APRIL 17 - APRIL 29, 2019

Since our last blog post, life has continued to be very busy.  Our stay in Raleigh was great.  We enjoyed meeting up with friends, going to club meetings, taking care of doctor appointments, visiting with the members in the Moose Family Center and preparing for the times ahead.




On April 17, we moved from the Moose Lodge in north Raleigh to the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in west Raleigh.  The Raleigh hamfest was to be  held there on Saturday, April 20 and we needed to be close to help with the preparations and the big event.  The hamfest was a great success and we saw many of our old friends from our time living nearby.

Sunday, April 18 - We left Raleigh and drove two  hours west to the Cross Winds Family Campground in Linwood, NC for a week's stay. We hosted a rally for the RV Radio Network club April 24-27. There were only 6 other attendees, but we had great time being together for breakfasts, happy hours, dinner, club meetings and prize drawings.  The campground let us use their activity building for 3 days.





 On the 27th, we had a day devoted to ham radio with a special event station outside. This encouraged others walking by to stop and see what was going on, and we had a few visitors from the surrounding area.

Sunday, April 28 was a long travel day  for us as we drove about 430 miles north to the Marysville, Ohio Walmart where we parked for the night. Monday, April 29, we completed our journey to the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN.




  We are helping with several programs for the 2019 Maintenance Session - a rally devoted to learning about, and caring for, a diesal pusher motorhome. This is our 4th year to attend this event.  We made it to Goshen and got set up just before the heavy rain of the day arrived.  This area has been very wet over the last week, and the forecast is for more rain to  fall this week with cool temperatures..  Thank goodness almost all activities take place inside one of the many buildings on the property.  We'll be here until May 9th when we'll hit the road to Michigan for our summer adventures.

MARCH 7 - MARCH 28: The Whole Story

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.

MARCH 29: We're Back on the Road!

Yesteryday afternoon, Cummins finished their repair work and took care of some maintenance items for us .  After spending the night using their hookups, we pulled out this morning about 9:45 A.M. We  took a non-congested route to I- 285 and then on to I-20 headed east. Tonight we're in the Walmart parking lot in Camden, SC. Tomorrow we hope to finish our journey to Raleigh, NC 20 days later than we had planned!

There will be a future post describing the repairs that were done in Forest Park, GA.  Tonight we're very happy to be out of that area after  dealing with the very heavy traffic and crazy drivers!

March 23: Things Are Looking Better!

This past week has brought some good news. After more consultations with Spartan Chassis in Michigan, another solution was found that is less expensive and quicker to accomplish.  We are hopeful that we can leave Forest Park sometime next week and head to the Raleigh, NC area. This Cummins center is not open on weekends, so work will resume on Monday. We'll also have some routine maintenance work done before we leave here.

The customer service here has been very good. They don't have a dump station on site, so we had a septic service pump out the tanks on Thursday morning.  We can use the inside lounges and rest rooms 7-5 on Monday-Friday, and the supervisors do a great job keeping us up to date on developments. It's interesting to see the different types of large vehicles coming in, or being towed in, for service.  Last night, the second tow truck driver we used was here and stopped by to see how we were. We're definitely ready to get the wheels rolling again soon!

MARCH 17: Problem Found, Searching for Solution

Cummins had Little House in the work bay on Wednesday,  and part of Thursday for more intense inspections and testing.  The trouble source was finally found.  A temp sensor on the engine cooling reservoir was slowly leaking coolant INTO the attached ECM wire and over time had seeped/wicked down the wire into the wiring harness and continued throughout the harness.  When they opened the wiring harness, coolant actually dripped out of it!  The problems we had in December are all related to the current diagnosis.

This harness has a Spartan  price of $2,500 but is no longer available.  They MIGHT be able to build one, but will take more than 6 weeks!  The Cummins shop is thinking of trying their hand at building one IF they can get all the required wiring info from Spartan.

With the complexity of the possible repair, all possibilities are being explored. Spartan is helping with chassis information and the Cummins people are pondering possible solutions.  They don't work on Saturday or Sunday, so it's been a quiet weekend here.  Last evening two more motor homes pulled into the RV hookup spots beside us, so we have neighbors!  We'll see what Cummins' thoughts are tomorrow. Hank has been doing his research as well, and tomorow he will call American Coach for any advice they may have. sw

Friday, we drove to nearby Fayetteville to meet for lunch with John, a ham radio friend from our time in the Raleigh area, who now lives in Peachtree City.  Yesterday, we met our Grandson, Ace. and his mother, Rebecca, for lunch in Smyrna.  Otherwise, we're passing the time with our computer activities and watching the trafiic  on always-busy I-75.  The weather has turned chilly again after rain on Thursday.  We have no idea how long we might be here.

MARCH 7 - 12, 2019

MARCH 7 - Not a Good Day!

We left the Athens, GA Walmart early for the 3 hour drive to Cocord, NC.  For the first part of the trip, Hank chose a non-interstate route via Hwy. 29.  As we entered Royston, GA, the big red "STOP ENGINE" dash light came on with a very loud alarm. Less than 30 seconds later,  as Hank was turning into a strip mall,  the engine did a complete shut down, so there was no power steeering  to help him maneuver 16 tons into the lot!  Thanks to air brakes, we did not  run into the first building.  Hank was able to start the engine back up and move over to the edge of the lot without the engine shutting down again - we just had to listen to the screeching alarm.  Hank e called Coach Net, our roadside assistance provider to notify them of the situation and let them know what our equipment was (a 31,500 lb motor home with a Cummins diesel engine on a Spartan chassis).

Coach Net started the rescue process, first making sure we were in a safe place. They stayed in touch with us for the next two hours, arranging for a repair facility (Peach State Freightliner) to help us, and making arrangements for an appropriate tow truck to get us there. Hank reminded them that our chassis is made by Spartan, not Freightliner, and it is often problematic to take a vehicle to a different chassis manufacturer.  But Peach State Freightliner was closer and Coach Net assured us they would be able to resolve our problem.   Coach Net called us several times to update us on what was happening. PeachState Freightliner also contacted us and we were told we had to agree to a preliminary 2 hour diagnostic session at a cost of about $350 if we wanted to bring the coach to their shop.  We were also told that we could not stay in Little House overnight in their lot, so we reserved a hotel room in Commerce, GA, gathered items for a hotel stay and loaded them into the car. The tow truck driver called at 11:15 to say he'd be there in about 30 minutes.

The Curt's tow truck arrived about 11:45 A.M. and the driver began the process of getting us hooked up to the truck, disengaging the drive shaft, and removing our rock catcher that would otherwise be dragging.  The young man was very careful that everything was as it should be for a safe tow.

 About 2 P.M., we started the one hour trip to Jefferson, GA, just west of Commerce, and the Freightliner facility (a huge truck sales and service center.) We were very sad to see our home being pulled away without us inside.

Peach State assured both Coach Net and Hank that they could work on our Cummins engine on a Spartan chassis. When we arrived, we were told they would start checking things on Friday morning, so we headed for the hotel to try to unwind from a very stressful day.


MARCH 8- Not Much Better

Friday morning, Peach State did the "required" $350+ diagnostic session and said they found 3 exhaust system temperature sensors that had been giving "intermittent or incorrect" alarms - all but one were "yellow" (minor) alarms, and one that was consistently showing a 500 degree temp - a "red" alarm as  "above normal operating range - most severe level"    They think that sensor is OK based on swapping leads between what they think is a similar sensor, so they think the problem is in the Spartan wiring harness. However, in spite of what they had previously said, they do not work on a Spartan chassis.  They kept our $350+ diagnosis charge which we'll probably have to pay again at the next shop.

It was 3 P.M. before paperwork was finished and with the weekend almost upon us, it would have been tough to get a tow to another facility that would still be open, and one that had service on the weekend. Peach State said it was okay to leave the coach parked until Monday when we would start the whole process over again with a different repair site.  We wanted to be at the Charlotte Hamfest in Concord, NC on Saturday to help with PR for the April Raleigh Hamfest (RARSfest), so we booked a hotel room and drove 4 hours to Concord to meet friends for a late dinner.  The trip wasn't pleasant due to heavy rain and several traffic stops, but seeing smiling faces at the restaurant was worth the trouble.

March 9 - Charlotte Hamfest

 We saw many more friends on Saturday at the hamfest. At least it kept our minds off the problems waiting for us in Georgia. After the hamfest, Hank called Coach-Net to update them on our situation. Because Peach State Freightliner could not help us, they said they would get things in motion on Monday morning for another tow to another repair facility.  They said they would contact Peach State Freightliner at 9AM Monday morning and we needed to make sure the coach was ready to be towed.

March 10
Sunday, we met our youngest son, Mike, at the restaurant where he works, for a nice brunch and visit. Then it was back on the road to Commerce, this time on mostly dry roads with better traffic flow.

March 11 - We checked out of the motel and arrived at the Freightliner facility about 8:30 AM to shuffle some items between the coach and our car.  Shortly after 9AM Coach Net called and said they had made arrangements to get us serviced at a Cummins shop in Forest Park, GA - but there were no tow vehicles available until Tuesday.  We verified that we could leave the coach in the Freightliner lot and called the motel to get our room back.  We had just finished moving every thing back into the motel room when the phone rang and Coach Net notified us that they had located a tow and it was in route to the Freightliner shop.  So we loaded everything back in the car, checked out again, and headed back to meet the tow truck.  Curt's Towing arrived soon after we got to the lot and towed us to the new Cummins Service facility in Forest Park, GA, just south of Atlanta.  This driver was more experienced, so the hookup went faster, but he still did his job with care and concern. The second tow truck was much larger than the previous one  The trip to Forest Park took us through the always-heavy Atlanta traffic on I-85, I-285 and I-75.  Cummins was expecting us.  This facility has only been open a few weeks.  They have a couple of RV spots with electric service inside the fence for daytime use, and 3 spots outside the fence with water and electricity for nighttime use. 

They were preparing for their Grand Opening celebration on Tuesday, and the overnight RV spots were covered with a big tent, so they let us boondock (camping with no provided utilities) in their parking lot for the night.

Tuesday, at 7:45 A.M., Hank provided the Cummins service manager with the one paragraph report provided to us by Freightliner, and they moved Little House into a work bay to check it out on their dynamometer.  They said we could park in an overnight spot with electric after the festivities were over so we were glad not to need another motel room.  Most of the day, there were company officials, politicians, workers' families, and local folks taking advantage of tours and free food.  We were included in that group and had breakfast, lunch and dinner compliments of Cummins. At the end of the day we learned that they had not been able to get their "dyno" running in the new shop but they had found evidence of moisture inside the electrical cable going to the ECM and suspected that was part of the problem, but they still didn't know exactly what was causing our alarms, and we felt sure that the day's celebrations had affected the availability of work time. We parked  next to the big tent so we could use the electric hookup overnight.

(to be continued in the next blog post)

FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 6: Alabama Wrapup and Moving On

We had an enjoyable stay in the quiet woods of Minooka Park near Jemison, AL. We visited with our two daughters and several friends, and had no problems from the severe weather system that devestated part of eastern Alabama.  The last few nights were very cold with lows in the 20's.

Wednesday, March 6, in spite of the cold, it was time to get the wheels moving once again becuase we have places to go and people to see.  Last night, we stayed at the Walmart in Athens, Ga after a long day of travel going south of Atlanta instead of through it.  Again, overnight lows were around 30. We're hoping to find warmer weather soon.  The Walmart manager asked to leave by 8 A.M. so we'll have an early start for our drive to Concord, NC and a 3 night stay.