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Inject Resp Time Long
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Man…talk about a string of really bad luck!! Sorry to hear all your trials and tribulations. Hope you get it resolved quickly, Davy.
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I feel really bad for Davy, he’s not on vacation and needs to keep the wheels running.
2025 Marathon H3 / 4th Prevost
21 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel 4x4 -
I feel really bad for Davy, he’s not on vacation and needs to keep the wheels running.
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Very sorry to hear how Davy’s situation is playing out. Must be an emotional roller coaster.
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Sometimes there are no options and Davy may have been in that situation, but one thing I really believe and make every effort to follow is who touches my coach.
If it is related to the chassis, I go to Prevost. If it is related to the house or conversion systems I go to the converter or a company qualified to work on my specific conversion. If it relates to the engine or transmission I go to the engine or transmission dealer, and if it is related to tires I go to a qualified commercial tire dealer.
I do not believe in paying a shop for their on the job training.
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Davy is rolling when he went back they could not find anything wrong…once again all work was performed at Prevost with Prevost doing the engine removal and install…3rd party did all the work that Prevost recommended and Davy is confidant in their knowledge, the gasket kit called for just didn’t fit right, however the mechanic didn’t catch it…..
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Okay, time to tell the story. Thank you for your compassion and prayer. My older brother who is a letter pressman and not a doctor has diagnosed me with Bus Psychosis. Although he skipped medical school to go to work and get married, it is probably a very accurate diagnosis. This has been an emotional roller coaster, but my wife and I have been stable and at peace in our minds. We moved out of the bus and into a Sunday School room of a church 80 miles away and were able to carry right on with our duties.
Being who I am and the faith I embrace, I give God honor for that before I even tell this story. I mean no offense by that and all the other disclaimers that are required nowadays.
I should probably break this down into parts so as not to be too long.
Breakdown and Tow
On Thursday, January 24, at 9:00 PM the bus lost power on a very busy I-45 south on the north side of Houston. It was if I cut off the key. The Detroit Diesel monitor showed the alarm I posted at the beginning of this thread. I was surprised that no one here had ever had this alarm personally. Maybe in telling it, I can give information to someone in the future.
I could not coast to an exit so I was dead on the shoulder of a very busy interstate. The bus would crank, but would not start.
I text Jeff Rowe. He guided me through what to do over the coming hours. Jeff’s steady hand and bus knowledge is always a plus for me and the girls. I am so thankful he still takes my calls.My first call was to Prevost Action Service, which is a 24-hour helpline for Prevost owners and drivers. I might should say this. The first Prevost Action guy told me to call Prevost Houston. To my questions, he said Prevost Houston was open 24 hours a day and would send a mobile truck to me. I suspected he was wrong and of course, he was. When I called back the second time I talked to Joe and he really went the extra mile.After lots of connections and back and forth conversations, Joe and the regional Prevost rep found there was no one in the Houston area that could send a roadside mechanic until morning and the best option was to tow the bus. They recommended Priority Towing, gave me their phone number then connected me directly.I earnestly wanted to avoid the tow hook, but spending the night on the side of I-45 was not an option. Brandon from Priority Towing arrived at 12:06 and it was immediately obvious I was in the right hands. By 1:10 we were rolling about 20 miles to Prevost Houston.Two things about the tow. First, I have Good Sam and called them after the tow was arranged. Priority Towing was not on their list of providers, but I decided to stay with them since they were recommended by Prevost. I have submitted an application for consideration of reimbursement. The tow was a reasonable $825.Secondly, some have asked me why I did not go to a Detroit specialist like Stewart Stevenson. First, no one could get a hold of them that night. Prevost Action had no idea if Stewart Stevenson could even look at the coach. Joe talked to the service manager, Chris, at Prevost and his said come on in. We will get a Detroit guy here to look at it.Priority Towing told me I could not stay in the bus at Stewart Stevenson even that first night. He also told me Stewart Stevenson in Houston has more oil field work than they can handle and I would probably we way down the list in importance to them. That may not be the case, but that was his opinion.
By 2:20 AM we were off the hook and inside. What a night.Davy -
The Diagnosis and Repair
Friday morning at Prevost I met with Chris the Service Manager. He told me that he had called Mid Coast Diesel that does most of their Detroit work. As you know, Prevost has not used Detroit engines for at least 8-9 years so they no longer train their guys on Detroits or keep their computers updated with the lastest licensed Detroit software.
A Prevost mechanic did try to access the codes on the engine computer but it was a no go. Mid Coast said it would be Monday before they could get there so we loaded up some clothes and gear and drove 80 miles to Sweeny, Texas where we were beginning services that night.
Monday morning Mark from Mid Coast Diesel came to Prevost Houston and hooked the computer to the BoggsMobile. The bus computer was showing the code that corresponded with the alert the Detroit Diesel Monitor had given me when the bus quit Thursday night, Inject Resp Time Long. He began heavily leaning toward the wiring harness, but he looked diligently for other causes too.
After he cleared the codes, cleaned some grounds and cleaned some of the wiring harness plugs, he asked me to crank the bus and it started. Yay! In a few minutes, it was purring like a kitten. He checked all the fuel injectors and all was well on the computer. After running for nearly an hour he went back to the engine and started messing with wires. When he pressed the wires on the wiring harness from the computer to the fuel injectors, the engine almost died. Bingo!
He had duplicated what the computer was telling him and that is a positive thing. We would not want to go through the expense and hassle of replacing the harness without some confirmation.
While he was telling his bosses to locate a new harness I set about clearing out from under the bed to see if the engine could be accessed from the floor. After several hours and several people looking it over, it was determined to be a no go. If I was somewhere more familiar with conversions, it might could have been done, but not at Prevost Houston. Pulling the engine was going to be a better option. I can not even believe I am saying that pulling the engine was going to be better.😓
A plan was set in motion over the next few minutes. Prevost would pull the engine and put it back in. Mid Coast would do the engine work.
I had some decisions to make by the next day. Mid Coast recommended I change the fuel injectors while the engine was open since I had 350,266 miles on the bus. The original ones were working fine, but if one went out 6 months from now, all the work that was being done would have to be duplicated.
I have a hard time making a decision like that and I certainly did not know what was best. My wife reminded me of our family policy. When we do not know what to do, we go with the advice of the person we trust that has some level of expertise in that specific area. Jeff Rowe is that guy for us and he said with the mileage and age, he would lean toward replacing the injectors.
I trust Jeff, not only because he knows much more than me, but he also understands quite a bit about where we are in the grand scheme of things. He knew without me telling him that this repair was going to stretch us beyond our limits and he would not recommend something just to hear himself talk. Decision made.
Prevost did not want to remove the engine without the parts and Mid Coast did not have the parts in hand until Wednesday. They pushed the bus into the shop Wednesday afternoon the sixth day after the breakdown. Thursday morning Henry from Prevost began taking out the engine in earnest. I liked Henry immediately.
Friday morning Meho from Mid Coast was there to tear into the project. I like him too.
The old wiring harness
The $332.13 replacement.
Three of the new injectors in.
Rocker arms back on and valves being adjusted.
The new wiring harness in.
Meho finished up that same day, Friday, and by Tuesday afternoon Henry had the engine in and ready to crank. That is when he discovered the oil gusher Jeff told you about.
You can see the inside of the engine underneath the gray gasket in the picture below. That gap was about 8-10 inches long and there was a smaller one on the other side of the engine.
Meho came Wednesday morning, February 6 to program the injector numbers into the computer and to check the oil leak. He loosened the rocker cover bolts and tightened them several times, but he could not close the gap. To everyone’s disappointment, it was obvious the engine had to come back out.
Meho called his boss to tell him the news and that he thought he should stay and help with the removal, fix the problem and help with the insertion. His boss agreed and so did Chris from Prevost.
About one hour and fifty minutes later, the engine was out and the valve cover was removed. Wow!
The troubleshooting begins.
Meho tried a new gasket, the second, but the rocker cover would not seat properly. Then he began to suspect the rocker cover was warped. The old gasket would seat properly so the new gaskets were examined carefully.After repeatedly going over everything that had been changed, he eventually hit on the culprit. The bolts that secure the rocker cover have a bushing. He had changed them per his normal procedure. Once he compared the new bushings and the old bushings, he discovered the new ones were slightly shorter.The part number on the new bushings was the correct match for the serial number on my engine, but they were not the correct part. It was an honest mistake, but not one that Meho is likely to make again. He had checked the tightness of the gasket to the engine at the ends around the cams and it was good. He assumed the rest was good. I am in no way disparaging Meho or Mid Coast. An honest mistake was made and they rose to the occasion. I would not hesitate one moment to have Meho work on anything I have. He is knowledgable, skillful and has a great work ethic and attitude.I thought I took a picture of the bolt and bushing, but I can not find one. These are similar bushings from the Internet.The sleeve of the bolt is designed to bottom out and the bushing holds the rocker cover tight against the gasket and the motor. The shorter bushing allowed the bolt to bottom out without pressing the bushing against the cover. Problem found and solved.They pushed the motor back in at 1:21 on Wednesday and began to hook it up. They cranked it at 3:00, one hour and forty minutes later. Wow again!I could have test driven it then, but Houston rush hour was heating up and I decided to drive it the next day. They also needed to replace the temperature sensor on the transmission fluid and that would not be in until first thing Thursday.Thursday morning I brought my family and all of our gear and loaded up in the bus. We test drove it 42 miles and all was good. We hooked up the car and headed east. Very glad to be leaving Texas at last.The rest of the story is next.Davy -
I might not have even mentioned this, but the cat is out of the bag so here it goes.
When we left Prevost Houston Thursday we intended to drive about 300 hundred miles and park at the Bass Pro in Denham Springs, Louisiana.
What is that about the best-laid plans of mice and men?
Counting our test drive of 42 miles, we did drive exactly 300 miles in the bus today. However, we are only 70 miles from Prevost Houston where we began.
How in the world did that happen?
Let’s see, it goes something like this.
First the test drive of 42 miles. Then hook up the car and drive 110 miles. Then the bus quits again on the interstate and we coast into a truck stop wondering what in the world just happened. There were no alerts and we had no clue what the cause was. We cranked the bus but it quit. The third time it runs.
On advice from Jeff Rowe and the Detroit shop in Houston that did the engine work, we drove 92 miles west in rush hour traffic to their shop in Houston. Jason from Mid Coast was there, hooked up the computer and found no engine codes. Huh? Something happened.
He crawled underneath and around the engine checking every connection that had been messed with during the repair and several that had not been touched. The engine kept right on running as smooth as can be.
The bus had been running for nearly 8 hours when it shut down. It had been nearly 600 miles since I had taken on fuel. It did not act like a fuel issue at all. It seemed to be an electrical problem.
While Jason was sitting in the driver’s seat he was thinking out loud about possible ways the engine could lose electrical power and not trigger a code. He could only come up with one way, the ignition. He wiggled the key and messed with the wires behind the ignition, but the bus kept purring never missing a beat.
What to do now? Jason offered to let us park there for the night until we made a decision, but we were ready to go. We unhooked and got turned around and we headed east again. We negotiated our way through the dregs of rush hour traffic, found a rest area after 56 miles and stopped for the night.
Thursday we drove 7.5 hours, 300 total bus miles and a net gain of 70 miles. What a day!😇
Friday we drove 395 miles without one problem. As I write this I am sitting in a rest area in Alabama 60 miles from our destination.
I hope this bus saga has not been too long.
Davy
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Well done Davy, I feel bad for your bus nightmare and glad you’re rolling again. Now you probably worry that it could quit again at anytime, keep the faith, the gremlin hopefully is gone.
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You are correct, Tom. I think we all need to be able to trust our bus. I agree to be in certain places at certain times because I can trust the bus. I try to build in extra time, not only for mechanical fluctuations, but for the sake of myself and my family.
A sudden shut down that is unexplained, but starts working can change that. I am very thankful it did crank and run, but All day yesterday I kept waiting for the hammer to drop.
Sorry about the font in the last two posts. I copied some notes over and I suppose I brought the font with me. I could not see how to change the font on the forum here late last night. In the light of day, it looks annoying. (Hey, I may have fixed it.)
Davy
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I had another glitch today that may or may not be related. I will post a separate thread.
Davy
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To answer your earlier question, Dick.
We’re very interested to know what the problem with the harness was … chafing, broken connector, Short, animal knowing, etc.
The jury is still out. My first examination was “on the fly” and I could see nothing glaringly wrong with the harness. I did pick it up and put it in a zip lock bag for a closer look later. From what Jeff said on this thread and what I have read, it is probably failure without a visible cause.
Davy
Jeff and Lindsay
91 Marathon XL -
It could be as simple as a connection at the terminals that has failed where it is not visible.
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As indicated in another thread, I am still not 100% on this yet, but I do have good news.
Much, much, much to my surprise, Good Sam did reimburse me for the tow bill which was a reasonable $825 from very capable and professional Priority Towing in Houston. I am shocked Good Sam reimbursed it, but very pleased. The mail arrived in our box and I had my brother open it, partially expecting a denial.
Mid Coast took the valve cover off, replaced the defective wiring harness, installed new full injectors, adjusted the valves and put it all back together. Their estimate was high, but they came in over $1100 below the estimate so that is good. The six injectors were $431.31 each and I elected to replace those since the engine was already open.
Prevost Houston’s bill was a week in arriving by email and came in way over the estimate. I spoke to them nicely but I am sure I was pretty clear. Do people really pay the bill without saying a word, when it is Way over the estimate? I am awaiting further word.
Davy
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