Well, it appears that someone does not want us to make it to Yellowstone! After leaving Cruising America RV Service in Celina, OH on Wednesday afternoon, we continued on our voyage. Everything was going fine until we passed Lincoln, NE. We were traveling around 60mph on I80 when suddenly the coach slowed to around 50mph. Not long after it dropped to 40mph and started to buck at times. I knew we needed to pull over, hoping it was just the high temps which caused both the engine and transmission to increase over their normal operating range.
Finally, after idling for a few minutes to see if the temps would come down, the engine quit. Could not be restarted. Called CoachNet who located a tow vehicle to take us back to the Lincoln Freightliner facility. Luckily, we were just coming upon a truck parking area which made the tow hookup much safer for the tow company. We could not run the genset since we were in the building and all of their 20amp circuits were on GFI circuits. Finally found one in the service office that we could hook up the refer. I'm sure it would have run on the inverter overnight but then there was no way to charge the batteries.
They diagnosed a faulty fuel pump and a crack in the exhaust manifold. Can't get the pump until Monday. I also need a new muffler as the output end was rusted and the pipe came off. What a mess it makes on the front of the toad!
So here we sit in a motel room waiting for parts and repair. We called Bill to let him know and he was very understanding. I just hope we can get on the road in 3 or 4 days!
This is the second time we've had problems heading to Yellowstone. I just hope it's the last on this trip!
