After our fairly active weekend we wanted to be home bodies for a couple of days.  It’s not that we couldn’t go all day every day; it’s that we don’t have to and choose not to.  We are not on vacation and we do not have to fill every waking minute with new and exciting adventures to the point of mental and physical exhaustion.  Linda needs quiet days to work on her cross-stitch project and I need quiet days to process photos and write.  Besides, Tuesday was my birthday and Linda wanted to bake a cake.  Oh, and we had to tend to bus issues.

Our male tabby cat Jasper, in his Sphinx position.

A bus issue that had been developing for a while involved our auxiliary air compressor.  It was sounding worse by the day when it ran, vibrating excessively and making loud, unpleasant sounds.  I checked the mounting of the air compressor and the vibration dampening rubber mounts appeared to still be OK.  I noticed that the sight gauge on the side of the air accessories filter housing was showing water at the 80% full level so I decided to try draining the auxiliary air tank.

A hard copper line runs from the auxiliary air tank to a drain valve on the front outside corner of the floor in the bay under the driver’s seat.  I had to open it carefully using a pliers, but once it was open it let out what I estimated to be at least a quart of water, including a considerable quantity of milky white liquid similar in appearance to skim milk.

There is a petcock style drain on the bottom of the auxiliary air filter housing so I also opened that.  I got some water out, but not much, and the water level in the sight gauge did not drop.  I needed to start the main engine to roll the bus forward so a different section of the tires was in contact with the pad to avoid flat spots from being parked for three months.  I let the engine fast idle for over 10 minutes and used the higher pressure, very dry air from the main engine air compressor to purge the auxiliary air tank, air lines, and other air accessories.  When I was finally getting nothing but dry air from the drain I closed both drains tight and shut the engine off.

I was checking the bay and heard a distinct hiss indicating an air leak.  I sprayed soapy water on various fittings and finally got bubbles on the air compressor side of the check valve in the main air line from the auxiliary air compressor to the auxiliary air filter.  With the auxiliary air compressor not running this indicated that the check valve itself was leaking, not just the fitting.

I texted and then talked to our mobile mechanic, Joe Cannarozzi, about all of this.  Although he is staying at an RV park an hour from here He was tied up with a major bus project and unable to come work on this for us.  He was confident, however, that I could replace the check valve myself and that Prevost Jacksonville had them in stock.  (He had just spent four days there with the bus he is working on.)  He wanted to know when I had last drained the auxiliary tank.  I couldn’t recall the last time, but it was probably several years ago.   He suggested that I drain it daily.

Since I would have to depressurize the entire air system to replace the check valve I figured I would replace the filter element in the auxiliary air filter at the same time.  I looked up the part in the Prevost CatBase system and found the part numbers for the filter element and the O-ring/gasket kit.  I called Prevost Parts in Elgin, Illinois to order them.  As sometimes happens on an older bus our filter housing, and the service parts for it, were no longer available and had been superseded by a different assembly.  The check valve, however, was available and in stock at the Jacksonville service center.  I wanted to see the part before I purchased it to make sure it was what I needed, so I decided not to order it and instead drive to Jacksonville on Wednesday to get it.  That would be a two hour trip one way, so started looking at what else we could do over there.

Sunset light on thunderstorm cloud to the east. Our car and coach visible lower right.

Linda found a recipe for a vegan vanilla cake and made it for my birthday.  We went for a walk while it cooled.  Thunderstorms were building in the area as the sun set and we got some nice light on the clouds.  It turned out quiet well.  She made a sauce from fresh red raspberries to put on top and it was also very good.  Life is good.