Off Route

Typical of our travels, we had to change our itinerary. While at Fort Stockton we noticed the front of our car had something sprayed on it but it was too dark to figure out what. It was obvious, however, that it was coming from the RV. So we made a request for service at Cummins in both Odessa and El Paso, as we weren't sure where we would be going.

I crawled under this morning, thinking the drain on our fuel filter wasn't tight but it was. I looked around and saw that there was oil leaking from somewhere but I couldn't see exactly from where. When Odessa called we made an appointment, hauled tail up there and that is where we are.

We got here at 11:30, they took our rig in around 2:30, and discovered a pin hole in our turbo oil drain pipe. They suggest it was corrosion from salt. Of course, that part isn't something kept in stock so it was ordered from Dallas and will be here in the morning.

I mentioned that I also thought we were lacking power from our engine. We could be going up a moderate incline at 65 mph and crest it at 55 mph or less. So they did some diagnosis, not yet completed, and the computer analysis gave a 559 code, one of those generic codes that say something is wrong without saying what. So further analysis indicated we have a weak lift pump. The pump assists in getting fuel into the injectors and should run at 15-20 psi, with a minimum of 11 psi. Ours was at 3.5 so we said replace it. Yep, that also had to be ordered.

When they moved the RV out of their building and into the parking lot, both the troubleshooter and the service supervisor said it sounded as if one of the injectors was "missing" or misfiring. That will be checked out further in the morning.  So here we sit in their parking lot, but at least we are in the RV. They hooked us up with 30 amp electric for the night, and tomorrow they are going to replace the parts and continue the diagnostics. We feel we want everything not working to be repaired or replaced one time rather than having to keep stopping all the time.