It's always something!

I have probably mentioned that Carl said, when we got married, "If everything is working on the motorhome, take a picture, because it won't last long!" Well, that picture has never been taken (i.e. so far there has not been a time when everything is working!).

I think I also mentioned that our dash air conditioning stopped working earlier this year... we didn't miss it much while we were in the Maritime and Atlantic Provinces in Canada (it was comfortably cool or even cold while we were there), but since we've been back in the states, there have been a few driving days when it has been pretty warm in the rig. We could turn on the generator and run one or both of the roof air conditioners, but, the back of the rig is warm at the end of a day of driving because of the diesel engine in the rear, and, if we were run the generator for a while, the front would get heat radiating from the generator located in the front. So, we've been just dealing with using the vents and being a little warm by the time we get to our stopping spot for the night.

We have service scheduled at Newmar in Nappanee, Indiana, next week, and we had contacted them about looking into the problem -- they said that the problem *might* be something they could fix, or it might be a chassis issue -- but they could look into it. Carl is pretty sure that the air conditioner compressor is leaking freon (we have had to add freon once a year or so over the past couple of years), and therefore that it is a chassis issue. So, he called a Freightliner shop that is between where we are and our next stop in Ohio to see if they might be willing to work on it. They were willing, so we decided to end our stay at Rocky Fork Ranch a couple of days early to stop there and hopefully get the air conditioning compressor fixed.

We had been a little concerned that the air conditioning compressor might "seize" up, causing the belt that turns it (and is connected to a number of other important components including the water pump, alternator, engine) to break - so Carl had disconnected the air conditioning compressor a few weeks ago. He decided that he should get it connected back before taking it to the Freightliner shop, so on Tuesday, he set about to do that.

I've mentioned that this campground has "good drainage" (aka our site is very sloped) - the back end of Gracie is over the slope down the hill, so getting into the engine compartment is made a bit more challenging.

Carl getting the air conditioning compressor hooked back up.

Another shot showing how much off the ground the back of Gracie is! (Thankfully the back wheels are on the ground!)

Carl tried again to put freon into the system (this is at the front of Gracie)...

... but it would not take any freon and, in fact, initially showed that there was no freon in the system at all. But, it is set up so it is ready for service at the Freightliner shop.

Since he was in the engine compartment, Carl decided to take care of another potential problem. We had read about a fellow Newmar Dutch Star owner who had experienced a problem:

My $800.00 Zip Tie

A little while ago we were coming back from a quick trip to Lubbock, TX for the 4th of July. We were heading East on I-20 just outside Abilene when a temp sensor sounded, and we were overheating. My wife was driving and pulled over to the shoulder, we gathered our wits and tried to figure what went wrong. As she pulled out the tow information I exited and made my way back to the rear of the coach. After opening the engine compartment, I discovered very few drivers move over at 75mph.

I found a 3-wire cord wire wrapped around the belt & pulley system and a missing belt that ran everything, including the water pump missing. The belt was all but gone, just a few strings of belt left. It ran pretty much everything.

I sent an email to Brandon at NIRVC in Lewisville with a picture of the 3-wire cord asking what it was. We called roadside assistance they couldn’t find anyone to help.

We were a short distance to a Truck Stop with a RV Park; we spent almost 3 hours hobbling in there. Drive wait, drive wait....

Spoke to the Freight Liner dealer in Abilene and they needed to order the parts in but was a blessing.

Brandon replied, the 3-wire cord was my engine block heater plug. The zip tie that had held it for years above the motor had given up. It dropped down into the belt system and played havoc.

The next afternoon the Freightliner dealer had the parts and a technician who stopped by and installed the new belt. All in all, the tally for the whole thing was just under $800.00

I now have a breaker bar and spare belts in the MH.

We checked, and our block heater cord is also held by a zip tie...

...teal arrow pointed to the zip tie -- the box there is where you would plug in the block heater.

Carl decided to add another zip tie on the other side of the box, holding the cord - so if the original zip tie fails, maybe the second will keep the cord from dropping into the belt mechanism (ounce prevention > pound cure).

We have spare belts and breaker bar -- but better to avoid the issue than to have to fix it!