breakdown on Interstate 25

[jtkemp]

I just wanted to post this hoping it might possibly save someone a lot of time and money. I have a 2000 Allegro Bus with the 8.3 Cummins engine. Last year all was going well with our Colorado vacation as I was headed up I 25 in Trinidad Colorado when all of a sudden my oil pressure buzzer came on, my oil pressure gauge dropped to 0 . I immediately pulled to the side of the interstate. Having quite a bit of mechanical knowledge I went to the engine compartment and cracked the oil line going to the turbo and told my wife to start the engine. I had plenty of oil pressure so I knew I was okay, I then started back up and headed back on my trip only to have the check engine light come on and the engine then started to slowdown and start missing. I pulled back off the road and figured the problem was the oil pressure sensor, but being over 1000 miles from home I wanted to be more sure so I called a repair shop and 3 days later and a few hundred bucks I didn't know any more than I did when it quit on me so I decided to unplug the wires going to the sensor and the rig ran great for the rest of the trip. I found out later that this was a common problem and the replacement was a switch with a single wire going to it rather than the original 3 wire sensor. The repair also required that I replace the short wiring harness that went from the main harness to the oil pressure switch. I was told that this was a recall and should have been changed out earlier. Hope this will help someone.

[stvdman]

crasster wrote:
And we thought computers would really make life easier! I hate issues like this because it's not straight forward oil and steel mechanics. It involves too much electronics and is tough to find and can hinder a person bad. Some coaches will even go into "limp in mode" when there is 1 crumby sensor issue! Thank you for the info!

BINGO! A part that was designed and implemented to prevent failures....it fails, and then you are stranded..

We cant be trusted as humans to watch an oil pressure gauge OR react properly to low/no oil pressure warnings SO they engineer a fix for it...

One could argue its better than destroying a $15-20k engine...I get that, but it still does not make this type of scenario any less frustrating.

Eliminate the HUMAN FACTOR with an EQUIPMET FIX, only to have an EQUIPMENT FAILURE..UGH!

[crasster]

And we thought computers would really make life easier! I hate issues like this because it's not straight forward oil and steel mechanics. It involves too much electronics and is tough to find and can hinder a person bad. Some coaches will even go into "limp in mode" when there is 1 crumby sensor issue! Thank you for the info!

[sundance_8]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
You might want to change the topic title to something more about the problem with your coach and not the highway name. This would help others in the future.

X2

[Bill_Satellite]

You might want to change the topic title to something more about the problem with your coach and not the highway name. This would help others in the future.

[hanko]

Glad it all worked out for you

[Mile_High]

Man I bet you were about sick thinking you lost all that oil! Thanks for posting!

[ksg5000]

Thanks for the info ... like most problems your seldom the lone ranger and a good repair shop would likely have known that this was a common problem. I recall telling the guy who ran the service dept of my local Audi dealer that they must take acting classes because most of the time all that head scratching was pure BS they knew exactly what was wrong and they had fixed hundreds before I showed up.