Category Archives: Maintenance and Repair

Keeping it Clean

Another rest and recuperation day for my leg on Friday. I’m seeing progress now. I can walk better and with less pain. I still have to take care not to stretch the calf excessively or try to stand on my tippy-toes. I’m not there yet.

I scootered Donna over to Enterprise where she picked up a rental car for the weekend. Enterprise has weekend specials – we get a car for $9.99/day. Donna had a free upgrade, so she got a Nissan Altima which is big enough to transport her bike to the duathlon at McDowell Mountain Regional Park on Sunday.

On Friday evening, Donna and I went to the Red, White and Brew for happy hour. Our intention was to visit with friends, have a cold one and order food. Turned out the only friends we knew there were the bartenders. Everyone else was at Lucky Lou’s. So we drove down the road to Lucky Lou’s and sat out on the patio with Mike and Jodi Hall along with Kellie and Amber.

Donna, Kellie, Amber, Jodi and Mike

Donna (caught mid-blink), Kellie, Amber, Jodi and Mike

Afterward, Donna and I had dinner next door at the Thai restaurant.

Saturday we awoke to heavily overcast skies. The forecast called for rain Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Donna contemplated backing out of doing the duathlon with her teammate Angie. The weather guessers revised the forecast several times throughout the day.

While Donna took the car shopping at Tempe Marketplace, I completed a task on the coach. I had ordered a new air filter element for our Cummins ISL engine and UPS dropped it off by our steps while were out Friday evening.

Air filters shouldn’t be replaced unless they develop restriction or they’re damaged or at risk of failure due to age. Our filter minder air restriction gauge didn’t indicate a restriction, but I was skeptical. The gauge hasn’t moved in the last year. Also I was concerned about the age of our air filter.

Our air filter element is made of cellulose fiber, like most air filters. The filter is 98.5% efficient when new, but the efficiency increases to well over 99% with use. As dust particles accumulate on the filter media, it traps smaller and smaller particles. When new, many of the smaller particles might pass through. That’s why changing the air filter too often can actually increase engine wear.

Diesel engines do not have a throttle. They need all the air they can get to make maximum power. The power output is regulated by the amount of fuel injected into the combustion chamber. Gasoline engines need to maintain an air/fuel ratio of about 14.7:1 although realistically it varies between 12:1 and 15:1. Diesel engines can have air/fuel ratios of 15:1 and up to more than 80:1. A good supply of clean air is essential. According to Cummins, if a tablespoon of dirt is ingested by the engine over time, it will ruin the engine. The B50 life of a Cummins ISL (B50 is the point where 50% of the engines maintained to specification will need an overhaul) is 600,000 miles. Over this life span, very little dirt passing through the air filter can add up.

So, my task was to remove the old air filter element, keep everything as clean as possible and install the new element. On our Alpine Coach, this is a fairly simple operation. The service bay allows easy access to the air filter element.

Air filter housing in the service bay

Air filter housing in the service bay

First I removed the outer end plate on the air filter housing by loosening the wing nut. This exposed the air filter element which is held in place by a second wing nut.

Air filter element held by a second wing nut

Air filter element held by a second wing nut

The air filter element was dirtier than I expected, confirming my suspicion of something wrong with the filter minder gauge.

Dirty air filter element

Dirty air filter element

I noticed the old element was made by Luber-Finer. It had a spiral band of adhesive around the outer screen to keep the filter media from collapsing. This band only made three passes around the outer screen.

The filter media was intact and the inside of the filter was clean. The engine draws air from the outside of the filter, through the filter media and clean air is presented through the inside diameter of the filter.

Inside of the old filter is clean and media is intact

Inside of the old filter is clean and media is intact

The new filter I ordered is the Cummins-recommended Fleetguard AF 25549 filter element. The spiral ring of adhesive on this filter wraps around the outside diameter five times. This looks to be better though the old filter held up fine with three wraps.

New Fleetguard filter element

New Fleetguard filter element

I carefully cleaned the air filter housing and installed the new filter element. The air filter element has an axial seal where it meets the back of the filter housing. It’s important to have this seal undamaged and in good contact with the housing. Tightening the wing nut on the filter element compresses this seal in place. It should be snug, but not over tightened.

New filter in place

New filter in place

All that was left to do was to install the end cap. Job done! We won’t pull out of here for another 17 days, but I wanted to check this off my list and not let everything pile up until the last days before our departure. Next I traced the vacuum line on the filter minder air restriction gauge looking for leaks. I didn’t find any leaks. It’s either plugged or the gauge is defective.

With that job done, I retired to the sofa and finished reading Executive Power by Vince Flynn. These espionage thrillers aren’t very realistic, but they’re fun reads.

When Donna returned from shopping, I pumped up her bicycle tires and loaded her bike in the rental car. The weather guessers had pushed back the rain forecast until sometime Sunday night or Monday morning. Donna whipped up her famous crab cakes for dinner. As always, they were outstanding.

Donna's crab cakes

Donna’s crab cakes

Donna was up early and off to McDowell Mountain Park with Angie at 5:30am this morning. I hope the race is going well for them.

Horseradish, Vodka and Pickle Chips

Light but steady rain fell all day on Friday. We went out for breakfast, a rare treat. We went to Crackers and Company on Greenfield, north of Brown Road. We arrived at 9:30am at the tail end of their morning rush. It seems that they’re understaffed for the number of patrons. The receptionist told us we would have a 15-minute wait. I could see at least three open tables that were already bussed and cleaned. She was holding up on seating people to allow the servers to catch up.

We were seated after 10 minutes or so. It was another 10 minutes before a server came by our table and asked if we wanted coffee. We were ready to order. They had three versions of Eggs Benedict on the menu – classic Eggs Benedict, California Eggs Benedict (with spinach, avocado and bacon) and Southwest Eggs Benedict (with chorizo and pico de gallo). Even before getting to the restaurant, I knew I wanted classic Eggs Benedict. Donna went for the southwestern version minus the english muffin.

About 15 minutes later, our breakfast arrived. We had been there over half an hour at this point. Imagine my disappointment when I was served California Eggs Benedict! They offered to replace it with what I’d ordered, but I didn’t want to wait another 10 minutes or more for breakfast, so I kept it. The food was very tasty, but the poor service will keep me away.

I spent the rest of the rainy day hanging out and reading a book. Donna had a book signing at the Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe in the evening. She had also invited her readers to join her for an informal supper chat at Wildflower Bread Company right next door. Our friend, Sara Graff, picked her up and went to these events with her.

Yesterday, the rain continued to fall in the morning. Donna went grocery shopping at Sprouts before returning the rental car. I was expecting a package, so once the rain let up after 11am, I went to the mailbox and found my package waiting for me there.

Genuine WRV parts from Aubrey's

Genuine WRV parts from Aubrey’s

When we decided to replace our old coach with something more suitable for full-time use, one of the things I took into consideration was the quality of the cabinetry. The overhead storage cabinets and kitchen drawers get heavy use when you live full-time in your rig. I looked for quality metal hinges and latches along with good, solid wood. Many coach builders cut corners on these items. If you are only using the coach for weekend tailgating and occasional vacation time, it isn’t a big deal. But when you use your coach as your home, these things need to be robust enough to withstand daily use. When I was searching for our new home, I paid attention to the woodwork and hardware used. I felt that if a coach builder used care and quality in these areas, it probably used care and quality in other, unseen areas.

Western Recreational Vehicles (WRV), the builder of our Alpine Coach understood this. The woodwork in the cabinets and drawers is first-rate. The bottoms of the drawers are solid with tongue-and-grove construction – not the cheap, stapled lauan panels found in many RV drawers. The overhead cabinets have nice metal hinges, latches and pulls. The doors are held open with spring-loaded metal struts. Of course, over time, even the best materials will suffer some wear and tear.

One of the struts on the door of the cabinet housing our electrical and tank monitoring panels had a bad strut. I needed to find a replacement. When WRV closed shop in April of 2008, an RV dealer near the factory in Union Gap, Washington bought much of their parts inventory. We stopped at Aubrey’s RV in Union Gap last summer. I thought of them when I needed the strut.  Sure enough, they had the struts – they sell them in pairs for about four bucks and they had more than 90 pairs in stock! They are original equipment from WRV. The only difference in our case was the color. Our hardware has a bronze finish. In 2008, WRV was using a pewter finish on the hardware. No big deal. I ordered four pairs of struts so I’ll have spares on hand. The shipping cost was six dollars whether I ordered one pair or four, so I figured I would get the extras.

Old strut on bottom, new pewter finished strut above

Old strut on bottom, new pewter finished strut above

Job done

Job done

The rain finally stopped just before noon. I dumped and flushed our holding tanks, then started another book, North to the Night. It’s a fascinating tale – a true adventure about a couple who deliberately sailed to the Arctic Circle in Greenland to spend a winter trapped in ice in the darkness and learn to live in the inhospitable environment like the Inuits. The book was recommended to Donna by one of the women who attended her informal supper chat and Changing Hands gave her the book as a thank you for doing the book signing.

Around 4:30pm, our friends, Howard and Sara Graff, picked us up. Our destination was the Beer Research Institute (BRI) located at Stapley and Baseline Road. We enjoyed beer and food and caught up with each other a bit. Then we headed out to a birthday party for their friend, Mike. Mike and his wife Dana live in Mesa. They had a nice group of people at their house and a really fun party was well underway when we arrived.

On the way to Mike and Dana’s place, we stopped at the Graff residence for an important item stashed in their freezer. Sara had made a bottle of horseradish-infused vodka. I know it sounds strange, but I was willing to give it a shot! She served it in a shot glass. You drink the shooter, feel the sinus-cleansing horseradish and then eat a dill pickle chip. The pickle chip completely neutralizes the horseradish. She brought the infused vodka, pickle chips and four shot glasses to the party.

Horseradish infused vodka and pickle chips

Horseradish infused vodka and pickle chips

I almost forgot to mention, Sara is a big fan of Breaking Bad. When we stopped by the Graff residence, she showed us her new kitchen towels.

Breaking Bad kitchen towels

Breaking Bad kitchen towels

We had a great time at the party. I won’t say how much vodka we drank, but there wasn’t any left by the time we got out of there at midnight.

Selfie with Donna, Howard and Sara

Selfie with Donna, Howard and Sara

Today is February 1st. Wow, January is already in the rear view mirror. The sun is once again shining and it’s Super Bowl Sunday. I plan to hang out and watch some football!

Simple Switch

Friday was a beautiful day for a bike ride. The temperature reached the mid-70s and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Donna took off on her road bike and headed east on Adobe Street. Shortly thereafter, I unloaded my mountain bike from the trailer and took a ride.

There are nine canals in the Phoenix area that supply irrigation water. In addition to the nine major canals, there are smaller canals called laterals that interconnect the major canals. Some of the laterals are underground. Most of the laterals south of the Salt River are large ditches.

Eastern Canal south of University Drive

Eastern Canal south of University Drive

I followed the Eastern Canal, which was built by the federal government in 1909, south. I made a loop through Mesa and stopped in at a couple of RV lots to kick tires. I also stopped at two trailer sales lots to see if I could find a pneumatic tire for the front jack on our cargo trailer. I have a six-inch wheel on there now, but it’s made from hard plastic and doesn’t roll well unless the trailer is parked on a hard surface. If I drop the trailer in gravel, it’s difficult to move it. I didn’t have any luck in my search though.

Donna spent the remainder of the afternoon working. I went to Lucky Lou’s at 3pm for an early happy hour. I met up with the usual gang there.

Patrick, Leendert, John, Mike and Jodi at Lucky Lou's

Patrick, Leendert, John, Mike and Jodi at Lucky Lou’s

Mike Hall told me about a 1978 Mercedes 450 SL he’s working on. It has a cooling system issue – the electric fan doesn’t work. I threw out a few ideas, then told him I would stop by and have a look on Saturday.

When I arrived at his place on Saturday and looked at the car, I was surprised to see the radiator has an engine-driven clutch fan in a shroud behind the radiator and an electric auxiliary fan in front of the radiator. When we spoke the day before, I assumed it only had the electric fan.

Mike had a Haynes manual for the Mercedes, but it didn’t have any information on the auxiliary fan nor did the wire diagram show the fan circuit. I searched online but couldn’t find anything useful. I spent the next two hours following wires back to the fuse panel and relay panel. It was a real head scratcher. We had already confirmed that the fan motor worked by jumping power directly from the battery.

There are two temperature sensors in the cooling system – a single pole sensor and a double pole sensor. After looking around and thinking a bit, it occurred to me that the single-pole sensor was a simple temperature switch. The double-pole sensor must be for the temperature gauge.

I disconnected the single-pole sensor and had Mike turn the ignition on. Sure enough, I had battery voltage going to the sensor. Here’s what I was thinking. The single-pole sensor is probably a simple bi-metallic switch. It has a metal strip in the center made of two dis-similar metals. As the  coolant heats up in the sensor, the metals expand at different rates, causing the strip to bend. When the strip bends far enough, it touches the metal housing on the sensor, grounding the circuit and the voltage at the connector flows. This low-current voltage activates the relay which, in turn, supplies current to the fan motor.

To test this theory, I grounded the wire connected to the sensor with the ignition key on. Voila! The fan started running. We have a defective sensor. It isn’t grounding the circuit, so the fan relay doesn’t activate. The single-pole sensor is easily replaced and the part is available online.

With that done, Mike bought me lunch at Red, White and Brew. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the engine compartment on our coach and re-securing some insulation that came loose in the compartment. I also cleaned and waxed the right rear corner of the coach. The lawn sprinkler behind our site sprays the right rear corner and leaves hard water spots.

Today is NFL Conference Championship day. I think I’ll hang out and watch football. Donna’s heading out for another bike ride.

On the Roof Again

After posting to the blog yesterday, my first priority was finding EternaBond tape to seal the crack in the roof I wrote about. I rode the scooter down Pinal Avenue to The RV Store. It wasn’t much of an RV store despite the name. The guy behind the counter had never heard of EternaBond.

I rode north to an RV lot, but they didn’t have it either. When I came back to the Casa Grande RV Resort, I saw a truck advertising RV roof repairs and a man and a woman setting up a ladder and equipment next to a motorhome. I stopped and asked them if they had any EternaBond they could sell me. The guy said he didn’t have any with him, but they had some back at the shop if I wanted to stop in next week. I told him we would be in the Phoenix area next week and that maybe I should just wait and get it there.

He asked me why I needed it. I described the ridges over the roof bows and told him there was a hairline crack in one of the ridges. He asked me where my coach was. When I told him it was just around the corner, he said, “Wait a minute.” He dug around in the back of his truck and then set up a tube of sealant in a caulk gun. He told me the acrylic sealant was an industrial-grade product – not something I would find in an RV store or Home Depot. He said I should lay a thin bead of it over the crack and smooth it down. He claimed it would adhere and stay pliable for years. He gave me the caulk gun and said to use it, then put tape over the tip and bring it back to him.

When I got back to the coach, got the ladder out and climbed up on the roof, I was in for another surprise. Yesterday, when I was up there, it was late in the day. The sun was low. The guys were power washing and the roof was mostly wet. When David, the wash guy, told me there was a crack, I wasn’t able to get a really close look – I could just make out what he was pointing at from where I was standing.

Today, the sky was overcast. I was on the roof at noon and the surface was clean and dry. With the flat lighting, the ridges weren’t very noticeable. I think the low sun yesterday made the small ridges cast shadows, exaggerating their form. With the roof clean and dry, I got down on my hands and knees and examined the crack. It turned out be surface checking in the gel coat – a cosmetic crack. Yesterday, when David pointed to the surface crack and said my fiberglass was cracked, I took his word for it and thought we might be in for big trouble. Today, I feel much better knowing it isn’t a structural problem. I still believe the deformation of the fiberglass is the result of the stress I described yesterday – it’s just not as severe as I feared.

For peace of mind, I put down a bead of sealant over the gel coat crack. While I was at it, I sealed up a couple of other fittings on the roof. Then I returned the sealant and caulk gun to the roof guy. They were doing a complete roof reseal on a 40′ National Islander motorhome. That was one of the coaches on my short list when we bought our Alpine Coach.

By the time I was done, Donna was heading out for a tour of Caywood Cotton Farm. A group from the RV park had booked the tour. Donna rode there with a couple from Saskatchewan,  Keith and Dorann, and Keith’s mother, Marian. The tour took the whole afternoon, so I stayed home to watch the NFL playoff games.

Donna took pictures of the tour and learned a lot about the cotton industry. I’ll post her pictures after we settle in Mesa. Tomorrow is a move day, so I probably won’t post again until Tuesday.

Up on the Roof

Have you ever been stopped in your vehicle on a bridge or overpass while a large truck or bus passes by? If so, you probably felt some movement beneath you. That’s because the composite structure of steel, concrete and asphalt that the bridge or overpass was constructed from was flexing! It’s hard to imagine tons of concrete and steel flexing, but nothing is 100% rigid.

When engineers discuss the relative rigidity of a solid material, they call it the modulus of elasticity or Young’s modulus. Different materials have different properties, including their modulus of elasticity. When a force is applied to the material, it will deform. If the resultant stress is within the elastic range of the material, it will elongate or compress, then return to its original state. If the range of elasticity is exceeded, the yield point will be reached and the result is plastic deformation, meaning the material will not return to its original form. If the stress is high enough, ultimate tensile strength can be exceeded and  will result in a sudden breakage and release of stored elastic energy.

I told you all this so I can describe an unexpected finding yesterday. I had our coach washed by a local service, David’s RV Wash, that uses deionized water. I wanted the roof thoroughly cleaned. When David climbed onto the roof, he called me over and said I should see something. I climbed up the ladder and was shocked by what he showed me. Our one-piece fiberglass roof was deformed. It had raised ridges in the fiberglass over several of the supporting roof bows. One of the ridges had a fine crack along the top.

Fiberglass roof deformation over roof bow

Fiberglass roof deformation over roof bow

It looked like the roof support bows had risen up into the fiberglass or the roof itself had sunk into the bows. I’ve been up on the roof of our coach many times and never saw this before. The last time I was on the roof was in July, about five months ago.

I tried to imagine what could have caused this damage since July. After giving the matter much thought, I have a theory. When we were at the Row River over Labor Day weekend, I had a mishap when I was trying to level the coach. This mishap was the result of our leveling jacks working erratically – something I’ve fixed since then.

Here’s what happened. Our site wasn’t level – the coach was in a nose down attitude. And we were on soft ground. I stacked two blocks under each of the front jacks and one block under each of the rear jacks to keep the jacks from sinking into the soft ground. I thought stacking blocks in front would help, allowing the coach to be leveled without extending the front jacks excessively.

Due to ground issue on the HWH hydraulic system control box (that I was unaware of at the time), the auto-level function wasn’t operating properly. When I initiated the auto level, the jacks over-extended abruptly, completely lifting the coach. With the wheels off the ground, we had no parking brake. The coach slid forward, off the blocks.

When the jacks slipped off of the blocks, the coach lurched forward and down into the ground. The jacks dug into the dirt, suddenly stopping the forward and downward motion of the coach. This violent force must have created enough stress for the frame rails to flex. The upward flex of the rails was transferred to the superstructure of the coach, raising the roof bows. At the same time, the sudden stop also flexed the fiberglass roof downward due to inertia.

The contact between the fiberglass roof panel and the roof bows exceeded the elastic range of the fiberglass and it yielded. The resultant plastic deformation created the ridges in the fiberglass roof panel. Meanwhile, the high-strength steel frame and superstructure were within their modulus of elasticity and returned to their original form.

When this mishap occurred, I inspected the jacks and frame under the coach for damage and found minor damage on one jack – which I posted about here. It never occurred to me that the force would result in stress and deformation on the roof. It’s the only explanation I can come up with.

Today, I’ll go to the RV shop and buy EternaBond to repair the crack. I’ll keep an eye on the rest of the roof and hopefully no further damage will be forthcoming.

Two and a Half Months

I’ve been feeling restless lately. Last night, Donna admitted she was feeling the hitch itch as well. We’ve been here at Mission Bay RV Resort for two and a half months. We really enjoy our stay here. The location is perfect for us and we love having the opportunity to spend time with family and friends in the area.

We didn’t meet up with as many old friends as we did last year, but we hooked up with a few. Last year, we had my high school reunion, which put us in touch with a lot of people. The holiday season makes it a busy time for most people.

We also utilized our time here in San Diego to have dental and medical check-ups. My last physical exam was over a year and half ago, before we left Michigan. All my life I’ve had low blood pressure – usually in the range of 100/60 with a resting pulse of about 60 BPM. Before we left Michigan, my blood pressure had crept up to about 130/80. I didn’t worry about it – I thought it was an anomaly of some sort.

When I had the surgery on my hand in September, my blood pressure was higher again. I attributed it to anxiety over the surgery. When I visited the doctor three weeks ago, my blood pressure was way high. Dr. Ryan suggested blood pressure medication (Lisinopril). I started taking 20mg per day.

High blood pressure is a silent killer. Most people with high blood pressure don’t realize it until they have it checked. Left untreated, it can result in heart disease, artery damage, strokes or embolism. I’m usually an active person. Losing 10 pounds might help lower my blood pressure, but it wouldn’t be enough. The biggest factor for me is heredity. High blood pressure runs in the family.

Lisinopril reduces the blood pressure. After having my blood pressure slowly increase over time, my body accommodated to it. The sudden reduction in blood pressure left me feeling lethargic and a little off stride. I haven’t been very active for the last two weeks. I’m feeling better now. I have a follow-up appointment next week and Dr. Ryan may raise the Lisinopril dosage.

Anyway, the lack of activity over the past couple of weeks contributed to my feeling of hitch itch. In 17 days, we’ll hitch up the trailer and move east. We’re planning to boondock for a couple of nights in the desert before we continue east to the Colorado River.

Yesterday, Donna and I tackled an overdue chore – we defrosted the refrigerator. An excessive amount of ice had built up on the cooling fins. This has been problematic, especially in areas with higher humidity. The seal on the refrigerator door doesn’t seal completely, allowing outside air to enter through several leaks. The moisture in the air then condenses on the cooling fins and forms ice.

I found a replacement seal kit from Dometic for $300. This didn’t sound good to me. Because the door is warped, I’m not sure if a new seal would work any better than the one we have and I’d be out $300. I’ve been on the lookout for a replacement door. We may end up replacing the refrigerator.

While the refrigerator was defrosting, I rode the scooter to Ace Hardware. I bought a self-adhesive 1/8 inch-thick compressible rubber seal. I seated this seal on the refrigerator where the door seal makes contact. The door seal now seats against it and seems to be sealing well. Time will tell.

New Phones and Data Plan

One challenging aspect of life on the road is Internet connectivity. I’ve mentioned this before, but It’s something you take for granted when you live in a sticks-and-bricks home with unlimited, high-speed Internet service.

Internet connectivity is a must-have for people on the road. Donna relies on it to do her work and earn income. In my case, it’s more of a convenience to stay in touch and keep up with events.

Many RV parks offer free wifi. We take advantage of that whenever possible, but what they don’t tell you is that “free” really means “free when it’s working.” When the RV park fills up and numerous people are trying to connect, it bogs down. Sometimes it gets so slow that it’s unusable. Or you can’t get connected at all.

When the free wifi is too slow or unreliable, we use our Verizon Jetpack. This device allows us to access the Internet via the Verizon network. It’s on the same account as my Verizon smartphone. Here’s the catch – data usage can get expensive. We try to limit the amount of data we use on our Verizon account. For example, we avoid streaming video content. By carefully monitoring our usage and taking advantage of free wifi whenever possible, we’ve been able to get by with 10GB or less of Verizon data usage per month.

That changed for us on Saturday. Donna and I went to the Verizon store in Pacific Beach. I  stopped there last week and went over the October promotional data plans with the guy there. We upgraded our data plan to 30GB for $130/month. This is a great deal – it’s half the price of a 30GB plan last month. We also upgraded our phones to Samsung Galaxy S5s. It took about two hours to get through the paperwork and account changes. When we came home, we spent several hours getting our phones set up and personalized.

My set-up was easy since I was migrating from a Samsung S4 to the S5. Donna had to back up all of the apps and data on her Samsung Galaxy SII to her laptop and then transfer what she wanted to her new phone. I used an app called Smart Switch Mobile that seamlessly moved my apps from the old phone to the new one. The Verizon guy told me about it last week. He said all of my data would migrate without a hitch.

He was mostly right. All of the apps were moved. One of the ways I amuse myself is by playing a game on my phone called Subway Surfers. I have amassed a huge war chest on this game. I’m at the highest level and had more than a million coins, over 900 hoverboards and hundreds of other bonuses. These riches have allowed me to compete in a weekly challenge where I routinely finish in the top five against other participants worldwide.

Subway Surfers

Subway Surfers – the app – transferred to my new phone. But none of my data came with it. I’m back at the lowest level with no coins or tools. I have to earn them back all over again. It frustrated me, but at the end of the day, it’s just a game. I have the time to work my way back to the top.

In my last post, I mentioned our neighbors with the under-inflated front tire. On Saturday morning, I checked their tire pressure and found 30psi in the left front tire. The right front tire was at 98psi. I set up my portable compressor and tried to fill the left front tire for them. The valve stems on their wheels are short and hard to reach. After 20 minutes of futzing around, I had the left front tire up to 90psi. I put a metal cap on the valve stem. Later, I talked to them and told them what I found. I was hoping it was a leaking valve core and the cap would stop the leak.

On Sunday morning, Donna and I drove Shauna’s car to the airport to pick her up. On the way back, we stopped at the Broken Yolk on Midway Drive for breakfast. This is a popular breakfast restaurant – they have at least three locations in San Diego. Although the food is good, I find them to be overpriced and service is on the slow side.

When we came home, I talked to our neighbor and he told me that their tire was down to 40psi. The guy (I never learned his name) called for roadside assistance. They sent a tow truck! I don’t know why they didn’t send a mobile tire service. The tow truck driver had a large compressor and managed to inflate the tire to 95psi. He sprayed Windex around the rim where the tire bead seats. Bubbles quickly formed along a section of the bead. The tire bead wasn’t sealing. This is usually due to foreign matter caught between the bead and rim. It could be dirt or a piece of paper label from the tire. The only way to fix it is to remove the tire from the wheel and clean the area, then remount and inflate the tire. The tow truck driver wasn’t equipped to do this.

I went back to our coach and turned on the NFL morning game pitting the Green Bay Packers against the Miami Dolphins. Then I saw our neighbors pulling out of the park! He was going to Phoenix, Arizona. I guess he was going to take his chances of driving with a slow leak. I hope it worked out for him. Driving a 30,000+ pound vehicle with his wife and kids on board for 300 miles with a front tire losing air doesn’t seem prudent to me.

In the afternoon, I watched the Chargers play in Oakland. The San Diego-Oakland rivalry dates back to the inception of the American Football League. It’s a bitter rivalry – we don’t like them and they don’t like us. Even though the Chargers had won four straight games and the Raiders were 0-4 (going back to last year, the Raiders have lost 10 straight games), I knew it would be a tough match-up in Oakland.

The Raider fans threw eggs at the Chargers bus as it entered Oakland County Stadium. The game was a gritty see-saw affair. The Chargers took a three-point lead with two minutes left in regulation. Jason Verrett, the Chargers number one in pick in this year’s draft, sealed the game when he intercepted Derek Carr’s pass. The Chargers headed home with a divisional win and their record is now 5-1.

This morning, it’s overcast with a marine layer. I expect it to burn off by noon. We’ll have clear skies and temperatures in the mid-70s this afternoon.

 

PB Farmers’ Market

Monday was a ho-hum day. Donna had work to do and spent most of the day at her laptop. My toe injury kept me from doing much. I spent most of the day watching people pack up and leave Mission Bay RV Resort. It’s part of the weekly cycle. On Thursdays and Fridays, we see new arrivals setting up. On Sundays and Mondays, we watch them leave and go back to their workaday lives.

Empty sites around our coach - until next Friday!

Empty sites around our coach – until next Friday!

A replacement solenoid for the HWH hydraulic system arrived on Monday. I opened the box and saw what appeared to be the wrong part. The cylindrical solenoid housing was much smaller than the one I was replacing. I sent an e-mail to Paul Maddox, the HWH technician. He told me it would work because the threads and working mechanism were the same. I removed the old solenoid and installed the new one. The jack works perfectly again!

Yesterday, Paul called me and asked if I wanted him to send a large replacement solenoid, so it would match the other three. I asked him if there was any technical reason to have it match the others. He said it doesn’t have any effect on the operation. The smaller solenoid is a newer design. It saves space and weight. I told him I didn’t see any reason to go to the bother and expense of shipping another solenoid.

On Monday night, I watched the Kansas City Chiefs demolish the New England Patriots. I didn’t see that coming. It looks like a tough season ahead for the Patriots.

Yesterday, Donna and I rode the scooter to Bayard Street in Pacific Beach. We wanted to check out the farmers’ market there. Every Tuesday, Bayard Street is closed between Garnet and Grand Avenue for the farmers’ market. We rode up at noon. They were just closing down the street. I asked a vendor sitting in his truck what time the market started. He told us it didn’t open until 2pm! I’m not sure if I knew that last year or not. If I knew, I didn’t remember.

Bayard Street is only two blocks from the beach. So we rode to the beach and parked on Pacific Beach Drive. We walked north on the boardwalk and onto Crystal Pier. The breeze over the ocean felt refreshing. There are rental cottages on Crystal Pier – it’s actually called the Crystal Pier Hotel. Donna looked through the windows of a vacant cottage and thought it looked like a nice place. It would really be fun to stay on the pier with so much to do within walking distance. Depending on time of year and cottage size, the rate is $175 to $525 per night to sleep over the ocean.

View of Pacific Beach to the south from Crystal Pier

View of Pacific Beach to the south from Crystal Pier

View north from Crystal Pier

View north from Crystal Pier

On our way back to the scooter, we stopped at the Baja Beach Cafe for lunch. We had the taco plates – Baja style beef tacos for Donna and Mahi-Mahi fish tacos for me. Each plate had three tacos, I ate two fish tacos and one beef, while Donna had two beef and one fish. It was very good. It’s a nice location with open-air dining, looking out at the beach. Good food, good service and great ambiance.

By the time we finished lunch and walked back to the scooter, it was 2pm. We headed back to Bayard Street and found the market open. We walked along, starting at the south end. We wanted to look over all of the vendors before we bought anything. When we reached the north end at Garnet, we backtracked and bought the things we wanted.

I bought local San Diego wildflower honey. I’m going to try to mitigate my pollen allergies by eating local raw honey. I’ve been told by a number of people that this is effective. We are staying here until the end of the year, so I think it’s worth a try. I’ll have a spoonful daily.

Mikloich Family Honey at the PB farmers' market

Mikolich Family honey at the PB farmers’ market

Donna bought an assortment of veggies and some honey-cinnamon roasted almonds. They were a bit pricey, but delicious and Donna thought they would be good for dessert.

Colorful fresh vegetables

Colorful fresh vegetables

Donna also found organic micro herbs at one of the stands. She bought an herb mix to put into salads.

Vegetables and micro herbs

Organic vegetables and micro herbs

After we returned from the market, I rode over to the Offshore Grill and Tavern. I was there to collect a free drink from the football pool winner. The winner of the weekly pool buys a round for the rest of the guys who entered the pool on Tuesday. Usually, there are half a dozen or so pool participants who show up for a free one.

Last evening, we grilled spinach and feta chicken sausages that Donna served with steamed rainbow chard from the farmers’ market. We dined al fresco at our picnic table. The cool evening air felt good. We finished a great day by watching a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad and munching on honey-cinnamon roasted almonds.

I’m posting later than usual today because we had dental appointments this morning. Donna and I were overdue for a cleaning and check-up. We found a dentist office nearby at the De Anza View Medical Center. It’s about a mile from the house I lived in when I was a kid. The dentist I had while I was growing up had an office at the center. We both had a clean bill of health from the dentist. Hooray!

I’ll be out and about this afternoon running a few errands.

Going Home

My last post ended with a phone call Tuesday morning from Giant RV in Murrieta telling me they had found a motor for our HWH pump and would have it that afternoon. Tom, from Giant RV, told me he would have it around 3pm. Kathy, from West Wind RV, juggled their schedule and would send Mike over Wednesday morning to install the new motor.

I mapped out a route to Giant RV, avoiding I-15. Although our scooter is capable of 75mph, I don’t like riding it that fast. I also don’t like having cars blow by me on the interstate. The route I mapped out had 50-55 mph speed limits which meant most cars were going 60-65 mph. It was 25 miles from Jojoba Hills to Giant RV.

I left Jojoba Hills around 2:30pm. I estimated 45 minutes for the 25-mile ride with traffic. I wanted to get the part and be on my way home before rush hour. My ETA was good, I arrived at Giant RV at 3:15pm.

I told the girl at the parts counter that I was there to pick up an HWH motor they had for me. She said, “Oh, Tom was just talking about that. I think he went on lunch break. Let me see if I can find him.” This didn’t sound good.

She came back with Tom. He told me he didn’t have the part. The manager of their store in Colton neglected to put it on the transfer list, so their driver didn’t pick it up. He said he would get it tomorrow.

I stayed calm as I explained my situation to him. Without the part, we couldn’t move and West Wind had re-arranged their schedule based on me having the part. He said, “Give me a minute and I’ll see what we can do.”

A few minutes later, he told me he was going to Colton to get the part. I would have to sit tight until he returned. It was 3:30pm. I wasn’t familiar with Colton, so I asked how far away it was. He said it was 45 miles!

The parts manager from Murrieta happened to be in a meeting at the Colton store. Tom phoned ahead and apprised him of the situation. The manager was not planning to return to the Murrieta store, but he took the part and met Tom halfway. I had the part in hand a little before 5pm. Tom really went out of his way to correct their mistake and I was very grateful.

Kathy called me later that evening to confirm our appointment and to make sure I had the part. We were all set.

On Wednesday morning, Mike installed the new motor. He showed me a couple of tricks to get the old motor out and the new one in. There aren’t any manuals for removing and replacing parts of an HWH hydraulic unit. Now I know how to do it correctly and will tackle the job myself if I ever have to. I plan to have the old motor rebuilt so I’ll have a spare on hand if needed.

With the new motor, the HWH unit seems quieter and the slides seem to move a little faster. I had nothing to compare to before, so I didn’t know the old unit was noisy. That would’ve been my only indication that something was going wrong with the motor. Other than that, it failed without warning.

We pulled out of Jojoba Hills just past noon. As we drove down highway 79, Donna snapped a photo of a roadside sculpture. There’s an artist community in that area and we suspect they are responsible for the beautiful metal sculptures on this section of highway. She took a photo through the windshield of wild horses jumping across the highway.

Wild horses jumping across highway 79 near Temecula

Wild horses jumping across highway 79 near Temecula

Less than two hours later, we checked in at Mission Bay RV Resort. I dropped our trailer across from the security shack and we set up in site 114. The security supervisor recognized us and welcomed us back. Donna said to me, “I wonder if he’ll notice we have a new coach.” I said, “He sees so many rigs come in and out of here, I doubt if he’ll notice we have a different coach.” Later, the security supervisor asked me if we had a new rig. He remembered our old coach! I feel like I’ve come home again.

We like to mix it up and stay in a variety of locations. Sometimes it’s nice to be boondocking in a secluded area without noise and starry skies at night. And sometimes we like staying in an RV park in a quiet, rural area or in an urban setting where we can explore and go bicycling.

For me, San Diego is home base. I have many connections here. My youngest daughter is at Cal Western School of Law, my step-dad lives in Menifee, and Donna has two sisters here. I have many good friends here. And there are many places that bring back memories. Plus we love being able to ride our bikes right out of the park on trails that take us to the beaches.

After I set up, I showered and rode the scooter over to my favorite watering hole, Offshore Grill and Tavern. Meanwhile, Donna’s sister, Linda, came over to visit. I had a couple of IPAs and a poke (po-key) plate at Offshore and caught up with some of the old crowd there. I picked up a football pool sheet and plan to donate to the pool.

Poke plate

Poke plate

On the way back, I was struck by all of the activity in Mission Bay Park. There were various exercise groups on the grass. There were families picnicking. Volleyball games were going on. And of course, people were out on the water.

Family picnic and volleyball in the park

Family picnic and volleyball in the park

When I returned, Donna and Linda had gone out to eat at  the Pacific Beach Fish Shop. Later, my daughter, Shauna, stopped by to visit. Life is good. It was a great day.

I’m looking forward to getting on my bicycle and taking a ride to Pacific Beach today. Although the temperature is a little higher than usual, it’s much more comfortable than the heat we’ve been in for the past few weeks. Today we should see abundant sunshine and a high of 81 degrees.

Bad Motor for Sure

Coach – Net served me well yesterday. They contacted a mobile RV service, West Wind, located nearby in Murrieta. Kathy from West Wind called me and said she would send Mike out to our site between 3pm and 4pm.

Mike arrived at a quarter past three. I told him what happened and the tests I performed. He re-checked some of the diagnostic steps and said he thought I had a bad motor on the HWH pump. Then he connected an external battery directly to the motor, bypassing the motorhome circuitry. The motor didn’t run. This doesn’t ensure that we don’t have any other issues, but it confirms the diagnosis of a faulty motor. From the tests I performed earlier, I don’t see any other problems in the system.

The next step was to locate a replacement part. Mike found the part number for the assembly and told me of a couple of possible sources for the motor from nearby RV dealers. I called around, but no one had the motor in stock. I looked online at the HWH site and found the correct part number for the motor to fit my assembly. I did more online searches, but didn’t come up with anything.

I called Paul Maddox, the HWH technician who helped me with the jack solenoid. He’s in Arizona. He said he knew someone who had the motor I needed, but he would have to drive 10 miles to pick it up, then drive another 30 miles to get to a FedEx outlet to ship it. He said I should try to get it from HWH as they could ship overnight. It wouldn’t take any longer to get it from them. He told me the retail price of the motor was $284, and I shouldn’t pay any more than that – he said he’d heard of unscrupulous outfits charging as much as $500 for the part.

I looked on eBay and saw couple of replacement motors priced from $298 to $399. No deals – and I don’t know who the actual manufacturer was. The HWH part is made by Monarch.

Ebay photo of the replacement motor

eBay photo of the replacement motor

I called Mike at West Wind and told him I couldn’t get the motor. He said he would get it from HWH and call me in the morning to confirm.

Mike called me this morning at 9:15 and said the motor was on its way and would be at his shop tomorrow. He told me the cost of the part was $284 plus shipping. We made an appointment for Thursday morning to have it installed.

Newsflash!  I just got a callback from Giant RV in Murrieta. They were one of the dealers I spoke to yesterday. They located a motor and can have it by 3pm today! I called Mike and he was able to cancel the order from HWH. Giant RV will sell me the motor for $276 plus $22 tax. This is surely less expensive than overnight shipping from HWH. I’ll ride the scooter over to Murrieta this afternoon and pick up the part. Mike juggled his schedule and will try to be here by noon tomorrow to install it.

I made one final test. I powered up the HWH system and had Donna hold the generator retract switch. With voltage delivered to the motor, I tapped on the motor housing with a hammer. It ran for a few seconds every time I whacked it and we got the generator slide in. This is the old Chevy starter motor trick. It confirmed the circuit is good, the motor is bad.

Today I want to tidy up some of the wiring I inspected and repair the hook-and-loop fasteners on the front panels, a project I’ve been meaning to get to. I’ll arrange a late checkout from Jojoba Hills. We may not be a day late after all, but I’ll be several hundred dollars short!