broke down in Raton NM, repaired, di$$aster averted

[David Anderson]

Well I get to join the ranks of those busnuts who have had a major breakdown on a trip, and we were 800 miles from home.  We drove from South Fork CO toward Borger TX.  We traveled over La Veta  Pass down to Walsenburg then up over Raton Pass.  The bus ran fine and the Voith transmission worked fine with extensive use of the retarder on both passes.  It was 6:30 when we arrived at Raton, so I wanted some food and pulled off I25 at US 87 and turned into the Shell station at the corner with no hint of a problem, all temps normal.   I jumped out of the coach and went to the back, and transmission fluid was pouring out all over the ground with a solid trail from my rearend back to the hiway.   My pickup was covered with oil. 

The first thing I did was take my truck to a carwash, clean it, then buy a bag of cat litter to capture all that oil.  After an hour of taking stuff out of the old AC bay to access the curb side of the engine and then dismantling the bedroom to get the floor hatch open, I had my wife start the bus and immediately had a BP type blowout gusher coming out of the 1 ¼"  tranny coolant line.  It had chaffed against the return line from the tranny cooler.  Man, I should have seen this during routine inspections. 

Now, what to do?  Sunday nite at the back of a truck stop with the fittings of the lines in a near impossible place to get wrenches on them and it begins to pour down rain.  I took a shower and went to bed.   6:00am on Monday I call Voith in Pennsylvania and talked to the head service tech.  He could not believe the tranny still shifted.   Five more minutes and it would have been a boat anchor.  We weighed the options of finding Aeroquip fittings and hoses and removal, etc.  It would be difficult.  I asked if a pipe clamp patch would work.  He said maybe, but never seen it done.  The operating pressure is 125psi.  Yikes, that's higher than I wanted to hear. 

I have to drive the truck to Trinidad, stop at the tourist info center, get a phone book and find a plumbing supply that might have such a gizmo.  I drive to a place and described what I was doing and had a piece of masking tape that I sized the hose with.  It was slightly bigger than 1¼" copper tubing.  He pulls out a pipe clamp patch.  That's it, exactly what I was picturing in my mind.  $30 and I'm off to buy some oil.

The Voith holds 27 qts plus 3 for the heat exchanger.  I bought 24.  Back to Raton.  I put on the clamp, then began pouring in oil checking at each quart.  It took 21!!!   Only 7~9 quarts to meltdown.   I started the engine and it leaked.   The hose became somewhat oval upon tightening, so I reposititioned and added 3 more hose clamps in attempt to keep the hose round.  Finally, it worked with only a small weep.  I drove the bus out to I-25 and headed south to the next exit.  It shifted through all the gears.  The temp was normal, and all three stages of the retarder worked as they should. 

We cleaned up our mess in the lot, loaded up and headed toward Clayton.  It's now 11:30am.  My wife followed in the truck.  I stopped at 5 miles, just a small drip, then at 20 miles, another small drip.  At Capulin, we hooked up the truck and checked again in Clayton.  Very little spatter on the pickup.  The patch was working.  Checked in Dalhart-small drip on the pavement.  Spent the night in Pampa with a couple of drops under the coach in the morning.  I drove to Pleasanton and checked the fluid level upon arrival and the tranny was between the high and low marks.  Home at last, disaster averted, 783 miles.

I think I'm going to change all my oil lines and tranny lines and add a pressure warning switch to the tranny.   I still can't believe how fortunate I am in this.   I'm glad I was hungry.  5 more miles and things would have been so much different.   Oh, and check all lines for chafe points.

David

[pvcces]

Dave, I think you were fortunate, too. In this case, it just shows you how much oil can be gone and still have the transmission shifting normally enough for you not to notice anything wrong. The oil pickup in the pan must be pretty low.

With so much oil gone, think how little time it would take for the retarder to overheat the oil. I'm guessing that the leak didn't get really bad until you used the retarder the last time; the increase in temperature probably weakened the hose.

Good luck.

Tom Caffrey

[mountain goat]

Gotta love a story that ends like that!

I would be interested in knowing about a transmission pressure warning device. Let us know what you come up with.

[DMoedave]

wow! thanks for the report, nice ending. I agreed with the take a shower and go to bed! That was a next morning problem for sure. atta boy to you.

[Melbo]

WOW!!!

Congratulations on the averted disaster.

Glad to hear that it all worked out for the best at the least expensive way possible.

Melbo

[rampeyboy]

Way to go David! Many people would have thrown there hands up, and give up! I love hearing stories like yours where someone finds a way to make it work. Necessity is the mother of invention!

Boyce

[David Anderson]

My bus has been sitting in its home spot for 24 hours now and there is not even one drip on the ground.  I probably should just leave the hose alone.   Yea right. 
As soon as I can figure out how to get some wrenches on it they will be replaced.

David

[Stolaas]

Glad to hear it ended well.  Reminds of last year when pulling our 5th wheel home from a myrtle beach trip. Stopped off for some Krispy Kreme and thought the engine was running a little hot.  Sure enough, after getting the KK's there was a puddle onder the engine and still pouring antifreeze. A leak in the radiator.  Luckyly we both have iPhones with Internet and a GPS device where we could both look up a local garage. There was a custom truck shop not a mile down the road.  Called them and they said they would have a radiator for us in the morning.  We filled the truck up with enough water at KK's to get us to the local theater (5th wheels don't have inverters like our coaches) and tow the rig to the shop to stay the night.

Long story short, make sure you know how to use the "find shops etc" on your GPS at least and in the best case have an internet ready phone or laptop.  Makes things so much easier!

I couldn't fix the radiator myself, but glad you were able to get your leak patched up for sure!

[JohnEd]

David,

Why couldn't you use a double barb type splice with AC clamps.  That will hold freon pressure.  Your hose didn't fail because it was old so I wonder that you need a new hose.  Getting a new hose installed is by far the best option....but? ? ? ?

John

[Kenny]

Look at the bright side - You got your tranny fluid changed - Glad things worked out for you