Parque Natural Mexiquillo

2.01.2020

RVing is Not All Sunshine and Blue Skies

One expects a little rain now and then, but for the last two months Serenity has been deluged by a perfect storm. It all started last December 9th in Durango when her auto-park brake failed to release. I took her to Puerto Vallarta for a surprisingly easy repair.

I left Vallarta to join up with the group.
 20 miles West of Ameca her oil pressure gauge was near zero.
* I stopped immediately.
* The dip stick was dry.
* I added a quart and a half of oil I had.
* The dip stick was still dry.
* She needs a tow truck
* No cell signal
* Wait for police who could call for tow truck
* I decided to move Serenity 10 yards down the road to a level spot.
* While moving, I observed that the oil pressure gauge was at 30-40 pounds of pressure
* 45 pounds is normal
* I decided to slowly drive into Ameca keeping an eagle eye on the gauge.
* Serenity made it and I stopped at first auto parts store and filled her up with oil.

I reconnected with the group. On the way to Valle de Juarez I stopped several time to replenish the lost oil
In Valle de Juarez Bob used J B Weld to stop the leak. Dec 28th.



I ordered a new oil cooler from the states to be delivered in Valle de Bravo.
* Oil cooler $400
* Shipping $260
There were three more stops before Valle de Bravo. The J B Weld was holding and I was getting very confident about Bob's repair.

* January 19th we leave Zitacuaro for Valle de Bravo.
* 10 mile from  Valle de Bravo Serenity losses power steering and brakes.
* I am stranded by the side of the road.
* I pull her engine cover and discover that the J B Weld had given way.
* Oil coating the pulleys had allowed the fan belt to come off.
* We decided that everyone should go to the campground.
* Kevin and Bob came back and helped install my spare fan belt.

* Thank you Kevin and Bob.

* Serenity made it to the campground.

The new oil cooler arrived.
* Import duty $75

Isn't it beautiful. Total $735

Kevin found a local mechanic that could install the oil cooler.


It was tight fit.

Serenity's door was blocked, so I had to exit through the window.

Cost of installing the new cooler was $93. Peace of mind priceless.
Ok, now I am feeing great. Serenity is repaired and ready to go. No more problems.

NOT

January 24 we headed for Cuernavaca. Climbing a mountain grade Serenity losses power. I come to a dead stop in the middle of the road.  Aron has a scan gauge to read the fault codes. I shows that there is problem with the throttle body. He clears the codes and Serenity runs just long enough to pull of the road.

I catch a ride with Aron down the hill to where the rest of the group is waiting. There is also a detachment of National Guard there. They call for tow truck. The tow truck will take me to a mechanics shop while the rest of the group goes to the campground.


* I am dumped in front of a small shop that is clueless about how to analyze and repair Serenity.
* I do a little research and clean the connections for the throttle body
* The next morning Serenity runs fine for 20 minutes
* Not speaking Spanish, I am nervous about taking Serenity for a test drive by myself
* I call Kevin and ask if he can come in and ride with me
* Kevin and Bob arrive
* We make it about a mile down the road before Serenity loses power agin.
* After several attempts Kevin finds a tow truck.

Choco arrives, Hooray

* If I had been alone, I would still be sitting beside the road.
* Serenity is towed to a Pemex station.
* Choco finds a mechanic that will come to us.

I am thinking. Can the mechanic find the problem. If it is the throttle body, it will take a couple of weeks to get the parts. Will Serenity ever leave Mexico. My anxiety level is through the roof.

* Mechanic Jose Noel Bautista arrives.
* Jose has a computer to read the fault codes
* We run Serenity back and forth in the Pemex parking lot until she loses power again.
* He dives under Serenity
* He thinks it is a ground problem.
* It is, the ground cables are corroded near the starter motor.
* He cleans of the cables and we go for a test drive.
* Serenity runs and runs.
* Jose did a great job.
* He spent 2 hours fixing the problem and charged me $106.
* Highly recommended  777-274-3775
* Total towing fees $479

Another shout out to Kevin and Bob for all their help

Today we drove 180 miles to Acapulco. Serenity did not miss a beat. I feel she is running better than ever. I hope this is the end  of all her problems, but I still have a knot in my stomach from that little voice asking, what is going to fail next?

4 comments:

  1. All RVs require constant maintenance. If you can learn to do minor things it will save you further problems.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Garth has been RV'ing full time in this rig for over 15 years, and he knows his RV well. This has nothing to do with maintenance, and things do breakdown every now and again despite regular maintenance.

      Delete
  2. Congrats on keeping you cool. After recently having some issues, I know how stressful (and expensive } it can get!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! You are lucky you had help available and were able to eventually find a competent mechanic although it sounds like you might have emptied a couple of ATM's. We have all had times where it was just one problem after another. Mine was coach electrical but luckily I was on I-5 in WA, OR and CA. Still, we ended up replacing almost every component in the system including the batteries. Not the way I like to troubleshoot. Hopefully your troubles are over.

    ReplyDelete