"DO NOT SHIFT" Warning Light

[wallynm]

Towing

Here is a thread on towing and after reading it if you have any questions PM me at wallynm@yahoo.com and I will attempt to answer.

GOOD LUCK

[Zac]

Thanks Gary. I have the coach in shore power all the time. I have a hydro-hot system that runs and kepts the coach at 50 degrees. I do not have an engine block heater but I do have the outlet for one. The engine starts fine but will shut it's self down after 2.5 minutes which makes it tough to get enough heat in should a short time. One of the problems is I'm low on fuel, under 1/8th of a tank. Since I use the diesel hydro-hot, I add fuel about every 3 days. Can I hurt the engine if I continue to start the engine and it shutsdown in 2.5 minutes to get the temp up?

[GaryKD]

You will not come close to getting the fluids over 100 degrees if the engine will not run for more than a couple of minutes. Do not even try it. Knowing you have no block heater, that may be part of the problem. We are at the limit of my knowledge. I do know diesel needs to be pre heated in cold weather. I do not know if the block heater would be part of the pre heating.

[GaryKD]

Have you ever run the engine with this little fuel in the tank? If no, I'd put at least 10 gallons of fuel in the tank and try it again. I know this sounds dumb, but one has nothing to loose.

[Zac]

I'll put in 20 gallons tomorrow just to see. If that resolves the issue. I engine after two trys gets to about 50 degrees. It starts fine, just the sensors come on and then shuts down.

[Zac]

Hello Everyone,

I canceled the towing and called CumminsNPower up in Oak Creek, WI just south of Milwaukee for an on-site call. The tech was great his name is Mark Schendel. We started it up and it did it's normal display of warning lights. He hooked up the laptop to the coach and read the error codes, only one and just one time, it read low coolant. Even though I checked the coolant in the reserve and even topped it off a bit above the Cold Run Line and also checked the glass bubble in the coolant pressure tank to see if it was green, it looked green to me. So the tech removed the pressure cap and used a dipstick to measure the level, sure enough, the coolant level was just a bit below the sensor. And because the engine at startup read this reading, it was designed to shutdown in 2.5 minutes. Since the engine needed to warmed up enough, there was no suction from the reserve back to the pressure tank. So we added some coolant directly into the tank closed her up, turned the key, and no more warning lights and she is back to running normal. So he cleared the error code out of memory. Thanks to your posts about not doing the towing unless it was the last option, I choose not to.

The on-site visit was $521 for labor, mileage and materials.

Thanks for all your help.

Zac

[Garbageman]

I'm glad to hear it was a minor issue to correct. I guess the lessen to glime from your experience is that we need to actually dip stick the coolant tank just to double check any warning lights.

Thank you for the follow up and happy motoring.

Paul

[GaryKD]

Congrats on finding the problem. Thanks for sharing the saga with us. Everyone has learned a valuable piece of knowledge.

[cmolling]

The problem with low coolant can literally be a fatal one. Several years ago while crossing the Top of the World Highway in Alaska we had a small stone cause a hole in the radiator. As I was driving suddenly a message appeared on the Road Relay that my coolant was low. I stopped and discovered the leak. I added more coolant and continued driving while carefully watching the coolant temperature. The temperature did not go up but again the message appeared and suddenly the engine stopped leaving me with no power steering while aimed at the drop off on the side of the road. Had my wife been driving we would have been over the side as it takes a fair amount of strength to control the beast without power steering. Again I had to add coolant but the temperature was not rising.

When we got to service in Tok, AK, the power cut off again just as I was turning into the repair service driveway, almost resulting in going into a deep culvert.

The mechanic then informed me that, as long as my temperature was not rising, the problem was limited to the coolant reservoir and its sensor. It will report low coolant when the reservoir gets low, even if the radiator is still full.

When we got back to the lower 48 we ended up at a Cummins shop after the engine acted up due to a manufacturing defect in a tappet causing internal damage requiring a complete rebuilding of the engine on a new block. (Cummins was very great to deal with and did everything they could to speed our repair at no cost.)

Talking to the Cummins supervisor he explained the reason for the reservoir sensor cutting off the engine was to protect the engine. I explained that I sure would prefer to protect the occupants first and the engine second. He told me that the engine could be reprogrammed with their computer as long as I would remain responsible for watching the temperature gauge so as to not burn up the engine.

Needless to say, I had the engine reprogrammed and no longer have to worry about losing power and steering, at least for that problem which has never recurred. Most people I have talked to agree that they would not want to lose power because of a bad sensor and feel that the factory setting is an accident waiting to happen.

["007"]

Zac good going some simple things sure can give some big headaches. I have something for free some KARMA will give you reconnition thru out the forum you deserve it.

["007"]

Chuck belated welcome to irv2
Thanks for all your posts and for joining in on this Newmar forum, will give you some free KARMA to make it offical a owner of a NEWMAR.