We promised a full report on our March repairs, so here are the facts from Hank's notes on how things played out.
Thursday March 7th:
Traveling north on US-29 toward the Charlotte hamfest, as we
approached Roystan GA, the RED "STOP ENGINE" light came on
accompanied by the harsh screech of the audible alarm. Just as I
managed to get nosed into the drive of a strip mall the engine
stopped. I managed to coast the coach into a safe position( with no
power steering) and called Coach-Net Roadside Assistance giving them
the details - STOP ENGINE alarm, Motor Shut off, we have an American
Tradition with a Cummins ISL engine on a Spartan Chassis.
Coach Net soon called back to let us know they had contacted Peach
State Freightliner and we were to be towed to their shop as soon as
they could get a wrecker to us. I reminded them that we had a
Spartan chassis and a Cummins engine, but they insisted that this
shop could do the work. A few minutes later we got a call from
Peach State Freightliner notifying saying that in order for them to
work on our RV, we had to consent to them running a 2 hour
diagnostic session at a cost of around $350.
Shortly thereafter Coach Net called to confirm information for the
towing company. About half an hour later Coach Net called to tell
us the tow truck should be there within 2 hours.
The BIG wrecker arrived at about 11:45 and finally had us hooked up
at 3 PM for the half hour drive to Peach State Freightliner near Commerce, GA for
repairs. It was too late for them to do a 2 hour diagnostic that
day, but said they would do it first thing in the morning and we could
check back around 10:00 AM for the results. They are basically a
truck sales/service facility and have no provisions for staying with
the RV so we checked into a motel for the night.
Friday March 8th:
We arrived at Freightliner shortly before 10:00 and were told they
still had the coach in the shop. We checked back every hour after
that and at 3:00 were told they had completed the diagnostics and
would have the report ready for us in a few minutes They explained
the delay had been due to an hour lunch break followed by a company
wide meeting. At about 3:30, the Service Advisor called us in and said
we would need to take the coach to a Spartan shop. They had found
several intermittent check engine codes and one major code
indicating a dangerously high exhaust temperature. Investigating
the codes they determined that they suspected the wiring harness to
the ECM (Engine or Electronic Control Module) and that was causing
false codes and further trouble shooting had confirmed a problem in
the wiring harness rather than the sensor itself. They said they do
not have access to the Spartan wiring diagrams and therefore can not
work on the problem any further. Since it was late, and they were
not open on Saturday or Sunday, we would need to wait until Monday
to tow it to a Spartan shop.
On Saturday we called Coach Net to report the situation. They
assured me they would be towing me to another location at no charge
if needed. A short time later someone from Coach Net called me to
get additional information and said they would be contacting
Freightliner at 9AM Monday morning and would arrange for the tow. I
would hear from them soon after with towing information.
Monday March 11th:
Early Monday morning I called Coach Net to confirm information for
the day but the agent was unaware of the plans, but eventually found
info and said they would call Peach State Freightliner and I should
proceed to the shop by 9:00
We checked out of motel at about 8:30 and made the short trip to
coach to get clean clothes and various swap in/out of items and be
ready for tow truck to arrive. Shortly before 10:00 AM Coach Net
called and said they would be towing me to a Forest Park GA Cummins
shop for repairs TOMORROW - there were unable to find a tow
available today. We returned to the motel and managed to get the
same room back. While we were moving our luggage into the motel
room Coach Net called and said the wrecker would be there to pick
up our coach within the hour! We packed up and checked out again!
We followed the wrecker down the interstate through Atlanta arriving
at the Forest Park Cummins shop at 2:30 PM. It was too late to
start work that day so they parked us for the night in the parking lot.
Tuesday March 12th:
This shop was a brand new facility and their Grand Opening was on
Tuesday with many local dignitaries present including the Governor
and news media. We were welcome to participate and had 3 free
meals, a tour, and a Cummins Gift Bag containing a hat, sunglasses,
and coffee cup with Cummins logo.
Most of the RV crew at this shop had come from a Cummins Coach Care
shop and were used to working on motor homes. It did not take long
to determine that the problem was correctly diagnosed as problems in
the wiring harness. A coolant level sensor had developed a leak
and the pressurized coolant had been pushed through the sealed
wiring cable connection and had forced coolant down through the
wiring harness. A call to Spartan found that they no longer stock
a wiring harness for a 2008 model coach. The original price would
have been $2,500.00 but they do not have the template boards to make
them any more, and even if they did delivery time would be 6 weeks
to 2 months. Searching online for "custom wiring harness" found
many companies who will make them, but calls to their office found
that they only take bulk orders, not orders for just a single
harness.
Tuesday March 19th:
After a week of trying to find a workable solution, I called the
Spartan Factory Service main facility in Charlotte MI and talked to
a long time service advisor we had worked with previously. He
recognized the problem immediately saying they had seen this dozens
of times and we only needed to replace that specific cable, not the
entire wiring harness. The new cable did not even need to be run
through the wiring harness loom, any route was fine. We also needed
to clean up any corrosion at the connecting pins in the sealed plugs
at both ends, or replace the plugs if the pins could not be cleaned
up. And of course replace the leaking sensor.
This was good news since we did not have to come up with an
expensive wiring harness, but once they got into the work they found
that the coolant had indeed been pushed all the way to the sealed
plug at the far end were it connected to the ECM. The coolant had
not penetrated into the sealed ECM but the pressure had to push it
somewhere - and that was back up through the other 50 wires into the
wiring harness where it had broken down some insulation and caused
corrosion in the wiring. The connecting plugs on both ends had a
lot of corroded pins an gunk which took a lot of time/labor to clean
up and many new pins had to be soldered into the plugs.
Thursday March 28th:
3 weeks after the breakdown -
Once all repairs had been done a long run on their dynamometer found
no remaining problems. The parts were not expensive but 2 weeks+
of labor charges at over $200/hr mounts up in a hurry.
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