GMCforum
For enthusiast of the Classic GMC Motorhome built from 1973 to 1978. A web-based mirror of the GMCnet mailing list.
Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » [GMCnet] Made It Home the Hard Way
[GMCnet] Made It Home the Hard Way [message #223920] Sat, 28 September 2013 21:18 Go to previous message
Ken Henderson is currently offline  Ken Henderson   United States
Messages: 8726
Registered: March 2004
Location: Americus, GA
Karma:
Senior Member
Well, my 10,000 mile odyssey did not end well. We left Branson Thurday
morning with the engine running well, though not "perfect". At low speeds
there was an obvious miss but at speed everything sounded fine. That
continued for some 375 miles or so until just before Tupelo, MS (US78 exit
73 -- by the Toyota plant). Then the engine began to miss badly and
quickly quit running. With the above exit in sight, I restarted the engine
for a few seconds several times and made it onto the exit ramp. There, I
noticed that while running for those few seconds it could muster, the oil
pressure was ZERO!

Aside from the fact that there was no "pop-pop-pop" before the engine quit,
the symptoms are eerily like those when the rocker pedestal broke after
leaving Applied GMC back in June.

At any rate, having no idea where to lay up in that area, I decided to call
RVRoadHelp, my Allstate tow service. That was probably around 4 PM. After
lots of time on Hold, several lost and resumed calls, a great deal of
explanation and argument, I finally got to a supervisor who agreed that
they could not find a "competent repair facility" for the GMC anywhere
closer than Orlando. Then began the quest for a tow to Americus, which was
only about half as far as Orlando. After no one could be found to
towovernight, they finally offered to have the coach towed to a motel
for the
night and resume the search for a tow on Friday. I insisted on an RV park
instead. They readily agreed, but by the time they found a service even
for the local tow, all the RV park 'phones were un-monitored. So, we chose
to have the wrecker tow us to his shop and plug us in there. As it worked
out, the owner of a pretty good sized service collected us himself, towed
us to his lot in Oxford, MS (45 miles away), and transferred the power
fromhis big
coach to ours at about 2300.

Yesterday morning, at 0800, I began the again excruciating process of
getting RVRoadHelp to agree to the tow to Americus. None of the previous
night's rationale nor agreements had been recorded, so I had to go through
the whole rigamarole again -- even worse in the light of day when they
could find someone in shops. Only my insistence that I was, per all of my
previous clarification calls to them over the past 15 years, entitled to
towing to a "competent repair facility" was effective. In fact, they once
wanted to send a mechanic to "check it out to see if he could help". My
reply to that was that the only possible reason for him doing that was that
he didn't know the first damned thing about a front wheel drive GMC
motorhome. And that I wasn't about to spend all day having every grease
monkey in Mississippi come look and say "I ain't never seen nuthin' like
that -- I ain't touchin' that thing!"

After it became obvious to the supervisor that I knew the coach, the
community, the locations of every GMC specialist, and that I could make a
big black mark on the company reputation, did he finally decide that the
truck to which we were already attached should just take us on to Americus.

We got home about 2000 last night after an uneventful trip. We followed
the tow until near home, then led him the last few critical miles. We
could not be more pleased with Shivers (like when you're cold) Tow service
out of Oxford, MS. Richard, who picked us up Thursday night, was more than
accomodating, and "Snuffy", a deputy sheriff who's been driving part time
for Richard for the past 22 years, was both personable and professional. I
had NO complaint about anything they did.

We spent today unloading the coach, using the CRV to push it the final 200'
onto the pit, and recuperating. Can't say I'm especially glad to be home,
but it is more roomy here. :-)

Maybe Monday I'll start troubleshooting the problem. Maybe not. It's
reassuring to know that I've got another Cad500 and an Olds455 at the
engine shop being "refurbished". And that I'd already committed to buy a
complete '76 Eldorado front clip. We WILL be able to get 'er runnin' again!

Ken H.
Americus, GA
'76 X-Birchaven w/Cad500/Howell EFI & EBL
www.gmcwipersetc.com
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist

Ken Henderson
Americus, GA
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Large Wiring Diagrams
76 X-Birchaven
76 X-Palm Beach

Report message to a moderator

[Message index]
 
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Previous Topic: [GMCnet] Monday's stupid qiestion
Next Topic: [GMCnet] Free Birchaven in Florida
Goto Forum:
  


Current Time: Sun Sep 22 12:19:36 CDT 2024

Total time taken to generate the page: 0.01109 seconds
.:: Contact :: Home ::.

Powered by: FUDforum 3.1.1.
Copyright ©2001-2021 FUDforum Bulletin Board Software