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?

[mvinkler]

Yes flat tires are the biggest problem, before you drive check the air pressure. Low pressure can cause tires to heat up and explode. Sitting RVs tend to leak, Mine did, taking out the water lines and a big bundle of electrical wires as well.

[sigthor]

Rv Particulars: 2001 Allegro Bay Diesel Pusher
Driveline: Cummins 275ISB, Allison MD3060 6sp
Miles: 13000
Year: Nov 2003

Breakdown Info:
Symptons: Loud Bang when starting up grade from a stop.
Effect: Fwd motion ceased and rearward motion began.
Cause: Universal Joint failed, driveshaft dropped to ground.

Coach had been serviced by selling dealer 30 days/3000miles prior. There was no evidence of grease in failing universal joint. Selling dealer picked up repair cost of $977. Had to wait for 5 days for parts, including Thanksgiving. I now grease driveshaft myself! Is required every 6000 miles.

[HCB]

RV particulars:
Driveline (Engine, Transmission): 5.9L 300 Cummins/Allison 6Spd
Miles:19.875
Year:03
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:Not running right and missing part of time Thought I had water in fuel, changed fuel filter twice over next several days.
How I knew it was pump was to turn switch on with fuel filter loose and not fuel pumping into filter.
Effect:Severe jerking and missing when on throttle hard
Cause: Bad pick up fuel pump.
Outcome:Cummins replaced pump, runs great now.

[dcarpenter252]

I have had several breakdowns over the years but nothing that left me on the side of the road. I am the person all my friends call when they have problems.

1 1995 sun voyager,Spartan chassis,cummings 210
power solinoid. starter soleinoid

2 99 tradewinds.freightliner,cat 300
I had coach serviced at freightliner of columbia for recall and bad fuel gauge under warranty. they also replaced the chassis batteres under warranty? the very next trip shortly after leaving home the coach shut down and would not start,found battery cable loose, on this same trip ran out of fuel with gauge showing 1/4 tank.

3 pulled in at a grocery store and lost all air pressure. found where a coupling in air line had come apart.

4 blowout inside rear curb side, after limping to tire repair shop and paying $240 to have a used tire installed the coach would not start. shorted starter solenoid and drove the coach home. found that the transmisson neutral sense relay was mounted in compartment behind this tire. the blast from the blowout knocked the relay loose from the socket it was mounted in.

5 when leaving to take coach to trade it in the air conditioner compressor locked up. removed compressor and replaced belt with a shorter belt and took it to tampa.

I now have A new Beaver Santiam just waiting to see what happens now!

2004 quad slide Beaver
2002 F150
1995 Jeep Cherokee

[Benzy]

Hey guys and gals...

Problem: Overheating
On the way back from Florida. (Jacksonville)
Pulled into a rest area, temp gauge went up, spraying fluid all over the place.
'92 Overland Diesel Pusher, Allison Trans, Cummings Diesel.
Great Rig....

Anyway, got stopped, and couldn't do anything that night. Next morn, (Sat.) contacted Cummings and they were great. I replaced the water pump, and attempted to head home. Next thing I know I had no gauges, wipers or dash lights.

Cummins allowed us to stay with them and even connect to a lighthouse and water and sewer. Great people at Cummins.

Contacted Freightliner, had to wait for four days to get in, (something about not taking reservations..yah right..) when they looked at the rig, they confirmed what I had said and without fixing anything they hand me a bill for almost 300.00 I explained that they fixed nothing waould be paid accordingly. They took the rig back in and with my elect. diagram, and some extra relays of mine finished the job. They still tried to get me to pay a bill of over 600.00.

I called their customer service and the bill was reduced to 268.00.
I still paid to much, but I'm learning to choose my battles.

Not a good experience, but still a learning one. We are home now, and I plan on doing some major over hauling of the elect. system set-up. Clean up the grounds and try to get a better understanding of it all.

But we plan on heading out again later this fall, (Oct through May)
We'll keep everyone posted.

Benzy

[zephyringalong]

This is a fantastic topic. I have a story of a breakdown with supposed CSP coverage (or so I thought).

Motorhome:
2001 Tiffin Zephyr, 60,000 miles
450HP Cummins ISM
Allison 6000 Trans.
On a trip to Texas last month, a trucker came alongside and motioned to listen on the CB. I did and he told me I had fluid coming out the rear vent. I stopped and found the Freightliner plastic reservoir had a split in it and the antifreeze was boiling out. Not much of a problem. Got to Freightliner in Amarillo, (opened 24hrs) and had that replaced. Cost 175.00. Left in the morning towards Wichita Falls only to have it overheat again. Called ahead to Freightliner in WF and was informed that my fan switch was defective and the Charge Air Cooler (commonly known as an Intercooler for the turbo)had a crack in it. I went on my way as they had to order the parts anyhow and as long as I kept the MH below 65 and no hills, (none in Texas anyhow) I had no problem. Theycalled when the parts came in and on the way back to AZ I stopped and they installed both parts. I thought I was covered by the CSP insurance from Goodsam, but found out it does not cover the Charge Air Cooler. Nowhere in the contract does it say that however. Anyhow at a cost of another $3000.00 I had it fixed and so far all is well. I had lost power as well due to the split in the Charge air cooler. About 20% or so.
I do not believe the insurance cost for breakdowns if worth it especially on a less than 5 year MH.

[tiekoon]

Second One:

RV particulars: 2003 NRV Tradewinds LTC
Driveline (Engine, Transmission): Cummins 350 turbo ISC, Allison 6000
Miles: 3750
Year: 2004

Break Down Description: Loss of power (slow engine shut down) while driving up grade on freeway.

Symptoms: Warning buzzer sounded on dash, followed by “check engine indicator light”, then “red shut down engine indicator light”, about 15 seconds later “low oil pressure indicator light”. Also during this two-minute “bells & whistles drill” the oil pressure, as indicated on gage, slowly receded to zero.

Effect: Engine was put into automatic shut down mode do to loss in oil pressure.

Cause: Defective oil pressure switch

Outcome: Thanks to cell phone, Cummins was very responsive and had a roadside service tech to me in two hours. Upon arrival the Tech confirmed our phone diagnosis and installed new oil pressure switch and then reprogrammed the ECM to see the new style pressure switch. And yes, the new switch is different and supposedly much less sophisticated and trouble prone than the original. Of coarse, No Charge……all under warrantee!

In spite of the inconvenience I was very happy with the Cummins response to my breakdown, being back underway in less that three hours of calling their 800 emergency number. Also, for what it may be worth; on the QT, I was told this is a common problem with the older ISC engines. I would estimate that my engine was manufactured in early 2002. If you have one, you may want to check it out or upgrade at next service. The Tech also upgraded my ECM software from the original version 11 to version 16 (the latest) but I haven’t noticed any difference in operation or performance.

Jack

[tiekoon]

This is a terrific subject, especially for us new to the RV world. Unfortunately I am able to contribute two breakdowns but hope others may learn from them as I have. Best advice I have found is to keep a cool head and everything in perspective when these unexpected situations visit you. Also helps to have all warrantee, engine, transmission and chassis manufactures emergency and roadside service numbers at easy reach IN the coach. Of coarse a good cell phone and service doesn’t hurt either!

First One:

RV particulars: 2003 NRV Tradewinds LTC
Driveline (Engine, Transmission): Cummins 350 turbo ISC, Allison 6000
Miles: 650
Year: 2003

Break Down Description: Loss of power @ 7,500 ft. elevation….. First trip (shakedown)

Symptoms: Heard a loud bang (like something fell on the floor) just after starting first thing in the morning. Idle RPM ok! No engine warning indicator lights on, humm?

Effect: After putting in gear and driving away slowly (residential area) it felt like the engine was a little weak. Upon pulling onto major street and asking for power only got about 20%. Engine could barely muster 800 RPM while in Drive but 2000 if in Neutral? Drove about a mile then limped back to house to call Cummins.

Cause: The air intake hose between the cold air box and the turbo had come apart because the clamp was not tightened properly. Loss of turbo pressure! That’s what we thought it might be but no boost gage to verify. Unfortunately the separation was where you couldn’t easily see it.
NO boost pressure to turbo ---- NO power! Especially at that elevation in the mountains!

Outcome: Cummins was very responsive and arranged to flat bed tow the coach to nearest service center (50 miles). There they made a quick diagnosis and fix. Guilty party was Freightliner, who had installed the air hose and cold box to engine and they didn’t hesitate to pick up the tab for the whole mishap.

Jack

[AlanWelch]

RV particulars:1999 Holiday Rambler Endeavor 36' Diesel
Driveline (Engine, Transmission):Cummins ISB, Allison
Miles:approx 10,000
Year:1999
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: Overheating light kept coming on
Effect: I had to slow way down to about 30 mph to keep it off
Cause:bad water pump
Outcome:I was told by Cummins to drive it slowly to Amarillo (about 100 miles away). They replaced water pump and no further problems. They said they had a bad batch of water pumps on this year model rig.

[zerkon]

Thanks for one of the best ideas yet on this forum. This information reported is valuable not only for the current owners of RV's, but also those who are buying or trading up. Heading out on a trip with maintenance/failure data our your ride is the best thing to know, outside of fuel availability.

Would like to suggest to add only one thing and that is cost of a given repair. (Note that some costs have been reported, and yes to those who are going to write in with the following cliche which we have all heard since grade school "If you have to ask about cost, then you should not be trying to be kool like us big, rich guys.")

This would provide some cost-effectiveness data for RV's. Is it better to have a RV that takes a number of small repairs of a few bucks or one that chews $7000 dollars a wack and out of service during your vacation and still has some small repairs. Cost data would tell us that.

Admittedly, at this point, processing all the current data without cost will be very difficult and time consuming, considering that much of it is coming in other than in the requested format. But the non-standard reports are still valuable.

[Waynrdude]

Here's a short one, Cummings diesels on Holiday Ramblers have sensor problems. It did happen in South Georgia in a terrible rain and wind storm and it might be contributed to that. We fueled up at Flying J in Valdosta. Thirty miles latter the warning light come on. All guages said ok. We made it to I-10 and pulled off and checked all fluids and hoses, nothing. Got back on the freeway after calling Holiday Rambler (no help). Then 30 miles down the road the STOP RED light came on and the computer put it in limp mode and throttled back on the turbo. I relied on the gauges and limped in to Ocala where our trip was taking us. I called Cummins and it would be a week before we could get in. We took the HR to Daytona and no lights came on and then drove back to Ocala.

Cumming said "there are a lot of bad sensors on the 330 hp" I had them do the 15K on the engine and the lights never came on


RV particulars:HR 2002 Endeavor
Driveline (Engine, Transmission): Cummins / Allison
Miles:15,000
Year:2002
Break Down Description:
Symptoms:Warning and Stop lights on
Effect:Scares the heck out of you
Cause: Bad sensors or water in computer sensor

[Waynrdude]

Wow, I like to read these postings but maybe they should be broken up into makes of RV and gas/diesel. I told my wife after we had been seeing the maps on back of motorhomes with the states filled in by color, I told her those maps must be the sates that they have broken down in!

For a $2.00 part in your tool bag this might save some time. We had a left rear air bag failure. After being on the phone with HR (no help) we were painfully aware that we were 80 miles from anyone to fix our problem. When we called around local no one wanted to even work on a "Roadmaster" chassis. We were quoted 1 to 2 weeks.

After climbing under the motorhome for a couple of hours learning what did what, I determined that the air bags were good but the "air switch" that tells the air to fill or let the air our was bad. You are not supposed to run this chassis with a bag down, especially the rear because of the drive line.

I went to a tractor supply place, (any auto parts or Walmart will have them) and bought a female air chuck like you use on a air hose. The air bags have a "T" at each wheel well because they split the air going into the two bags. When you take the "T" loose it leaves a 1/4" male fitting that screws right in to the air chuck. Take a hose an air it up to be level when the other bags are up. It got me 80 miles to the service center, I could have finished the trip. The motorhome was under warranty but they would not tow it.

The biggest problem was, it was Friday and we got to the service center after hours and they were closed on Saturday, diagnois was on Monday, part was flown in on Tues.

RV particulars:2002 Holiday Rambler
Driveline (Engine, Transmission): Cummins / Allison
Miles:15,000
Year:2002
Break Down Description:
Symptoms: Motorhome leaning bad to one side.
Effect:
Cause: Bad air level switch

[denisondc]

My breakdown:
* 1972 Winnebago D22, on Dodge M400 chassis, 413 engine, 727 tranny.
* 90,000 total miles.
* 1972 RV. It happened in 2002, the RV was 30 years old.
Break Down Description: Driving along at 55 mph on the last day of a 3 week 4000 mile vacation, the engine lost oil pressure completely, and though it was running nicely, we shut it down as soon as we saw the gauge reading. It may have been zero for many miles.
Symptom: There had been a very slight valve ticking noise for the last 40k miles, since we got it 11 years earlier. Im used to a little tappet noise in old mopar engines.
Effect: Anxiety. Engine water temp and all other gauges normal. Motor sounded fine, no plume of smoke, no oil trail behind us.
Cause: A bent pushrod finally wore in two from rubbing against the head casting, the pieces dropped away, and the cam lobe pitched the lifter up out of the bore. This opened up the oil gallery, so lots of flow but zero pressure reading on both of my oil p. gauges.
Outcome: We got it towed the 200 miles home - $700. First time-ever tow.
Post Mortem: The bent pushrod pieces and lifter were in the cam valley. None of the pieces got in the way of anything else. I replaced the pushrods, and while I was at it, the engine bearings, timing chain, front and rear main seals, and other things easy to reach with the radiator out. I also replaced the valve cover gaskets, and painted the top of the now clean engine. The old bearings showed no sign of adverse wear beyond what you would expect at 90,000 miles. I spent about $800 on parts, and about 2 months of pleasant weekend free time.
I have had several other "events' that could have been breakdowns but I was able to fix them while we were stopped for sightseeing, eating, or cammping: fuel filter clogging, finicky headlight switch, vapor lock - solved that with heat shielding, vent cover broke off, broken throttle cable, kink in shifter cable, ign points needing replacement, etc.

[The_Sand_Man]

Second horror story...really not so bad. While enjoying a nice ride up US 231, south of Montgomery Al, the sudden odor of diesel fuel rolled from the back to the front our 2001 Gulf Stream Sunsport. it just happened to be dark outside...but, at first look under the coach I thought we had big problems. Well, to our surprise, the problem was a loose fuel line fitting on the injector pump. One small problem...the fitting was 3/4" and all I had was a pair of channel locks. Long story short, we had the fitting tight enough to make it to the Montgomery Al Wal-Mart store. I now keep that 3/4" stubby (wrench) with me when ever we travel.

RV particulars:2001 Gulf Stream Sun Sport
Driveline (Engine, Transmission): Cummins / Allison
Miles:17,000
Year:2001
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:Nice odor of raw diesel
Effect:numbing
Cause:loose fuel fitting at injector pump
Outcome:minor loss of time,

[The_Sand_Man]

Horror Stories...wanna hear? Southbound on I-75 headed to the Bristol Spring Race, two years ago. We were in the hammer lane running 70 MPH when all the sudden a violent vibration occurred. I moved into the pokey lane, rather quickly I might add, then the rear end just blew up. After two tow trucks and a lenthy stay in in Lexington KY, everything was fine. Followed up the next week with a fully loaded rig, toad in tow, to Panama City Beach Fl, no problem after that. Honestly, we loved that coach!!!

RV particulars:Georgie Boy Cruise Air
Driveline (Engine, Transmission):Chevy 454
Miles:22,000
Year:1994
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:Severe vibration in the rear end
Effect:Complete disenegration of the rear pig
Cause:unconfirmed catastrophic failure
Outcome:New ring and pinion, new LH axle, hub, brake caliper and pads.