Winter’s Behind Us?

On By JohnIn travelLeave a comment

The weekly forecast says the lowest low will be 44F, with temperatures generally rising over the next seven days. That’s a good sign. Can I finally de-winterize the trailer? Again? For the third time this spring?

In other news, spotted at Jay’s place, I just read that GM is recalling some 2.7 million cars and trucks including the Silverado. Thankfully, UPGRAYEDD is two years older than the recall’s earliest model year. I certainly share his feelings about my tax dollars being well-spent to maintain a product.

This weekend, if it doesn’t rain horribly, I’m going to strip out a couple of feet of UPGRAYEDD’s low-side fuel hoses to replace them with actual fuel hose. A previous owner/shop-monkey/backyard-mechanic thought it was perfectly suitable to use heater-grade hose for fuel lines.

For short-term use, sure. You could. In an emergency. But heater hose is not rated for gas or diesel exposure. So I’ll be fixing that.

Also, if I can run up to Camping World (hey, who needs an excuse to drop by Camping World now and again?) I’ll pick up and install a screen door cross-bar for the trailer. That should make it easier for the kids to close the door.

Next on the list is propane. I have four tanks — two on the trailer, and two empties. I like to keep plenty on hand.

And, finally, because we’re winding up for some serious camping this year, we’ll be completely emptying the trailer into the driveway so we can inventory, organize, and repack everything where it belongs. It turns out that the whole ‘organization’ thing is kind of important when you have a tiny house.

Colorado Springtime

On By JohnIn travelLeave a comment

We’ve had a few days near 85F so far this year along the Colorado Front Range. I even had the mower out on Saturday to give the yard its second trim of the Spring.

Today: 30F, sometimes moderate snow.

Overnight tonight: 20F.

Guess I’ll have to drain the water heater and fresh tank again then blow out the water lines.

Someday, we’ll have the flexibility to retreat to warmer climes during the Winter and cooler in the Summer.

Weekender & Weather

On By JohnIn outdoors, travelLeave a comment

Did a quick trip up to Jackson Lake State Park in northeast Colorado this weekend with a bit of fishing for some absolute monster carp.

Misplaced Odin’s PFD — but won’t replace it until I get a chance to look in the garage.

I also lost the ever-important 4-Way T adapter for the sewer line, so draining the tanks is a two-person job until it gets replaced.

We knew that Sunday would have a bit of wind and rain. We just didn’t expect it to be that windy and rainy! It started late Saturday night and kept going. Daisy commented this morning that it felt like we were sleeping in an airplane going through turbulence. And we were quite stationary.

Still, our proximity to the lake was fortunate — a few steps from the front door and we were on a wee beach:

Due to the worsening weather, we decided to just pack up early and head for home. Good thing, too, because it kept getting worse and worse. On the drive back, due to the severe headwinds, UPGRAYEDD had trouble staying above 55 in a few spots. I wonder how it’ll do with a trailer a bit more than twice as heavy.

Because we skipped breakfast, we thought we’d stop at Cracker Barrel on the way back toward home.

Never, ever stop at Cracker Barrel near lunch time on a Sunday. Ever.

RV parking? Ha! Those are some funny-looking, super-compact RVs, right there. What’s intriguing is that with one exception, every one of them positioned themselves precisely  in the middle of each RV space.

The wait was an hour, so we skipped it kept heading home.

Truck Maintenance & Some Geekery

On By JohnIn travel, vehiclesLeave a comment

When we bought UPGRAYEDD, we knew that there would be a few things here and there to repair. One thing that we learned the day we took possession is that the engine has a behavior that we didn’t see during the test drives: when stationary, in gear, at idle, when above regular operating temperature: it lopes.

Noticeably and very annoyingly.

We hadn’t noticed it during the test drives because we bought it during the winter and it never had a chance to actually reach regular operating temperature.

Put it in neutral and the lope stops. Give it just a touch of throttle and the lope stops. Let it start rolling and after a couple of lopes to get moving, the lope stops.

Hmm.

Doing idle-speed maneuvering to position a trailer in a campsite or the driveway? It’s feels like a medium-sized gorilla is hopping on the hitch.

I’ve been suspecting all kinds of potential problems:

  • An air leak after the MAF.
  • Gummed up vacuum lines or even a failing vacuum pump.
  • Bad injectors — and let’s not have -that- discussion again.
  • Potential problem with the torque convertor, which is about as expensive as it sounds.
  • Fuel system sucking air — diesels do -not- tolerate air leaks in fuel systems.
  • Bad fuel pump or pressure regulator.

So, yesterday, I set to systematically working through the fuel and vacuum systems to see if I can identify a root cause. Here’s what I found:

  • Yes, there was an air leak after the MAF, and the MAF was loose. Repaired both, but no change. Pass.
  • Vacuum lines are clear, no leaks, all actuators are functioning smoothly. Pass.
  • It has 8 new injectors, now with about 1200 miles on them. Pass. Also, no evidence of high-pressure internal fuel leaks. Pass.
  • Torque convertor shows no signs of mechanical failure. It’s well-balanced and perfectly smooth in park, neutral, and while in motion. Pass.
  • Fuel system: water/fuel separator was damaged and installed incorrectly. It would have been allowing air ingress. It needs a replacement, but I don’t have one right now. I did reinstall it correctly on a new fuel filter. No change in behavior. Pass.
  • Fuel pump & pressure regulator (FPR/MPROP). You know, that the vacuum-side of the fuel system didn’t seem to resolve it and that at high power, there are no stumbles, I think the fuel pump is probably fine, too. Going to hold off on the high-pressure side for awhile.

…to be continued…