New Diesel Tow Rig...well, new to me, uh, soon to be new to me...

[DawgDaze]

Just reading through all of this Mel. I really hope you guys have everything resolved! @txav8r

 

[txav8r]

You know @DawgDaze , these things are pretty complex with lots of moving parts. There will always be something on the repair list. I'm good with that. But having 3 or
4 big issues just killed the momentum and cost us powell this year. All things happen for a reason, so sitting here in red river, grill, wine, Chester, and my bride, we are GOOD!

 

[txav8r]

We saw 7 big horn sheep beside the road on 38, between questa and red river about noon today!

We sat at the Texas lodge and Clara had a beer, and I had a couple jack and cokes!

 

[BlacklimitedS]

Great way to salvage a rough vacation. Glad to see you are making the best of this unfortunate situation. Have a safe journey home!

 

[txav8r]

Thanks you guys. Ironically, the bus is running good, but don't know if I mentioned the last in the saga...rear a/c unit stopped cooking. Got the capacitor on order and will change in Amarillo on the way home. We're all good, and glad I have you guys to fall back on!

 

[txav8r]

I wanted to bring this to the attention of a few guys that have given me guidance on Powell and motorhomes... @utahrd @sysinu
I thought I would bring y'all up to date on the motorhome saga. We salvaged our two week trip and finished with some fun by turning around and spending the last week of vacation in Taos and Red River. The trip saw a turbo speed sensor lead fail, a slide stop operating, a water pump failure in the desert, getting towed out of the desert 90 miles ($2000 charge paid by Good Sam!), tow truck backing us up into the repair facility hit the motorhome lower front cap and caused some fiberglass damage, rear roof A/C went out, engine surge started that once home turned out to be a bad EGR valve and leaking EGR cooler that both had to be replaced, and finally...I picked up the bus after dealer replaced the bad A/C unit only to find the front roof A/C unit wasn't cooling and it too has now been replaced. Prior to the trip, I had replaced all 6 tires and also upgraded the day/night shades from the stock pleated shades to the newer and nicer MCD shades. Those two upgrades were about $8500 to start the trip. The mechanical failures totaled over $6500. We purchased a 3 year/36,000 extended warranty when we bought the bus for $4600, with a $150 deductible at my dealer or $200 on the road. The warranty folks have been pretty tough to deal with and like most insurance, they deny up front. The $2500 for the EGR stuff wasn't covered as emissions is not covered. The turbo speed sensor was an $800 job but having joined Cummins power club, saved me about $150 off the bill and warranty paid all but $200. The slide issue wasn't covered as it ended up just being a bad connection, but cost an entire day and $350 for labor troubleshooting. The water pump was $1500 and warranty only covered $700, saying the rate was too high...yeah right, the labor rate at my dealer is $154/hr, and the rate at the repair facility after hours was $110/hr. As mentioned, the EGR repair was $2500 and it was probably completely justifiable in that the bus was run under load on a dyno twice and it was a Cummins repair center. The A/C was the $150 deductible, $150 in shipping (ripoff if you ask me), and tax. The second A/C was the same, except they tried to fix it at the request of the warranty folks and they tried to charge me for those parts separately and another deductible, I think I got that removed. The paint and fiberglass damage was covered by the tow service. And I tried getting an diesel mechanic to check out the engine surging on his off time and that was $450...and he couldn't fix it, but he went completely through my fuel system including a camera on a snake into the tank to inspect it. It was all good but still had the surging. I feel like I am missing something, but all of those things took up a week of our two week vacation, and they have been being taken care of as I could get them done. The bus comes home this week from the body shop and getting the front A/C replaced. I also put a back plate in the new Chevy Equinox for the Blue Ox tow bar we have that came with the bus when we bought it...installed that back plate was a grand. We are pretty invested into the bus and hope that the worst is behind us. That was a huge amount of things to happen on one trip. We had used the bus on 3 trips prior to the big Lake Powell trip, and all of those went without a hitch for the most part. A little 200 mile east texas weekend jaunt, a trip to Buena Vista Colorado for a few days, and a 5 day trip to Red River, NM...and all three were without big issues. The surging may have been with us since we bought it and just didn't really recognize it. When I did begin to question it, a fuel filter change may have subconsciously fixed it, but in the end, it went to the Cummins dealer for repair.

I have to tell you, the view from the bus is amazing, your up high and can see the countryside like you have never seen it with a big panoramic window. It is comfortable and rides very nice, except in big gusty winds! And pulling anything behind a big diesel pusher is a breeze. The boat rode behind us for 1800 miles with only one big issue...it made that trip without ever getting in the water! We will do this again and we are not throwing in the towel yet!

 

[farrelltravis]

Mel, hopefully all of that bad luck is gone!! I hope you get many miles and smiles out of it now!

 

[DCB-270]

Whew! Hope you got all the bugs out.

 

[BlacklimitedS]

What an amazing story. Even better that the two of you still focused on making the best of a difficult situation.

 

[DawgDaze]

Hi Mel! Remember me?? HAHA It has been an interesting year.....to say the least.
Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and Clara!
I guess we are in our winter months now and the Nauti Dawg has seem the water ONE TIME this past season.
Amazing how time flies. I hope 2016 turns out to be a better year for everyone!

 

[txav8r]

Thanks Danny, you @DawgDaze and @Suchawittygal need to get on the water more this coming year! And we are in that same situation. With all the rain and floods down here, we didn't have much opportunity either. And as it goes I guess, we had one big freeze, and since then, fairly warm days. On two separate occasions, the lake has been complete glass and at least 65-70 outside. I would have taken the boat out...except the lake closed about 3 or 4 weeks ago after another big rain event and been closed ever since. It doesn't appear they are letting water out very much at all. We would have also done some camping, but as noted above, I had the coach in for body damage and the front a/c to be replaced...it is still there. If I pushed them it would be back. They finished the body repair and had some minor touch ups to do, and were to call me...that has been 2 weeks ago. We have both had upper respiratory infections so I didn't even bother calling until today. We are debating where we might go once it is out! Hope the new year is better for everyone, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

[txav8r]

Coming up on the 3 year anniversary of the big bus purchase. And a second vacation ruined. Yes, a second one. Some of you have either talked with me or texted back and forth, and know of this, others don't. So for the masses considering a motorhome or other RV for their exploration and fun, this is just to help them understand that these complex machines are far beyond boats in terms of maintenance and upkeep.

September of 2016, we made our Lake Powell trip, for 12 days, from Texas to Arizona, and back, without issues in the motorhome...see my #1 on the Bucket List Lake Powell thread for details on this trip. After coming home, I had mentioned that we might sell the 2012 SX 240, and a great family you all may know, @Betik, came and took the Blue Yonder home with them...and it made the Bimini crossing last year with them!

This past September 2017, we took off for Lake City, Colorado...and didn't make it. Within 8 miles of our destination for the first day of travel, we had a degradation of power, a check engine light, and finally a stop engine light, on the motorhome. Without going into great detail of what transpired after that, we were eventually towed to Amarillo, Texas, to the Cummins Service Center there. It took almost three months to get through the warranty process with our extended warranty company, the delays with Cummins, decisions, discussions with upper management with Cummins, to come to a conclusion on replacing the engine.

The #1 cylinder dropped a valve, and that took out the #1 cylinder, damaged the #2 and 3 cylinder, damaged the head beyond even core value, damaged the turbocharger and VGT (turbo actuator), and left residual trash through the engine, including the EGR and EGR cooler. The warranty company assumed only $13,577 of responsibility for the $24,000 bill to repair as recommended by Cummins. Their level of repair suggested that if we didn't do it all, we wouldn't even get warranty on their work, as it could be damaged by corrupted components that were not changed. So I was to be out a good deal of money. I contacted my attorney, but there were arbitration clauses in all contracts, so the chance of recovery was a wash, and likely just an exercise in futility. I went up through the layers of management at Cummins until I wrote to the President of the company. I received some help erasing some double charges, and incidentals charges, plus an extra year of warranty, towards the replacement of the engine, which was $28,000. Applying the corporate help, the extended warranty payment of $13,577, ended up costing us that 3 months in the shop and about $8,100 out of pocket. Ironically, while we were in Raton, NM, before getting towed to Amarillo, the rear A/C stopped cooling. Ugh. I checked it out and had a tech locally there look at it, and it was either low on freon, or the reversing valve was frozen...but require a new unit. My manufacturers warranty expired two months later in November of 2017. So I called them and told them I was going to be in the engine shop and had no idea if it would be out by the end of my warranty. Airxcell, agreed to give me until the coach was out of the engine shop and I could get it into an RV shop to diagnose correctly and they would stand behind the 2 year manufacturers warranty until then.

The choice to replace the engine at $28K vs the actual needed repairs at $24K was a no brainer to me. My costs were actually lower getting a "new" Cummins factory "Recon" engine, which is built on their engine line, and reconditioned to like new specs. So we have a new engine, and now back from the RV shop as well, with the new A/C.

From all the RV guys and gals I talk to, many feel we have had more than our fair share of issues. But I talk to many that have almost as many, if not more. The engine fail issues are very rare. My engine was low mileage (17,418) but still a 10 year old engine by manufacturers date. I know of two other engine failures only. But a good deal more with EGR failures, water pumps, starters, fan hubs, engine compressors, etc. It is a complex machine. A good way to look at it, is that it is a house mounted to a vehicle, and subjected to both earthquake and hurricane forces on a regular basis. It is good to know that you may have these types of repairs if you decide to get into an RV, cheaper ones are not any more protected from this than expensive ones. And new ones have warranties, but RV's depreciate something like $40% in the first 2 or 3 years, so we tried to avoid that by buying a 6 year old coach. We bought it right, so the additional monies spent to repair, have just cost us that up front savings. The fact that this engine repair was done the most effective and professional way, probably enhances the value if I decided to sell it, much like the way I kept my boats. Oh, so Cummins gives you a 2 year/100,000 mile warranty on a new recon engine, and I was able to get them to offer an additional 1 year of extended warranty to that for free. But we will also purchase two more years, to make it a 5 year/ 150,000 warranty, for an additional $750. That is engine alone, and all the components inside or directly attached to it. With a water pump, an EGR and EGR cooler, the turbo speed sensor, and finally the valve failure, it would be $750 well spent. Our full coach extended warranty expires in March, and we are shopping for another. We are expecting no more than a 3 year as they won't write a 5 year on a coach our age, at about $5900 for 3 years/30,000 miles. One of the biggest losses you will experience with an RV when you have break downs of any kind, is loss of vacation and loss of use of your RV, much like a boat in the shop.

We built a garage for the coach last winter also, so we are pretty much all in on this. Although, I could put a 30+foot boat in the garage! lol Hopefully, our big hurdles are behind us on the coach. My knowledge has increased and I can do much of the work myself, so the time in the shop is limited to the big ticket items and things that are too large for me to handle on my own. I can change slide controllers, brackets, jacks, switches, annual service, and more. If you decide to go this route, it is a commitment, but has its rewards too.

 

[Zarrella]

Damn Mel..... Not a very nice precursor to Retirement! Hopefully, the worst is behind you and you can look forward to years of enjoyment.

 

[DCB-270]

That stinks Mel. The Cummins is usually good. I just rolled 300K on my Ram.

 

[djetok]

Coming up on the 3 year anniversary of the big bus purchase. And a second vacation ruined. Yes, a second one. Some of you have either talked with me or texted back and forth, and know of this, others don't. So for the masses considering a motorhome or other RV for their exploration and fun, this is just to help them understand that these complex machines are far beyond boats in terms of maintenance and upkeep.

September of 2016, we made our Lake Powell trip, for 12 days, from Texas to Arizona, and back, without issues in the motorhome...see my #1 on the Bucket List Lake Powell thread for details on this trip. After coming home, I had mentioned that we might sell the 2012 SX 240, and a great family you all may know, @Betik, came and took the Blue Yonder home with them...and it made the Bimini crossing last year with them!

This past September 2017, we took off for Lake City, Colorado...and didn't make it. Within 8 miles of our destination for the first day of travel, we had a degradation of power, a check engine light, and finally a stop engine light, on the motorhome. Without going into great detail of what transpired after that, we were eventually towed to Amarillo, Texas, to the Cummins Service Center there. It took almost three months to get through the warranty process with our extended warranty company, the delays with Cummins, decisions, discussions with upper management with Cummins, to come to a conclusion on replacing the engine.

The #1 cylinder dropped a valve, and that took out the #1 cylinder, damaged the #2 and 3 cylinder, damaged the head beyond even core value, damaged the turbocharger and VGT (turbo actuator), and left residual trash through the engine, including the EGR and EGR cooler. The warranty company assumed only $13,577 of responsibility for the $24,000 bill to repair as recommended by Cummins. Their level of repair suggested that if we didn't do it all, we wouldn't even get warranty on their work, as it could be damaged by corrupted components that were not changed. So I was to be out a good deal of money. I contacted my attorney, but there were arbitration clauses in all contracts, so the chance of recovery was a wash, and likely just an exercise in futility. I went up through the layers of management at Cummins until I wrote to the President of the company. I received some help erasing some double charges, and incidentals charges, plus an extra year of warranty, towards the replacement of the engine, which was $28,000. Applying the corporate help, the extended warranty payment of $13,577, ended up costing us that 3 months in the shop and about $8,100 out of pocket. Ironically, while we were in Raton, NM, before getting towed to Amarillo, the rear A/C stopped cooling. Ugh. I checked it out and had a tech locally there look at it, and it was either low on freon, or the reversing valve was frozen...but require a new unit. My manufacturers warranty expired two months later in November of 2017. So I called them and told them I was going to be in the engine shop and had no idea if it would be out by the end of my warranty. Airxcell, agreed to give me until the coach was out of the engine shop and I could get it into an RV shop to diagnose correctly and they would stand behind the 2 year manufacturers warranty until then.

The choice to replace the engine at $28K vs the actual needed repairs at $24K was a no brainer to me. My costs were actually lower getting a "new" Cummins factory "Recon" engine, which is built on their engine line, and reconditioned to like new specs. So we have a new engine, and now back from the RV shop as well, with the new A/C.

From all the RV guys and gals I talk to, many feel we have had more than our fair share of issues. But I talk to many that have almost as many, if not more. The engine fail issues are very rare. My engine was low mileage (17,418) but still a 10 year old engine by manufacturers date. I know of two other engine failures only. But a good deal more with EGR failures, water pumps, starters, fan hubs, engine compressors, etc. It is a complex machine. A good way to look at it, is that it is a house mounted to a vehicle, and subjected to both earthquake and hurricane forces on a regular basis. It is good to know that you may have these types of repairs if you decide to get into an RV, cheaper ones are not any more protected from this than expensive ones. And new ones have warranties, but RV's depreciate something like $40% in the first 2 or 3 years, so we tried to avoid that by buying a 6 year old coach. We bought it right, so the additional monies spent to repair, have just cost us that up front savings. The fact that this engine repair was done the most effective and professional way, probably enhances the value if I decided to sell it, much like the way I kept my boats. Oh, so Cummins gives you a 2 year/100,000 mile warranty on a new recon engine, and I was able to get them to offer an additional 1 year of extended warranty to that for free. But we will also purchase two more years, to make it a 5 year/ 150,000 warranty, for an additional $750. That is engine alone, and all the components inside or directly attached to it. With a water pump, an EGR and EGR cooler, the turbo speed sensor, and finally the valve failure, it would be $750 well spent. Our full coach extended warranty expires in March, and we are shopping for another. We are expecting no more than a 3 year as they won't write a 5 year on a coach our age, at about $5900 for 3 years/30,000 miles. One of the biggest losses you will experience with an RV when you have break downs of any kind, is loss of vacation and loss of use of your RV, much like a boat in the shop.

We built a garage for the coach last winter also, so we are pretty much all in on this. Although, I could put a 30+foot boat in the garage! lol Hopefully, our big hurdles are behind us on the coach. My knowledge has increased and I can do much of the work myself, so the time in the shop is limited to the big ticket items and things that are too large for me to handle on my own. I can change slide controllers, brackets, jacks, switches, annual service, and more. If you decide to go this route, it is a commitment, but has its rewards too.

As someone that has A LOT of experience with these motors. Not Rvs, but Roll Off trucks. In 1 year in a span of 3 months I replaced 3 motors. We would spend on average 3k per month on repairs before the rebuilds (Mack, Cat, and Detroit Diesel) . After I spent on average 800 per month plus oil changes. I ended up trading 2 trucks for 2 new trucks. I hate that I now have all the modern emissions. My old trucks sold for 80k a piece and the new trucks cost 186k. These are very expensive engines, stay on your maintenance.

My father was like you and had 3 coaches (4 RVs) before he passed. His last RV was his 5th wheel , he like the 5th wheel better for maintenance (F350 ) because it was cheaper, even in fuel. He put a fuel tank in the bed and would drive from OK to FL with no fuel stops, just to camp. On the coach he liked that he could ask my mom for something to eat and not stop, or she could use the restroom when she needed.

 

[txav8r]

We have certainly thought about a good HD truck and 5th wheel. But like you said, bathroom breaks and food entities are much bigger than some would imagine. If your trying to cover 500+ miles in a day, you can do that nonstop. That saves an easy 1 hour and probably 2. Fuel stops take at least 30 minutes, and cleaning the windshield is a must, hit cleaning the entire front end is also a must on a daily basis as the 3M clear bra will deteriorate if you don’t. If we decided to go this route, we would have to forego a 2017 GMC Crewcab, 4x4, Denali, that is set up for our liking. It’s value is certainly lower than the purchase price and we would hate to take a hit on it. Also, seeking the coach could be a loss too. So we have not made any shift in that regard. What would we gain or lose? Well, the generator options on a 5th wheel are much more restrictive than on a coach. My 8kw Cummins Onan onboard generator will run all my household systems almost all at once in the coach. I’m not sure, but the add on gensets I have seen at the Rv shows don’t look near as capable. On the coach, we have autostart, to either charge batteries or maintain coach temperature inside. Then the setup time comes into play, especially on thru overnights, where you come in late and leave early. Some won’t even put out slides or get out gear. We out all our slides out but we don’t set up a patio unless we just want to. Once we get where we will he for a few days, we certainly do, and would in a 5th wheel I am sure. But it only takes us less than 10 minutes, to dump the air suspension, hook up the water, sewer, and 50A electric, lower the jacks, open all the slides, and get a cold beer just as the A/c’s are kicking in. If it is hot outside anyway, we probably came in with the coach cooled down wth generator running and both a/c’s maintaining a 70F interior temperature. So swapping to shore power support is a 1 minute thing. If the reliability goes up with the engine swap, we will keep it. If I see a way to get more use and less frustration or cost, I will be looking at it. It’s a nice rig, when all goes well.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Not sure what you are using for bug cleanup but RollOff is the bees knees for just this task. I use it on all sorts of exotic car paints with not one issue and it does t eat the wax off. I think your bus would require a small hand pump sprayer to simplify the task.

 

[farrelltravis]

Unbelievable!! We need to get you a floating barge to park it on so you can still go boating too.

 

[Betik]

we would have to forego a 2017 GMC Crewcab, 4x4, Denali, that is set up for our liking. It’s value is certainly lower than the purchase price and we would hate to take a hit on it.

Mel's loss is another man's treasure and I am here grease the wheels of destiny LOL

I am sorry about the coach, but I am not surprised. No good deed goes unpunished

 

[txav8r]

Mel's loss is another man's treasure and I am here grease the wheels of destiny LOL

I am sorry about the coach, but I am not surprised. No good deed goes unpunished

I’m not sure how to read that betik! I saw no choice but to replace that engine. You may have wanted the coach when I am finished with it, but I suspect you will really want it now!