watching geese on the Sacramento River bob for food,
visiting Shasta Dam
and Whiskeytown Lake
and waiting in the “lounge” at the repair shop. At 2:00 pm, we saw the rig pull out of the shop for a test run. Fifteen minutes later, it returned and backed into the shop. Not a good sign. It was still “bucking”. More tests and head scratching. The consensus now is that when Freightliner San Diego replaced (under warranty) the “lift pump”, the small pump that brings fuel to the main high-pressure fuel injector pump, they did not replace the bracket that goes with it. The problem here is that the bracket contains a “check valve”, a one-way valve that keeps the fuel from draining back into the tank when the engine is shut down. Freightliner Redding now believes the check valve is bad. If the check valve is bad, then the injector pump we just replaced may or may not have been bad and we may or may not have had to lay out $500 for the repair. Freightliner Redding amazingly has the bracket in stock. So…we are now back at the Elks Lodge for the night and will return AGAIN in the morning to install the bracket with the check valve that will HOPEFULLY fix the damn problem. Mark told me he would “work with me” on the $500 deductible. He also mentioned that, if the bracket and check valve turn out to be the culprit, I need to have a “chat” with San Diego Freightliner about their work and the money it cost me. The saga continues! After a cool shower and a couple of peach ice teas, I felt better. Don and Pat are coming over tonight and we are going out for a Chinese dinner.
And what a dinner it was! We stuffed ourselves with sweet and sour chicken, beef and broccoli, egg foo young, chow mein and fried rice. What we didn’t eat went home with Don. I was still a little apprehensive about the motorhome but slept pretty well in spite of being a little up tight.
At 6:00 am, the alarm went off and we got up. Think positive! Today will be the day they find the problem. At 7:00, we were at the shop and I backed it into a shop bay. We checked in with Mark and then took off for breakfast. We went to Lin’s, the same restaurant we went to with Pat and Don last night. Claudia had a Denver omelet and I had sausage, eggs and hash browns. The sausage patty was HUGE, greasy, spicy and delicious…just the way I like it. My cholesterol will probably do a huge spike, but it was worth it! We then went back to the Elks Lodge and sat on the rear grass lawn by the pool to work on the trip schedule and fill in the blank holes with newly acquired information. Gizmo ran around the tables and chairs, got his leash hopelessly entangled several times, ate lots of bugs, grass and sticks and promptly barfed up the contents of his stomach. About noonish, my phone rang. It was Mark. They found the problem! It was not “I THINK we found the problem” but a very positive “WE FOUND THE PROBLEM!” Hallelujah! We jumped into the Explorer and headed for the shop.
Mark took me to the work bench and showed me the check valve bracket. He held the check valve up so I could see inside. I observed a goodly amount of a black unidentified and/or unidentifiable substance inside the valve opening. He had some in a baggie for me but I dumped some more out into the palm of my hand. It was spongy like rubber but that was as far as I could go to identify it. The black “stuff” had plugged the check valve and restricted the flow of fuel to the fuel injector pump. (Ladies…isn’t this interesting?) They had installed the new bracket and it was running perfectly.
After a lengthy discussion on the engineering of a Cummins diesel engine, I found out there was no fuel filter between the fuel tank and the fuel pump. To my thinking, this was a huge violation of basic kindergarten engineering. Any engineer in their right mind would know to put a filter between the fuel tank and the injector pump. I guess the Cummins engineers failed kindergarten! What stupidity!!!!! Anyway, I immediately asked Mark to install an extra fuel filter in the fuel line between the tank and the first pump. That was probably the best $150 I ever spent. After it was all said and done, we drove back to the lodge for the night with a wallet that was about $750 lighter. Thank God for insurance! The total bill was over $5,500. I had a “two-fingered drink”, got the rig partially ready to leave in the morning and went to bed. I slept well…VERY well! Even Gizmo slept well!
And what a dinner it was! We stuffed ourselves with sweet and sour chicken, beef and broccoli, egg foo young, chow mein and fried rice. What we didn’t eat went home with Don. I was still a little apprehensive about the motorhome but slept pretty well in spite of being a little up tight.
At 6:00 am, the alarm went off and we got up. Think positive! Today will be the day they find the problem. At 7:00, we were at the shop and I backed it into a shop bay. We checked in with Mark and then took off for breakfast. We went to Lin’s, the same restaurant we went to with Pat and Don last night. Claudia had a Denver omelet and I had sausage, eggs and hash browns. The sausage patty was HUGE, greasy, spicy and delicious…just the way I like it. My cholesterol will probably do a huge spike, but it was worth it! We then went back to the Elks Lodge and sat on the rear grass lawn by the pool to work on the trip schedule and fill in the blank holes with newly acquired information. Gizmo ran around the tables and chairs, got his leash hopelessly entangled several times, ate lots of bugs, grass and sticks and promptly barfed up the contents of his stomach. About noonish, my phone rang. It was Mark. They found the problem! It was not “I THINK we found the problem” but a very positive “WE FOUND THE PROBLEM!” Hallelujah! We jumped into the Explorer and headed for the shop.
Mark took me to the work bench and showed me the check valve bracket. He held the check valve up so I could see inside. I observed a goodly amount of a black unidentified and/or unidentifiable substance inside the valve opening. He had some in a baggie for me but I dumped some more out into the palm of my hand. It was spongy like rubber but that was as far as I could go to identify it. The black “stuff” had plugged the check valve and restricted the flow of fuel to the fuel injector pump. (Ladies…isn’t this interesting?) They had installed the new bracket and it was running perfectly.
After a lengthy discussion on the engineering of a Cummins diesel engine, I found out there was no fuel filter between the fuel tank and the fuel pump. To my thinking, this was a huge violation of basic kindergarten engineering. Any engineer in their right mind would know to put a filter between the fuel tank and the injector pump. I guess the Cummins engineers failed kindergarten! What stupidity!!!!! Anyway, I immediately asked Mark to install an extra fuel filter in the fuel line between the tank and the first pump. That was probably the best $150 I ever spent. After it was all said and done, we drove back to the lodge for the night with a wallet that was about $750 lighter. Thank God for insurance! The total bill was over $5,500. I had a “two-fingered drink”, got the rig partially ready to leave in the morning and went to bed. I slept well…VERY well! Even Gizmo slept well!
We got up leisurely, finished packing, and took off for Crescent City. This time, we headed north on I-5 to Grants Pass and then took Hwy. 199 to Hwy. 101 and down to Crescent City. The motor ran flawlessly! We stopped at the Village Camper Inn where the caravan is staying in October and got all our questions answered. We then drove to the Elks Lodge, took one look at the area, and left. We were afraid someone would swipe our tires if we parked there so we headed for Brookings, just across the border into Oregon.
When we got there, we got the very last RV spot they had. We decided to stay for at least three nights (at $15 a night…with hookups) so we can go back and check out Crescent City and then go up to Gold Beach, our next stop. When we checked in, two guys were preparing a huge pig for a Hawaiian pit roast tomorrow night. It is going to be a fund raiser for the Past Exalted Rulers. The dinner is roast pig, Hawaiian chicken, rice pilaf and fruit salad. The whole nine yards is $10 per person. I grabbed a twenty from my wallet and snatched up two tickets so fast that Claudia didn’t know what happened…almost. Actually, nothing gets by her…NOTHING! We then went into the lodge and split two dinners, one salmon and one prime rib, both with baked potatoes and vegetables. The dinners were the absolute best we’ve ever had. The bill came to $28.50. God I love the Elks!
When we got there, we got the very last RV spot they had. We decided to stay for at least three nights (at $15 a night…with hookups) so we can go back and check out Crescent City and then go up to Gold Beach, our next stop. When we checked in, two guys were preparing a huge pig for a Hawaiian pit roast tomorrow night. It is going to be a fund raiser for the Past Exalted Rulers. The dinner is roast pig, Hawaiian chicken, rice pilaf and fruit salad. The whole nine yards is $10 per person. I grabbed a twenty from my wallet and snatched up two tickets so fast that Claudia didn’t know what happened…almost. Actually, nothing gets by her…NOTHING! We then went into the lodge and split two dinners, one salmon and one prime rib, both with baked potatoes and vegetables. The dinners were the absolute best we’ve ever had. The bill came to $28.50. God I love the Elks!
1 comment:
I would be very interested to find out what the Cummings/Freightliner management teams offer in the way of reimbursing you for all your troubles because of their obviously faulty engineering design. Diesel that is stored in tanks is know to grow "algae" over time and, while many stations add inhibitors to their tanks, only filtration will remove it effectively. Good choice on adding the in-line filter!
Post a Comment