MAY 9: Off On a New Adventure!

With our annual first quarter events over and done with, it was time to head for our summer stay at  Sandy Shores Campground on the shore of Silver Lake near the famous Lake Michigan Silver Lake Sand Dunes.



 We've never been to this  part of Michigan before, so this opportunity gives us new territory to visit while we put a few coins in our pockets as workampers.

Sandy Shores Campground has been a family-owned campground for almost 40 years with  214 campsites - 147 seasonal sites and 67 overnight sites. There's a heated pool, bath house and laundry building, playground, and a private beach across the road along with boat docks. The campground is open from early May to late September. The upcoming holiday weekend will be very busy!



 The owners, Jerry & Chris, and their son Mike,  live in the campground for most of the summer.  Another son, Nick lives close by.  We are two of the seven workkampers here.

When we arrived on May 9, our first assignment was to get familiar with the area and the attractions that are nearby.  Since then, we've gotten better acquainted with our bosses and fellow workers, and started slowly on our individual jobs. Hank will be helping with campground maintenace and  and doing some nighttime security rounds. Selene will be working with reservations and check-ins at  the office.  Two days a week from 10-6,  we'll be responsible for keeping the bath house and laundry in good shape. Another couple does all of the pool work and most of the bath house work, including the heavy cleaning. We have a golf cart for our use.

Little House is parked right next to the pool and bath house/laundry with full hookups, concrete pad, and a nice side yard. We have good Verizon WiFi service, and the campground also has free WiFi which is better than most campgrounds, at least at our site. However, phone reception can be iffy,  and there's no 'over the air' TV reception.


Our campsite is on the right side of the building where the first camper is parked.






Michigan's spring has been very late in arriving, so daytime temperatures are pretty cool especially with a breeze off the lakes. Nights have been mostly in the 30's and 40's.  The natives assure us it will warm up for the summer!

We'll have more details in upcoming blog posts.  There are lots of  campground pictures here:
https://sandyshorescampground.com/the-campground/gallery/

APRIL 30 - May 8: 2019 Maintenace Session

 The Ramblin’ Pushers is an organization of Class A (DP) and Class Super C diesel motorhome owners who gather for an annual Maintenance Session, the MS, It is one of our favorite events to attend. The MS activites are done by over 200 volunteers  There are  approximately 100 seminars,  dealers/vendor/service personnel, and friendly motor home owners all providing knowledge, maintenace, and repairs in a friendly atmosphere for 6 event-filled days.  All brands under the REV ownership are welcome to attend, and this year that brought around 220 RV's to the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN.

We were move involved than in the past.  Selene helped with assembling the goody bags, worked several days in the event office,


 and served as a seminar host several times.  Hank was the assistant to the leader of the seminar hosts as well as being a seminar host himself,  and served as a mentor for similar RVs to ours.  We were First Timer Guides to two couples which included phone calls before the event, meeting them as they arrived, and making sure they knew  how to find their way to  the different venues in the fairgrounds. With a large daily morning breakfast buffet,


 several lunches, two receptions and the dinner finale, along with the seminars and service appointments,  the time went by very quickly. In addition, there were  optional off-site activities including 4 factory tours, 2 Amish dinners, and one stage show.

The on-site motor home service was put to good use by most of the attendees as well as ourselves. On our way to Goshen, as we traveled the West Virginia Turnpike, the "check engine" light came on twice while climbing the steeper grades, but went off after stopping for lunch and fuel.  Cummins Sales and Service from Fort Wayne, IN is a huge sponsor of this event, and was providing many types of service for those with Cummins engines.  A tech was able to read the engine code from our pre-rally situation and determined that we needed a new crank case filter.  We also had an oil change and during that service, they found our serpentine belt was starting to show some wear.  Our Aqua-Hot also needed maintenance service as well as a replacement part which was handled by an Aqua-Hot specialist on site. Hank  bought some more interior LED lights There were other vendors changing out tires, repairing or installing satellite systems, washing and waxing coaches, and tackling many other issues that come up while moving motor homes down the road.



  There was coach-weighing available upon arriving and when departing.


 As usual, we enjoyed the event as well as seeing friends from past years, and meeting others for the first time.

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.