Saturday, July 5, 2014

The RV Is Finally Back Home

What’s different about this shot – the RV is sitting in the driveway for the first time since May 1.  



Those of you have been readers for a while know we have been RVers for a few years and have had our fair share of coach issues, a few of our own doing but most not.

On May 1, we left Almost Heaven South for the Charleston, SC area where we took in the local area and hosted the Tennessee Travelers rally.  We had a great time and on the way home, we were about 10 miles from our campground in Flat Rock, NC at 4pm when an alarm sounded and the trouble light said no oil pressure, stop engine.  We were once again dead on the side of the road (4th time) but found someone to tow us off the road to their shop, spent the night in a motel, and explored our options.  With all of the stuff in the fridge/freezer, our clothes, and other needed items, we decided we’d rather have the coach in Knoxville (45 minutes from home) than go in the other direction to the nearest Cummins engine shop in Spartanburg, SC (about a four hour drive from home).  Since the tow truck charges $300/hr both ways, we paid a substantial fee for the extra towing distance, even after Good Sam's helped out.

The coach had been at the Knoxville Cummins dealer since May 23 and we finally picked it up on Jul 2 – money making semi tractors seem to have priority over RV’s.  The issue was a failure of the oil pump in a way that they had never before seen and as always it would happen to us – the third fluky issue between our two coaches.  If I were to make a list of the issues I expected to have with the RV, the Cummins engine would have been the last item.  To repair, they had to lift the coach, drop out the engine and transmission, replace the engine block with a new one, reassemble, and reinstall.  The silver linings are that is has been garaged for over a month and it is 100% under warranty – the bill was $21,000.

We had to cancel our two planned June trips and will now just take a couple of short, local ones this summer while we decide if we are destined to be RVers or are we snake bit and it’s too much aggravation.  The supervisor at the Cummins shop advised that RV stands for Ruined Vacation and I’m about to become a believer.  Okay, enough whining, I have a trip or two to plan.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

5/23 – 7/2/14 event dates

16 comments:

  1. Yea, now that looks more like your driveway Larry. Know y'all must be glad to have it back.
    Sam

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  2. Our coach is now 15 years old and has some issues here and there but has never ruined our travels, maybe you just have to work out a few wrinkles.

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  3. So sorry this happened. This is one reason I never liked having a motor home. We occasionally have issues with the truck or even the fifth wheel but we don't lose them for months in a shop and it sure isn't near as expensive. I hope you don't give up on RVing. I would say you need to wait awhile to make any drastic decisions - let the frustration level drop a little bit. Enjoy your short trips.

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  4. Darn Larry, so glad that bill was covered under warranty. That's a big one! Hopefully, you've gotten all of the bad "kinks" out of the rig now.

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  5. Maybe it is just the RV you got, nothing more, $21,000 is a hefty price indeed...One must be careful, one could have flown to a nice destination for that amount of money, stayed in a nice hotel and really enjoyed your vacation..I say get rid of it, tooo much money on the outflow...just a suggestion and my opinion..ciao happy summer!

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  6. Larry, At least its finally back home! Our new car didn't cost much more than the repairs that were made to your RV... If the issues are all now fixed, we see you guys RVing for some time to come. You enjoy the social aspect of it... Take Care, Big Daddy Dave and Laurie

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  7. Larry, $21,000-OMG! Oh wow, regular car trips are starting to look better and better. RVing can be a love/hate relationship. When it goes well it is grand, and when it does not, it stinks.

    Still glad the RV is back in your drive way.

    Velva

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  8. Wow---glad that thing was still under warranty.... I guess you all DO need to ponder your reasons for being RVers..... I would be thinking that there is some kind of message coming out loud and clear.... BUT--IF you love RVing and have the money to keep doing it, then DO IT... Do what you truly love!!!!

    Good Luck with that decision.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  9. Welcome home Coach! and ouch over the $21,000, and whew for the "under warranty". We'll all be waiting to hear when you hit the road next.

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  10. Oh my Larry, I can't believe the experiences you have had with your RV's. Maybe the supervisor at Cummins was right but thank goodness all the work was under warranty. Hopefully you will have much better experiences from now on.

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  11. Yikes.....so sorry to hear. It does always seem to be something. Hopefully all the kinks are worked out and you can enjoy the RV again.

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  12. Holy crap! Twenty One Grand? You are one lucky Big Dude, with the warranty still in effect. I'm thinking I'd quit Rv'ing as soon as the warranty runs out.

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  13. Oh, whoa. I'm so sorry that this happened. Ouch! I'm sure you'll think long and hard. It's such a beautiful coach, for sure. Hopefully, you can get in some fun times anyway.

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  14. ouch! It is hard to believe a Cummins engine would have problems. I'd be highly irritated if I paid as much as you have into that rig and it did that. And 300 an hour - I'd have to create a few new swear words for that.

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  15. Replies
    1. So sorry you had to go through that.. this is such a beautiful RV.. love it. We had a boat we spent thousands to fix and finally had to almost give it away.. Hope you can fix it and get back to doing what you both love.. the travel and experiences.. good luck my friend!

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