urbanhermit

Last cash-price-only discount was from a Loves in Tuscaloosa. I think I encountered the same at a Love's somewhere along I-10 or I-75.

Two 12-volets for chassis of appropriate power for a diesel, four 6-volt golf carts for house, all six wet cell, battery isolator between the banks. What would be the wisdom of bypassing the isolator during lay-up with a short jumper and connecting one charging source? Would a trickle charger be sufficient assuming no parasitic loads?

Right -- and I keep washing up at apparently semi-participating (cash price for credit), card-accepting stops. No free lunch, I guess: planning required for the true discount.

Its an EFS card issued by TSD Logistics, Inc. Range: Monaco Cayman, 300 hp Cummins, 75 gallon tank, 7.5 to 8.5 mpg, using 60 gallons as a safe limit, 450 to 510 miles. I envy those of you who can go 1000 to 1600.

2006 coach; don't know when the DS was applied but assume on or before the original sale -- ugh. Mold infested. When I get around to it I'm going to get the product shown in the video earlier in this thread and start working on it with patience when time allows. At our last campground we saw a gray coach that was almost solid brown with DS mold. Manholt, you're right about lovebugs. Birds won't eat them because of the acid, and they will pit paint if not removed. I think something about gasoline and/or diesel fumes attract them; I've never noticed them away from roadways.

Maybe it's a lack of planning -- I start thinking about refueling only when I drop to 3/8 of a tank -- but so far I haven't benefitted much from using my TSD card: I always pull into truck stops that accept the card but don't discount below their cash price and add a service charge. I'd be better off carrying a few hundred cash (so far, with The Executive Department still working, we only take long weekend trips of 300 to 450 miles one way). On a side note, the Oceans Eleven gang could probably score better knocking over a Loves than a Vegas casino . . . .

Rocky and J: Months before this started it would go into limp mode and shifting would hit like a bone-jarring sledgehammer. That was a (Ford F43 chassis) transmission sensor. There is no transmission function anomaly I can detect now, though I don't rule out that sensor, which I understand is mounted close to the exhaust pipe. J, I don't notice a blinking OD light. In fact I fail to notice if the Service Engine Soon light comes on consistently, though I did notice it on once. ****, thank you for the suggestion about a sticking PVC valve. I'll pass that along to the Ford dealership which still has the coach and has declared themselves stumped. If anyone wants to chime in on this, I'll be grateful.

Where do the other two "cables" mentioned go?

1999 V-10, F53 chassis. Sporadically goes into limp mode -- once after about 10 miles, stayed in limp mode the last two miles to storage, ran fine/no code after being towed to a shop the next day. Ran fine with no code recorded when started by the shop the next day. Into limp mode at 19.5 miles being driven to cause limp mode, returned to shop, left running, found a code that covers everything from acne to terminal cancer. "Wires wiggled" on all sensors; could not replicate code. Drove again to get limp mode and pick up mechanic and drive farther . A few miles into that, limp mode; turned around, started back to shop, came out of limp mode a half-mile later. Another 50 miles no limp mode, gave up, returned to shop. When in limp mode runs smoothly -- no coughing, sputtering, surging, just very low power and sounds like "can't get breath." Fuel delivery problems have been ruled out (new tank, new rubber lines from tank, new fuel pump, clean filter, shop confirmed proper fuel delivery). Engine coolant problems also ruled out. Shop says could be any one of ten or so sensors. They can't isolate a faulty one by the covers-almost-everything code. Shop went on line to professional mechanics' web sources, no help. Choices seem to be replacing one sensor after another until the phenomenon stops or replace all of them at over $100 each plus labor. Replacing one then another impractical because there's no immediate way to tell if a bad sensor has been replaced as the limp mode phenomena is sporadic and codes are not present when not in limp mode. There is some slight evidence that it might be connected with weather temperature but not at all conclusive, though both the shop and I believe heat is the cause of intermittent malfunction of the problem sensor. A possible clue pointing a different way is that the first time recorded here was during acceleration from a red light and I think I remember that the second was during light acceleration driving at near-constant 40-50 mph. I want to put the coach (Itasca Sunflyer 34) on the market but will not do so until I'm convinced the problem has been solved or without disclosing it exists, which will kill any potential sale. But I am loath to spend over $1,000 plus labor to get rid of one bad sensor. QUESTION: Does anyone know if this engine's sensors can be bench tested? All I get from other shops, including the rare Ford dealership that will work on vehicles more than ten years old, is "bring it in and let us charge you a bunch of money with no assurance of success."

Came through essentially unscathed despite Pensacola getting thoroughly beaten up. Significant but not serious yard damage; worst house damage is fried circuit boards in clothes washer and AC; Mother Superior fine (after I found the blown-off wheel covers). A new 45-foot Tiffin next to MS got wet inside due to a wind-lifted vent cover so consider myself fortunate. Anybody nearby in need of assistance?

I'm learning stuff here . . .

I rarely compliment a vendor. I'm much more apt to criticize one. Okay, I'm a dislikeable grouch. That makes my praise for Jon Wickham of Jon Wickham & Associates in Wilmer, TX (west side of Dallas) the more unusual. Anyone who is contemplating putting a motorcycle lift on the back of their coach should talk to him. Jon installed a SwivelWheel lift, for which he is a dealer, on my 2006 Monaco Cayman. To do so he had to design and fabricate custom brackets to weld to the frame and into which the lift installed. I watched the process and occasionally handed him a tool or held a flashlight. He did a superb job in all respects. Beyond that he is a most pleasant, open, affable individual, and made multiple follow-up contacts to make sure I was fully satisfied. After five months we're corresponding as friends. In a world where crappy service and shady practices are so common, Jon is a standout. I recommend him with full confidence and without qualification.

That's an idea I'm going to look into. Thanx

Well, I obviously forgot how to reply, didn't I? That is what I expected our roadside assistant to do, and that the refused to do. "We can sent a wrecker but we can't sent a tire."

Anybody have any ideas about where to stow a spare wheel/tire or just a tire on a Monaco Cayman 36? We have a motorcycle carrier in back and so can't use anything that would mount on the trailer hitch. The Executive Department immediately objected when I suggested under the bed ("Eeew! The smell!"). The only bay stowage I see as possible is the raised portion of the pass-through bay under the salon side-out, but I'm concerned about the tire interfering with the mechanism. Roof? Ugly. Anyone solve this problem?

!! Never thought about a spark arrestor. Wouldn't be a bad idea for gasoline generators, for sure. All off-road motorcycles are fitted with them. Don't know if a diesel is a spark risk. No?

Looks like the coach took a solid hit on the left front. Something that ran down that side, which can't be seen in the pictures, and sheered attachment bolts? Even so, a very strange happening. On a second look, noticing the chassis, too, it looks a bit like it got clipped by something like a flatbed trailer or some other very heavy perimeter frame.

Not to be argumentative, because I don't know from nuffin about this, but for totally different purposes I use POR15, a paint-like product that changes the molecular structure of rust into a rust-preventative coating. It's efficacy for that is incredible. I've only used their black color. They say it is UV degradable and must be overcoated with paint to last. ???? We bought a coach whose roof had been professionally sprayed with a granular grey product, even though the roof is one-piece fiberglass. My coach mechanic was enthusiastic about it, told me what it is, and I forgot. The previous owners said it'll never get over X degrees (forgot that, too), cool enough to walk on barefoot. I see a white sealer around through-roof features, though.

Wondering about grounding, which was the first two responses. The symptoms don't seem to me to involve gas supply, esp. with the failed igniter. Could there be a "the other end" of a ground wire away from the water heater, not visible behind the heater access door?

Do RV water heaters have thermostats? Wouldn't the problem have to be something common to both LP and electric heating?

Facial tissues or toilet paper can be wrapped or stuffed around a suspected slow leak source as a test.

Well, it was a bag of frozen lima beans, but it worked. Got a reading below 70 and the heat pump came on. Thank you for the "hack" suggestion . The FURN mode didn't produce heat. Mother Superior may not have an LP furnace, but there are floor vents. Ya think I oughta read the owner's manual? . Only electric heat for the water, 12 or 120, and the range top lit, so LP was available. Still learning Mother Superior's quirks.

Med Assist is why I joined. I already had a superior roadside assistance program. I have no knowledge about the tire program. I have benefitted from the forum, but I doubt it's much of a draw for people who haven't experienced it. I have absolutely no interest in rallies or conventions, but then I'm unusually solitary -- the nickname fits. Noting that print newspapers are folding, abandoning their presses and buying into the printing facilities of larger newspapers to be printed, and turning more and more to on-line publication (some of that driven by a factor irrelevant here, being unable to compete in print with on-line news sources for timeliness), it seems to me that dropping the printed magazine, however pleasant is see it, feel it, smell it, turn pages, and read anywhere in the house including the "library," makes sense. So does membership through dealers. Maybe so does reducing membership costs. There's a toll bridge down here that's relatively recently built. It's been struggling to make its bond payments. Low use. So they have twice raised the toll to raise revenue. Twice use dropped even more and decreased revenue. Maybe there's a lesson there. My rice bowl's never been big enough for me to brush personally with high finance, so what do I know?

Manholdt -- I owe you an apology. I've been thinking that your "UH" was a version of "Duh." My episodes of being thick as a brick, in my declining years, are stretching into seasons. I only just now realized you were compressing UrbanHermit. That red glow in the east isn't an early sunrise -- it's my red face.