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?

[FSTEDYRV]

Badeye wrote:
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?

[LandYachtReviva]

RV particulars: 2004 Fleetwood Revolution 40C
Driveline (Engine, Transmission):Cummins DP 350HP, Allison 3000
Miles:64,000
Year:2004
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: 1. Squeeking noise from engine compartment 2.- Low Collant Level Alarm 3. Overheat Alarm and temp gauge reaching 230 degrees
Effect:Engine Overheat
Cause:Serpentine belt broke as a result of belt tensioner lockup.
Outcome:
Good service from Coach-Net tow (2 hours after call)
Excellent service from Empire Truck Service in Gulfport, MS. Had tensioner in stock and got belt locally. Fixed same day!!!!!
Cost $139.50 labor; $172.00 parts.

Only problem - tower did not want to reinstall driveline as his wenches were failing so had to pay truck service but Coach-Net says they will reimburse.

Lesson learned -- I should not have left CG after noting squeeking noise after starting engine. Got stranded 400 miles from base.

Joe

[Normph]

Driveline: ISL 350 Allison 6
Date of breakdown: 10/29/07

We were driving east on I 10 between Phoenix and Tuscon when we heard a loud pop coming from the rear of the coach. Smoke was pouring out of the rear; the stop engine light came on and a warning buzzer sounded. We stopped without incident (fortunately). Oil was splattered all over the rear of the coach and the entire toad.
We had a blown rod.

Our engine S/N was within the recall sequence.

Two months earlier we had the recall performed (pressure sensor istalled in valve area which was to trigger an alarm after which engine shutdown was required to prevent engine damage. The alarm and the engine failure occurred at the same time.

[just_loafin1]

We left Northern California for New York in Sept this year...While in North Carolina one morning the Coach was hard starting...After two attempts it started up...I thought because it was cold outside that was the reason....Heading about ten miles down the road we came to a small town with a stop light after stopping the motor stalled..After starting it up we got thru the light and I looked around to see if I could find any problem...My fuel gage was at 1/2 tank??? I just fueled up that night...Knowing now I had a serious problem I could not find a place to pull over.. kept going till we hit another small town...Was able to pull off next to a vacant building...When I go out I found a trail of diesel fuel following me in...
Lifted bed what a mess fuel everywhere...Had the engine turned over while I looked ...Found the metal fuel line snapped completely off at the banjo fitting on the engine it self..
Drove to Greensborough in my toad and picked up a new fuel line..The new one has a damper installed in the middle to prevent the line from breaking...5.9 Cummins...1996 Endeavor....40,000 miles
If you have one of these just change it...I had read about the problem and determined it was older coaches than mine having this problem...I inspected mine and thought no way this line could break it was mounted in there solid....Wrong....If you do not have one with a break in the line where a damper is installed...better replace the line or at least carry a new updated one....
just_loafin

[krisfrank]

Great idea Sticky

RV particulars: 2006 Kountry Star
Driveline (Engine, Transmission):Cummins 350, Allison 6 speed
Miles: 3,000 +/-
Year:2007-break in trip, Oregon to Wis.
Break Down Description: Back of the coach covered with oil spray
Symptoms:Same as above
Effect: Whoa-what do we do now?
Cause: Dip stick tube laid against turbo exhaust and melted through.
Outcome: Towed 50 miles, temporary repair by the great crew at Ed's Truck Sales and Service in Fort Pierre, South Dakota. Very reasonable charge as we paid it ourselves rather than wait for warranty authorization-we were already running late.
Later a new dip stick tube.

Thanks for getting this started.

[younchem]

pkunk wrote:

metalmangler wrote:

"...Chassis battery's runs down.

Outcome: Replace battery's (less than a year old, Interstate batterys, would not hold a charge.)"

Batteries less than a year old not holding a charge? That's a symptom, not a cause, even if it caused something else in turn. You'll be doing this in about a year (or less) again, unless you can isolate & correct what causes it.

I stopped buying interstate batteries because they die within a year.
Want a good RV battery? look into Optima.

If you are killing Interstate batteries in a year then something is incredibly diffrerent with your setup or usage/procedures. The variables here are many.

I've used almost every type of Optima battery in many different settings and can tell you that Optima batteries are not a magic pill, either. They sound good and work well in high vibrational situations but I think that for RVing are an over-kill. Wet-cell batteries--used and maintained properly--will last as long as AGM batteries and vise-versa.

On the other hand, due to your habits you may be drawing-down the Interstate battery too much and killing it so an AGM battery, more forgiving in this area, may be for you especially if your habits/usage/procedures do not change.

Based on your situation you probably didn't have enough wet-cell battery capacity to begin with. And sometimes its impractical to try to add additional cells.

[pkunk]

metalmangler wrote:

"...Chassis battery's runs down.

Outcome: Replace battery's (less than a year old, Interstate batterys, would not hold a charge.)"

Batteries less than a year old not holding a charge? That's a symptom, not a cause, even if it caused something else in turn. You'll be doing this in about a year (or less) again, unless you can isolate & correct what causes it.

I stopped buying interstate batteries because they die within a year.
Want a good RV battery? look into Optima.

[zmotorsports]

We were traveling with some friends a few years ago in our 30" gasser going through Seattle on I-5 when I looked in the rear view mirror and saw smoke pouring out from under the motorhome. Pulled over and found a transmission cooler line had fractured right where the farrel is going into the transmission. We unhooked the Jeep and drove to the nearest grocery/auto parts store(no joke) and bought a 18" lenght of 3/8" rigid line and spliced it in. Added a couple quarts of Dexron and away we went. All of this in afternoon/evening rush hour traffic.
Then the following year with the same couple of friends going to Mt. Rushmore when we were pulling into Custer, SD his Itasca decided it didn't like the 100 degree temperatures and quit running. We unhooked our Jeep and pulled it to a wide spot in the road. We fired up our generator and A/C and let everyone hang out is our coach while we worked on his. Found the ignition coil was going south on him. It had too high resistance. I packed some ice around it turned the hair dryer on cool and cooled it down enough to bring the resistance down enough to go the next 10 miles to the campground we were staying at. When we got camp set up we got a new coil and all was well until three days later going into Sheridan, Wy when his motorhome started acting up again. This time as we were coming off the freeway about 300 yards from the KOA entrance. Again unhooked the Jeep and towed him into the campground. Found a bad fuel pump so the next morning we proceeded to drop the fuel tank and change out the fuel pump with the updated Ford unit. The rest of the trip was uneventful and when we returned home he put it up for sale. He was done with RVing. I tried to tell him that this is part of it but I don't think he believed me.
Last February with our new coach we were about 1/2 mile from home just leaving for a weekend shakedown run with the new coach and it died. We coasted to the side of the road and started to troubleshoot. After about an hour and a half of diagnosing and testing I found the wire that goes to the front television lockout was shorted and kept tripping the circuit breaker for the main power soleniod. I unhooked it and off we went. By this time it was pitch black outside and I was frozen, my wife was sitting in the nice warm coach reading a magazine and I asked her if she still wanted to go and she said hell yes we are on vacation(even though I could have thrown a rock and hit our house). So off we went and had an enjoyable weekend. I guess you take the good with the bad. Still wouldn't give up my RV. Mike.

[catscratch]

RV particulars:
97 Monaco Dynasty 40' Pusher
Driveline 350 Cummins - Allison 3000 World Transmission - Kingcruise throttle and cruise control
Miles: 36,000
Year: 1997
Break Down Description: Throttle would not work - intermittent problem. Would come and go without any indication of why.
Symptoms: Transmission ECU display showed "service" under Mode indicator light. Would shift into D and R, but no throttle.
Effect: Stuck - could not move.
Cause: Loose or dirty connection in 12v hot and/or ground wire between cruise control computer and coach 12v supply/chassis.
Outcome: Unplugged all electrical connectors to cruise unit and throttle position switch; cleaned with spray electrical contact cleaner and reconnected several times.
Helpful resource: King cruise web site. SEE my other post on the Tech forum for details for thi smust have free publication for troubleshooting the King system. Feel free to contact me if you have same problem. I fixed it in 5 minutes with the guide's help.

[gairef]

1997 Gulfstream Scenic Cruiser-36 Ft.
250 8.3 Cummins
Allison Trans.

Anyone have any problems with diesel fuel supply line leaks?

[Gadget_Guy1]

2003 34 ft Knight. Just returned from our cross Canada trip over the worst highways I have ever seen. Broke down half way between Thunder Bay and Sault St Marie. Right rear trailing arm snapped off while doing close to 60 MPH. Lucky to be alive as this immediately put us into the oncoming traffic, but lucky that at that instant no one was coming. I must say that my Safe-T-Steer did the job. Regained instant control. Called Good Sam for help and I must say they did try and find a suitable low trailer to load us but unsuccessful. A local person stopped and put me onto a good Truck shop some 25 miles down the highway. He came out and we pulled the axle back in place and temporarily secured it enough to slowly travel to his shop. Called Monaco and even though well past warranty they sent new trailing arms and paid for the installation. This had been a recall issue and I had taken it in to our local dealer for inspection but was informed that mine was OK so the replacement ones were not installed. Confirms my belief that most dealers don't have a clue when it comes to MH repair. We spent 10 days waiting for parts because the parts got hung up in Canadian Customs because the agent didn't like the paper work and the description written on them After 4 days we finally got the parts released. Walford Truck and Tractor did an excellent job on the repair. Just the owner and his son and they did great work and made our 10 day stay as pleasant as possible. Monaco's first question was if I had acted on my recall. As soon as they determined that I had, warranty was not an issue. They did say that less than 50% of MH owners pay attention to recalls, so my advise is make sure that you pay attention to recall notices and have them done by hopefully a competent shop which is what let me down. We thank the good Lord that we are alive and did not kill some one else, it could have been a terrible accident.

[gettinright]

330 HP Cat 3126, Freightliner Chassis. Engine shut down I-10 LA, CA had to be towed. Got it repaired at LA Frt in Fontana, they installed a new Injector Pump and Fuel Pump Assembly. Drove to Phoenix and it shut down again and was towed to AZ Freightliner and repaired. Drove to Albuquerque, NM where Wagner Cat worked on it and got it running and we drove to Santa Fe, NM and had to be towed back to Wagner where they installed a new Fuel Pump and it made it back to Georgia.

We lost 10 days and paid our dues waiting in the dealerships. They were very helpful but really had a serious problem getting it fixed.

The story is a lot longer than this, but this is the general situation. Why the original pump went out and then the new one they replaced it with also went out is a mystery to me.

Freightliner Chassis folks and the CAT Folks were very helpful and repaired the 2004 Fleetwood Discovery under the Warranty.

I would highly recommend that you folks who own Motor Homes be sure to have towing insurance.

This is the first time we have been towed since 1964. It definitely was a new experience for us.

Clyde & Gloria Smith
2004 Fleetwood Discovery 39s
Freightliner Chassis
CAT 330













folks were very helpful. The repairs were done under the warranty.

[poodlesuzieq]

PICKED UP BRAND NEW TIFFIN ALEGRO WITH WORKHORSE CHASSIE AND ALLISON TRANSMISSION GOT 10 MILES FROM DEALER AND LOST POWER. ENGIN RUNNING OK BUT SPEED DECREASING. 2 HRS LATER TOWED BACK TO DEALER STILL HAVE NOT HEARD WHAT THE PROBLEM IS. ALWAYS HEARD GREAT THINGS ABOUT THIS ENGIN AND TRANSMISSION

[outsider1924]

Nelly1052 wrote:
1995 Holiday Rambler Navigator with 8.3, 300 hp Cummins. Intermittant problem with turning over but won't start. We're sure its not getting fuel. After it starts, sometimes it stops even going down the road. Checked fuel solinoid. WE think it may be the fuel pump but we don't know if its electric or manual. Not sure where it is. Fuel filters have been replaced. We're on the road but not sure what to do. Owner took it to dealer for problem but worked perfect while there. Anybody familiar with this problem?

I would bet on an electrical problem to the solenoid or the fuel pump. Like an exposed wire grounding out.

[gettinright]

I just spent 10 extra days coming back from California to Georgia because of a similar problem with a 330 CAT and it was the fuel pump.

They put a new injection pump and fuel pump on in LA and worked on it again in Phoenix and put another new fuel pump on in Albuquerque, NM and it has been great since CAT replaced the fuel pump the second time.

We were towed three times at a very high cost. Fortunetly we had insurance and Freightliner and CAT did the repairs under warrant and paid to have it towed one time.

On our unit it has no primer pump. If your has a primer pump you may start it that way.