Another member of the broken down brigade...

You were indeed lucky, Bob. Murphy's Law usually makes sure you are in the worst possible place and no bars on the phone to get help!

Update. Parts are in need authorization from ins co for the go ahead to repair the turbo..

Another week writhing out MH.

Lost one trip need it next month for trip..

Well darn,

I have been reading with sympathy of the  woes of the  broken down brigade feeling somewhat smug and grateful that it was not us.  Payback time.  We took rig to Wenatchee, WA for a few days to visit friends. Noted we could  not stay level.  Then heard the hissing.  Terry was convinced we had a leak in  air hose to rear airbags.  Diesel store in town was closed.  Drove to Cummins in Spokane.  Diagnosed in  5 minutes, blown air bag and all rear  air bags looked " weather checked."  So we are waiting for  airbags to arrive from Junction City, Oregon.  They should be  here by Wednesday and installed Thursday.  Decided to replace all 4 rear airbags while we were here to the  tune of $285 each plus shipping and 6 hours labor minimum to install.  Ouch!!!!!!!

But the rig is  14 years old so stuff is going to fail.  Sigh.......

But we have  50 amp service, nice views, perfect weather and lots of shopping and restaurants around.  Wish I  could afford to  shop! 

Betty

1999 Country Coach Magna
145,000 miles

Betty Brewer said:

Wish I  could afford to  shop! 

Click to expand...

Doesn't $1500 or so count as shopping? ;D

Ouch Betty!

At least Betty and Terry agreed to have lunch with us today. It was a really good lunch! While we are not broken down we are getting ready to head back to Monaco Service in Oregon so the can try again on one the repairs done in June redone . Not a show stopper, but it was supposed to be fixed.

ken
currently in Coeur d'Alene

Sorry to hear the bad news from both of you.  Hope all goes well and you are back on the road soon and all better.

You all are making me feel better. Our step is going out all the time today instead of the 25% last week. I was getting real good at crawling under the front to wiggle everything until it worked. :

Nobody likes a break down, but at least you were able to drive to the shop. Just close your eyes and write the check - the pain will pass!

Gary RV Roamer said:

Nobody likes a break down, but at least you were able to drive to the shop. Just close your eyes and write the check - the pain will pass!

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Gary, You are so right,  we gulped, realized we had little choice and that we were fortunate to not have to be  towed and had parts readily available for shipping.  But  writing this check will take  some money transfers!  We have a quote of  $2400.  AND NO this does not qualify as shopping!

Yup, just got back from Vermont, but first day we left (on a Saturday afternoon) we weren't even 25 miles from home when we heard a "whup-whup" noise coming from the engine compartment.  It was a couple of miles to the next exit, and as soon as I pulled into a vacant parking lot, the power steering quit.  Of course, the serpentine belt had given up - and the rig didn't even have 60,000 miles on it.  Contacted the local Advance Auto in Winder, GA, and they had one for our Ford E450 but wouldn't deliver.  I did my begging routine, and the manager said he would deliver it himself.  And he even stayed to help install the thing!  So, Murphy's law sometimes works in reverse, and it did this time. 

Well the bug got me too. I broke a gear on the living room slide today. Not sure what it's going to take to get this taken care of.  No Power Gear authorized dealers anywhere in Alaska.  Oh boy.

Sarge,
Ouch, sounds stressful, can you live with the slide in? Actually can you get the slide in? Keep up informed.
Jim

Hope you can get that gear shipped in. And live with it in the meantime!

Betty,

I will happily trade repair bills with you!!!!

Thanks Jim, hopefully I can shove from the outside while Diane hits the switch. If I can get it in it will just stay in until we get the repair. Back it Anchorage I think.......

I managed to break down in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no prior symptoms at all. I was camping with a friend on their remote property on a mountain river with no hookups at all and the temps were climbing. While maneuvering a 10 point turn  to park on their heavily wooded land, my RV  spit out fluids which I thought were the power steering, but when we got ready to leave, the transmission wouldn't do a thing.

Cell phones out of range, ditto for USB internet.

Hiked to a cabin where luckily the people were at home, friendly and had a phone we could borrow. Found another friend to drive 60 miles round trip with 8 quarts of transmission fluid.  Poured all that in, then drove 70 miles at sedate speeds to my workamping which is 9 miles from my favorite Ford dealer.  Strangely the transmission didn't lose a drop.

I was a few days "early" for my workamping which is also remote, but I had keys with me that let me unlock the gates and hook up to electric. The next day, they got my water going when I let them know I had managed to arrive early.

Apparently when the engine  gets hot, the transmission seal fails. All that tight turning heated it up and it spit out the transmission fluid.

Spent another 6 weeks sitting and saving up funding. Finally went to Ford for all the regular servicing and transmission problem. It needed new seals. They also found my rear brakes needed replacement as fluid was squirting all over the shoes from the master cylinder so that needed fixing. Also a tire needed a new stem valve. I don't know how old my tires are and I don't want to know, I just say prayers and watched all the videos on how to handle tire blowouts on RV's.  I hope I can get another year or two out of my tires, they have loads of tread and seem fine.

$1100 later, I had all the usual servicing, new rear brakes, new transmission seals, new serpentine belt, and a short list of annoying things repaired like the arm rest on the driver's seat was floppy, now it works fine, the outside mirrors used to flap around, now they stay put when windy trucks pass me and so on. Can't remember what else we fixed without looking at the list, but I used this Ford dealer last fall and was extremely pleased with their prices and quality of work.

Had to sit another few weeks workamping, saving up funds. Finally went on a few trips through the mountains to test out the work. So far, so good.

No hotels, because I explained to them I lived in it fulltime and had no other home and I had the hassle of a dog and finding a dog friendly hotel and I just couldn't afford that right now.  I asked for an early morning appointment when they could dedicate someone to start on me right away. Turns out they forgot to schedule the special truck lift for me, so I had to make 3 trips to get everything done. One of the days they gave us a free car to drive, so puppy and I ran for the mountains to cool off, ironically we went back to the same property where the river is icy cold. Not sure they expected me to put 170 miles on a borrowed car in one day, but I did buy gas for it. The other two days, we hung around the waiting room which wasn't so bad, as they had a table I could set up my computer on and use internet and they had TV when I grew tired of that.

The dog just loved making friends with everybody that came in the waiting room, and he ended up putting on his circus show act, so the time went surprisingly quickly. I met some very interesting people as most everyone that turned up lives in the country. 

The only down side being there was no food in walking distance, this place is out in the country though close to an interstate, so I had to pack a picnic for the dog and I to munch on in the waiting room. I don't tow a car, as the RV doubles as my personal transport.

I found out later, that had I asked, they would have drove me in a courtesy car to a restaurant to pick up food.

This Ford dealer isn't afraid of RV's and while making 3 trips to get everything completed was a tad annoying, I had no hotel bills.  Traveling with a dog and no car, stuck in an interstate hotel would not have been much fun anyhow and I needed every penny I could scrape up for repairs as I didn't have quite that much budgeted for maintenance, but WHEW I think I am in great shape again.

Well I found a Winnebago repair in Anchorage that can do the repair. The first appointment is next Monday, but it will probably take that long to get the part VIA UPS. I contacted my extended warranty provider, Corner Stone, and am going to see if I can get them to cover the labor part of the repair. We will see how smoothly that goes......

DearMissMermaid said:

I don't know how old my tires are and I don't want to know, I just say prayers and watched all the videos on how to handle tire blowouts on RV's.  I hope I can get another year or two out of my tires, they have loads of tread and seem fine.

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You, need to know, I attached a picture. 

Notice the DOT on the tire in the pic.  Now look at the last 4 numbers, the first 2; 37 indicate this tire was made the 37th week of the year, the last 2 are the year.  So this tire was made the 37th week of 2010.  So no matter if the tread looks new and no cracks in the sidewall, if over 6 years old it's time to replace to be safe at highway speeds.  Also low tire pressure will cause a blowout. At highway speeds not only can a blowout cause damage to your vehicle, it can cause a rollover, or other crash. 

On this forum I've seen 7 years used.  I use 6 years as this is the date the Tire industry safety council uses.    Also the State of Maryland uses this figure in recent legislation:

**Quote** (from http://www.tireindustry.org/govtaffairs.asp)

TIRE AGING

Legislation was introduced last week in the Maryland state legislature on tire aging. The bill would require manufacturers or distributors to affix on all tires a label stating the date of manufacture, a statement on tire aging (which would spell out that NHTSA recommends that tires be replaced after six years regardless of the remaining tread depth), and a receipt or invoice stating the date of manufacture. Consumers must sign a disclosure statement. Retailers must give a copy of the disclosure statement to the consumer and keep a copy of the signed disclaimer. Retailers who violate the proposed law would be subject to a $500 fine for each infraction.

*** End Quote ***

Although many don't recommend driving on old tires, if you must, a few things you can do;

1. Every day before travel make sure you have the maximum rated tire pressure in your tires.
      a.) Some think that lowering the pressure makes a tire less likely to blow, but the opposite is true.
2. Carefully inspect each tire for defects.
      a.) Run your hand across the tread from inside out, then outside in, on top, sides, front and back.  If it     
          doesn't feel smooth both ways it may be primed to blow.  For example, a bubble, or a raised
          section of a tire can indicate a separation, this tire will fail soon.
3.  Always drive with both hands firmly on the wheel at highway speeds, be prepared for the blowout.
4.  If possible replace your steer tires as they are more apt to cause a rollover in the event of a blowout at
    highway speeds than a rear tire.                       
5.  Save up lots of money for repairs to your MH when the tire blows.

A few years back when I was driving my old jeep, I had just put new tires on it three months earlier. Never saw a thing in the road, was going a whopping 40 miles per hour when I heard a big bang like someone had shot at me. Through  a miracle and watching all those dang videos, I eventually came to a stop about 3 inches from a thick rock wall.  The dealer refused to replace the tire and I had less than a thousand miles on it.

Every time I bought gas, I had checked my tire pressure since it's so easy to do in a car versus an RV with those dang inside back tires and big tall roof etc.  So, since I can't afford new tires at this point and time, it seems fruitless to terrify myself any further with my current  tires.  If a 3 month old tire can cause havoc...  then I just keep saying prayers that I get there in one piece more or less.  I also have comprehensive and collision on my old RV, silly as it sounds, I do, just in case.

I check my tire pressure often, say my prayers and Ford thought my tires were fine, didn't even try to terrify me into new ones. Whenever I get oil changed I always have them check and adjust the tires too.  Saves me the hassle.

I am setting aside money for future tires and maintenance, as they won't last forever,  but for now I am happy. I don't do 90mph down the interstate for hours on end.  I tend to take the byways and stop every hour.  If you're in a hurry, don't ride with me! 

I like to enjoy the journey.