Emergerncy shut down put us on the side of the road Friday night

lostagain · October 03, 2010, 07:06:13 PM

On the way to Calgary for dirt bike races late Friday PM, I notice the Hot Engine light and the Low Oil Pressure lights start blinking... My dash gauges look normal. The engine starts sputtering... I turn to Valerie and says: this is going to shut us down! Then the gauges go weird: low, high, I pull over, the engine gauges at the back show normal, so I feel better thinking it is only a shorted wire and get going again. Then the oil press. shows consistently low, temp. high! Pull over again, fearing the worst. Looking for oil on the ground, none. Antifreeze in the oil, none. Oil in the rad fill, none. WTF!? Getting late, no internet access to ask you guys for help. Oh boy, a tow truck to home, 100miles, no insurance, $$$. OK, I've got to calm down and figure this out... It won't stay running after I release the starter button. The air plunger pushes the shut down lever on the governor. So I take it out of the way so the engine stays running. Press. and temp. are normal from the back gauges, confirming to me that it must be an electrical fault in the shut down circuit. Then I remember earlier that day replacing the air filter, and wrenching on the turbo oil return line to fix a leak, disturbing some wires on the engine frame with the wrench and making a mental note to fix them this winter. Now looking at them I see that they are part of the shut down circuit, near the oil press. sender. So off we go again, gauges wild and idiot lights blinking, but running good and hoping the heck I'm not wrong about the cause... Stop for supper. Then another 100km to Calg. The gauges look normal again, and no blinking lights. Feel better.

Next day at the track between races, I find the hot side to the press. sender is shorting onto the frame from cracked insulation, along with other wires. Fix that and hope that it is my fix. Today, drive home with everything normal, what a relief!!

Well, I know that the emerg. shut down system works.

I know that I will be shopping around for a roadside assist. insurance for the peace of mind.

Although it ended well, it was quite stressfull at the time. Being a new coach to me, I am not familiar with everything on it, and I didn't know what to do at first.

Oh well, onward...

JC

Lin · October 03, 2010, 07:50:10 PM

People seem to like Coach.net

longjohn · October 03, 2010, 08:00:35 PM

Glad you made it home under your own steam

calling the hook is just not fun, i too have read several folks comment on coach net, does any one know if good sam covers buses , it is still a rv?

belfert · October 03, 2010, 08:15:20 PM

Good Sam will cover our conversions as well. I prefer Coach-Net myself and a lot of people seem really happy with their Canadian coverage.

I recently found out how expensive a low boy is! $160 an hour. My enclosed trailer was originally going to be put on a low boy, but the low boy was out on a job by the time we were ready. It was put on a regular flatbed tow truck for ONLY $130 an hour after we transferred everything to a rental trailer.

Ed Hackenbruch · October 03, 2010, 08:33:16 PM

With Coach Net the only thing you get besides good service is a renewal notice. With Good Sam you will get a ton of junk mail. They want to sell you all kinds of things every month. After i let Good Sam lapse and went to Coach Net i still got junk mail for a year and a half from Good Sam.

Gary '79 5C · October 04, 2010, 05:43:15 PM

JC,

Glad to hear you had the reserve to take a breath, think and correct the problem. Not easy to do in the heat of the moment, but your experience got you home.

Very good job !!!

Now look at insurance.....

Take care there fellow 5C'er..

Gary

Melbo · October 04, 2010, 06:01:40 PM

You are right about the junk mail from good sam BUT they did load my 8 on a landoll and take me over 75 miles sometime around O'dark thirty so I don't mind throwing out the junk mail -- the operator told me that I was looking between one and two thousand by the time they had to move it again to a shop after it opened and I never saw the bill.

Just my experience

HTH

YMMV

Melbo

fraser8 · October 04, 2010, 07:52:33 PM

Great that everything worked out well, except the darn tow. It's good to be back on the road again I bet

lostagain · October 04, 2010, 08:13:34 PM

Sorry my post wasn't very clear: I didn't get a tow truck, I just feared having to call one. I was able to disable the emerg shut down system to get us going again. And thinking I should have insurance in case I need it in the future.

JC

84bluebird · October 04, 2010, 08:31:58 PM

JC since I am in Alberta I have AMA - RV its about 150.00 a year. I would imagine BCAA has the same type of plan.

John

moose · October 04, 2010, 08:34:28 PM

hello i am in calgary i have a ama from calgary i have ama rv plus 165.00 a year
i drive a 1970 mci 7

lostagain · October 05, 2010, 06:33:53 AM

Thanks neighbors, I'll look into that. Will they tow a bus?

We should have a mini rally!

JC

ruthi · October 05, 2010, 06:41:53 AM

I guess we are probably the only one who has road side service through Allstate. They are the ones we have our bus insured with, so we got the road service. We have had the bus towed a few times over the years. Also, had a large claim about 10 yrs ago with them. No problems.

moose · October 05, 2010, 07:01:44 AM

Good morning JC
i like the idea of having a rally
i am a biker so me and my bus go to alot of bike weekends
we will keep in touch i think there is a lot of people here in manitoba ,saskatchewan,alberta and British Columbia with buses that are on here and would come
trevor

lostagain · October 05, 2010, 07:06:17 AM

I got to go now, but I'll email you later today.

JC