Shakedown trip

[ardbark]

Finally, finally Spring has sprung here in Utah and we were able to take the (new-to-us) 96 Endeavor out for her maiden voyage. Moab, hauling a 26ft flatbed loaded with a Land Cruiser rock climber, tools, firewood, etc. We weighed in at around 27k, close to the max CGVW for my 36' DP.

All in all the unit performed well on the way down and while we boondocked in Lockheart Basin. But after the weather turned sour on us and we decided to head home a day early, things started going south.

I dumped the air after we had set up camp and it took for-ever to get the pressure back up. I used to carry about 130 pounds in both systems, now even after sitting for a day its down to about 60 and even after driving won't pressure up much above 100. Just because I dumped for the first time? I don't get that.

Then I noticed that while at idle (waiting for my air to return) the oil pressure guage was fluctuating all over the place, Crack the throttle and it settled right down but soon as I let it go back to idle it started bouncing around again. Now, when I shut down, instead of zeroing out like all guages do, it defaults to max. Returns to normal while driving, but still, very strange. Also, the dash blower quit blowing, the hot air is there but no fan. It was getting cold going over Soldier Summit, snowing in fact, so I fired up the house heater to get some heat in the coach. That worked for a while then the heater went out. Blown fuse. Not sure if I am suppose to run the house heater while going down the road, but it were cold man, had to do something.

I think I might a have a loose ground someplace causing the wierd electrical problems. The low air pressure however, is troubling. Is there a valve or something that only actuates when dumping the bags that might have stuck open? I'm not sure if the previous owner even dumped, might be the first time that valve has seen duty in who knows how long.

On the up side, the Bilstein upgrades were fabulous and the new BFG 230 steers were excellent. And like I said, Spring has sprung here in Utah

[Steve N Sal]

Great to hear your season is starting. Enjoy it to the fullest. Be safe and Happy Motoring!!!

[Papa_Jim]

I'm just guessing, but I experienced much the same kind of problems during the first year we owned our coach. Working on the dash grounds solved our problems. Nothing was loose, but I had to loosen them all, clean them all, and tighten them back up. I even added a few more grounds from the headlight switch and the gauges directly to ground. Everything has been fine ever since.

I think there is a separate ground wire going to the heater blower mower. Maybe that needs cleaning/tightening too?

Hope that helps.

[ardbark]

Oh, another observation. Moab red dirt that has turned to powder is the work of the devil himself. Although we were only a mile of so off the pavement that 2 mile round-trip was enough to trash my brand new $88 air filter. I'm at 50% restriction already

I think next time I leave the pavement I'm going to cover my side intake grills with a couple of $2.00 paper home furnace filters. Hopefully these "first chance" filters will trap alot of the evil red powder before it hits my primary air filter.

[Papa_Jim]

Originally Posted by ardbark

Oh, another observation. Moab red dirt that has turned to powder is the work of the devil himself. Although we were only a mile of so off the pavement that 2 mile round-trip was enough to trash my brand new $88 air filter. I'm at 50% restriction already

I think next time I leave the pavement I'm going to cover my side intake grills with a couple of $2.00 paper home furnace filters. Hopefully these "first chance" filters will trap alot of the evil red powder before it hits my primary air filter.

I know how you feel. We have 1/4 mile of gravel road to get to the main highway. The fans blow so much dust up that the motor and engine room are solid dirt! I just can't keep them clean! If the gravel is really dry, by the time we get to the highway the toad and the entire back of the coach are buried under a layer of gravel dust.

It doesn't take too much of that to plug up the air filter. Our air intake is at the very top of the coach at the back, and the dust still gets churned all the way up there.

[ardbark]

Originally Posted by jimkate

I know how you feel. We have 1/4 mile of gravel road to get to the main highway. The fans blow so much dust up that the motor and engine room are solid dirt! I just can't keep them clean! If the gravel is really dry, by the time we get to the highway the toad and the entire back of the coach are buried under a layer of gravel dust.

It doesn't take too much of that to plug up the air filter. Our air intake is at the very top of the coach at the back, and the dust still gets churned all the way up there.

Ha! Glad I'm not the only one. I mentioned the cheap paper furnace filters mostly in jest but the more I think about it the more I like the idea. My intakes are at eye level on either rear side, so the 5 minutes it would take to cover the two grills might just be worth it. Next time we leave the pavement I think I'll give it a try.

[orpco]

watch your eng temps. not sure if it would restrict airflow enough to affect cooling or not.

[ardbark]

Originally Posted by orpco

watch your eng temps. not sure if it would restrict airflow enough to affect cooling or not.

Good call, always watch the guages, no doubt. But I'm talking creeping down a dirt road at 3 mph for 10 minutes or whatever, running barely at idle or just above. I'm thinking the Cummins would be happier with slightly less cleaner air than more dirty dusty fouled air. But then I haven't tried it - yet.

Don't know when I'll get the chance, our next trip is all paved roads and official camp grounds, but I'll post if the experiment works out