maiden voyage

[thomasinnv]

The bus is finished and we are all packed.  Will be rolling out in about an hour.  Leaving Keota OK heading west through Stigler then north on hwy 2 to I40.  From there west on I40 to AZ and the grand canyon.  It's been two long months and I am excited to finally be back on the road again.  Just can't take sitting in a house any more.  lol.  God Bless.

[Van]

Good for you, get out and see the country. If coming thru Vegas, stop in for some coffee any time. good luck and safe travels.


Van

[David Anderson]

I'm jealous.  I wish I was on the road.  Please keep up posted on the travels.  Have a great time.

David

[Dreamscape]

Good luck and have fun! I feel your anticipation as our big trip to the "Bus Rally Trifecta" is one month away! My finger is itching to hit the start button!

Paul

[thomasinnv]

well, we made 380 miles on our first day of the maiden voyage.  stopped in Groom TX for the night.  So far we have had fairly minor incodences which could have been worse but was really no biggy.  First item, tried to start the genny to turn on the ac when things started warming up a bit.  Pushed the button and nothing happened.  A quick check of things revealed that a case of oil placed on top of the battery box had bumped the test button on the main battery circuit breaker switch.  No problem there.

About 150 miles into the trip the wife needed to go to walmart so i pulled into the lot and as she headed for wally i made a circle around the bus with the ir thermometer shooting all the tires, wheel bearings, brake drums etc.  as i round the back of the bus she just dies.  The overheat alarmstat shut her down.  turns out i had a heater hose blow out and must have just happened as i pulled into the lot.  Off to Oreilys for a hose and several gallons of anti freeze.  filled her all up and every thing seems to be ok.  Thank God for the alarmstats, disaster averted. 

Oh, and the bedroom gets WAY hot back there.  we shut the bedroom door to try and keep some of the heat out of the front.  gonna have to do something about that.

[bobsw]

Bus. Finished?? no way.

[thomasinnv]

Bus. Finished?? no way.

yeah, i guess that was a rather loose translation of the word.  Finished?  not quite.  Temporarily complete?  maybe.  As long as wife and kids are on board there will always be something that needs done.  I forgot how much 'fun' it is to drive an older vehicle, one that always needs something done.  Wonder if i'll ever get to a point where i can make a trip without getting greasy for one reason or another?  probably not.  Guess i better just accept the fact that i may be ....a....bus.....nut.....

[thomasinnv]

our trip has come to a temporary stop.  we are in an rv park in Albuquerque.  Had some parts shipped 'overnite' yesterday that were supposed to be here this morning so we could be on our way.  we were planning on doing the grand canyon over the weekend then on to Nevada.  Evidently i should have been more clear about which nite i wanted the parts shipped over.  Now we get to hang out here till tuesday.  UPS said there was a driver error, and the parts just got put on the plane at 6:30 this evening.  BAD UPS, BAD UPS!!  glad we left some extra days in our travel plans.

[bevans6]

What happened to cause an emergency shipment of parts?  I hope nothing too too serious!

Brian

[JackConrad]

yeah, i guess that was a rather loose translation of the word.  Finished?  not quite.  Temporarily complete?

I like the term Temporarily Finished.  I think that is what most of our buses are.  Jack

[thomasinnv]

What happened to cause an emergency shipment of parts?  I hope nothing too too serious!

Brian

bus is safe, the generator is the problem.  no genny=no otr a/c

the wire that grounds the coil to shut down the generator was routed incorrectly from factory which allowed it to melt against the cylendar head.  when it melted against the cylindar head somehow the diode that protects the control board blew and took out the control board and both coils.  control board was a normally stock item for the service center, but not the coil packs.  so, we are waiting for the coil packs to arrive.

[thomasinnv]

Well we got the parts in and back on the road.  Went as far as Flagstaff.  Some really rough road, broke a water line on the water heater and made a mess on the floor, but everything cleaned up ok with no permenant damage.  Had another 1/2" pipe nipple so fixed the breakage, only lost maybe 10 gallons of water.  as i was doing a walk around after fixing the water line i noticed the hitch riser connected to the blue ox for the truck wasn't looking right.  after close inspection I found a crack next to a weld, so we had to unhitch the truck and the wife had to follow behind in to Flagstaff, only about 50 miles.  Gotta get that fixed/replaced this morning as soon as someone opens.  The oil leaks are still running strong, so tightening all them bolts did nothing.  This has been an eventfull maiden voyage so far.  We left Oklahoma 9 days ago and have managed to make it close to a thousand miles so far.  Things could have been much worse though, like an engine or tranny or something.  so I am thankful they have all been minor issues that were easily averted, even if it has taken a few extra days.

As for the oil leak, as i described in another thread, the majority of the oil is looking like it is coming from under the blower.  pooling large amounts on the top of the block at the base of the blower in front and back of the blower.  Is there something i should be looking for at these areas?  When we get to our destination later today i can remove the air intake and look into the blower if I need to do that.  Can someone guide me on what I should be looking for as a possible source of the oil leak?  I was assuming blower seals or gaskets, but I don't know.  Am I on the right track?

[luvrbus]

Derick, there is a !/4 inch oil supply to the blower on the back of the engine on top about 3 inches long has small rubber seals that is probably where you leak is coming from or the coupling seal on the about 3 inches around if the clamp broke it will leak there or if someone used a plastic tie around it just replaced one where a guy used a zip tie and wondered why he had a leak.
I would love to help you with photos but I cannot post photos, if you cannot stop the leak and can make it to Needles Ca and 6 miles north on 95 to Mohave AZ I will be happy to help you and if you do need a blower I have a couple here but if you are not blowing a gray smoke yours is ok when the seals go they smoke like crazy and oil pours from the drain tubes


good luck

[thomasinnv]

luvrbus, (Cliff is it?) It only smokes a little when cold, and only under load.  once up to op temp no smoke at all.  No oil coming out of tubes at all.  i will be coming right by you this weekend on my way north to nevada, probably saturday most likely.  i will pull the access under the bed and get a better look on friday.  When i was in there last week the 3" tube seemed good shape and tight clamps, don't know about the 1/4" oil line though.  It's leaking pretty good at the front of the blower too.  There is a lot of pooling at both ends of the blower.  If your gonna be around say saturday i just might take you up on your offer.  Sure would be nice not to have to dump in a gallon of oil every 500 miles or so.  The truck is really starting to look nasty.  not to mention at around $10 or more a gallon it adds up quick.  And it's getting harder to find.

[bevans6]

Please keep updating this, since I have about the exact same problem I am very interested in what you find.  I also get about 600 or so miles to the gallon, with very similar symptoms.

Brian