O.K., I’m not really trying to bore you with all my RV problems, but this is a daily journal and I’d hate to leave anything and it makes me feel better to “get it out” so my ulcers don’t get any worse so here it comes: We were traveling along US95 (a two lane road) from Las Vegas to Reno very nicely with no overheating or any other visible problems when we began to climb a slight incline and my “check engine” light came on. No other lights came on and all my gauges read “good”, but I immediately pulled over to the very small and very soft shoulder. I turned off the engine for awhile and checked the water, oil, etc. After 30 minutes I started the engine and the “check engine” light was still flashing. I saw a parking area up ahead that looked better than what I was already in on the side of the road, so I put the RV in gear and stepped on the gas --- NOTHING! The RV just sat there. Time to call my Good Sam Emergency Road Assistance folks. Luckily, VERY LUCKILY, my cell phone worked – out in the middle of a desert (go figure -- doesnt work half the time in cities). It was 2:00 PM when I made the call. It took them two hours to determine that I needed to be towed, where I was going to be towed to and who was going to try and fix the problem. Keep in mind that we are sitting on the side of the road in northern Nevada in the middle of the desert and it’s true what they say: It gets REALLY cold in the desert at night! The tow truck arrived at 8:00 PM, SIX HOURS after our initial call. The closest place they could find to tow us to who may be able to fix the problem is 113 miles away in Bishop, California and that’s just where the tow truck had driven two hours from. So we followed the tow truck for two hours back, dropped off the RV at the fixit place and then went hunting for a motel. Our heads hit the pillow around midnight. I got up at 7:00AM the next day to meet the fixit folks to explain the problem, sign papers, etc. I was told by the tow truck driver that the RV repair owner is a very capable diesel engine fixit guy, but “has a hair up his ass”. When I met the owner the next day I immediately saw what the driver meant. The owner may be good with machines, but he is definitely not a people person. Told me that he may get to the RV today or tomorrow. I filled out the papers he gave me and since I had left off the VIN number and mileage he said, “Go ahead and get those. It’s not like you have anything else to do.” After getting the info from the RV and complying I handed him the keys, paperwork and my Extended Warranty book. He handed back the warranty. I said “Won’t you need that?” He said “What is it?” I told him that it was my warranty papers. He said “I don’t have time to mess with them. That’s your job.” I told him that I didn’t have a problem working with the warranty folks if he could give me the information they need. We left it like that. I went back to the motel and extended our stay another day. I was pretty much stressed out so I just laid around and tried to watch TV. The next day we went back to the RV shop and someone was working on it. The owner mentioned what they had found so far and I was a little shocked to discover that it was the exact same problem that the Las Vegas crew had found and had charged me (and the warranty company) around $2,000 to fix. The mechanic explained that the problem “may” be in front of what was fixed so the fixed part got damaged again because the “real” problem wasn’t fixed. We left them to their work, returned to the hotel and extended another night. We then drove around, tourist style, and ended up having Julieann feed the ducks in the park. I haven’t received a call yet, so I’m suspecting that we my need to extend our stay past tomorrow. I sure hope my problems make yours seem a little smaller. I’d hate to think I was going through all this for nothing ;-)
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 01:56:21 +0000
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