wolfe10

Bill is correct. If is is 80 degrees F out, the heater may not come on and that may be OK. Caterpillar Corp (yes in Peoria, IL, not India) can look up at what temperature your intake heater should come on. Call them with your engine serial number: 877 777-3126.

Bill, Yes, if purchased in winter, it will have anti-gel added/a mix of #2 and #1 diesel. But, were you to fill up in the summer or fall (before cold temperatures) you would need to add an anti-gel.

Having had two 10+ year old coaches (1993 Foretravel and 1997 Safari Sahara) I guess I have a slightly different perspective. Were I the owner of a CG, I would probably have the policy of a 10 year rule with older rigs OK if in good condition. We have been at several parks with exactly this policy and have never had an issue. They look out the window, it is on good shape, no problem. Are there some older very rough coaches that this would exclude-- yes. Look on Craig's list anywhere in the country for a number of under $5000 Class A's. Here is one this morning on our local Craig's list: http://houston.craigslist.org/rvs/4656557974.html

Vicki, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. If 30 amp, you will need one hot, one neutral and one ground. If 50 amp, you will need two hots (out of phase), one neutral and ground. Wire gauge depends on which amperage and length of run. Obviously, it must be wired correctly!

Bill, Is your engine stock? Unusual to run dangerously high EGT's with a stock engine. Chipped or tweaked-- that is a different matter. BTW, what EGT's were you seeing? Pre turbo?

Yes, your Caterpillar C9 will have an intake manifold heater (as do all their engines as well as Cummins engines). There are two things that would be at the top of my list for your symptoms: 1. The intake manifold heater is not working. Locate it (heavy wire going to the intake manifold from a relay that is likely right there on the top of the engine (I have not worked on the C9, so don't know the exact location). Put a volt meter on it, and with the engine cold, turn the key to the first or second position (depends on chassis). In other words the position before the starter engages. In this position, the intake manifold heater should be on-- how long it is on depends on temperature. In very cold temperatures, it can even stay on after the engine has started. Have someone monitor the voltmeter. You could have a problem with the relay, a fuse or wiring from ignition switch. And, yes, you should have a dash light for the heater. Check with your chassis manual or coach manual for its location. 2. Low fuel pressure will cause the same symptoms, and in cold weather, metal shrinks, making fuel systems more leaks prone. If you have the Caterpillar manual primer pump on the secondary fuel filter, unscrew it (turn the knob counter-clockwise) then pump it in/out. It should be very hard to pump, indicating that you are trying to compress fuel. When finished, be sure to push the plunger all the way in and screw it in to lock (clockwise) If it pumps easily, there is air in the system or the fuel pressure has bled off (injector or more likely the check valve in the fuel return port). If this is the problem, pumping the manual pump will give you fuel pressure and a "normal" start.

Holly, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Locate the nearest scales-- may be a moving company, trash hauler, truck scales, etc. Your local yellow pages or Google should point you in the right direction. If you have anything heavy in the coach, or full water, gray or black, empty them before weighing. BTW it is common to require a weight sticker when registering a motorhome in many states.

Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Check with Thor and/or your chassis maker for the location of your air chuck. It is likely just a chuck and you will have to buy a hose and fitting.

Yup, both maintenance and operation are important to any mechanical device!

I agree, the majority of diesel owners idle TOO LONG, both on start up and on shut down. A little common sense goes a long ways. If the engine is cold, and you are parked at a freeway entrance, you DO need to idle (high idle) it longer than if you have 2 miles of slow driving from the CG to reach the highway. Same on shut down-- if you just pulled into a "scenic vista" at the top of a long grade, you do need to allow for more cool down time than if you have driven 2 miles at low speed to get to the CG.

Jim, No problem-- improper shut down is a prime cause of turbo failure. While turbo temperature is somewhat related to coolant temperature, they are not directly related. Case in point: Pulling a long, steep grade in the winter may not raise coolant temperature, but will still raise turbo/exhaust temperature. So, if pulling a long grade, even if coolant is at thermostatic temperature, you should let the engine idle for 3 minutes or so to cool the turbo. If you have a boost gauge, you will KNOW when you are out of turbo/little or no boost. A couple of minutes at low/no boost, even if still being driven (i.e. slow city streets, CG's etc) will allow sufficient turbo cool down. Clearly, if you pull into a CG, check in and then pull to your site, you are good for an immediate shut down.

Charles, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Turbo failure is rare. But were we to start pointing fingers, it sounds like this coach has SAT for most of its life-- 6+ years and only 19,000 miles may mean it has sat for long periods of time. Particularly, if the previous owner did not know how to treat the mechanicals, turbo failure can happen. Things that will lead to premature turbo failure: Inadequate warm up time before really getting into the throttle/turbo. Said another way, before the turbo has adequate oil flow. Inadequate cool down time before shutting down after a hard pull. This will lead to "cooking/coking" of the oil in the turbo and therefore poor lubrication. Sitting for long periods of time allows oil to drain from bearings. Worse, if previous owner started it and just let it idle while stored. Idling a diesel leads to a lot of moisture in the exhaust and crankcase-- unless driven a minimum of 25 highway miles, DO NOT START A DIESEL. All you will do is add moisture to the engine.

Bill, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Don't have a Beaver, but do have a Magnum chassis with Caterpillar 3126 and Allison 6 speed. Very good chassis/drivetrain. Of course at that age, as with any complex machine, how it was maintained will have a lot to do with how it will perform for you.

Yes, it would be safe to plug your 30 amp RV cord into an RV 30 amp outlet. But, it would also be OK to plug it into a 15 amp (regular house-type) outlet using an adapter. Of course that would limit what you could run, but would not harm the RV wiring. Only plugging into a dryer outlet at a house would harm the RV. And, if other 120 VAC items in the RV operate, but the outlets do not, look for a GFI that has been tripped. They are the same as in a house.

emmabee10, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. The house outlet-- if it looks like the other outlets in your house (two straights and a round) is a standard 15 amp outlet. If your RV has a 30 amp shore power cord, you would need an ADAPTER (15 amp male to 30 amp female) to be able to plug it in. If the house outlet looks similar to your 30 amp RV plug, DO NOT PLUG IT IN. It is likely to be a dryer plug and will be wired for 220 VAC instead of 120 VAC. Please let us know about the house outlet you plugged into and we can go from there.

Paul, Contact your chassis maker. They are the ones who determine how the brake lights are wired.

Cookie, While weight is a significant factor in determining MPG on grades, it is far less important than aerodynamic drag when running on flat ground. While there are many factors affecting MPG, there are a couple that reduce motorhome MPG as compared with trucks. While trucks have their cooling systems (Charge Air Coolers and radiators) in front where the vast majority of the air flow is provided “for free”, diesel pushers have to run fans that provide this cooling—often at a cost of over 25 HP. Modern trucks are more aerodynamic than motorhomes. There is nothing “slick” about the aerodynamics of a motorhome, with its multiple awnings and multiple roof top items. And, with 10+ gears, trucks can operate closer to peak torque RPM which is more efficient than at higher RPM.

Slightly lean your coach to the side and on some, the end you prefer for the condensate to exit on. On ours, we lean it with the left side down so that condensation does not drip at the entrance door.

Carl, You are right, any 2X anything will crack very easily. Most crack resistant at reasonable price would be a sheet of 3/4" exterior plywood. Cut the sheet into appropriate size pieces. Glue and screw the pieces together orienting each layer at 90 degrees to the previous.

Yes, there are a number of ways that the engine brake (exhaust, compression or VGT) can be set up from the factory and then used by the driver. I do know that Caterpillar offers what I feel is the "ideal" factory set up. It is called Latch Mode. When the Caterpillar ECM is programmed for Latch Mode (by any Caterpillar dealer) and assuming the chassis maker has wired the ECM with brake switch input, here is how it works. Leaving switch ON all the time: Take your foot off the throttle-- you coast (like Tom, this is my favorite "gear"). Touch the brake pedal-- the engine brake comes on and stays on whether you stay on the brake pedal or not. Engine brake turns off when the throttle is touched. This allows the engine brake to be left on all the time for emergency stops, yet allows you to coast. If someone knows if Cummins offers the same, would be interested to know.

Actually, the vast, vast majority of tires that fail do not go from perfect to blow-out without loosing air first. Sure it can happen, but most loose air slowly, then really heat up and blow out/throw tread. That is why I consider a TPMS the same as an engine temperature gauge or oil pressure gauge. All three tell you about a problem and hopefully in time to prevent major damage.

Rich, Yes, we had been on the road all summer and has some "house chores" to take care of. So, as soon as I finished with the Seminars I present, we hit the road. No wind across OR and ID. Nice tail wind across WY. Then 20-25 MPH head winds in CO, OK and TX. Glad we were not in the sailboat-- would have had to wait for better conditions!

Carl, Likely a combination of things. We had the same experience this summer in Oregon. Clearly Oregon has its share of mountains. MPG always suffers on grades vs flat land. We also played "dodge the Bio-diesel" dance. Pulled into one station and right back out-- small print on the pump was B20. Biodiesel contains less BTU's per gallon, so MPG will suffer, but we are talking about 5-7%. So bio alone will not account for your experienced difference. No idea whether headwinds played a part in the equation-- we did not experience adverse winds in Oregon. Boy did we from Colorado on south to south Texas on the way back from Oregon.

Bill, Just a clarification-- with the Cummins B and Allison 3000 in your chassis, you very likely have an exhaust brake of some brand. Later model B engines used VGT turbos and did not have an external exhaust brake. The only coaches with retarders (built into the Allison) are some OTR buses and Foretravels. The names/brands of the exhaust brakes makes it difficult to understand, as some are called/labeled retarders. Look at the downstream side of our turbo in the exhaust system and verify what you have. I say this because some, like PacBrake require lubrication.

Don, From an article I wrote for the FMCA Magazine: ALLISON TRANSMISSION MODE BUTTON BY BRETT WOLFE, F252125 The Allison transmission control module (TCM), which is the "electronic brain" that controls shifting and other functions of the transmission, has two different automatic gear-selection modes/programs. In Economy Mode, the transmission will not downshift even at wide-open throttle until the engine pulls down to peak torque rpm in some applications and 200 rpm lower than Performance Mode in others. In Performance Mode, the transmission will downshift much earlier to maintain higher engine rpm. Only at higher throttle positions is there any difference, so on flat ground you will not notice any variation between the two modes, except when accelerating from a stop if you are at or close to wide-open throttle. However, mode selection can make a big difference when traveling over rolling hills. If you drive in such areas while in Performance Mode (particularly with the cruise control on), it is common for the transmission to shift down to fifth gear on the uphill and back to sixth gear on the downhill, repeating this process hundreds of times. In Economy Mode, the transmission will stay in sixth gear unless the hill is so steep or so long that the engine cannot pull it without dropping below peak torque rpm. According to engine manufacturers, the most economical way to climb a hill with a modern turbocharged diesel engine is in a higher gear (lower engine rpm), provided the engine doesn’t overheat. If, while driving in Economy Mode, you know you will need a lower gear because of the steepness of the grade and/or the engine temperature is rising higher than the thermostatically controlled temperature, use the down arrow to drop a gear (this is what I do) or switch out of Economy Mode. Be sure to switch back into Economy Mode when past the steep section or you will be stopping at a service station for fuel sooner than you expected. While you are driving in hilly terrain, if your engine begins to overheat, the engine’s horsepower-to-weight ratio is low, or it irritates you to lose a few mph in the name of saving fuel, by all means drive in Performance Mode. It confuses me to hear people advocate driving in Economy Mode only on flat ground, as there is not 1 percent difference in shift rpm between Performance and Economy modes on flat ground, except when accelerating from a stop if you use wide-open throttle. Every time you start the motorhome, the transmission is in Performance Mode. This is the default setting. If you push the mode button, it goes to Economy Mode and the light illuminates. There is no absolute number that can be given to illustrate the difference in fuel economy that will result when driving in Economy Mode. On flat ground where you will be in sixth gear no matter what mode you are in, there will be zero difference. The most significant difference in mileage will occur in rolling hills, where in Performance Mode, particularly if on cruise control, you will start up a hill in sixth gear, go to wide-open throttle in that gear, and downshift to fifth gear still at wide-open throttle, where it is using a lot more fuel. After the hill is crested, the transmission will upshift to sixth, then likely coast a little in that gear unless you are driving with the exhaust brake on. If you are, the exhaust brake will be applied and the transmission will downshift toward the preselected gear, which is generally either second gear or fourth gear. And so the process will continue, with the transmission shifting up to sixth gear on the downhill, back down to fifth gear on the uphill, etc. The problem with this is that a modern turbocharged diesel engine is much more efficient at low rpm with high throttle settings. Note: In either mode, you are free to use the up and down arrows to proactively choose the correct gear. You cannot screw anything up, even if you downshift to first gear at 70 mph. The transmission circuitry understands that you want to downshift to the next lower gear as soon as the engine rpm will not exceed the preset amount. Then it will downshift again when safe. By the same token, you can shift between Performance and Economy modes as often as you want with the transmission in any gear when you make the change. I drive in Economy Mode 99 percent of the time, including in the mountains. I use the up and down shifting arrows to choose the proper gear. I use Performance Mode only to pass another vehicle on a two-lane road, when I am willing to sacrifice a little fuel economy to gain a short-term burst of speed.