The tow truck is on the way

[Road Pilot]

We made it to Melborne, FL on 95 when the temp. skyrocketed. Pull off on shoulder (that's scary when there isn't much of shoulder. Called Newmar and Spartan and Coach Care. After it cooled for 30 minutes pulled off the exit to park and ride.

Checked 10 amp fuse (OK). Checked fan belt (OK) and fan looked OK. Coolant was OK. Also verified fan belt spun when engine on. Noticed fan didn't trn though. Carl (Newmar) asked me to try to turn it to see if it was frozen. Crawled under coach and noticed fan was torn up quite bad. When I grabbed it I noticed it wasn't conected to anything anymore. It had come off the drive shaft.

I guess we're lucky in that no other damage appears to be done. We'll wait for Newmar/Spartan to see how the rest of our aborted New Years celebration turns out.

[Road Pilot]

We made it to Melborne, FL on 95 when the temp. skyrocketed. Pull off on shoulder (that's scary when there isn't much of shoulder. Called Newmar and Spartan and Coach Care. After it cooled for 30 minutes pulled off the exit to park and ride.

Checked 10 amp fuse (OK). Checked fan belt (OK) and fan looked OK. Coolant was OK. Also verified fan belt spun when engine on. Noticed fan didn't trn though. Carl (Newmar) asked me to try to turn it to see if it was frozen. Crawled under coach and noticed fan was torn up quite bad. When I grabbed it I noticed it wasn't conected to anything anymore. It had come off the drive shaft.

I guess we're lucky in that no other damage appears to be done. We'll wait for Newmar/Spartan to see how the rest of our aborted New Years celebration turns out.

["007"]

Sorry to say a repeat of Bob's problem, nuts came loose from fan shaft when I turned his, it fell of shaft. He had a fan blade also loose on floor of fan area.

[Lug_Nut]

That's not good. How far do you have to go to get to the shop the tow truck is going to take you to. As long as the fan is clear of the shaft and everything is rotating okay, you could shift drive it. The water pump is still turning as it is driven by the serpentine belts. You let it cool and than drive until the temperature of the engine is reaching 200 degrees. Then let it cool and repeat. If it is only 20 or 30 miles it may be a good option. Being towed requires the drive shaft to be removed, and most drivers do not index mark them. Additionally there is always a possibility of vehicle damage during the tow operation.

Peter

[Road Pilot]

Lug_Nut,

Thanks for the response. I'm concerened that if I leave the spot we're in - a big empty park and ride lot just off the highway, we might be stuck somewhere much worse. When we were on 95 south, the engine temp shot up pretty quick. We sat by the side of the road for about 30 min. and then I figured I'd make a run for the exit. When I started the engine then it said the temp was 170 which I really don't believe. Then in the quarter mile to the exit it hit about 235.

The fan has it's ends chewed off and is resting in the bottom of the housing with the shaft free. I talked to coach care and they said they do disconnect the drive shaft and Cummins reinstals it. The gal said to tell the driver to "index" the shaft. We'll be following close behind in the toad. Hopefully our tow truck driver is better then Bob's!

They first wanted to tow it to Eagles Pride then they said how about A1 truck repair, I said how about a Cummins Coach Cafre facility and that's where we'l spend new years.So much for the reservations at St Lucie West, including the $100 new years party we'll miss.

[Road Pilot]

Update,

Spartan agreed drive shaft has to be indexed. Tow truck arrived, but was too small to tow us. Driver said was no need to index. I don't think he knew what I was talking about. Coach Care is trying to find a bigger truck.

[Spoonman]

I cannot believe the bad luck you & Rebelsbeach & others are having with top of the line equipment.
I certainly hope Spartan and Newmar are paying attention.

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Road Pilot:
Tow truck arrived, but was too small to tow us. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Not unusual -- been there and done that! Funny how people communicate your immediate needs to the folks that are tasked to come out and hook the motorhome.

I had a guy show up with no tools and a 1/2" drive impact wrench to change my flat tire.

[Lug_Nut]

Hey, don't blow your New Years thing. Take the toad and go. Grab a hotel and you will be back with your coach before they finish. Also ask them to do the latest upgrade also.

Peter

[rebelsbeach]

WOW.....Deja vu all over again....

I've spoken to Dick on the phone twice this afternoon and evening and it's sounding a lot like a grade 5 in a spot where a grade 8 was supposed to be....

Gosh....gives me the chills thinking about it.

Sounded like Carl and Chris were involved and that Dick was in good hands...
He said a trucker had even stopped and was trying to help him....that's a neat thing to type.

[JerryKelly]

Before you guys bought the 07 Essex's, did you consider buying used (2004 or 2005) Prevost converstions (XLII or H) as alternatives? We looked at the Essex this past summer and have been considering upgrading. However, the mechanical problems posted on this web site are concerning, especially how disruptive they have been during your travels. When you buy the Essex, you should expect the best. Good luck and I hope you can still have an enjoyable new years.

[rebelsbeach]

Jerry, dollar for dollar and pound for pound I feel the Essex is worth whatever risk we've taken...I don't believe for a minute that Spartan is sitting on it's laurels with respect to finding a solution to these issues, I guess they need to explore "all avenues" toward that fix...
As Peter and I have discussed from time to time, look at the ratio of unaffected coaches to the ratio of affected coaches.
(Can I trade for one of those unaffected ones?)

I looked as recently as a month or so ago at everything from a new London Aire, a two or three year old H-345, to a new CC Affinity...

With everything that's going on in my life right now I am going to ride this coach out for better or worse for the time being.
I do have faith that Spartan is on the right track toward a resolution.

[JerryKelly]

Bob, I hope you are right. Was your Essex and Peter's built during the same production run? Are your primary issues with Spartan? I looked at a few used 04 and 05 XLII2S Liberty Coach's this week while in Florida which got me thinking about reliabilty on the road. We had a trip from Ohio to Maine last summer where 8 things broke, some of which I was able to repair or band aid until we went to the factory. I realize that repairs on a Prevost conversion can be more complex than an Indiana built MH, but are they more reliable? I suppose any mechanicle device can break on any given day. I wish you guys well and safe uninterupted travels. By the time you are ready to buy another MH, your coach should be perfect. I hope Newmar and Spartan are listening. Happy and healthy new year wishes.

[Road Pilot]

Update,

The second tow truck came and the driver said wow, I've never towed a motorhome home before, this is huge. He crawled under the coach to look at the drive shaft using the illuminatoion from his phone as his only flashlight. Yes he was going to disconnect the drive shaft with the light of a cell phone.

Meanwhile, coach care found us a "safe" place to spend new years close to the Orlando Cummins facility. It is a fish camp in Kissimmee. Even the tow truck driver was amazed they would send us there. Even then he could not tow us into the fish camp, he'd have to leave us just outside of a fish camp with no hookups, not that we mind a fish camp, we just want to be able to drive away from it should we wish to!They wouldn't tow us to Cummins because they said it was probably locked up until Tuesday.

Meanwhile we had seen a beautiful 2006 Peterbilt in the lot. The owner, a Canadian trucker, comes over with his girl friend and says what's the problem. I tell him the fan fell off and he crawls under the coach. He pulled out the fan and cleaned all the fiberglass shards sticking in the radiator and retrieves the bolt the holds the fan on the shaft. It's intact, so it's not a question of bolt strength. The fan is on a keyed shaft (we found the key!) and there was a bushing outside of that to hold the assembly on the shaft and the bolt went through the bushing and into the shaft to hold everything together.

We had found everything excpt the bushing. Between the trucker, the tow truck driver and me we some washers of the right dimension to replace the bushing. The main problem is the tight space to work. In that space the assembly couldn't be pushed onto the shaft far enough to engage the bolt. The trucker had a longer bolt he used to snug the assembly on. Then he removed that and put the original bolt on.We tested it and it worked. The good news is the damage to the fan itself was pretty symetric so the unbalance isn't too bad.

Bottom line is a 10:00 we tiped and thanked everyone and left for Port St. Lucie, where we are now. We'll get Cummins in Ft Meyers to replace the radiator and do the fan TSB.

On our coach either the bushing failed or the bolt backed out. Wes from Spartan said be sure to use locktite. I bet it was originally installed without locktite and not torqued properly.

Thank God for Canadian truckers!