2021 Trip To Texas

[JEBar]

anyone who might consider tiny home living might want to spend a cold, damp day sitting in an RV .... doing so can be nice way to pass the time .... it can also bring on strong cases of cabin fever .... we almost went outside this morning but thought better of it and have passed a quiet but good day in our camper .... the weather forecast for the next week looks much better

[JEBar]

we do plan to get out and about a bit today with a drive over to the Post Office in Willis and from there to drive over to our next campground .... we've never been there before and, whenever possible, I like to check out a drive before hauling our camper over it

[JEBar]

​another day .... one source of paranoid concern reduced .... a new one rises to take its place .... the reduction comes from 20 some miles of driving, most at interstate speed, with a steady coolant level and without a drop showing in the expansion tank .... the increase stems from a heavy cloud of white smoke coming out the truck's exhaust each time its cranked .... the smoke does go away but clearly shouldn't be there .... my plan is to call over to North Houston Freightliner (located in CUT AND SHOOT, TX ) and speak with their service department .... what little experience I have in this area suggest an injector that's stuck open .... pot roast slow cooking on the counter, starting to smell good in here​ ..

[markiver54]

Hope the turbo isn't going.

[JEBar]

agree .... no sign of a power loss .... just bellows of white smoke for few minutes

[BigAl52]

Is that freight shaker cummins powered Jim.

[markiver54]

I'm guessing Detroit.

[JEBar]

Mercedes .... did check, no sign of fuel in the motor oil

[markiver54]

What about water/coolant, given your recent coolant level problem?

[BigAl52]

Dont know anything about Mercedes except there cars are out of my league. In my experience with cummins you might have a head gasket issue or could even be a head problem. I hope its neither one.

[JEBar]

What about water/coolant, given your recent coolant level problem?

that problem seems to be resolved

[markiver54]

I would have the same suspicions as Al then. Crossing my fingers you're ok!

[JEBar]

Dont know anything about Mercedes except there cars are out of my league. In my experience with cummins you might have a head gasket issue or could even be a head problem. I hope its neither one.

my first thought was a head gasket but I've been doing some reading and it could be any number of things .... with us being so far from home, we've decided to take it to a Freightliner facility where any work they do has to be backed up if there is a problem on the way home .... they should know the Mercedes motor's ins and outs better than most any other shop

[BigAl52]

I wish you luck on that and hope its nothing to costly. Finding people that know what there doing when it comes to working on those types of things isnt easy by any means.

[markiver54]

Most importantly...you don't want to incur a problem on the hwy. I know you know that Jim...just sayn'

[JEBar]

I wish you luck on that and hope its nothing to costly. Finding people that know what there doing when it comes to working on those types of things isnt easy by any means.

agree .... another reason to go to Freightliner

[JEBar]

well, its been a busy morning .... first thing this morning I called the Freightliner place in Cut and Shoot and quickly learned that they are in sales only .... they gave me the number for the Freightliner place in Houston .... in a call to Houston I learned that I'd need to bring it in before they could say anything and it would take them two or three days before they could get it into their shop for testing .... we were in the process of getting ready to head for Houston when the lady camped on the site next to us knocked on the door .... last night we told her about the problem with our truck .... she runs her own Hot Shot trucking company and this morning came over with contact info for the local independent mechanic she's used since 2013 .... I called him we just got back from taking our Sportchassis to him .... based on her recommendation and seeing his garage, I'm confident that our truck is in good hands .... how get this, last Saturday when we cranked our truck, white smoke bellowed out of the exhaust to the point it looked like we were fogging for mosquitoes .... the smoke cleared within a few minutes .... we drive about 20 miles, some of it at interstate speed .... on the way back we stopped for just under an hour at Kroger ... when I cranked the truck there was a little white smoke .... the truck wasn't cranked again until this morning .... guess what, NO smoke .... yep, NO smoke whatsoever .... that more than perplexes me and I still want the truck to undergo a thorough check .... that's pretty much where things stand, we are driving a car from Enterprise

[markiver54]

Sorry Ya'll are having to deal with such inconvenience and probable expense. Probably would cost a lot more and be even more inconvenient if you broke down on the road though.

[BigAl52]

Intermittent problems are fun to diagnose. I hope he finds something so you have peace of mind. I finally got batteries in my truck today as I went out to start it yesterday after sitting for 2 days and the batterys were just to low to turn it over. I had yo jump it again. When I checked it out the other day the charging system was good and the batterys showed they were good under load. But when they sit for a spell they are losing voltage. I know there over 6 years old and there due. So today I went to the local Oreilleys and stuck in 2 new batterys. Should be good to go now.

[JEBar]

among the guys we are camped near, a bad EGR valve is the leading bet .... I looked and one cost about $200 at Auto Zone .... if that would fix the problem, I've take that and be happy