Community Forums

mpurath · 07-29-2012, 03:08 PM

I have not been a frequent poster although I have been a longtime member and have relied on advise from this forum for a very long time.

My family and I now find ourselves in a quandry and need some advise.

We own a 2004 Winnebago Journey with a Cat C7 350 HP. For the second year in a row the engine has let us down at the start of our major summer trip. Just about a year ago we lost the HEUI pump costing us 9 days and $7000.00 (Stuff happns and we moved on)
Now, a couple of days ago we lost our belt and overheated (255 degrees). Again this cost us time and money.

Dont get me wrong. We have had this coach from new and have put 82,000 miles on it loving each of them. I understand that stuff breaks and repairs need to be made.

Unfortunately, I am losing confidence in the ability of this engine to get us where we need to go. Did this overheat do unseen damage?

What would you good folks do if this was your motorhome?

RickO · 07-29-2012, 03:12 PM

Sorry to hear of your troubles.

Do you maintain the factory recommended maintenance schedule? Do you do it yourself or have a specialty diesel shop do it?

Rick

Pat Z · 07-29-2012, 03:23 PM

The HUEI Pump was unfortunate but 82,000 miles those belts and idlers gave you great service. I jyst replaced mine at 30K

mpurath · 07-29-2012, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickO

Sorry to hear of your troubles.

Do you maintain the factory recommended maintenance schedule? Do you do it yourself or have a specialty diesel shop do it?

Rick

Maintenance has been done annually by Freightliner in Gaffney and as necessary by other Freightlier shops.

mpurath · 07-29-2012, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pat Z

The HUEI Pump was unfortunate but 82,000 miles those belts and idlers gave you great service. I jyst replaced mine at 30K

I agree. Many have not lasted nearly as long.

Horizonchase · 07-29-2012, 04:25 PM

What's an HUEI pump? I've got a Winnebago also with 28K on her and I'm thinking I might have to check into this.
Thanks!

sailor_lou · 07-30-2012, 07:56 AM

If you like the rig, then I'd stick with it. As pointed out the failure HEUI pump was unfortunate, but a belt breaking is not an uncommon failure in any engine. Although high, I wouldn't think 255 deg. would cause engine damage. Did it derate or autoshutdown? How is it running now?

Unless you are going to buy something new you may be picking up someone elses problem if you change. Good luck.

Lou
05 Travel Supreme Envoy

jimcumminsw · 07-30-2012, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horizonchase

What's an HUEI pump? I've got a Winnebago also with 28K on her and I'm thinking I might have to check into this.
Thanks!

The HEUI is the fuel pump for the injection system. The pump design is a piston type axial injection pump. The pump is driven be the engine oil to turn the impeller and to lube it is self.
The engine oil should be changed at the recommend oil change intervals due to the risk of damaging the HEUI fuel pump. You need to use quality engine oil such as Shell Rotella diesel engine oil or such in your engine.
Here is a link to the Cat site on HEUI pumps.
http://www.cat.com/cda/files/87761/7/pehp9526.pdf

Jim W.

wa8yxm · 07-30-2012, 09:39 AM

There was a "Key Phrase" in your original post which bites many at the start of the season.. That key phrase was "Start of the season".

Vehicles fall into 3 groups.

Motor Vehicles, such as a motor home, TOW vehicle or Towed vehicle (Car, Motor cycle, Golf car)

Trailers (no motor)

Human powered (Bicycle)

Now with an HPV, if it sits for say 5 years, a bit of lubrication, perhaps new tires and you are good to pedal your buns all over town (At least that's how Old-Man Art put it, he ran a bakery).

A trailer.. More or less the same, a bit of iol, perhaps some work on the brakes, and perhaps tires, and off you tow.

But a motor vehicle needs to get exercise, Just like a generator needs 1/2 hour under 1/2 load every month. The motor home needs to be driven long and far enough to get the engine fully warmed up for at least 1/2 hour.

OR (And this applies to many generators as well) it needs to be "Mothballed" This is a somewhat involved procedure that starts with things like changing the oil, either treating or removing fuel, if it's a gasser fog the cylinders, and so on,

That said, Many RV's sit for like six months with no problems. But they really need to be driven on occasion or they break down.. Usually at the start of the season.

mpurath · 07-30-2012, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

There was a "Key Phrase" in your original post which bites many at the start of the season.. That key phrase was "Start of the season".

Vehicles fall into 3 groups.

Motor Vehicles, such as a motor home, TOW vehicle or Towed vehicle (Car, Motor cycle, Golf car)

Trailers (no motor)

Human powered (Bicycle)

Now with an HPV, if it sits for say 5 years, a bit of lubrication, perhaps new tires and you are good to pedal your buns all over town (At least that's how Old-Man Art put it, he ran a bakery).

A trailer.. More or less the same, a bit of iol, perhaps some work on the brakes, and perhaps tires, and off you tow.

But a motor vehicle needs to get exercise, Just like a generator needs 1/2 hour under 1/2 load every month. The motor home needs to be driven long and far enough to get the engine fully warmed up for at least 1/2 hour.

OR (And this applies to many generators as well) it needs to be "Mothballed" This is a somewhat involved procedure that starts with things like changing the oil, either treating or removing fuel, if it's a gasser fog the cylinders, and so on,

That said, Many RV's sit for like six months with no problems. But they really need to be driven on occasion or they break down.. Usually at the start of the season.

I totally agree but with 82,000 on the clock (average 10K per year) it has not sat around very much.

mpurath · 07-30-2012, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailor_lou

If you like the rig, then I'd stick with it. As pointed out the failure HEUI pump was unfortunate, but a belt breaking is not an uncommon failure in any engine. Although high, I wouldn't think 255 deg. would cause engine damage. Did it derate or autoshutdown? How is it running now?

Unless you are going to buy something new you may be picking up someone elses problem if you change. Good luck.

Lou
05 Travel Supreme Envoy

It did go into protection mode by limiting power but did not shut down. Seems to run fine now.

dls461 · 07-30-2012, 02:20 PM

As stated earlier, unless you are planning on buying "NEW" I would stay with the unit. Even if you found a used unit with a Cummins, that does not assure you of a "problem free" MH. Even new units sometimes take as long as a year to work out all the bugs (under warranty) but still aggrevating. Seems like you have the biggest problems now taken care of on your Cat so I would just keep going down the road if you are happy with the rest of your MH. If the engine did not go into shutdown mode, I would think all is OK. Assuming you did not run it very long at 255.
I have a cat c7 and am planning to have the hoses, belts, fan bearing checked and radiator flushed next month. It has 35K and am hoping to bypass many of your troubles.

Chuck 1935 · 07-30-2012, 02:29 PM

I think it's the luck of the draw. I have 86,000 on my 3126E. I do all of my own service and still am on the original belts ( I do inspect them for cracks or being dried out), without any problems.
If it were my coach, I would hang on to it. Remember the newer ones have all the smog stuff on them that sill needs to be perfected.

mpurath · 08-01-2012, 01:46 PM

Thanks to everyone who voiced an opinion. This has been a very frustrating time for myself and my family. It's no fun waiting for a tow with 3 children on board.

A couple of you mentioned that the 255 degree overheat did not concern them much. It was probably for 10 minutes or so as we were getting off the highway. I hope that you are correct.

Thanks Again!