d." These are the expressions I use when discussing the inevitability of RV breakdowns. Well, we had another one. While driving west through Texas on Interstate 10, I noticed my diesel engine was "working" harder to climb the highway overpasses. Normally, it doesn't even notice those brief hills in the road. But, while the motorhome cruised along at the same normal rpm, turbo pressure and exhaust gas temperature on level terrain, both the turbo pressure and exhaust gas temp. would increase considerably at the slightest incline on the road. And, I had a noticeable lack of power. And, of course, it was late afternoon on Good Friday. I replaced the air and fuel filters when we reached Van Horn, Texas but the only noticeable increase was in the size of my credit card balance.Telephone calls to repair facilities were met with answer machines, no answer or, worse yet, "we won't be able to help you for another week." Fortunately, the terrain west of Van Horn is fairly level and the motorhome pretty much coasted all the way to Benson, Arizona on Saturday. I made the decision to continue past the Tucson Cummins dealer on Sunday and go to Yuma Arizona. I figured that Cummins would be up to their elbows with the weekend truck problems and the diesel repair folks in Yuma would be able to take me in sooner. WRONG!
The diesel repair shop in Yuma recommended by our RVing friends was overwhelmed and understaffed. They could not even look at our rig for at least a week. It took a few phone calls but we finally found a small diesel repair shop that could take us in on Tuesday.
We had to be in Sacramento for an RV show that began on Thursday. We wanted to be prepared in case the shop could not have us on our way by the end of the day on Tuesday. So we spent Monday moving the clothes, handouts, books and other "stuff " we would need in order to survive for five days in a hotel room in Sacramento. I suspect our Saturn Vue was loaded beyond its rated capacity. Sure enough, after a couple of hours of "testing" the motorhome, it was determined that the repair could not be effected in one day. So here we are, roughing it in a hotel and having to eat all our meals in restaurants. So far the shop has discovered a few minor ailments but none that would cause the loss of power and simultaneous increase in boost and EGT experienced when asking for acceleration. I'm searching deep for my sense of humor.
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