wolfe10

The FMCA Towing Guides go back 11 years: http://www.fmca.com/motorhome/towing/204-towing-index Brett

No, it is NOT like backing a trailer. The towed vehicle's front wheels quickly go in to reverse lock when backing and you can destroy the front end of the towed vehicle very quickly. A trailer's wheels are locked in the straight position, which DOES allow for backing. Vehicle caster is set to make it track straight going FORWARD -- kind of like a grocery cart. When backing, it goes to reverse lock (front wheels turn the opposite way from that of the motorhome). Bottom line, do NOT back with a towed vehicle. Much safer to stop and unhitch those few times a year when we all find ourselves trapped where backing would help. Brett

Jim, While all any of us can do at this point is speculate, but improperly priming the lift pump once should not kill it if it was healthy to start with. And if you fit/have fit the proper secondary fuel filter with manual primer pump, changing filters is extremely easy. Changing oil is not difficult-- you just need the proper size bucket-- I use an old Rubbermade tub. Because of higher ground clearance, I would rather change the oil on the motorhome than on my automobiles. I suggest using the engine manufacturer's filters (Caterpillar in your case) and verify the correct oil capacity. To verify, call the Caterpillar RV Hotline with your engine serial number: 877 777-3126. Then VERIFY that your oil dipstick is correctly calibrated. Brett

Jim, First, do NOT allow ether to be used on your engine. Your engine has an electric grid intake manifold heater like the vast majority of other modern diesels. Hitting a red hot wire grid with an explosive is just not done. Yes, on older engines, it could be done if done in real moderation. And, sure, if the lift pump is not functioning, all the priming in the world will not get fuel to the engine. I was not aware that you facing any issue other than just replacing the filter. As to what kills lift pumps (any diesel) being starved for fuel really pushes them hard (they are pulling fuel under high vacuum load). So a clogged filter(s) WILL shorten their life. Also, any dirt or water will affect it, though the injector pump/HEUI pump is more susceptible to damage from these contaminants because of the much higher pressure they work under. Cummins also had a problem with seals in some of their lift pumps being damaged by ULSD, causing the lift pump to leak. To my knowledge, Caterpillar did not have this issue. Please keep us posted. Brett

Workhorse who built your chassis and speced and installed the wheels and center caps can answer your question about how to access the center of the front hubs. Because the volume of oil in the oil bath hub in measured in ounces (very little) I would NOT drive it until you have confirmed that your bearing have oil in them. Once the cap/cover is removed, you will be able to see a clear plastic hub. There will be a concentric ring marked "oil level". This is the level the oil should be at with the coach/wheels level side to side. Brett

OK, first an INVERTER takes 12 VDC and "makes" 120 VAC. Said another way, it takes power from your battery and makes "house type current". You may or may not have one. With only two 6 VDC batteries, you don't have a lot of battery capacity to run an inverter. Your CONVERTER (which you will have) takes 120 VAC from shore power or generator and "makes" 12 VDC. If dry camping in cold weather, the propane furnace (actually its fan) draws a pretty good amount of current. Depending on ambient temperature, the temperature you set the thermostat on, and your coach's insulation, those two 6 VDC batteries wired in SERIES to make one 12 VDC battery could run the furnace overnight. And while you could use your A/C (IF, repeat IF it is either a heat pump or has heat strips) off the generator as a heat source, just running the propane furnace is a LOT more efficient. The furnace turns propane into heat. The generator turns propane into RPM's (inefficient) which turns the electrical part of the generator (a little loss of efficiency) which then runs the heat strips or heat pump (another little loss of efficiency). Brett

Not sure it makes a difference whether it is extended outboard or near the center. The big issue, particularly for rear radiator configured coaches is to extended it to behind (back of coach) from the air intake for the fan shroud/cooling system. No point in putting moisture and oil vapor into the CAC and radiator where they will quickly trap dirt. Two important MUSTS for any extension: 1. Do not restrict air flow. If the engine manufacturer designed and installed a 1" ID breather hose, do not use a smaller one or any catchment device that would have less exhaust area than that size. 2. Do not form a drip loop with the extension. Said another way, the hose must continue ONLY downhill from engine to outlet with no uphill portion. Water vapor is one of the natural components of the crankcase breather. Water could condense in the drip loop and in below freezing temperatures, freeze. Forming a solid ice plug will totally restrict air flow and can lead to blown engine gaskets or worse. And by far the #1 cause of excessive blowby is overfilling the crankcase with oil. Brett

Welcome to the FMCA Forum. You need to pull out your owners manual and familiarize yourself with your 12 VDC electrical system. You have two electrical systems: 120 VAC and 12 VDC. The shore power is 120 VAC, as is your generator. You have a converter that "converts" 120 VAC to 12 VDC which charges your battery. Your furnace and lights work on 12 VDC. While driving, your engine's alternator charges the 12 VDC batteries. You likely have a master disconnect switch for the 12 VDC that needs to be ON when you want to use 12 VDC appliances. How long the 12 VDC battery (house battery) will power your lights, furnaces, etc depends on the size of the battery(s) and how much power you use from them. The furnace fans take a pretty healthy amount of 12 VDC. Brett

Jim, As I mentioned earlier, you would need to check with Freightliner to see if the filter is before or after the lift pump. If the filter is after the lift pump which is on the back (forward in the coach) of the HEUI injection pump, there is no reason to even consider bleeding at the lift pump. You may be able to trace the fuel lines to/from the filter and determine which side of the pump the filter is on-- don't know the access to the lines in your coach. Yes, your best chance of success is to pressurize the tank and crank the engine. Hopefully this will do it, if not look for a mobile diesel tech. Brett

Chuck, Since the fuel must be filtered (per Caterpillar requirements) to 2 microns, the single filters have just that, a single 2 micron filter. And yes, that will clog up a LOT quicker than a 10 followed by a 2. Yes "transfer pump", "lift pump" and "fuel transfer pump" are all the same animal (kind of like thermostat and regulator). They are basically a fuel pump that "lifts/transfers" fuel from tank to engine/HEUI pump. If is unrelated to the manual primer pump that some ("properly equipped" IMO) systems have. So for your system, you have: fuel tank, primary filter, lift pump, secondary filter with primer pump, engine/HEUI pump. And the secondary fuel filter housing with manual primer pump has been the same for decades. The one fit on our Foretravel in the fall of 1992 is the same design used today. So, for those on a strict budget, a truck wrecking yard followed by trip to a place that makes fuel hoses will get the job done. There are also a few coach makers who speced a primary filter and secondary filter WITHOUT manual primer pump. Retrofitting the manual pump on these is really simple. The secondary filter housing will have a block-off plate held by two bolts. Remove the bolts/plate and with new gasket primer pump and two bolts, just bolt it in place. If there is not room for the pump to fit straight because of where the secondary filter is mounted, Caterpillar makes both 45 and 90 degree mounts that bolt right up. I just hate to see the agony caused by trying to prime 30' of fuel hose and a filter when the alternative (as you and I have) is to just fit the filter on dry and use the manual pump to prime, then start the engine and drive away.

Bill, I strongly suggest that a motorhome not be driven with one of two tires on a dual location flat/removed. That severely overloads the remaining tire, often resulting in structural damage. Here is a quote from the Michelin RV Tire Guide: When one tire in a dual configuration comes out of service due to under-inflation/run-flat damage, the other tire in the dual configuration should be inspected immediately. If the unservicable tire was under-inflated, that means that the servicable tire was carrying more and more of the load for that wheel position. Consequently, it too may have suffered some casing damage. Brett

Reasons TO carry a spare tire: 1. Saves time in case a tire is needed. 2. A corollary of #1-- the more remote the area traveled, more unusual the tire size, and more critical your time schedule the more importance to be placed on #1. Reasons NOT TO carry a spare tire: 1. Weight of spare tire. 2. Takes up a lot of bay storage. 3. Ages and needs to be replaced even if not used. 4. You still need road service to install it. Brett

Linda, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. This thread makes good reading: http://community.fmca.com/index.php?showtopic=288 Brett

Have you called Monaco-- a good place to start? Brett

This Flying J Website gives the price of all grades of gasoline, diesel and propane at all their location in North America: http://www.flyingj.com/flyingjPortalWebPro...sPricesPrint.do If you scroll to the bottom, you will find this note regarding Indiana: **Indiana - Assumes no sales tax with ICC# (6% State Sales Tax not included).

Jim, The lift pump is driven off the back of the HEUI pump. Freightliner installed the filter-- so they can tell you on which side of the lift pump the filter is installed. Give them a call-- have your VIN handy: 800 385-4357 Normally, it is not necessary to access or bleed at the lift pump. If the line from tank to filter and the filter itself is primed, the lift pump should be able to prime the system. Brett

Without knowing the actual cause of the shutdown (again, doubt it is just transmission temperature), there is no way for us to know if other damage is occurring by continuing to drive it. But in answer to your fan question, no problem running it on high-- just loss of HP and MPG to keep the fan speed on high. Surprised you found an area of Florida with no Caterpillar dealer on your route. It should only take them a few minutes to download the codes. Brett

Welcome to the FMCA Forum. I am not aware of any transmission temperature issue that could cause the engine ECM to shut down the engine. Best advice is to take the coach is to any Caterpillar dealer who can then download the stored fault codes in the ECM-- far better than our speculation. To find the closest Caterpillar dealer: http://www.cat.com/dealer-locator Click on "On Highway" (since you are not driving a bulldozer, diesel electric train or tug boat). Brett

Bob, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Yup, Indiana is unique in how they collect tax on diesel. You were not scammed. It IS frustrating to many of us from other states who are used to seeing the "drive out" price advertised. Brett

Jim, You should not need to bleed each injector. If fuel rather than air is getting to the lift pump using the starter should clear the air from the lines. Brett

In order, I would do #3, then #1 and last #2. With calling a mobile diesel tech probably inserted as the second choice right after #3. To fit the second filter and manual primer pump requires new fuel hoses be made. As stated in that post, fuel goes from tank to present filter (with 10 micron filter element instead of current 2 micron filter element) then to the lift pump, then to the new secondary filter (with 2 micron filter element), then to the engine. View this as a permenant solution, not a "get me back on the road the easiest way possible". An observation for anyone changing filters-- fuel WILL flow if there is a difference in fuel level between tank and filter base. While it is messy for fuel to flow out of the filter housing when replacing a filter element, it is a LOT better to have some fuel flowing out than to have that 25'+ line siphon back to the tank and become filled only with AIR. Repriming with 25' feet of air in the line is really tough. And sadly, very few coaches have a ball valve at the filter on the inlet line which would solve a lot of this "loss of prime" problem. Changing the filter with a full fuel tank, raising the front of the coach and lowering the filter housing all aid in lessening the chance of draining all the fuel from the line. As discussed yesterday be sure to keep the chassis batteries charged up-- some coaches charge the chassis battery from shore power, others do not. Brett

Herman, If this is non-gelcoated FG/FG with very little hard surface over the random fibers/if you can see fibers which give the side "texture", do NOT treat is as one would gel coated quality boat FG. Sanding, compounding or even buffing can make it worse by exposing more of the fibers. Removing some of the gel coat (which is many times as thick as paint) is the prescribed method on quality gel coated FG, but will not work here. The only solution (not a great one) is to clean the surface, removing as much of the dirt as you can. There may be some products what can coat/seal what you have-- I have no first hand knowledge of any of them. Brett

Jim, Your coach maker installs the 12 VDC fuses. It is likely to be in a fuse "box" with quite a few fuses in it. If you don't have the manuals that came with your coach, post what make model and year it is and perhaps someone with the same coach can tell you. OR, call your coach manufacturer. Brett

Jim, You are doing the right stuff. It is just that without a manual primer pump it is sometimes difficult to get all the air out of the system. Let it sit (and battery charge up) and crank it again. As you are doing, do not overheat the starter. It may help to have someone slightly pressurize the tank with compressed air while you crank-- this really helps of the lift pump has air in it or the line to it. There are many of us who feel Freightliner made a poor decision to save a few bucks by deleting the secondary filter and manual primer pump. Evidently enough people felt that way that they went back to fitting the two filter/manual primer pumps on newer chassis. Brett

Jim, At what point does the heater fail. Does the thermostat "click" when you set it to heat and turn up the thermostat? Does the fan start? Have you checked the 12 VDC fuse for the furnace? Brett