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Southeast (Gulf Coast), Texas, United States

Monday, February 4, 2008

Motorhome in the Shop -- Monday

Last week, while traveling behind Mark on I-8 between Yuma and Phoenix, I attempted to use my 2 speed 'Jake' brake on some steep downhill grades to avoid having to use the wheel brakes. When I engaged the 'low' setting on the brakes, I immediately got a 'check engine' light and a warning buzzer. When I disengaged it, the alarm went away. I then engaged the 'high' setting, and the same thing occurred. Last Tuesday, I called Tiffin service and was told to call Spartan, the chassis manufacturer. Eventually, I set up an appointment with Massey Diesel Service in Phoenix that deals with Spartan warranty work. The motorhome works just fine without being fixed, but it has to be fixed sometime, and Phoenix is big enough to have the right repair shops.

Over the weekend, I was reading my usual motorhome forums on the internet, and I saw a post on the Cummins 425HP engine, like I have. It is a new engine for 2008 with the new muffler (particulate filter) and it requires the new low sulphur diesel. It detailed the same problem that I had, and so I copied it and gave it to the service manager at Massey this morning. He agreed that it was probably my problem and since it requred removing the valve cover, he made me an appointment and sent me to the local Onan/Cummins Service Center in Phoenix. The Cummins place is new, and very nice. They even have a row of 50amp hookups for motorhomes in for service.

It is now 5:00pm here, and we are in the shop. We hope to be out tonight. This place supports over the road truck haulers, and is open from 8:00am to Midnight, with two shifts of mechanics. Thier RV rate is $122/hr......... so, we are glad this is warranty work.

Mark and Sue decided to go to Bisbee and meet up with us in Tombstone either tomorrow or Wednesday. Mark called awhle ago, and they hit cold weather and snow on the way. It may snow 5" in Bisbee tonight!! We will probably stay here tonight....... in the sunshine and with a free 50 amp hookup!

Here are some pictures.................. Here's a shot of Massey's..... not pretty, but good service:


and here's our hookup at the Cummins Center:

After we got our apppointment, we went to town for lunch. We had heard about a restaurant chain called "Claim Jumper", so when we found one, we decided to try it. It was really good, but a little pricey:

In the parking lot, we saw an RV trailer that was rented. We had seen motorhomes, but this was the first trailer:

This was our last look at our Bus as it disappeared into the service center, and we were directed to the customer lounge:

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