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

[Jon]

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, 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...)

Well thanks god you made it home! I always carry my VISA card with
me in case of problems. So far my old trusty Rebel Bird has never
given me any problems. Now that I said that I hope that Pandora box
doesn't appear and find myself like you stranded along an
interstate. But like one of the fellows here said befor it a machine
and machines will run fine if given enough preventative maintenance.
Hope your rig runs fine from now on and its true it a big learning
curve operation when you buy one of these heavy duty rigs. Jon

Jon
Bremerton Washington
RebelBird with a cool deck on the back!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/1942...yparty016.
jpg
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