At The End Of The Day.....

I chose that title only because we are at the end of our day.  I know a lot of folks use that phrase "well, at the end of the day, you have to blah, blah, blah".  Usually it has to do with some moral issue or their perspective on some subject at which I always wondered, "what about at the start of you day?"  Anyway, I digress and I'm sorry.  Let me get to the point....WE ARE FIXED.

At least I'm hoping we finally are repaired in full. It was a long day that began early.  We got over to the Ford dealer in Medford, Oregon early since we decided to go ahead and have them look into what caused the battery to die so quickly.  We fixed ourselves a nice corner in the waiting area so Annie would not be in the way and I set up the computer.  Bruce walked down to Witham Truck Center to see what (if anything) was happening with the MH. 

We needed to have it towed to Pacific Power Products and have the transmission checked out.  Nothing at all was wrong with the Cummins engine or the Freightliner chassis, which was good news.  The guy with the big old tow truck came again and did the deed.  The folks at Crater Lake Ford told us what was wrong with the car....some sensor thingy, but they also found a couple of other things that were important.  Some leaking in the drivetrain and the brake pads were really worn.  Bruce hemmed and hawed for a minute about getting the work done today or waiting until we got back up to Tumwater.  I remined him that Oregon has NO sales tax.  That means that we will not pay sales tax for the parts used or the labor.  In Washington you get charged sales tax now on some labor items.  And we are going to be towing that baby all the way to Florida in 6 weeks.  OK.... we gave permission for that work to be done.  Estimate:  4 to 5 hours.

We rented a car for the day.  I told the lady at Enterprise I did NOT want a Toyota.  We next drove over to see about the MH.  They were going to run a complete diagnostic check and it would take 2 hours.  So we went to McDonald's for lunch and killed time reading 2 newspapers there.  We then drove back to the Ford dealership to wait.  At least I had the computer and could read blogs! 

Finally, the car was ready.  Part of the bill will be covered under our extended warranty and part will not be.  At least it is safe and sound and ready for more traveling.  We turned in the rental and drove back to see the MH.  It was waiting in the parking lot.....hey, that must be good news!  It turned out to be 2 blown fuses in the thingy that reports data to the transmission from the engine (or something like that).  We got everything ship shape inside the RV, hitched up the toad and were on the Interstate heading North.  We got on I-5 at exit #33 and when we got to exit #40...."DING"  CHECK ENGINE.   I called the service center as Bruce made an exit and a re-entry going South back to see the service tech.  At least it didn't die completely on the freeway this time.  The indicator lights for the tranny went out again and it was stuck in gear 6.  We chugged back to the service center.  It was a false start.  Drat!

They were stymied at first when they looked into the fuse area and the same fuses were blown.  Odds of the new fuses being bad were "slim to none" so they got 2 other techs out there and they were all over that thing.  When they did the original work (2 hours prior) they replaced the fuses and then did a check of all the wiring around the fuses.  They checked as far as they could in each direction.  They missed IT.  Upon further inspection by 3 service technicians they found a wire up near the engine exhaust that had become frayed.  As we would drive, the wire would intermittently hit the exhaust and this time it caused the engine to say STOP, DANGER.  This wire harness was not supposed to be where it was, so they replaced the wiring that was bad and anchored it in a place that will keep it away from any source of heat or friction.

Even though the tech at Witham Truck Center, a Cummins service center, could not find this problem he did a thorough check of the engine and transmission with their diagnostic instruments.  At least we know at this point, there is nothing wrong with those.

So, once we got the wiring problem finally fixed, and new fuses installed (no charge this time) we were on the freeway at 4:30 pm.  We only drove as far as Grant's Pass, Oregon and took exit #58 to Jack's Landing RV Park.  It is a great park for an overnight stop.  It has 60 foot back in spaces and 80 foot pull thru spaces, all concrete pads and a great utility hook-up system.  We stayed here one other time in 2007 and remembered it today when we needed a place to rest for the night.  The only problem with this park is there is some highway noise, but we'll sleep soundly I'm sure.

We've had quite the adventure the past day and a half.  Not fun, but we got through it.  We'll be leaving Grant's Pass in the morning and will be back "home" in Tumwater by afternoon.  At least it will be home again for the next 4 weeks. 

Until next time.....so long for now!