BradHend

When I purchased my coach and was going over the functionality of various components with the owner, the living room A/C was set to blow directly down out of the unit, not through the vents. Didn’t think much of it at the time, there was no smell or evidence of mice otherwise on the coach so mice weren’t even on the mind. Get it home, set it up and was checking it over. Flipped the damper to put the air in the ducts and it suddenly rained out little bits of styrofoam and foil. Little buggers had chewed paths directly through the foam board for the vents. With an inspection camera, replacement board and some “homemade” tools to help press the foil tape smooth it was back to functioning without issue so far. What a let down though. Quite a reach too.

I purchased it from a fellow from North Bay Ontario. Took a bit of a gamble and ended up the loser. I knew there were a few issues when I purchased the rig, just wasn’t expecting it to be that bad. Gotta love them Canadian winters.

@Greg Coffey It is badly warped on #6 in both directions. So much so that the holes in the flange of the manifold do not line up with the holes in the block anymore.

Peter, I was able to pay for an “emergency part order request” with Cummins. Took a while, but the Tennessee plant special made me my manifold. Wasn’t cheap, but I now have a complete new OEM 2 piece manifold. @Bill R Thanks for the video. I’ll try those techniques. As of now still haven’t budged. I’m slightly babying them as I really don’t want to snap them.

Could really use the advice of the membership here. *Finally* had some free time to tackle this manifold project now that I have the new one in hand. Things do not look good in there. Bolts are seized and rusted pretty bad. I’ve been heating it red hot and soaking the heck out of it with some good catalyst penetrating oil, and just keeping on the impact to see if I can get at least one bolt busted loose. Nothing so far. Seeing as I have the bolts out cylinder 6, which is where the problem started, I’m thinking my best bet would be to just cut it out of the way so I can have better access to #5. I’m tempted to grind the flange off the head of the bolts and try to work the steel spacers out so I have some actual bolt I can try and wiggle out. At a loss here. Hesitant to risk it and really torque on it as I am not a fan of extracting bolts out of the head. Especially at #1 behind the fricken alternator! 🤬 I can’t for the life of me get the bolts apart at the turbo flange or the EGR valve, so I pretty much need to take the whole assembly out in one piece, which leads to my next problem. As I was stripping down the turbo connections, the speed sensor is STUCK inside the turbo so now I have to cut the $1200 speed sensor cable to get the whole assembly out. What a pain.

You never did answer my first question. Is the red service light on at any time? I have a pretty detailed troubleshooting document from Arens to determine if the service light is due to the keypad or not. Be happy to post if needed. Also, are your jacks fully up, fluid is at the proper level and your brake lights work when you press the pedal? Just ruling out some overlooked items that if I recall correctly are part of the shift inhibiting. I also agree with others that an 850 RPM idle seems a bit high, and would also suggest checking your connections, especially the ones at the transmission.

Is the shift pad service LED solid on or flashing in a sequence at all? You looking to part ways with that shift pad then? Is it Alison or Arens Controls?

I’ll ask an obvious question, but sometimes it’s the obvious items that get overlooked. There should be two sets of rockers in your run bay, the one on the right, make sure it’s not in the middle position (off). This would disable starting in either end. Perhaps that switch is bad as well. Good luck!

Yes. Manually operated via constant pressure buttons, jacks will likely be spring return. At the pump unit though, there will be a manual release valve for each jack. If I remember correctly it’s a small bolt with a split pin through it to act as a handle. Loosen them off and tighten them back up - pretty snug, but dont shear the bolt off. Lol. Then try your jacks again. Worth a shot. If that doesn’t work, you likely need a new ring kit or a new valve altogether.

Could also cycle/tighten the manual lowering valves just in case they are letting a bit return to the tank.

I have a similar issue. Quite sure it’s the valve leaking. Replacement o-ring set has been on back order for quite some time now so I’m not able to confirm. I have no oil loss, so that’s the most logical and cheapest attempt to fix.

Start with the battery bay chassis switch. Ensure it is working. And obviously check your batteries aren’t dead. And battery connections are good.

Just wanted to add that it’s important to use a properly rated WAGO. there are different sizes for different ampacities. The WAGO 221 for example is good for 30 amps at 300V and can accept wiring ranging from 20-10 AWG.

@Seward G WAGOs are mint. Basically all we use now in the elevator industry for control wiring connections. There are a few different types, I personally prefer the “lever-nuts” which allow for reuse and ease of entry. They other “push-in” style are one time use really and it’s pretty silly trying to get a stranded wire seated properly in them.

I second that.

But if you do in-fact have an issue with the turbo, it’s at least not on the exhaust side, as your engine bay would be completely covered in soot.

Loss of boost will affect your engine. Ask me how I know. You will not climb grades, you will be blowing black soot, and your engine will derate. It will not be happy.

@Georgia Mike I’m now curious about your engine coolant temperature. Yours actually never gets above 190? That makes we wonder about mine now because it will start the cycle usually around 205 under normal steady driving, then cools back down until about 170-180, heats back up and repeat. Even on low grade hills it’s not uncommon for me to see 210-214. If I recall correctly the thermostat for my engine according to quick serve was for 190. Makes me wonder if I should be getting one that trips sooner. Basically anytime I’m pushin’ harder than normal I’ve got a pretty close eye on the Bluefire keeping an eye on the coolant temperature so I know if I should be letting off a bit or not. 😎

Fire away, Carl. A lot of the components, features and wiring are similar or the same as other coach models.

I figured as much and I am able to get them to seat together in the tongue and groove, but they just pop back out. Think it would be a bad idea to bond them together?

New or Reman’d turbo? Those things aren’t cheap. One of my biggest worries about my manifold job.

I agree. I’d invest in a scan tool of some kind. I got a crappy one off Amazon for like 200 bucks, it’s helped me a few times. Just make sure it’s the “HD” version with the six and 9 pin adaptors. Sorry to hear of the troubles. One more thing to worry about. Hopefully just a fluke for ya. As far as driving it…your call. Check it over, monitor all systems like a hawk. If it seems okay, 🤷‍♂️. Travel on. Put it this way, unfortunately it’ll rear its head at some point regardless if it was something immediate to worry about. Make the best of it, just keep an eye and an ear open.

Well I’ll be. That’s great information Andrew. Thanks for posting!! Looks like those pipes have quite a few years left in them. Looks great. I’ve been meaning to ask, does your exhaust manifold also have the large EGR port like mine does? Had a heck of a time digging anything up on it when I was trying to get one. Searched the world really. Nowhere to be had at the time.

@bhawk44@bellsouth.net Just to the left of the restriction indicator in the OPs photo there is a small petcock valve.

My Cayman has same setup. It’s for your cooling system. It comes in quite handy when draining and filling the cooling system. Allows air in to help drain, while also allowing air out when filling.