Hello everyone!
Unfortunately, our coach has been sidelined with a very interesting predicament. We recently drove to Flying J in Haw River, NC and got some propane. On the way back to Reidsville, we decided to stop in Greensboro and get some stuff from Sams Club. When we got out of the coach, we noticed pink fluid had blown all over the back of the RV. We checked the transmission fluid and sure enough, that was the problem. It was frothy in consistency and looked like a pink milkshake!
We hastily called Allison and within 30 seconds (no exaggeration) they diagnosed the trouble as "cooling unit failure." They said the transmission cooler had ruptured and had sent glycol all through the transmission. Even though we had only driven the RV 35 miles, they said there was NO hope for the transmission. It would have to be replaced or rebuilt.
The folks at Covington Detroit Diesel-Allison in Greensboro said it would be about $6,500.00 for a rebuilt unit with our old one as an exchange, and the rebuilt replacement unit would carry a two year warranty from Allison.
When we had it towed in there, however, it was a different story! We were told our unit was the "old" type core and Allison wouldn't want it. Unless we wanted to pay a $3,700.00 core charge, our only option was to have them rebuild the existing transmission and that would only carry a 6 months parts warranty. (For the same price as a rebuilt from Allison...$6,500.00)
Naturally we were disappointed, but we love our coach and dont want to trade, (or have any motorhome payments) so we had no choice but to have what we already had rebuilt.
For convenience sake, I asked them to have the radiator boiled out, too, since we already had the unit in the shop. They sent it out to a radiator shop and called me with the sad news that the "air to air cooler" was shot and needed replacement and the radiator core had so many holes in it that the core would have to be replaced. This added an additional $2,600.00 to the bill. The only leak I had ever noticed was a very tiny pin hole type leak on occasion.
We are supposed to get the coach back tomorrow. I hope everything is going to be ok. I wondered if any of you had ever had this issue occur with the failure of the transmission cooler. They told me this happens fairly often and there is nothing that can be done to prevent it from happening again. This is turning out to be a very expensive repair bill.
Dianne
Unfortunately, our coach has been sidelined with a very interesting predicament. We recently drove to Flying J in Haw River, NC and got some propane. On the way back to Reidsville, we decided to stop in Greensboro and get some stuff from Sams Club. When we got out of the coach, we noticed pink fluid had blown all over the back of the RV. We checked the transmission fluid and sure enough, that was the problem. It was frothy in consistency and looked like a pink milkshake!
We hastily called Allison and within 30 seconds (no exaggeration) they diagnosed the trouble as "cooling unit failure." They said the transmission cooler had ruptured and had sent glycol all through the transmission. Even though we had only driven the RV 35 miles, they said there was NO hope for the transmission. It would have to be replaced or rebuilt.
The folks at Covington Detroit Diesel-Allison in Greensboro said it would be about $6,500.00 for a rebuilt unit with our old one as an exchange, and the rebuilt replacement unit would carry a two year warranty from Allison.
When we had it towed in there, however, it was a different story! We were told our unit was the "old" type core and Allison wouldn't want it. Unless we wanted to pay a $3,700.00 core charge, our only option was to have them rebuild the existing transmission and that would only carry a 6 months parts warranty. (For the same price as a rebuilt from Allison...$6,500.00)
Naturally we were disappointed, but we love our coach and dont want to trade, (or have any motorhome payments) so we had no choice but to have what we already had rebuilt.
For convenience sake, I asked them to have the radiator boiled out, too, since we already had the unit in the shop. They sent it out to a radiator shop and called me with the sad news that the "air to air cooler" was shot and needed replacement and the radiator core had so many holes in it that the core would have to be replaced. This added an additional $2,600.00 to the bill. The only leak I had ever noticed was a very tiny pin hole type leak on occasion.
We are supposed to get the coach back tomorrow. I hope everything is going to be ok. I wondered if any of you had ever had this issue occur with the failure of the transmission cooler. They told me this happens fairly often and there is nothing that can be done to prevent it from happening again. This is turning out to be a very expensive repair bill.
Dianne