NOV '08 The sluggish engine turnover was solved back in September. Earlier this month, the engine would turn over normally, then finally start after about 15 seconds, accompanied by a bunch of white smoke and a couple of seconds of stumbling. The 6.5L TD uses a lift pump (fuel pump) with a relay that engages it when the key is turned to "start"; when oil pressure builds to 4-5 psi, the oil pressure sender switch powers it.

I decided the symptoms were probably caused by leak-back through the lift pump with a second possibility the relay wasn't powering it on "start". It's 16 years old, so replacing it with the coach on its pad is easier than on a road shoulder somewhere, and the PO had a spare aboard.

I didn't notice its location when I installed the genset fuel tank.

Naturally it was on a crossmember obstructed by the tank. So the coach is up on the ramps, the waste tank drains are off, the tank came down, and the pump is on the workbench. However, the spare isn't the right one. Off to NAPA for the right one...

Start putting 'er back together tomorrow or Monday (Sunday is NFL time). Still have to find that damned relay.

Boy, am I lucky!! Picked up the 85 Regal in Prescott, Arizona, sight unseen, in 04. Drove 1800 miles w/o incident. Used it three years and it only stopped once due to the little filter in the Q-jet. Must admit there were maintenance things like brakes and tranny stuff, but it has been very nice to me. Good thing. Physically and mentally, I'm not in shape to be a mechanic.

picked up 86 regency last oct on sat left to go to s.c. had to get jumped by the motor pool weak alt. (replaced when i got home) .. Parris Island daughter graduated ,, went to dega next ... just ran cruise at 2200 rpms before shut down all was well havent had any other traveling problems . other than a drainage problem(coach bat) that i still havent figured out

I don't consider the things that have broken to be unusual; I will have driven the coach 36K miles by the time I've owned it 3 years next January), and the chassis will be 17 years old by that time. The PO took very good care and kept meticulous records.

It's never left me stranded; the only breakdown was a belt, and that was an hour - 55 minutes cooldown, and 5 minutes on the belt.

Epilogue: It was worthwhile to replace the lift pump, as it was dead. I relocated the new one to a frame rail, where replacement will take 20 minutes instead of 8 hrs.

Reinstall the genset fuel tank and waste drain lines tomorrow, and the DEC GTG won't be entertained by the puff-of-white-smoke-without-a-wizard-appearing.

Since I didn't have enough fun and spend enough money replacing the drive shaft, I decided to replace a bad 8D chassis battery today. Still don't know why it takes 2 8D batteries to start that CAT 3208.

Nick

Try stickin' a hand crank on the flywheel and getting that thing up to speed. You might have a little more respect for some lead and acid!

Geeeeze Nick....I drove by the driveshaft shop just today..They had a big sign out front:

"SPECIAL! Today Only! Two FREE 8D batteries with any driveshaft purchase!"

Bad timing huh?.....

I replaced the 8Ds in my bus with 2 group 31s. work just fine and are a hell of a lot lighter.

Hi guys
Could someone explain what 8D's and Group 31's mean. I will probably be needing start batts one day. There are 2 of them!
The coach batts (two) are newer 12 volt deep cycle and I would like to go to four 6 volt golf cart batts some day, but the 6 volt ones are too tall to fit. It would work if I switched their locations on either side of the engine, side for side.
Thanks
Don

quote:

Originally posted by Shadow man:
I replaced the 8Ds in my bus with 2 group 31s. work just fine and are a hell of a lot lighter.

Don, Batteries are standardized by physical size. Here is a chart. Note a 8D is 20 3/4x11 1/8x9 7/8 and a group 31 is 13x6 13/18x9 7/16. The group will also tell you where the positive and negative post are located. For years GM and Ford reversed the locations of the post. Hope this is not further confusing.

Nick

And now, after replacing the power steering pump with a factory new one Feb 5, StaRV II is at Springfield (NJ) Truck Center, having another pump installed .

It died just as I got onto I-287, and I was towed 20 miles to here. I had to bypass the visit to Bill N Y, whose sympathy is apprecialed.

Should be able to restore the rest of the schedule, as I hope to be out of here this afternoon.

quote:

It died just as I got onto I-287, and I was towed 20 miles to here.

Rusty, does a dead PS pump make it totally undrivable, or just more work than you want. I've had ps belts break, last week as a matter of fact, on my work pickup, and it wasn't fun but nothing I couldn't drive. Just wondering.

I put in "Park" to check the belt (although that wasn't really a suspect). When I did that, the valve released pressure on the shaft brake, and that was the end of that, with no way to disengage the brake.

Anyway, the pump suffered a broken shaft, sheared off cleanly, but with a visual indication of a metallurgical flaw.

As for driveability, the Hydroboost and the steering box on my Breakaway is condiderably different from the P30/32. Although the shaft brake stays disengaged until the shift lever is praced in "park" and the valve releases pressure. If this valve were to leak slightly, it could engage the shaft brake while in motion.

Anyway, the Breakaway is a handful with no p/S pump pressure, but manageable enough to get pulled over.

Prepping for an arduous 2.5 mile trip from the Holiday Inn, Suffern, NY, to the Rockland Community College campus Field House tomorrow (actuallly later today).

The repaired P/S pump is working to spec, so I expext no issues , other than what do I do with the 2 lbs. of fresh shrimp I toted up here for Bill N Y and Linda...