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D_E_Bishop's avatar
D_E_Bishop
Explorer
Sep 15, 2015

Final Test of new Fuel Pump Relay

The DW went to Lake Tahoe Saturday and so Sunday morning I packed up and headed for the coast up by Vandenberg AFB near Lompoc. It was hot when I left Eagle Rock and stayed that way until North of Ventura. Suddenly I noticed that the electric fan had stopped cycling and there was a marine layer about a half mile out. What a nice change from the L.A. Basin.

There are several long gentle grades and a few steeper grades from home to when you really hit the beach and no sign of the engine starving out. The gas gauge had not even moved yet and for a 25 year old rig all was quiet. Just for kicks I was running with the CC set at 60 mph and never slowed much on the grades and no back shifting. Temps were about a quarter up the gauge. There are some ups and downs between Ventura and Gaviota north of Santa Barbara and some really steep grades from the HWY 1 turnoff for Lompoc and the turnoff for the campground. Fingers crossed the whole way but no problems. The road to the campground is 14 miles of rolling hills and mild to very steep (8%) grades. No problems here either.

Got into site and set up, strange doing it by yourself, DW off quilting and DGKs have to be at school Monday. Looked at the inside of the exhaust pipes and instead of black & sooty, they were the nice clay color they were before the relay died.

I don’t want you to think that this is a left handed complement to Gary at Whitney’s RV Service in Simi Valley, I think he did a great job at rebuilding the carb and tuning the engine, I just wish he had listened to me about my feelings that the big problem I was having was lack of fuel and had run a flue pressure test. He was right, however, it was an electrical problem.

So now that the engine is running like a teenager instead of grey haired old fart like the driver is, it’s time for the DW and I to get out of Dodge. Hopefully we’ll have a week or so in October between all the cr@p on the calendar for us to dive up to Kirk Creek Campground for a few days of photography.

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions, it is so nice to have folks who both agree and notice possible things you miss while trying to work when in out of your comfort level.
  • j-d's avatar
    j-d
    Explorer II
    This is good news, David! As I recall, this thing's been dogging you for quite awhile. You were on a long trip somewhere east, trying to get it running well enough to get home. Or was that somebody else?
    Congratulations!

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