Flawless Trip.............................almost

[txjeff]

Friday we took The Hound out for 150 mile weekend run down to the coast. Im cruising along listening to my son and nephew argue and thinking to myself "wow the new shocks really made a difference in the ride". About a hour into the trip the gauges start going nuts and I hear the air switch for the fuel chirping off and on. I realize I have lost all electrical power. We are on a small FM road with no shoulder. I ease off the road (mostly), kill the main power disconnect, and put out the reflective triangles. My first thought is a short somewhere in the dash because I can hear the breaker tripping every time I flip the master switch on and off.

I have the dash loose and the maintenance manual out hoping for a quick fix when a Deputy pulls behind us. Im stressing at this point because Im having no luck finding a bad wire . It funny how stress can make a wiring diagram make no sense at all. It must have been a slow day for the Deputy because he hung around for 20 minutes entertaining my 9 year son and ALL of his questions ( gotta love small town Texas). I really expected the Deputy to say the we were going to have to get a wrecker to move the bus but he never did. By this time I realized that I needed to move off the road, I disconnected the fuel shutoff and crossed over the starter with my screwdriver to get the bus running. The Deputy followed me to a parking lot since I had no tail lights. I thanked him and he went on his way.

As luck would have it there was a McDonalds next to where we stopped. The wife and boys went to get something to eat (nevermind the weeks worth of food in the bus). I finally calmed down and started looking at my maintenance manual. I start tracing wires and found the problem was with the brake light wiring. I suddenly remember a disconnected wire on a brake switch in the spare tire area ( yeah I know). I pulled the spare and looked up and sure enough the wire was welded to a spot on the frame. I pulled the wire loose went back up and flipped the switch and everything worked as it should. I taped the wire, closed everything up and we were back on the road to the beach.

My wife commented that she was surprised that I able to stay calm, and thankful Im able to fix these issues. I told her when you drive a 40 year old vehicle your gonna have issues and better be able to fix them yourself.

One thing is certain even with small inconveniences, The Hound has been the most fun for my family and me...............Enjoying the ride


txjeff

[wal1809]

Sounds great!!  Where on the coast.  You and I are neighbors in the internet scheme of things.  I live south on hwy 36 about an hour from you in Wallis, Texas.  Glad to hear your back up and running.  Oh BTW the white bass are going crazy up at Somerville.

[txjeff]

Wal

We go down to Matagorda, funny thing is we broke down in East Bernard.

jeff

[wal1809]

Dang I wish I would have known!!!  That Mcd restaurant is 1.5 miles as the crow flies from my house.  Dern and I was home alone all weekend putzin with the bus WVO conversion.  If your ever in need hollar.