We were up early this morning as Linda had to go to the bakery today. I stopped by the post office on my way to Williamston and arrived around 9:15 AM. Joe was already working on the coach and I got busy working on some small items. I needed some WD-40 and neither of us had any, so it was off to the store. As long as I was out I picked up coffee at Panera. Yum.
No, today was not a 50/50 raffle, although those seem to be regular features of large RV rallies and ham radio meetings. Today was a day of even odds as to whether new parts would solve some nagging bus problems. As of the end of the work day the score was parts 0, problems 2. That doesn’t mean the day was wasted, not at all. We have a new governor (pressure regulator/controller) on the main engine air compressor and a new speedometer sensor on the transmission. We also had a new hub gasket on the driver-side drive axle and dynamic wheel balances on all six positions. The chassis had been lubed, the side-view mirrors had been tightened, the entrance door latches were tightened, and the passenger-side engine compartment door latch assembly was lubricated, as were all of the bay key locks. That’s a lot of stuff taken of.
The auxiliary air system, however, still bled down quickly to just under 100 PSI each time the air-dryer purged and then slowly built up pressure to 130 PSI and the repeated the cycle. I called Joe as soon as I got home to let him know. He called someone that he relies on for advice and was told that it was most likely the unloader valve in the head of the air compressor. The valve is not an expensive part, but replacing it requires a lot of labor. The air compressor is bolted to the transmission end of the main engine block and the head is tied in to the engine cooling system, so not only is it difficult to get to (in a bus), the coolant (antifreeze) has to be drained at least to the point where the air compressor head is empty so it can be removed without making a huge mess. Ugh.
As for the transmission speed sensor, the speedometer continued its bizarre, random behavior as I drove. It stayed at zero (0) MPH when I first started driving, as it usually does, then jumped around erratically independent of vehicle speed, then decided to sit at 85 MPH (maximum on the gauge) regardless of vehicle speed, and then jumped around a bit up there. It never did settle in to the correct speed on the whole trip back. In other words, exactly what it was doing before we changed the sensor. Ugh, ugh. But at least we know the problem is somewhere else.
Chuck drove out to Williamston from Novi and arrived just before 1:00 PM. Joe needed to test drive the 2002 Prevost XL LeMirage he’d been working on, so he drive the three of us to lunch in it. That was the first time I had ridden in an XL and the first time I had ridden in a converted coach powered by a Detroit Diesel Series 60 engine. The ride was very nice and the engine obviously had a lot of torque. The thing I noticed most, however, was how quiet it was without windshield and door gasket air leaks.
While Joe finished the front end work I finished putting trim back on the wheels, packed up my tools, and reloaded the car and the bays. With all of the work done, Joe guided me out of the garage and I pulled around into the driveway where I could hook up the car without blocking anyone. Eventually there was nothing left to do but pay Joe and leave, so that’s what I did.
Centramatic dynamic wheel balancer on driver-side front wheel.
I got back to house late afternoon, got the car unhooked, unloaded the bus and the car, stripped the bed, and started a load of laundry. Retirement may mean that someone else fixes your bus, but it doesn’t mean that some else does your laundry.
I did not get a chance to winterize our coach while it was in Williamston. Overnight low temperatures have been dropping down near freezing, and were forecast for the upper 20’s tonight. The living area in the coach will stay above freezing just from retained heat and the heat put out by the refrigerator, but I was less sure about the bays. There are still water lines in the front bay from the old combo washer/dryer so I turned on the electric bay heater. The water tank bay does not have an electric heater, which I thought was odd, until I realized the Aqua-Hot is in test bay and has an electric heating element, so I turned that back on as well.
Linda left the bakery around 5:00 PM, which put her in the middle of the afternoon rush. I’m not sure why it’s called rush hour since traffic mostly moves slowly or not at all. While on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia last week we were reminded of similar reversals, made famous by George Carlin, such as why we drive on Parkways and park on driveways. And we wonder why non-native speakers gave trouble with English? I sat on the couch and worked on this blog posting and Juniper (our female cat) curled up beside and went to sleep; very unusual for her. We had a heavy downpour of rain and sleet that lasted for 20 minutes, but Linda finally made it home at 6:37 PM.
Dinner was pan grilled onions and extra firm tofu slices in Bar-B-Que sauce served on a whole wheat bun with a mixed green salad, a few Tostitos whole grain dipping chips, salsa, and a small glass of white wine. The odds of that being a really tasty meal were much higher than 50/50. Simple yet simply delicious.