I may seem to have more "adventures" than the typical Barth owner, but I drive StaRV II about 15K miles/year. This latest trip was about 900 miles each way to near Malvern, PA where our astronomy club was disassembling and retrieving two priceless (OK, one's replacement value was $6,000,000, the other, only $1,500,000, so there is a price).

On the way up, just north of Waldorf, MD on US 301, easing down a hill, the brake pedal went to the floor, and I had about 30% brakes - which was enough. Figuring the pucks in the brake reservoir had extended and the fluid couldn't flow, I popped the cap, reset the pucks, topped off a very slight anount of fluid, pumped up the master (which responded), and off I went. An hour or so later, the same thing happened (while testing the sucker), so I called Spartan, where Steve allowed as how with the Slendid GM Hydroboost System, the brake indicator light "indicates" an overthrow of the master (which by then I knew!).

He recommended Middleton and Meads slap in downtown Balmer ("Baltimore" to them what ain't been around there - I went to college not far from Balmer). I limped into M&M without further incident. Their techs and I concluded that the culprit was the master cylinder, since there were no leaks. Two fun-filled [exagerration] days later I was on my way. M&M was actually a very neat place - very capable staff, well-organized, and everyone was very accomodating, friendly, and efficient. New master cylinder (which was unavailable locally [good number - discontinued], but Spartan shipped one overnight) installed, the remaining 125 miles to Malvern were without issue.

The scopes parted out and packed, I visited my cousin 40 miles west (Strasburg, PA, for you geography junkies) for a couple of days, and left her place yesterday, Tuesday, 9/11/07.

About 15 miles from Wilson, NC, suddenly the EGT showed a heat wave, and abundant black smoke poured from the exhaust. Keeping the EGT within limits, I limped into Wilson. Figuring a day or two stay in Wilson, I stopped at a station, topped off the genset gaso tank, and called Peninsular Diesel, from whence the engine came. We concluded it might have been a bad batch of diesel fuel, and soot had stuck the exhaust impeller. Twenty minutes had elapsed. I flashed up the engine, planning to limp into town and a truck service place, but the turbo was fine, so I again hit the road, and stopped overnight at South of the Border in Dillon, SC. (For those who haven't been there, Pedro [proudly] is King of the Tacky). I've stopped there many times; while the place is a Tourist Trap, the food is actually pretty good.

The following morning, StaRV II performed without any of the previous day's turbo-shenaningans - until I hit the GA-FL line - when on a long grade up out of a river basin, the turbo cut off again. Putzing with it again, I headed down the raod. The short tale is it did it a couple of more times, but with fresh fuel.

But we're home now, without major incident, and tomorrow, I call Peninsular...

"It Ain't Just a Barth: It's an Adventure!"

There's a pretty nice 97 listed for sale!

And rid myself of StaRV II? Not likely - it's absolutely perfect for Maggie, Casey and me for what I use it for. That's why I got a new spec-built AMG engine instead of opting for a rebuild.

With each report like this, my diesel envy diminishes. I think I'll go up & hug my dolled-up potato chip truck with its only-slightly-warmed, normally-aspirated, carbureted Chevy 454 I can get LOF'ed at Wal-Mart, & any old Chevy truck mechanic can work on it if something goes wrong.

I'm wit olroy, even I can work on a 454.

Um, yeah, I'm kinda wondering about going the high buck all out diesel route myself. I don't run 15 K a year but I do Dega [1500 round trip] every year, along with at least 8 other 300 mile plus trips, and in the past 4 years I've had a water pump failure that we fixed at the garage that towed us in in about 2 hours.
Now I know I'm going to be partying with Rusty and hopefully a bunch other of you in December, and you'll make up your own minds on this old Euro, but it don't break, it don't need a high tech pro to fix it if it does, and it don't cost a ton of money every time it goes down the road. It just does what it is supposed to.

Tried to edit my previous post but was unable to. What I wanted to say was good score Rusty! Congatulations and I"m sure you'll make the best of the new scopes. BTW, what's the really bright planet that has been in the eastern sky before sunup? Some mornings it looks like a street light.

quote:

Originally posted by olroy:
With each report like this, my diesel envy diminishes. I think I'll go up & hug my dolled-up potato chip truck with its only-slightly-warmed, normally-aspirated, carbureted Chevy 454 I can get LOF'ed at Wal-Mart, & any old Chevy truck mechanic can work on it if something goes wrong.

Those reasons, as well as fiduciary considerations, were why I ended up with a gasser.

However, I still have diesel envy, for reasons other than the engine. My 502 gasser pulls like Jack the Bear, so no engine issues. Every diesel I have driven or ridden in, however is better riding and handling. I believe my SE 30 ft tag with all the chassis mods is about as good as a P30 gets, short of putting a late model wide track front end on it.
But it still falls short of the better diesel chassis in ride and handling. Also, most of the Regency interiors are nicer than any Regal or SE I have seen.

So, I guess I have diesel envy, for non-diesel reasons.

quote:

BTW, what's the really bright planet that has been in the eastern sky before sunup? Some mornings it looks like a street light.

That would be Venus - only the Sun and Moon are brighter.

quote:

However, I still have diesel envy, for reasons other than the engine. My 502 gasser pulls like Jack the Bear, so no engine issues. Every diesel I have driven or ridden in, however is better riding and handling. I believe my SE 30 ft tag with all the chassis mods is about as good as a P30 gets, short of putting a late model wide track front end on it. Also, the Regency interiors are nicer than any Regal or SE I have seen.

Diesels are, in the main, far simpler than gassers (I elected to stay with straight mechanical IP and turbo). It is very rare for a diesel turbo to fail (they operate at temps much lower than gaso engines' turbos), but discussions with Peninsular today made us conclude that it's the issue.

I like the pusher config, becaus the engine is easily accessible (if I have to swap out the turbo, it's an hour's job). And the pusher is very, very, quiet.

The old turbo is out, and there's no visible damage, although axial end play is zero, and runout is about 1/32" to 1/16". Since the vendor told me 1/16" to 1/8" axial end play and zero runout, I think the conclusion of a bad turbo is correct. In any event, the warranty replacement is due here tomorrow. I'm very pleased with the service from Peninsular Diesel.

Good score Rusty, I'm sure many people will benefit from your hard work and effort.

Sorry to hear about your mechanical issues! I drive mine about the same number of miles as you and have had issues albeit most were found in a pre or post flight inspection. (knocks on wood!)

I enjoy my diesel because of the LOW noise level while driving, I do have a tail wag issue that I have been working on since I bought it, the Cummins/6 speed Allison combination is very heavy. Fuel mileage is a lot better

Thanks, Ed. Most of my problems are taken care of by PM, but the master cylinder and the turbo problems appeared on the road. By-'n'-by, I'll take apart the old master cylinder, as I'm puzzled about the failure mode - never had one chamber give way like that, then reset for a bit, then give way again. All is fine now. Very wierd.

Project today was replacing the reefer control board and the 120VAC heater...had to run the reefer on propane for the 8 days on the road...no big deal - 25 gallons of LPG will run that sucker for months and months.

I did order new bushings for the locater arm.

I wish I could help with the tail-wag issue - the Allison/Cummins combo is only about 400 lbs. more than the drivetrain in StaRV II, and with the longer wheelbase you have, I would think that wouldn't be an issue. My Breakaway tracks like it's on rails, despite the stubby wheelbase; actually, it handles better than my E350 LWB diesel van with only 2" less WB than the Barth.

Epilogue:

I got the new turbo installed Wednesday 10/3, and test drove it (after also replacing the exhaust flex and the elbow into the muffler). Worked fine.

Friday 10/5 I left for a star party 350 miles away (back tonight). The new turbo works like a champ, and its performance pretty well establishes that the original on the new engine was defective...under the same conditions, EGT is 100-150F cooler, and I have yet to find a hill where I can redline EGT, which was fairly frequent on the old turbo.

The roof air died, however...

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
Epilogue:



The roof air died, however...

Do you have one air or two?

At the moment, none.

But there's a solo thingie, resembling an air conditioner, taking up space on the roof.

Tomorrow, I go to the RV place and order another Duo-Therm. The one that died had issues with the inside control board - and that's been "discontinued", replaced by a new inside ensemble for $350. At its 15 year's age, I'm going to replace the whole thing.