A new Bluebird owner's tale of the first shakedown trip

[Terry Neal]

You have the right mind set to own a Blue Bird Greg. They are still
machines & they can be fixed to do our bidding. Enjoy the Bird, it will
give back to you many times over.

Terry Neal
Bozeman, MT
82PT40 6V92TA
74FC34 6V53T



Greg Young wrote:

> Hi! Introducing ourselves, once again, this time as owners..
>
> This will be a somewhat long post, so you have been warned. And if you
> decide to reply, best to trim to annoy the digest readers and dial up
> users a little less.
>
> We are Greg and Barbara Young, about to be empty nesters and selling
> our home in Escondido near San Diego. We decided to buy a Bluebird to
> be our new home for a little while, after doing much research on RV's
> & bus conversions. We talked extensively to a few Bluebird owners,
> including a couple whose birds were on the market. We finally decided
> on Dan & Cindy Sunderland's '86 PT-40, heretofore known as "Happy
> Camper," and picked it up last Thursday. We bought it from them
> because it was meticulously maintained, had the feature set we were
> looking for, and they were only 10 miles from our home and we could
> rely on them for information. Dan & Cindy spent a half day with us
> going over the bus and its operation, and I videotaped every minute...
>
> So we decided to take a shakedown cruise to Arizona to see some
> friends, do some business, and determine what we would need to do to
> the bus to make it ours and make it work for our first big trip: We
> have a 3 week trip planned at the end of August that will take us to
> an alkali dry lake for a week of dry camping in 60MPH winds at 105
> degrees with 40,000 artists and musicians (Burning Man), then across
> country to Pennsylvania to a volleyball tournament, and back to San
> Diego via Colorado visiting some hot springs. The only things we knew
> we needed to do were replace the fuel filter and Racor filter, fix the
> driver A/C, and get the front tires replaced. Those tasks could wait
> until after we got back, right? I thought, "this is a short trip, the
> bus has been well maintained, let's just go." So we threw a few things
> in, my little household tool kit (definitely not suitable for a big
> diesel engine) and took off.
>
> Then the fuel flow problem started.
>
> First breakdown was on I-17 near Phoenix at 6pm Sunday. It had been
> driving fine for about half an hour, but stalled shortly after getting
> on the interstate in the middle of an Arizona monsoon. Got it off the
> road, but barely - about 1 foot from the traffic flow, and right at
> the exit for the state penitentiary. 18 wheelers whizzing by at 70 MPH
> and a prison make great neighbors. I had the replacement fuel filters,
> but no way to get diesel into the filter and Racor unit to prime them,
> so no way to get started. Called a tow truck. Called three,and had
> three visit. None of them could move us. Finally gave up at 3am and
> went to sleep to the gentle rocking of the passing trucks. Cop came
> and woke me up at 4am. Got one hour of sleep. At 7:30am found a diesel
> mechanic who got the filter elements in, the engine primed, bypassed
> the apparently sick Racor filter, and we drove it to his shop Monday
> morning. He (supposedly) rebuilt the Racor unit which
> he thought was sucking air. Got on the road, and everything seemed
> fine. Made it to our destination, pulled into a camp site, and got
> some overdue sleep.
>
> Next morning the bus started, lurched forward 5 feet and died. Same
> malady - no fuel. Got another diesel mechanic to come by - wizened old
> guy named Andy of A&A Diesel in Mohave Valley, AZ. Great to work with,
> and got us going again - appeared the check valve ball in the Racor
> was stuck. But he also thought the return fuel line from the injectors
> might be siphoning off, and he expected it to be dead the next
> morning. We went on our way, and decided to stop at Calico Ghost Town
> near Barstow on the way home. Got to the KOA there without incident,
> and caught up a little more on sleep.
>
> Next morning the bus started and ran fine. I thought Andy had gotten
> us completely fixed. But as we got into Riverside that evening and
> were stuck in the endless stop and go traffic in I-215, the bus
> stalled. I got it up an offramp, and had just enough air to slide it
> back off the roadway before the brake set, else CHP would have had us
> towed. This time no amount of priming the filters would work - there
> was just no fuel coming into the secondary filter from the fuel pump,
> which we now think was the problem all along. So, yet another mechanic
> (4 hours at $147/hr) hooked us up with a little 12V pump sucking from
> our 300 gal tank and pushing a dribble of fuel into the Detroit 8V92.
> Drove it to Valley Detroit Diesel in Mira Loma where it sits today,
> and will for a few days until they can get to it, at whatever
> astronomical rate they charge. The good thing is that we feel pretty
> confident when it comes out of there we'll know it's working well. I
> only wish I could be there to watch the diagnosis and repair - I need
> to learn as much as I can about this beast so that I can better
> maintain it and minimize our maintenance costs. But alas, the shop is
> 80 miles from our house.
>
> A discouraging and harrowing tale of a first experience you say?
> Enough to make us regret the decision? No, not at all! We love our
> Bluebird! And we really believe that Dan & Cindy had no idea that
> there was an issue - we drove it with them ourselves, and it had been
> regularly driven and loved.
>
> Greg Young
> '86 PT-40
> (yet to be renamed...)
>
>



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