We had arrived at the TraPark RV Park in Pecos, Texas
Wednesday afternoon around 4:00. We
settled into a site and had a relaxing evening.
It had been a pleasant day’s drive from Abilene and we had two more
ahead of us to get to Palm Creek in Casa Grande, AZ. Thursday morning we went through our usual
departure routine and were ready to head to our next stop in Deming, NM. When we turned on the engine a loud, constant
alarm sounded and the “check engine” light came on in the dashboard
display. We made several phone calls to
Spartan Chassis and Cummins Engine service centers. They had several suggestions, which we
followed, to check the coolant and the engine oil levels. The coolant was at the proper level, but the
oil was a little low. So, we unhooked
the car and made a trip to Walmart to purchase oil which was then added to the
engine. After the 15 minute run-time we
still had the alarm and the lovely light on the dash. At that point Cummins said we should not
drive the coach.
Calling “road service” was our next step and it was an hour
and a half before they returned our call to say they had found us a tow truck
that would be arriving momentarily. Sure
enough, in about 15 minutes a truck arrived.
The drivers took one look at our rig and said they could not tow
us! They would damage the generator and
exhaust if they did. Luckily, they had a
flat-bed truck available and made a trip to their garage to trade trucks. Another plus was that they were from Pecos,
not a far away place! So, they directed
Tom to drive the Dutch Star up onto the trailer which they could tilt by moving
the wheels forward…pretty neat! Then we
were off on a 75 mile drive to the Cummins service facility in Odessa, TX. As we followed the truck in our car, we
cringed every time we came to an overpass on the freeway. Our rig is 12’3” high and it was sitting on a
flat bed that looked to us to be 3 or 4 ft. off the ground. Tom had discussed the height with the driver
before we departed Pecos. The only
really “close call” came somewhere along the I-20 route when the driver pulled
the truck over to the edge of the road and inched his way under an overpass
marked 15’4”…while we held our breath!
When we reached Odessa and the Cummins facility, their
driveway had a low hanging utility cable.
Fortunately, the driver noticed it as he was making the left-hand turn
into the drive. He held up traffic on
the busy street while he back up and drove in sideways. Whew!
They got the Dutch Star unloaded and pulled up to a service bay about
4:30. It was after 6:30 when the service
manager was able to tell us they had followed their trouble-shooting procedure
and had come up with a defective electrical diode. They couldn’t find a part number on the diode
or their computer program, so had to search through parts books to come up with
a number which they used to search their inventory. Hooray!
They have the part in stock. It
will be installed first thing Friday morning.
Meanwhile, we’re spending the night in front of the service bays with an
electrical hookup. Hopefully we’ll be on
our way again late Friday morning.
Considering we are not too far from last year’s vehicle
fiasco, maybe next year we should go from Abilene to Casa Grande by way of
Denver!
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