Catastrophic engine failure

[rgaikins5862@embarqmail.com]

I have an 1998 Allegro Bus 36 ft. on a P3012 Chevy chasis. I have had the maintenace done regularly and used the Bus full time for just over 4 years and for the last 7years have used the bus for living in Wisconsin 6 months out of the year.

The total mileage is 46,900. I have used Cenpeco oil the past 5 years and have had no problem with it. The oil was changed this spring and righ was driven about 600 miles within Wisconsin. The oil was checked a few times over the summer and always was full and clean, clean, clean.

The week before storing the vehicle for the winter, I had our mechanic check belts (replaced the serpentine), hoses, change the plugs and wires and recheck all fluid levels. all was o.k.

I was driving to the storage location (approximately 65 to 70 miles) when the Bus suddenly lost power (6 miles from destination). The check engine gauges light came on, heat guage began to rise and I pulled to the shoulder and turned off the engine. the result was a tow to my dealer and a subsequent check by them led them to believe vandalism was the cause. There was no oil in the engine. There was no burnt oil residue in the tail pipe. There was no sign of oil dumping or pan failure. the underchasis had no evidence of oil spillage.

Has anyone heard of anything like this? The insurance co. (Progressive) cannot explain where 7.5 quarts of oil could have gone with no trace but they are dragging their feet trying to look for a reason to label this negligence on our part.

Any help out there?

[wolfe10]

IF vandals did drain the oil, they are the most industrious vandals I have ever heard of.

Most vandals are VERY lazy and would not go around with wrenches in their pockets and crawl under vehicles to drain the oil.

Go back to where you store the coach or were last parked. One would assume that a vandal interested in draining the oil to cause mischief would have just pulled the drain plug-- kind of hard to imagine a vandal draining into a container and taking it to recycle!

Brett Wolfe

[hermanmullins]

There was a problem that Ford had for years but I don't remember ever hearing Chevorlet having the problem. The return passages in the head would get stopped up and not allow oil to return to the pan. If it is at a shop at least have them look at the top end of the engine. This is just a thought from a very old mechanic.

I did have an older Caddy that had the 8-6-4 engine. It began to use oil like crazy. Just like yours there was no sign of leaking or burning. We ended up replacing the engine. Good luck with the Insurance Co. They say to them selves, "Why should be pay for something that can't happen?"

[pianodan]

My Dad owned a '62 Corvair Greenbrier with the 95 hp engine that did that. It became mine a few years later (we put the 110 hp engine in it that I rebuilt one summer). When it hid the oil, it had to have been in the valve covers; we added 3 qts to get it home to Redondo Beach, CA from San Diego. Of course, this happened in the middle of the night, on the 405 freeway with heavy fog somewhere around Camp Pendleton. The oil filter exploded on it the next day on my Dad's drive home from work.

[rgaikins5862@embarqmail.com]

1998 Allegro bus. P3012 chev chasis. 454 (7.4L) with allison tranny. 49,600 miles. progressive ins has denied a vandalism claim even after mechinics have said it is the only thing that can explain the loss of 7.5 qts of cenpeco synthetic oil.

Six days prior to seizure all fluids were checked by a mechanic. Plugs and wires were replaced. hoses were inspected and the serpentine belt was replaced.

after the seizure, our selling dealer inspected the undercarrieage (no visible oil residue) the tail pipe (no soot or burned oil) no oil pan leakage and no oil in the pan... just some sludge. The plugs were inspected and were found to be "out of the box" clean. our dealer and his contacts say it could only be vandalism

The insurance co. had the dealer supply them with a oil (sludge) sample and the contents showed metal and glycol among others in the sludge so they are saying that there is not proof of vandalism...what is not said is they believe we had not maintained the rig properly. the whole story is a bit longer, but for brevity sake, while hosting a county campground this summer a camper had to be evicted. He focussed on us and he and his party threatened to "get us".

There is no proof this is what happened, but it sure lends credibility to the claim of vandalism.

[NWJeeper]

Who did the last oil change? Was it the very mechanic who "checked" all fluids 6 days earlier? How do you know that he in fact did check the oil? Where do you keep the rig when not in use? Someone would have to have drained the oil into a container and haul it away for you not to notice a pool of oil that big (6 or 7 quarts) under the rig. That is a lot of oil not to notice.

Things like this are the arguments that the insurance company is going to use to disprove your claim and they are reasonable questions.

Perhaps it's the "pilot" in me that believes in a complete "preflight" of my equipment. It's also the reason I NEVER trust my equipment to anyone else. I do my own oil changes and I KNOW they are done right.

What a pain in the butt though, real sorry to hear of the problems. I hope it will all work out for you but I fear you have an uphill climb ahead of you.

[rgaikins5862@embarqmail.com]

family member did change. farmer,logger, has used cenpeco for almost 20 years. i was present when the oil was changed in the spring. i checked the level several times over the summer. including a trip from madison to green bay and back to dodgeville wis. checked again before going to madison area to camp host in county parks. i have checked the levels each time i gassed up and before setting out.

the mechanic is self emplyed and i was present for the work done. sonce the oil was checked by him and me at the time of maintenance, i did not recheck it prior to leaving to store the rig. we were in a county campground with only one other camper and we were away from the park most of the days trying to move an elderly relative.

there was no oil on the campsite...we checked. thanks for the interest and i will try to update this as i can. i also am contacting GoodSam RV Action line...who knows?

[NWJeeper]

Sounds like your arguments are in order. I would strongly recommend the Good Sam Action Line. We recently had issues with our 1 year old motorhome where the tires ended up completely worn out after only 9000mi usage due to a bad front end alignment. The manufacturer stated they only warranty alignment for 90 days. They were unwilling to pay for all or even part of the cost of our new tires and an alignment (close to $1100). I contacted Action line and within about 10 days we had a check in hand for half the costs. Better than nothing.

Give it a try and keep us up to date. Sure hope it all works out for you, I feel your pain. What a bummer of a Christmas gift. Hope the new coming year will be a better one for you. Take care....

[DoggyDaddy]

In dealing with Progressive Ins dragging their feet,

You might consider contacting the State Insurance Commissioner

who controls the license for Progressive to operate within the State.