Friday 14 2004 leaving on a 10 day trip. Got 10 miles from home and the check trans light came on and the trans started shifting up and down. Had it towed to Gibbs international to look at trans. One of the worst places I have ever been they were rude, talked to me like I was dirt. For the rest of my life I will spit when I drive by the place. They kept the RV for 4 days when I drove over to see what was going on and was told they couldn't find the problem. I arranged to have the RV towed to Cal Cummings. They are always great to deal with. They had the rig repaired in 2 hours.
Turned out to be the plug under the excelerater peddle. Gibbs ruined my vacation if I would have gone to Cummings I would have been on the road in 3 or 4 hours.
Jim & Ann and our two Corgi's Scooter & Polly
2005 Winnebago Voyage 35A
Workhorse Vortec & Allison
Honda CRV Tow Car
[email protected]
Now comes the fun... sit down and enjoy the story.
Second trip out, going to Lake Havasu of all places.
About 25 miles from home driving along nice n smooth, the coach started smoking alot from behind, other cars were honking at us, so I pulled over and stopped. Looked underneath, only to find my transmission spilling out fluid everywhere. I had fluid all over my boat and everything. First I thought the the pump went out, but after having my whole rig towed to a trans shop in Lancaster CA, it turned out to be the cooler lines came loose for some reason and were leaking bigtime...I had to install a brass fitting and a short section of hi-pressure hose to fix the problem. Strange thing is both lines started leaking at the same time, for no reason. 4 quarts of fluid and 3 hours later, I am back on the road.
Next - I am not done yet. Same trip.
We get about 2 hours from Havasu, climbing up a slight grade towing my 22ft. boat. The engine suddenly loses all power, popping, banging, finally coming to a stop along the side of I-40. Outside temp. is about 101 at this time in the afternoon. This time I was really baffled. I thought the fuel pump went, or timing chain, or...After trouble shooting one thing at a time and repeatedly failing to get the engine started again, it turned out that the coil in the HEI ignition got smoked. Not sure why this happened. Well, it turns out I had every replacement part with me except that coil. Good thing we had cell phones...I called my good friend who lives in Havasu to get me a coil, and he drove 2 hours to bring me a coil. Oh yeah, we sat on the side of the road for about 4 1/2 hours by now, generator on, AC on, kid playing PS-2. Finally my friend shows up around 9:30pm with new coil and 12 pack of beer, I install the new coil, engine starts right up, I slam a beer and I am again back on the road. We finally ended up getting to our camp spot at 11:45pm that nite. I originally left for the trip at 6am in the morning (which should have been a 5 hours max. drive).
Now... 2 trips later
The coil burns out again. This time, on the famous Grapevine hill here in SoCal, again towing my boat. This time I buy another coil and it has this extra little metal "ground" pc. that goes inside the distributor cap and functions as the ground for the ignition... I didn't have this little thing in there before, not sure why it was not there. Some experienced GM guys told me that that ground terminal is needed as a ground for the whole ignition system, or the coil could (or will) short out. Make sure you have this metal ground pc. in your HEI ignition. It goes in the center of the tach and 12v terminals and the coil itself sits on top of and grounds against it via 4 screws. On your ignition harness connector that plugs into the cap, there's 3 wires. One for tach, one for 12v and the center black is for ground.
I've been on 9 more trips since all this, and have not had another problem...
Rich Schultz
PUREROCK MOTORSPORTS
2002 KTM 520sx, 2005 Yamaha WR250, 2004 Yamaha YZ85
2003 Ski Supreme Tournament Boat w/Mercruiser 350MPI
2001 Holiday Rambler Vacationer 35ft. double slideouts Ford chassis
Custom 16 x 8.5 enclosed toy hauler
Driveline (Engine, Transmission): Bounder, Chevy chassis
Miles: 35,000
Year: 1996
Break Down Description: (You can add any description of the problem here that you think would help others in understanding the situation and problem.)
Symptoms: Thump,thump,thump
Effect: Stopped
Cause: Flat on rear outer dual
Outcome: All new rear tires
Carol and Morgan Sabbar
Ken and Jeff, the teenagers
1996 Bounder 34P Here it is by Bryce Canyon:
My web site: http://www.sabbarpublications.com
THOMAS
The same problem happened to my2004 Bounder 1 month ago. I finally traded it in for a diesel MH. I swear not to buy work horse engine again.
Make: Pace Arrow
Year: 1984 (on February-built, '84 chassis)
Symptoms: Noise like AC compressor engagement, on and off while driving.
Effect: Starters burning up (4 in 6 weeks)in 1999, and mechanics couldn't find the reason.
Cause: Chevrolet decided to replace their ignition/starter in-line solenoid with a small relay with points. Mechanics weren't aware of a switching device existing, so didn't look for it. It was mounted to the engine, curb-side front, hidden behind wires and hose bundles. In frustration and determination, I read through my Chev Motorhome Chassis Service Manual (glad I ordered it on Motorhome Magazine's recommendations years ago) and discovered the bulletin where Chevrolet decided to go back to the old (Ford type) solenoid in March of '84, 2 weeks after mine was built. The little relay's points carbon up over time thus shortening the point gap so that a bump in the road could close the ignition circuit to the starter, thus engaging it while the engine was already running, and overheating the starter's motor, burning it up. I was aware of the noise when the starter engaged on the road but thought it was an odd AC compressor sound or something, although I couldn't zero in on it 'cause it only happened while we were moving and I couldn't get under the rig to look.
Outcome: I located the relay, removed it and broke it open. Sure enough, the point on one side had carboned up so much the gap between it and the opposing point was a third of what it should have been. I could've cleaned it and put it back, but eventually it would have left me stranded again. So I replaced it with the solenoid originally used in Chev motorhome chassis', and in the process cleaned up and improved some of the wiring (soldered & sealed connections, and better bundling & routing). Ne'r a problem since.
1/2 Canadian
1984 Pace Arrow traded for
2006 Beaver Monterey
1997 Ford Explorer Limited 4X4
Flyfishing in my blood
Good Sam Life Member 1334373, 35 yrs. RVing
Family Motorcoach Member F384437, Beaver Ambassador Club 14 yrs.
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4 speed Allison and 8.2 L Detroit
Jim P
Freightliner terrific about overnighting a new EDC both times to a Freightliner service center.
No charge, just inconvenience.
* This post was edited 05/30/04 01:26pm by waltbens *
2003 Imperial, 400 Cummins ISL; '96 Town & Country. Full-timer and loving it.
17,500 miles
2001
Brought coach used in NC and drove back to CA in 6 days with no problems. Had coach serviced by recommended Newmar dealer, transmission service, oil & filter change (specified 6000 mile service, radiator checked and stabilizer added. Took off with bride of 45 years for our first big trip. Up to Vegas and the the canyon area. On way to Bryce had two back fires when using exhaust brake. Called Cummings in Saint George and was told probably a sensor but sounded like engine was fine, just don't use exhaust brake. Which I didn't. Looked for peak torque and governor rpm in manual and on engine and couldn't find it for gearing down specs. Heading down 95 toward Monument Valley I blew out the Turbo. 75 miles out of Blanding, no cell phone service, no people, very little traffic, no place to pull over. After 2 miles found a dirt road. Drove to Blanding and back to motorhome and met tow truck and back to Blanding where all places to eat were closed. Motorhome now in Grand Junction, CO and I'm in CA 850 miles away. Thank God for Good Sam they handled the towing great. Personally I think the back fires affected the turbo. Wife is talking about For Sale signs. Just kidding we had a great time except for 3 days.
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