Three months in hell...

[windtrader]

When I read stories like this, it reinforces my belief it is the specific mechanic that matters most, not the company reputation. Maybe for newer stuff that works but there is no substitute for a truly experienced 2 stroke diesel and bus mechanic.

[edvanland]

Luckily when we blew our engine we were 30 miles from home and 90 miles from Geoff. Had it towed to his place, no charge AAA Plus paid the bill. Pulled in the back side of his shop and the tow truck went out the front, dropped it and reloaded things in to the truck and off to Lave Powell. He did one hell of a job a great big thank you Geoff and he  has also rescued us in Ash fork, 75 miles from his house with a rebuilt fuel pump.

[eagle19952]

When I read stories like this, it reinforces my belief it is the specific mechanic that matters most, not the company reputation. Maybe for newer stuff that works but there is no substitute for a truly experienced 2 stroke diesel and bus mechanic.

an apprentice should be able to R&R a motor in in less than 24 hours..much less.

[kyle4501]

After my experience with a guy that put 'con' in concrete finisher, and reading about your experience -- I have come to the conclusion that if they won't put it in writing that you agree with, it is because they KNOW they will be charging you more, LOTS MORE - or- providing less, lots less . . . .


Sometimes, I am my own worst enemy. Hopefully, I'll learn from my mistakes & not repeat them ( well , not very often . . . . )

[windtrader]

an apprentice should be able to R&R a motor in in less than 24 hours..much less.

the point is avoid having someone learning at your expense, an apprentice falls into that category.

[qayqayt]

George,
I hope one day we will meet up.  We can compare experiences over a beer or two.  We have a 1970 PD-4108, very similar to your coach. We were stuck in Modesto CA for 7 weeks going through the same fun and games.  We even had the same experience with our tach because the shop knocked a wire loose on the alternator.  We barely made the 1000 mile trip home as our charging system was not working.  I was so frustrated I couldn't look at the bus when we got it home and immediately put it up for sale.  We got no decent offers and now that I've calmed down, we've been enjoying the rebuilt engine and are no longer interested in selling it.

So much of your story mirrors ours that it's scary.  We weighed all our options like you did and chose an inframe rebuild.  If I was to do it again, I would have put the bus in storage, gone home and taken my time with the decision.  The financial aspect was the main stressor in the whole thing.

We were lucky that the shop stuck to their original quote, but they were busy and often put us aside for regular customers.  At the time Modesto had the highest per capita crime rate in California and although the shop offered to let us stay in our bus, we didn't feel safe in their location.  Add 7 weeks of (dog friendly) hotel costs to the rebuild. 

Bryan

[Geom]

George,
I hope one day we will meet up.  We can compare experiences over a beer or two.

...

Bryan, you're on! A beer or three to commiserate our mutual misfortune and soak our shared sorrow actually sounds fun

And wow, our stories are sadly eerily similar indeed -right down to scrambling to find a hotel (at 4:30 on a Friday when we were first told we couldn't actually stay in our bus while they worked on it, after we were initially told we could). We had 30 minutes to find a hotel that would take us and our 100 lb Great Dane :/

Fortunately we were able to find one. But man oh man, I've spent enough time living in a hotel room to last me multiple lifetimes!

Hopefully when we next meet, we'll also be able to share some good times -to balance out the not so pleasant ones.
We're in the Saint Louis area at the moment.
Not sure when we'll be heading out again, but when we do our plans will take us west.