the odyssey continues...

We started out yesterday in good spirits and contrary to our usual plan decided to take the highway (interstate 10) to try to make some time.

We made it about an hour when there was a shudder from an unknown source

The engine temp seemed to rise a bit thereafter but it was high noon and really hot so it was hard to tell what the cause was

I decided to leave the highway and go to our original plan of staying on the secondary roads

About ½ hour later our A/C got warm quickly so we pulled into another O’Reilly Auto Parts store to access the situation

I popped the hood and quickly noted that the A/C belt was off the compressor pulley, maybe this would be easily solved

I went into O’Reilly to get the belt and some fuel tank additive that Todd in Baton Rouge had suggested we use

While we were pretty sure we had the right belt from their computer I went out and cut the old one off to get the numbers off it for reference

After confirming the right belt the O’Reilly guy went out to the RV to give some possible guidance on installing the belt

When I decided I didn’t want to tackle the belt install he referred me to Kwik Kar around the corner

A quick check of Google on my android phone (both of which have been extremely invaluable, more about that later) came up with two locations and the parts guy confirmed the address of the location close by

A call o Kwik Kar resulted in an invite to come by to see if they could install the belt

Lee met us in the parking lot where we popped the hood and he said he could install the belt

I drove around back and nosed the RV into an empty bay to get it out of the sun for Lee to work and for the radiator and engine to cool off

Lee pointed out that one of the bolts on the alternator mount that helped keep the proper tension in place was missing and may have been the cause of the belt being thrown

I eye-balled the bolt hole and the kept nut behind it but wasn’t sure of the exact size

Luckily there was an Advance Auto Parts Store two doors away so I ran over to look for bolts, I was hoping they would be able to specify the bolt from their computer

Bolts aren’t cataloged the way other parts are available so an Advance Auto person named Kevin helped me find some bolts and offered to go over to Kwik Kar to see if we could get the right one

We left Advance without paying for a thing and working on trust

The radiator was still very hot but I reached carefully into the engine compartment and tried the bolt that I thought was correct

In threaded in but got real snug and one point, Lee tried and wasn’t sure either

Lee suggested that the other bolt at the top point in the alternator was probably the same and that could be pulled and tried in the hole then used to match at Advance

I pulled the top bolt and tried it in the lower hole and it fit with a wrench in hand

I took the sample bolt to Advance and matched it with their gauges and it was the first bolt I had tried, paid for the bolt and washer and back to Kwik Kar

Lee installed the A/C belt and bolts and had me start up the engine, the battery was extremely weak and just able to start it

Lee observed quickly that the alternator wasn’t spinning when the engine was running (and therefore not charging the battery) as well as what looked like the water pump (yikes!)

Alas another belt was missing

Back to Advance and brought two belts back to Kwik Kar with Kevin from Advance

There are two sizes alternators for this motor and we weren’t sure which it was, I’d settle up with Kevin once we knew which belt was correct

Lee installed the alternator & water pump belt and we started the engine again to a squealing of the belts

Alas what we thought was the water pump was seized and not moving at all

That is what may have caused the shudder and would have burned and broken the belt very quickly

But without the water pump the engine would have overheated immediately???

Upon further evaluation the seized pump was the pollution or smog pump, could we get another?

Yet another trip to Advance next door… there are two smog pumps on this engine and their computer showed two different types of pumps for each of the two pumps on the engine, they had only one of the four pumps in stock

So I brought the pump to Kwik Kar with Kevin at Advance (who had been to Kwik Kar once already to evaluate bolts) to see if it was the right one

Yes! As soon as Lee pulled it out of the box he said it was the one and started to take to the old one out

Kevin headed back to Advance with the empty box and we decided I’d settle up with him on the bolts, belts and pump once we knew what was what

By this time it was getting late on a Saturday afternoon, Kwik Kar closed at 5p, most of the staff filtered out as their projects were completed

The girls had moved from the sweltering RV to the very nice air conditioned waiting room with bathroom, soda fountain, upholstered chairs and a TV showing movies

Mollie got into a movie while I think Lucy read more of her book

Eventually Lucy & I got hungry and walked to the Subway nearby for an early dinner and milkshakes, we brought one back to Mollie

By then Lee was ready to start the engine to test the install

All seemed fine except for a leak under the engine that turned out to be a transmission line, the high pressure side

All efforts to locate a line and get one made failed, Kevin from Advance called all the local parts stores (he said he’d drive himself to get the part if someone had it or could make it) and even located a fabricator that was on call 24 hrs

While the fabricator would come on site (for a fee of course) Lee determined he’d need help to lift the engine to install the new transmission line so we called it a day and we’d have to stay in Lake Charles for the rest of the weekend

Lee tried some JB Weld to seal the hole on a temporary basis but the weld didn’t hold so he filled the transmission fluid and hooked us up with a funnel and a gallon of transmission fluid

We located a local campground only 3 miles away, verified they had space, wifi and took credit cards (very low on cash at the moment and not getting my cards to work in ATMs)

The Yogi Bear campground even had a waterpark!

We’ll be back at Kwik Kar on Monday (tomorrow) at 8a to go at it again

We headed to the campground only to find the waterpark was little more than and kiddie pool with a twisty slide, granted the slide was more than a kiddie slide it wasn’t what I was expecting even after the person who answered the phone said it was a small water park

Lucy did use the slide and said it was fast and fun even though it was small so that made me feel a little better

The wifi didn’t work at all last night despite the best efforts of Winnie to reset the router multiple times and it would be Monday before they could call someone to fix it! Bummer!

After I visited the ranger station (the office at Yogi parks) and was told there wasn’t anything  they could do and weren’t apologetic about no wifi it started working ½ hour later

So we have connectivity, albeit slow for now

 

Android and Google

I have a HTC Incredible phone that uses the Android platform along with all the Google functions

There is so much good and helpful info available via the HTC and Google

We navigate with GPS and Google maps

Find everything under the sun with Google

Get reviews on possible stops and resources

And so much more

And all pretty easy to use

 

The heat!

It is so hot here

The roof top cabin A/C is new and works well

We have turned it on in the evening to cool off for sleeping and since we’ve been in LA we’ve left it on low all night

Now during the day we have it on full tilt on the coldest setting and it’s still hot in the RV

We are in the sun with very little shade in this park so we’re an oven of sorts

Swimming helps but I start sweating again as soon as I get out

Can’t wait for the sun to go down!

 

While it was cooler in the AM I made Bob’s Red Mill GF Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal

Hot dogs for lunch on the gas stove

Strict burn ban here due to long drought this year

 

More later

Send lots of good thoughts and prayers our way for a quick and successful repair tomorrow morning

And no more delays

Thx all!

 

Jay