Beginning the trip toward the northwest–but those drive tires on the truck are looking a bit worn.
Category: vehicles
Because Cycling
And they say we carry a lot in our RV.
Adventures With Prius (Prii?)
There’s still stuff in storage, but we got most of the short term stuff out. Even had wheels rolling 15 min ahead of schedule.
On the way south, traffic was snarled badly by a Prius with Ohio plates doing 60 in a 75. We cruise at 61 or so. We passed him, but with a bit of extra diesel smoke.
A bit later, we stopped to pick up a few necessities at Camping World then hit the road again.
About 30 miles ahead, on a different Interstate, there’s another traffic snarl.
A Prius.
Doing 60 in a 75.
With Ohio plates.
Same. Driver.
18 Meters and 10 Tons
We don’t like overnighting in parking lots. But, when there are lots of miles to go and limited days to be someplace, our long travel days sometimes end at a Walmart, Cracker Barrel, or a Home Depot.
Tonight, it’s the Home Depot in Davenport, Iowa.
We’ll get Ohio on another trip, but we’ll pick up Minnesota on the drive to Sioux Falls tomorrow.
In other news, today was the first day pulling the new mega-bunkhouse. (Doing the final checks, in the rain, above)
It’s big.
Really big. (Side by side with the Jayco)
We’re nearly 60ft long now, and, at the moment, 20,000 lbs. – probably a touch over. We’ll be about 1,500 lb. heavier when we empty our storage unit.
The 2002 SRW/2WD Duramax does pull it, and at a reasonable speed, too. Though mileage would improve slightly if we set the cruise a bit slower.
Regular Maintenance
UPGRAYEDD started displaying an annoying symptom when we were up at deer camp recently: stalling shortly after starting.
Been there, done that – just hadn’t got round to repairing the issue just yet.
Helpful onlookers would say, “oh, that’s your injectors – those Duramax engines are notorious for that. That’s too bad.”
Oh, injectors! $600 each and it uses 8 of them…and one would need to tear down all of the intake to get valve covers off to replace them. It’s more expensive and time consuming than it sounds.
But, no, it isn’t. And, no, they aren’t.
Actually, the biggest problem with the Duramax is that it doesn’t have a lift pump to push fuel up to the motor and instead uses vacuum from the high pressure pump on top of the engine to suck diesel fuel uphill three feet through 16 foot of fuel line.
Means it’s very, very prone to sucking air.
Very.
Solution?
1. Check for and correct loose fittings on the vacuum side. $0
2. Ensure it has a properly installed fuel filter and WIF sensor. $0 – $25
3. Rebuild the fuel filter head. $20
Usually campgrounds frown on doing much more than maybe checking the oil in your tow vehicle. But I knocked out all three this morning before most people got their day started.
the rest of me 