I have been remiss. We have been on the road for five days
and I have not spoken up.
We spent my seventieth birthday on the road to Hardeeville,
SC which was our intermediate stop enroute to our annual maintenance service
with Freightliner in Gaffney, SC. Barbara has a dog training session near
Asheville, NC this week so we combined the two events to create our first out
of state trip in the new-to-us motorhome.
The trip was uneventful, though we had anticipated traffic
in Daytona Beach due to it being race week. It turned out to be a non-issue and
we made it to Hardeeville in good time. The Hardeeville RV Park is a no-frills
campground. There are no amenities. It is close to downtown Savannah, though,
and close enough to I-95 to be a good stopover point.
Sunday morning the adventure began. As we tried to depart
the campground it was evident that the engine had de-rated and the “Check
Engine” light was on. For those unfamiliar with modern diesel engines,
de-rating means that the engine is protecting itself from damage by restricting
the power available. The computer does this when certain parameters are
exceeded, but unfortunately the driver does not always get a clue to what is
happening by looking at the gauges. Such was the case here. We limped back to our
campsite and pondered. We pondered some more. All the while the engine was
idling, but would not accept throttle input. The coolant temperature gauge was
reading low and it seemed to be taking considerable time warming up, so I
thought perhaps the thermostat had failed open not allowing the engine to reach
operating temperature. Eventually the engine got over what ever was troubling
it and off we went not knowing what had happened, but thinking it might be the
thermostat. We added that to our list of things for Freightliner to look at and
marched onward.
Just short of our destination we left the highway at a truck
stop and topped off the fuel in preparation for having the coach weighed. As we re-entered
the interstate the engine de-rated again and would not allow more than idle
RPM. There was a lot of traffic, but we managed to get to the narrow shoulder
and stop. There was not a check engine light or any other indication of what
the problem might be. After a few moments we had power again and I limped to the
next exit, which thankfully, was where we were to get off anyway.
The great folks at Freightliner managed to get everything
done that we came for, but they could not duplicate the power issues we
encountered. The diagnostic computer did find codes that indicated that the
Throttle Position Sensor had been having issues since before we bought the
coach, so we ordered a new throttle assembly in the hope that the problem will
be solved. If the problem was a clogged fuel filter, that would have been cured
by the replacement which was done as part of the annual. Time will tell, but I
am going to be a bit nervous until we have some miles on the coach. We had to
wait a day for the part to be shipped, but it is now installed and we are ready
to go. Which brings us to the weather.
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| Gaffney is lower pin. Flat Rock is the upper. |
The local area is now under a winter storm warning and eight
to ten inches of snow is expected tonight. We originally were going to Flat
Rock, NC for the dog training class, but it is in the mountains nearly fifteen
hundred feet higher than here. We have elected to forgo the fun of 6-7% grades
in ice and snow, and will keep the coach here in the Freightliner lot and
commute the hour to the classes. If the roads clear enough over the next few
days we will move up the mountain and hope that the weekend weather will be
nice enough to not create a problem for coming back down the mountain for our
return to Hardeeville Monday. Meanwhile, we are tucked in here with the slides
drawn in to prevent snow/ice damaging the slide seals or canvas covers.
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| 20 years in Florida. Never thought I would buy one of these again. |
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| The before shot. Ready as we will ever be. |
