| Re: [GMCnet] Trip Report - Fla Panhandle [message #94062] |
Sat, 31 July 2010 11:10  |
James Moore
Messages: 71
Registered: January 2004
Karma:
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Member |
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Bob,
Mis-adjusted air valve spring will cause engine to bog down when you floor it and run fine when you let up on gas pedal.
Jim
-----Original Message-----
>From: Bob Heller <rheller@cfl.rr.com>
>Sent: Jul 15, 2010 12:25 PM
>To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
>Subject: [GMCnet] Trip Report - Fla Panhandle
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>We're spending the week in the Florida panhandle, right now at Henderson Beach State Park in Destin. So far everything has been going great. With the GMC, only a couple of minor issues, with the environment, it's hot and humid (it's Florida after all), the beach is fine with only a few tarballs (actually tar pieces about the size of a penny) from the BP oil well blowout washing ashore. The BP cleanup crew is on the beach every day picking up what little they find.
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>Once again I have to thank Jim Bounds for his suggestion a few years ago to have 2 roof air conditioners. One just doesn't cut it when parked in full Florida sun. One is OK for the mornings and evenings, but from about 11:00 to 17:00 it's nice to have the added cooling capacity. We like to park the GMC and ride our bicycles. Coming back a couple of hours later it's nice to be able to start the Onan and have both air conditioners cool the coach in a reasonable amount of time.
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>The GMC ran fine driving from the Orlando area. Driving at 75-80 makes the gas gauge move a bit faster than I like but driving 65 everyone is passing me. I tried staying at 65 for about a hundred miles but, well, what can I say? I am keeping track of gallons used and will figure out the final MPG at the end of the trip. The Onan is being used about half the time while driving to run the roof air so this will bring MPG down a bit.
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>The 455 runs great and never misses a beat....almost. I can stop at a rest area, restart the heat-soaked engine after about 15 minutes, and accelerate briskly onto the interstate with no issues -- 20 to 70 with no problems. I can go through stop-and-go Destin traffic and then, when traffic clears at the east side of town, go 55 with no issues. We went to Seaside FL (The Truman Show was filmed there) to see what it was like. Did lots of slow speed and stop-and-go then 45 - 55 MPH with no issues, all in mid-90's heat and humidity. The temp gauge stays within a pointer width of the halfway mark, which is right on the 195 thermostat (replacement NAPA sensor). I bought gas twice since I left home, BP and Mobil regular at busy stations.
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>Issues so far:
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>1. About a mile from the house while parked at my local supermarket I noticed the fridge not running. The 6 year old Xantrex 1500 inverter had quit. I unplugged the output and cycled the Xantrex power switch and sparks came out. Thinking that was pretty neat I did it again and smoke and fireworks came out of the Xantrex. We went back home where I found a 1000 watt Go Power inverter in the junk room. As of today that one is still working fine. Now I have an excuse to buy a true-sine-wave inverter some day.
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>2. After driving about 3 hours I exited I-10 at US331 and had to get across the intersection quickly. The GMC accelerated hard but when I put the pedal all the way down it started starving for fuel. I let up about a half inch and it was fine, flooring it again and it stumbled. It's been about a year since I changed the fuel filters so I know what I'm doing when I get home! I have an external inline filter on each tank (in-tank socks removed) and I know the main tank isn't the cleanest I've ever seen, at least it wasn't 3 years ago. Yeah, I should've had it professionally cleaned, but I get about a year on a fuel filter on that tank so it's not too bad. I very rarely floor the pedal so the filter can wait to be replaced. I carry spares but crawling under and changing a filter isn't what I really want to do right now. If it gets bad I will just use the other tank a bit more.
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>3. The Onan will sometimes stop unexpectedly. This has happened probably 8-10 times over the past 3 years and is completely unpredictable, sometimes after a couple minutes and sometimes after a few hours of running. It always restarts immediately, as soon as I hit the switch it fires. It's not like the carb ran out of gas and might need a few seconds to restart -- it restarts instantly and will then run until I shut it off. This time I was showing off the coach to the in-laws when the Onan stopped. This time I actually saw the light on the inside switch go out, the Onan die down, the light comes back on, the Onan recovers, runs a few seconds more, light goes out and Onan stops. Looking at the wiring diagram my guess is it's as if the alternator output keeping relay K2 pulled in has gone away. This morning I removed the alternator wires from the voltage regulator and taped them up so that now all the built-in alt feeds is relay K2. Hopefully this fixes the issue. I may also l
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> ok around for a replacement relay as everything is still original. Also may replace the 100uF cap that is across K2's coil just because it's old. Since this only happens a couple times a year and it always restarts immediately it's not been on my 'things to do' list.
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>That's it for now. We leave Destin tomorrow and stay in White Springs for 2 nights and arrive back in the Orlando area Sunday. With any luck the rest of the trip will be uneventful, like my GMC trips usually are. Love this coach!
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>--
>Bob Heller
>1974 X-Canyonlands 26ft
>Winter Springs FL
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