We were driving toward Carbondale, Ill when the “Do Not
Shift” light came on again. My first thought was that something had gone wrong
with the transmission repair done just a few days ago – the new “output shaft
speed sensor” had failed, or the plug connecting it to the wiring harness had
come undone. We kept going while Dinah
researched the nearest transmission repair place.
But then the speedometer became erratic and pegged at 80MPH
while the GPS said we were doing less than 60.
When the tachometer started to fail and we began to loose power we decided it
was time to get off the road. We turned onto a side street and headed for a
deserted gas station. About 200 feet
from the gas station, the engine quit and it slowly dawned on me that this was
more than a transmission problem. For
the first time I checked the dashboard voltmeter. It showed that the vehicle
battery voltage was below 8 volts.
Our RV has 2 separate sets of batteries: the “vehicle”
batteries which handle the starter, engine, headlights, etc, and the “house”
batteries which operate the inside lights, refrigerator, and, through the
inverter, the TVs, microwave, and other 110v stuff. There is a dashboard switch
that connects the two systems together, and by using that switch I was able to
get the engine started again, and get us off the road.
I knew the vehicle batteries were old, and had been drained
and left discharged for months when we left the RV in storage in 2006. I
assumed they had died and started to collect the measurements and specs I would
need to replace them when it dawned on me that the symptoms pointed to a
charging problem, not a battery problem. If I tied the 2 electrical systems
together and used the 110v generator to charge the house batteries, we would be
in business! Rather than holding the momentary contact dashboard switch to
connect the two systems while I drove, I rigged a jumper on the relay that the
switch controls, watched the vehicle battery voltage slowly climb, and we were
on our way. There was nothing wrong with the transmission – it was just
reacting to the low voltage.
We spent the night in a campground in Poplar
Bluff, MO with an appointment
at the local truck repair place for this morning. They quickly diagnosed a bad alternator and replaced
it. Two hours and five hundred dollars later we were on our way.
We have been very fortunate in that none of the problems we
have had with our motor home over the years have required that we be towed – we
have always been able to get to a repair facility under our own power. We are
hoping that our good luck will continue.
