jleamont

This is the age old debate. Trucks were equipped with them for years and they were located after the turbo, drivers knew when to down shift and how long to idle down before shutting the engine off so the turbo wouldn't cook the oil off from the high temps and melt seals. Now they put them before to monitor cylinder temp like we forgot about the potential turbo failure issue. Keep in mind you over heat a turbo and the bearings fail you could destroy the engine also when the turbine contacts the side of the housing and throws all of those fine metal shavings into the cylinders. I have seen that so many times in my career I can't even begin to remember, between that and air filters not installed correctly. I felt I idle long enough when I arrive so the manifold made sense plus I was checking mine with the heat gun comparing the turbo temp vs manifold temp, even at 400 in the manifold I am well below the safety zone to shut it down at the turbo, there is a 100 degree difference.

Carl, I run Diesel mate, which is hard to find and purchase without buying a case all in one shot. A case will run around $300.00 which lasts me a year or so. Power Service Diesel fuel supplement is another one I have heard good reports on and you can purchase that at almost any auto part store.

John, just make sure you get a wax on the gelcoat, the UV will destroy it over time and it can also make the gel coat leach water through the surface.

Carl, the Biocide will kill whatever is alive in the tank, you might want a fuel treatment product to keep it from reoccurring, boost your cetane level, lubricate the system and absorb/breakdown the water. I had a similar problem in June of this year. Once I added the biocide and killed the bugs I started adding fuel treatment to help with the poor quality fuel that is around. It made a noticeable difference in the performance of the coach. Bugs are only part of the problem, they feed and grow on the bio product and water suspended in the fuel, take those out of the equation you should be good. I would seek advice from Spartan on an inline filter before the pump also.

John, our last coach didn't have full paint and I used the gel coat restoration kit from Meguiar's. They also have some great gel coat wax products. Ours looked like white paint after it was so shiny. http://www.meguiars.com/en/marine/products/#FgwFlEdjOXJucH4c.97

That auto feature they have is the reason I cancelled my service with Sirius, plus the commercials.

Same here, I was picturing it laughing.

Any idea how much weight you had on the chassis before and after? Just curious since most are close or often overloaded, adding 600 + lbs could get interesting.

Exactly, its not designed to pull it that distance either. On a med/heavy truck the tank is within 2-4' of the pump.

Engle, Welcome to the Forum! I have had this happen on several occasions, NONE with my FMCA renewal. I have tried to connect the dots and nothing ever makes sense. I will say its probably a coincidence. I'm going on my 4th time and the last one was last week. Very frustrating!!

Rich, sometimes you just have to step it up and get rid of someone's else's bad design. Its unfortunate when the end user/consumer has to fix a large chassis/engine manufactures poor planning and execution. I truly believe this was all created by lack of communication between manufactures, its becoming worse as technology advances.I don't blame you one bit, none of us enjoy sitting on the side of the road anticipating the repair/tow invoice. I was amazed when Cummins told me their pump was not designed to pull fuel that distance.

obedb, the large difference from what I can see is the distance between the tank and engine and the fuel line material. RV manufactures started to use the same type of fuel line product around 2004-2005 while the trucking and automobile industry had been running those materials for 10+ years at that time. Poor pre planning and understanding the new fuel requirements pros and cons I believe were the cause. The RV industry seems to be slow in technology advancements, especially when they are critical, always baffled me. As far as new problems with the diesel fuels are getting worse, we are now removing large clumps of what looks to be salt from our Davco housings. This is carboxylate salt/acid which is being added to the pipelines to prevent corrosion within the pipeline from the ultra low sulphur diesel and the moisture it carries. Its supposed to displace the moisture, the problem is its not blending into the fuel properly, just being suspended and getting caught up in the filters. After it sits it turns back into its original form, salt crystals . You have to wonder what is the long term damage to the engine fuel system from stuff like this being added to the fuel?

2stroker, Ziggyh hit the nail on the head. I'd bet your oil pressure relief valve is sticking, I have seem a few over they years scored like the one in the photo, it doesn't take much for them to bind under pressure in their bore. I have also seen the reverse side where the snap ring fails and the valve falls out. Your need to get that fixed ASAP. Lucky for you the OEM oil filter housings are usually thicker than most aftermarket. I have seen aftermarket filters detonate before from what you are describing. Some aftermarket filters are so thin the oil filter wrench scratch upon installation causing leaks in a few hundred miles. Do your best to warm the oil prior to departing, from your warm engine oil pressure description it is doing its job when the oil thins out and allowing oil to bypass the valve, so that's a huge plus. Some engines they are located just above the oil filter, in the front cover near the harmonic balancer and others they are internal to the oil pump. Depending on the design will determine how it is to be replaced.

Bill, I had one place on Oklahoma when I flipped the breaker up I got whacked and the tower went up in smoke and sparks. This happened before I plugged in, at the time I had my volt meter in my hand to test the tower, no need to test it at that point.

Ha, how about that!! Wonder why it's got these 36" on it that cost so much $$$$. Thank you

Continental makes a good tire. I had them on many road tractors and off road dump trucks, never a problem. Some of their car tires leave a bit to be desired with regards to traction in bad weather, but no quality issues.

I can imagine what you went through and I have to admit I got to laughing I'm with Brett, put more on the tag, sounds like you will be back at the scales.

Bill, thanks for the tip!! never a fan spending $60 for wiper blades. Now I've got to do some research and see what single beam blades are available in 36"

If you don't tow with brakes on the toad I strongly recommend not driving in the rain or snow. 3800 lbs in a panic has a good chance of spinning a gas coach out, there is just not enough weight back there. I bought my Blue Ox patriot on EBay for $140.00, stuff is out there use and not real expensive. If you need a tow bar PM me I have one to get rid of.

Good news if your XL7 is between 99-05 M&G has a kit for it. http://m-gengineering.com/Compatibility.html

YUP, I just bought a Progressive 50 amp PT50C from one of our Holiday Rambler club members. Such a good deal I couldn't pass it up. I'm going to leave the TRC at home and keep the progressive in the coach since it locks and the TRC doesn't. I won't plug in without one. I learned that the hard way.

I use this gadget to test the connection everywhere we go, and used it to test the tower at home also. http://50amppowerpal.com/ I also helped rsbilledwards while we were camping back in September, he was having a problem with his coach and I connected to the tower and sure enough he had a bad ground that just dropped while a few minutes before he hunted me down. Camp ground towers are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get .

Keigm, welcome! Nice coach, looks great!

Keon, did you get to Disney in October?

See page 14, last paragraph if you have this system. 2012-04-28_033135_intelletic_ems_service_manual.pdf