling off, entire rear axle about to come out and tag axle supports broken!@
Upgraded to 99 Safari Zanzibar with 300 cat & 6 speed allison. 8400 miles trip completed in much more comfort than with Southwind!

Paul

[cascabel3]

I can't believe I just read all 38 pages of this post. What an awesome post no less. It appears to me that a lot of incidences happen from mere bad electrical connections and sensors, and filters. This tought me what to carry as spares, fuses, connectors, wiring, voltmeter, belts, filters etc....

[jack092]

On the last day of February, my wife and I were traveling across Oklahoma on highway 412, or the Cherokee Turnpike. As we entered into Arkansas I flipped my exhaust brake on. At the bottom of the hill I could only run in 1st gear. I have a Cummins/Allison power train. I got it off the road and got my book out. I reprogramed the transmission and everything worked. We proceeded East on 412 to about 10 miles West of Alpena, Arkansas. As we went down a three legged hill I flipped the exhaust brake on again. At the bottom of the hill I could only run in 1st gear. I got off the road and fooled with it, finally giving up. I called Good Sam, they sent a wrecker which pulled the motor home back to Springdale, Arkansas. The Freightliner place found that the switch that controls the exhaust brake was defective, which they replaced. The wrecker bill was $700, which Good Sam paid and the repair bill was 265, which I paid. My point is this - the money I paid Good Sam for breakdown protection ($95) saved me a lot of money. I am thankful for the quickness that Good Sam gave to my need. Jack092