I hope your weekend was better than mine. Took the rig to Cape Cod on Thursday night. On the way, I busted two hydroboost belts. Given that my P30 has 1 hydroboost belt, this made for exciting steering and braking.

I think the aftermarket steering stabilizer failed, and was putting the hydroboost system under excessive stress. My theory is that this caused the belt to drag, and this in turn dragged down the speed of the water pump, and maybe the serpentine belt that also turns the alternator.

I replaced the belt the first time while it was still light out in an abandoned car dealer lot on the way. When not moving, all seemed well. When traveling, the belts made excessive noise.

So, as I drove after dark, the V gauge was low. Because the V gauge was low, I did not get overly concerned when 20 miles out from the campground, the Temp gauge was high. I stopped once and took off the engine compartment cover and saw no problems. Given the big trip of last summer, I could not believe I was having a coolant system problem, I blamed the gauge. When I got to the camp, there was steam coming from the coolant overflow tank.

Great, what a start to a weekend, thinking I cooked the 454. The next day, I got supplies and added 3 gallons of coolant/water. I adjusted the belts, and at this point it occurred to me that the stabilizer might be at fault. I liked that theory better than that a freeze plug started a slow leak. I took off the stabilizer.

With my full weight on it, I could not get it to budge.

So, I ran the rig home on Sunday and had no trouble with V or Temp. The alternator serpentine belt made some squealing after an hour or so, maybe it glazed the surface earlier. I was happy not to see steam in the exhaust, water in the oil, or drips from the heads or block. It is with my mechanic now. He suggested an idea, that he will add a dye to the coolant, which will enable detection of exhaust gas contamination.

Ugh,
Matt

quote:

Originally posted by BarthBluesmobile:

I think the aftermarket steering stabilizer failed. I took off the stabilizer.
With my full weight on it, I could not get it to budge.

Lemme guess.............Safe T Plus?

Glad the loss of steering and brake assist did not cause any harm.

That is one of my constant fears. My airplane magnetos (Eisemann) always concerned me over mountains, and my steer/brake pump drive belts always concern me going down mountains.

Same here - but the culprit in the two belt breakages I've had were the A/C compressor. One was coming down a hill around a curve in AL; fortunately, there was a place to pull off at the bottom of the hill. The second was backing up at my place in GA.

Then, of course there was the failed P/S pump last April...

quote:

Lemme guess.............Safe T Plus?

Bill H! Now I want you to guess some lottery numbers for us! Is there a history to this product to be aware of?

thanks,
Matt

ps: other than this, we had a great time at the cape. Weather was great, kids loved beaches, we saw the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod Baseball League play a game. The games are free to watch, and some great talent from the ranks of MLB-bound college players is on the teams.

quote:

Originally posted by BarthBluesmobile:

quote:

Lemme guess.............Safe T Plus?

Bill H! Now I want you to guess some lottery numbers for us!

No you don't. Not investment advice, either.

quote:

Is there a history to this product to be aware of?

Pre-internet, and a couple of P30s ago, ('80s and '90s) I did a lot of visiting with other owners, primarily on dog walks and bicycle rides, before buying a stabilizer. My research consisted mainly of looking for a device underneath and knocking on their door for chat.

I learned that:

1. One or two of the Safe T Plus failed, one like yours and one leaked out its fluid, if I recall correctly.

2. A couple Steer-Safe had springs disappear, either from road debris hits or spring breakage. They were replaced gratis by the good people in NM. If a spring goes away, its mate needs to be removed to keep the universe in harmony.

3. The double damper mod is really nifty, but does not center like the other two, it just resists sudden wind pull, like gusts or a passing truck. That kit was good, but is no longer on the market, anyway.

Everybody liked what they had, when they worked, but, as I mentioned, the double damper lacked the centering feature of the other two.

I ended up with a Steer-Safe and a Bilstein damper. I carry a spare spring, but have never needed it.

Later, someone came out with a Safe T Steer-like device that allowed you to reset the center point from the cockpit. This could be nifty when driving across the flat part of Wyoming, for example.

As long as we are talking bad trips, on this summer one I seem to spend more time fixing than using. Keep in mind the Barth has not been used in about 16 months and had set in AZ thru one summer.

1 - Transmission was leaking fluid and apparently going no where except on the front of the car. Drove from AZ to IA by adding fuid as needed. In IA was at the rear of the coach talking and noticed a puddle of oil on the bumper. Ericka!! The rubber hose going to the aux trans mission cooler was seeping at the connection. Cut off about 1.5 inches of rubber and reinstalled. No more leaks.

2 - Alternator decided to quit working. Had it rebuilt in Minneapolis. It had a 70 amp. After the rebuild the shop said it could have made it a 120 amp. 70 should be enough.

3 - The convertor quit. Ordered a new one and it was shipped to norther MN. Arrived and installed.

You will note that with both 2 & 3 I had no source of fresh DC. On a whim, I had thrown my battery charge in just before we left Yuma.

4- Started loosing coolant but could not figure out where. Then notice I was seeping around the lower radiator hose. Replaced same, but the problem got worse. Started to suspect blown head gasket only because I could think of nothing else and was ready to take it to Cummins. Was looking under the coach again and noticed lots of fluid around the left rear brake. Then got luck as a big drop of coolant dropped and caused to to look higher. There as a water line that provided hot water to the water heater to heat on the road. And in that line was a shut off valve. In wiggling it around it broke and gave me a coolant shower.
Off the hardware store for plumbing parts. Fixed.

Numerous other little things. The list reached a dozen items. And last the coffee pot gave up. Now it was getting serious.

I has often been said by myself & others, they run down faster from non-use, than regular use. Hence the advice to run them on the road for a few miles, at least monthly. Non-use in a hot climate is the worst of all. It's really hell on rubber items. This is proof of the pudding.

Airliners hate to sit, too. We took a bunch out of service in the 70s "fuel crises" and parked them at Roswell NM. We took turns going up there for a month tour to fire them up and drive them around and do full take-off runups. Every system got exercised. After back in service, Boeing surveyed the different airlines and found that our method was had higher labor costs but the planes had fewer problems in the months following returning to service.

Wit regard to Roy's observation on sitting in hot weather, the ones that sat at Mojave or in AZ were the worst.