BradHend

Bob, I was in the same boat as you.  In the end I just couldn’t justify the cost of either the replacement OEM ballasts, or the LED tube approach bypassing the ballast.  
I ended up installing LED sticky back strips.  Much less power draw, much brighter light and no noise.  I also added some secondary switches attached to more strips to act as night lights in a few, and extra lighting in the kitchen/bathroom/bedroom.  So far I’ve had no issues and they’re on most the time when camping or stationed at home and the kids sleep in it.  
Everything of course was readily available on Amazon. 

 

I think I still have the old ballasts, some of which worked.  You cover shipping and they’re yours.  I was keeping them in case I wanted to switch back, but I won’t be. 

If I just turn on all the interior lights in my coach now that they are all converted to LED, the Xantrex display doesn’t show over 2A.  That alone speaks volumes when/if boondocking. 

Terrible situation you’re in.  I honestly do feel for you.  
Is that coach at all moveable?

Has the shop that quoted you 18K come down at all even after saying you’ll get it towed elsewhere?

Is it stuck at that shop?

@powersltc I would have sworn that harness looks melted had you not stated otherwise.  I guess you can ignore my comments regarding said. 

I was more thinking that the breather tube may be melted and leaking along with that harness from say a manifold leak, but I’m not sure which end of the engine that connector is located on. Front/rear have different meanings to different folks. 
Takes some seriously abnormal heat to melt that wiring harness.  I’d also be taking a good look at your radiator and CAC, the fan will blow that oil into the fins and dust and debris collect and clog it up.  Snowball effect 

Lol.  Ask me how I know about that particular situation.…

Might add, Amazon sells some good Velcro adhered heat wrap for wiring harnesses.  You can see I utilized it in the picture there. Works good.   Saved that harness from the manifold leak right beside it. 

Have an overheat condition recently?

Is your crankcase breather tube in around there, and do you by chance have an exhaust leak? Odd that the harness would be melting like that.  

Well good luck Tim.  I’ll be curious to know how you make out. 

Not crazy familiar with Jake brakes, but I do know there’s a fuse to check - just starting with the basics - and if you said you changed the engine, I recall reading something about the engine idle speed and engine oil level.  Are they both reasonable?

You haven’t quite told us for certain what you have, just what you think.  Have a look and see.  My manual clearly states I have a PAC brake and lists all the maintenance for it.  I don’t have a PAC brake, I have a VGT turbo..

Be extremely anal about keeping all the fittings clean.  That shaft is basically floating in the retainers and is fed oil through 4 small holes.  Clog them up and you’ll be in rough shape.  
 

Is your coach on the Roadmaster R4R chassis?

I noticed in your pictures that one of the part numbers on the airbag is different than the other two.  Leads me to believe that front and rears are different now.   
I want to replace my 4 airbags, I just can’t believe how hard it is to get a part number for them.  Nothing in the manual, Monaco is of no help, conflicting information on the forums.  Very frustrating.  
I can get a part number for darn near anything,  but in the case of my airbags I think my only option is to remove them so I can get the part number that way.  I see no markings on the bags otherwise. 
 

PAC brake or VGT turbo?

As I’ve been finding time, I’ve slowly made progress on the Cayman.  
I can finally report that the manifold bolts are now all out, threads have been chased and helicoiled if needed.  Several bolts were stripped on extraction and I wasn’t about to trust just chasing the threads.  I had a new bolt and it felt sloppy in the chased hole.
The whole process of drilling into the head is nerve racking to me, but when it’s all said and done I guess it wasn’t so bad.  Just have to be careful, plan as best you can, and take your sweet time.  
Replacement parts are also starting to arrive.  My final part order will be going in this weekend.  So far I’ve received the Reman Turbo, Reman EGR valve and the ridiculously expensive pipe that connects the EGR valve to exhaust has cooler.  Mostly just hardware and all new line-sets to get.  
Upper coolant tube is being made right now by my buddy, 150 bucks and all stainless.  
The Cayman might yet see some late summer travels!!

Forgot to mention that I also purchased RemFlex gaskets for the exhaust manifold and manifold to turbo connection, arriving Monday.  
Import fees suck!  😢

Following, have similar issues.

That is way too high. You are being taken advantage of.  Get a used one.   Visone has lots ready to ship in the 3-4K range. Example:
https://rvchassisparts.visonerv.com/cgi-bin/md/M120735/s12.pl

They also have a bunch of those transmission coolers, assuming yours is like mine and is that rectangular prism looking thing at the bottom for like 3-4 hundred bucks. 
 

@Agpopp Unless we are both missing wires there, I think it’s safe to say you’re good.  
You have spares floating around back there that should be landed somewhere or just making sure?

@dl_racing427 I called around to several shops just for that, nobody would touch it.  The reason they claim was the year. I think they said 2007 and newer they could, but not on my ‘05.  
I looked fairly hard into this.  Would have been able to get a standard exhaust manifold as well.  

Thanks guys.  I really do appreciate the input and advice.  Great group this is. 

Apologies on hijacking’s this - @Tom Cherry , your suggestion of using the iron phosphate conversion coating - would that be acceptable to be used on my engine and frame? My poor Cayman is so rusted. It stresses me out as I’m dumping a fair sum of money into it.  I know the damage is done, but it would be nice to find a way to fairly cheaply prevent further damage.  For the record it was purchased this way from a fellow Canadian in North Bay Ontario. 

@Agpopp Thanks for the confirmation. Greatly appreciated.  
Puts my mind at ease as I was a little concerned I may have purchased the wrong wrong as there were different resistance values on that website.   

Forgot to mention how much I love to see new parts on the old stuff. My exhaust side of the engine is gonna look mint when I’m done.  New manifold, Reman Turbo, reman EGR valve, all new oil and coolant lines for the turbo and exhaust recycling plumbing, all new coolant lines to the radiator etc etc.  Oh and let’s not forget that puny little pipe with the little corrugated section that goes from the EGR valve to the EGR cooler that cost me $600 f’ing dollars.  Couldn’t find used, that was the cheapest I could find. Plus import fees. 🤬 🤑🤑

Ya I’m kinda bummed out about that.  I’m trying to finalize all the parts for the work I’ve been doing, replacing a lot of items, was hoping to just use the Quickserve site to determine quantities and what not.  
Makes me have to research and think more now. 🤓

I may be doing something wrong, but is the Cummins Quickserve site not giving us as much info since they’ve went heavy leaning on parts.Cummins.com? 
I *luckily* have several screenshots of the various systems for my engine from Quickserve that clearly showed what the parts were and how many of each would be required.  Now it just gives you a picture with the parts listing and I guess it’s up to you to determine quantities.  
Example would be the exhaust manifold.  I can’t for the life of me find the drawing in the first picture that shows quantities on the website now.  That screenshot was from August 2022.  Weird. 

@rvtips Not long at all.  It looks that way due to soot from a nasty manifold leak. 
 

Thanks everyone for chiming in and getting me a part number.  Ordered from Summit Racing.  

While undergoing repairs on the coach I hit this device pretty hard with the manifold when it let go.  It’s in terrible condition to start with.  What exactly is it for? Cummins Quickserve just specifically shows a “plug” being there. Monaco installed device? Temp sensor?
Anyone care to inform me what it’s purpose is and where I might find another?
Thanks. 

Did some more digging.  It’s the oil pressure sending unit. $152 for a new one.
Thanks anyways. 

No amber signal light in them?

That was the starting symptom of an exhaust manifold leak for me.