It Could Have Been Worse

Many are the tales to be told about RVing, but one immediately pops into my mind.

Heading north from Florida, Bob decided to stop at a Flying J near Latta, SC.  As we exited the ramp off I-95 the motorhome bucked a bit and then resumed operation.  We breathed a sigh of relief and pulled into the pumps on the truckers’s side.  Bob put about 100 gallons of diesel into the coach and climbed aboard for us to depart.  The dash lit up with all colors of flashing lights as soon as he tuned the key.  There was no response from the engine.  Whoa….this was not good; and we were blocking access to a pump in a busy truck stop.

After a couple tries; doing the same thing multiple times with the same result (you got the picture, right?) I located the number of Spartan and we called for tech support.  A masterful helper directed Bob to hold three toggle switches in position as he turned the key.  We got enough power to move ourselves off to the truckers’ parking area and then shut the unit down.  The tech indicated that one of three conditions was causing our dilemna and gave us the name of a road service in the area to help us out.

Several hours later a repairman arrived.  He diagnosed our problem as a bad alternator.  He said he would be back with the needed part and have us on our way in no time.  True to his word, he was back quickly; however, he missed the mark on our projected departure.  After swapping out the alternators he directed Bob to start the coach.  Within seconds he yelled from the rear of the coach, “Shut it down!  Shut it down!”  It was not the correct replacement part.  Sparks were flying all over the place.  Fortunately there was no fire.

He removed the newly installed part and said he would get back to us.  His follow-up phone call informed us that he had to order the alternator and express delivery would take up to three days since of course this was the start of the weekend.  So we lived in our coach waiting for a correct repair.

Days later the part arrived and was installed.  The coach functioned normally.  All of us were pleased with the results.  We hooked our car back up to the motorhome and headed off.  We entered PA a bit weary, a bit poorer (quite a fee to fix a coach in a parking lot), and pleased to be home.  We parked ourselves in a storage area of the local campground, unloaded our things into the Tahoe, and headed to the condo.

The next day we returned to the coach to clean it and remove a few more items.  Bob checked the engine compartment to find the alternator hot to the touch.  Not a good sign.  He tried to start the unit; no luck.  We called our local RV repair company and they sent a tech to our location.  Much to our displeasure he pointed out two problems:  the alternator was wired incorrectly and one of the main belts was not seated properly.

He connected chargers to the coach and finally we were able to start it.  He followed us to the repair shop where a slip was completed to make necessary repairs to the previous work.  We paid for the same repair twice.  A request for some reimbursement from the first tech was denied because the coach got us home to PA.  That company implied our local shop was misdiagnosing the current issue.  Not so.

But, it could have been worse!  The coach at no time needed to be towed which is a tricky situation with a unit more than 40 feet in length.  We were stalled in our travels at a Flying J with bathroom facilities and other sundries a few steps away.  Our tow car took us on small jaunts in the area.  And, the first repair did get us home to PA.