After 6 months of sitting everything on the RV looked good, I charged up the battery, pumped the gas and cranked it up. Within a minute the GM 454 was idling nicely. Down the road to the gas station was the first step, put a fast $97 in gas in it and we were on the road!
45 minutes later I smelled something familiar, the stock gauges are hard to see but I looked hard and did notice the temp gauge was as far up as it would go... :-(
I knew why I smelled hot coolant.
I pulled over & got as far off the 75mph Texas highway as I could and turned the engine off.
Time to take a look... It seems the serpentine belt for the fan/water pump - alternator - air pump had broke.
I need a new belt & coolant, nothing around but cows.
The GPS says we are 15 miles from Victoria Texas....
I called Coach-net.
 | |
| Nothing but cows |
This was a problem I'd never had before, where was I?
No signs, no mile markers just a road, fences & cows. I wasn't tracking my progress with a map, I had GPS!
20 years ago I'd have had a map....
The GPS told me where I was so I could tell Coach-net where I was & Coach-net could tell the tow truck. The tow truck eventually called me.
20 years ago I'd have just hitched into town, 20 years ago I'd have had a spare belt.
I think I was smarter twenty years ago.
Today I have a cell phone & roadside assistance.
It did take awhile for the truck to get to us, they were busy that day.
I have time.
I can put a belt on, I just wanted a safe place to do it. Coach-net tried but couldn't get me into a Victoria RV park (not on a tow truck).
They offered me a truck stop or Walmart.
We went to WalMart, Coach-net even called WM & ok'ed it.
The long tow was covered, all I had to do was talk to the driver, his mother came out to give my wife a ride because the truck only has 2 seats.
The next day I put the drive shaft back on (took it off to tow the RV), went to an auto parts store for the belt and put that back on.
WM for coolant & distilled water and we were back in business!
I will admit that crawling around under the engine was easier 20 years ago too.
All in all it turned out to be just cheap thrills.
I am glad your thrills are cheap, mine usually cost me lots of money. . . My RV is in the shop right now because one of my own trees in my own driveway jumped out and kissed the motor-home. It will be awhile before the damage and a few other things are fixed.
ReplyDeleteI was glad it ended up being "cheap thrills" too. I was concerned that I might have cooked the engine but it seems to be working fine.
DeleteThe other way the thrills could have been costly comes from sitting on the side of a fast moving road.
Do they have any guesses as to when your rig will be out of the shop?
It sure beats the time I had my transmission give out about half way to Corpus Christi! *Something to consider: they make a thermostat that fails in the OPEN position that all RV's should be equipped with IMHO>Just one less thing to worry about. Glad your problem wasn't a big chunk of money. Be safe and happy trails!
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