There are so many great things about the way we choose to live our lives. We've got so much freedom and so many opportunities to see interesting places and visit with friends and family. We've been able to figure out a rhythm to planning and traveling that lets us balance doing a lot without burning ourselves out. For all of those good things, however, our lifestyle is still a fragile one.
While we were traveling through Florida, we had another roadside incident and repair. In order to have an auxiliary heater in the passenger area, the bus builder added additional coolant lines which ran to a clunky metal box with a radiator and some fans. When we did our build, we replaced that with a much quieter, much smaller hot rod heater. Unfortunately, one of the lines feeding that heater had gotten old and weak. We experienced one tear back in Utah, pieced it back together and thought little of it. Driving to a spring, we experienced the exact same issue. A section of tubing was excised and the connection was remade. This time, however, we vowed to replace the line.
After adding some additional coolant and water, we resumed driving to the spring, stopping at NAPA for even more coolant to add once the engine was cool. We did notice an unusual shimmy that would start to occur during specific conditions - like driving between 43 and 48 MPH. Additionally, we were having some loss of power issues. We parked ourselves at a Cracker Barrel and set ourselves to researching.
To the best of our researching abilities, we believed the problem to be injector related, most specifically the wiring harness. Ford had a pretty well known issue with the wiring harnesses on the 6.0 Diesel chafing or cooking against engine components. With our most recent overheating, we were sure we'd cooked our loom and we're experiencing an intermittent short. The next day we set out to find a replacement at some of the local junkyards and were actually laughed at, at one. The attendant said "You're never gonna find one, those things like to burn." This cemented in my mind the idea that we were right about our issues.
Unable to find a suitable replacement, I set about trying to remove the harness and repair any visible damage. As anyone who has done much work on one of these vans can tell you, it was a fool's errand to attempt that repair in a WalMart parking lot. Because of the sheer size of the motor and the tiny engine compartment it's stuffed into, removing the harness would have involved a major effort of disassembly. Realizing my mistake, I put everything back as it should be and started looking for mechanics and Ford dealerships.
For anyone out there who is mechanically inclined and looking for a career change: become a mechanic for full-size and large vehicles! You will never be hurting for work, apparently. We called many places, each of which had a weeks-long backlog or didn't have mechanics capable of working on anything larger than a Ford Escape. Finally we connected with Southern Diesel and Automotive. We explained the issue we were having and told them we just wanted someone to get in there and replace the harness. Despite our insistence, they asked that we bring the bus down so that a technician could do some diagnostics. We made an appointment and started heading towards the shop when a new issue arose.
As we were driving we noticed that our battery level was declining and the voltage to our Fuel Injector Control Module (FICM) was unstable. Eventually the batteries weren't able to keep up and we were forced to pull over. While we charged up our little booster pack, we engaged in some more quick research. My searching told me that we could be experiencing an open Glow Plug circuit, causing the alternator to operate in a low power state. (Can you tell I was certain that we had fried the wiring harness?) When our booster pack failed to get us back on the road, we called a tow company for a jump. After the jump we headed out, once again, and made it about another 2 miles. After attempting another jump and failing to start, we decided to find a tow service to bring us to the shop.
Our first experience towing the bus was harrowing, to say the least. We had to anxiously watch our bus sway due to a flatbed with a weakened hydraulic system (leaking fluid), then slap the kayaks on it after getting it up onto a second truck and leave the dogs in the bus while we rode off to get new tires. We're pleased to report that our second experience was much smoother, however! They sent a big truck that could have probably towed Charlotte and six of her closest friends and we had an awesome driver. Once Charlotte was all rigged up, he dropped the drive shaft and got us rolling. After a minor snafu with Google Maps, he even stuck around to charge up our batteries a little bit so we could start the bus and move it to a better position.
The next morning we apologized profusely for having to sleep in the shop yard. They were all very understanding and appreciative of my wanting to help out as much as possible. With the beating the batteries had taken the day before, those were pulled off and put on a charger. Without the ability to start the bus, diagnostics were at a standstill. As soon as the batteries were ready to be reinstalled, I set about reconnecting everything and getting ourselves prepped for diagnostics.
Ray put a test light on the power distribution block and determined that our alternator wasn't putting out enough voltage. Whether or not that was due to another cause we couldn't really determine until she was up and running, so a new alternator was ordered. With nearly alarming efficiency, a new alternator was delivered and Ray set about removing the old and installing the new. It was then that we found our belt tensioner was also experiencing its own struggles, so a replacement was ordered and, again, delivered with shocking speed! All told, Ray's time to remove the old alternator and tensioner and install the new parts, including waiting for delivery, was approximately 2 hours. Hearing Charlotte roar back to life after watching her whimper to the roadside was about as triumphant an experience as I've had.
After paying our bill and apologizing for having been so anxious and probably such pests, we set off on a test drive to make sure all of our problems had been addressed. Unfortunately, right on cue, the 40+ shimmy reared its ugly head. We circled back for Ray to get his scanner on it. He could see, clear as day, that we were experiencing misfires on cylinder eight, due to an injector. We asked him whether it could be the harness, so he ran a test that cleared the harness of any faults. On his advice, we scheduled an injector replacement and booked ourselves a hotel room, thankful to at least have our home back and the ability to make short trips.
Reese Lounging in Hotel A Roadside Buffet
Waiting for the bus to be finished proved to be a great test for me and Emily. We both realized how dependent we are on old Charlotte. Unless we find ourselves stranded in a city with an extensive system of canals, we don't have any alternate means of transportation. We don't carry a scooter or bicycle, though that may change in the future. We are entirely dependent on Charlotte as a means of transportation and a home.
When I finally picked up our bus from the shop, I was overcome with relief. My test ride went beautifully and with all her new parts, she was running better than ever! As fragile as our existence is, Charlotte has been a fairly stable partner in that. For a nineteen year-old vehicle, she has been remarkably sound. Outside of regular maintenance, our repairs have been minimal and understandable. The vacuum pump going bad was a shock, but not a great one. And each of the things that happened in Florida seem to also be connected.
With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that our alternator may have already been a little weak. With only the alternator replaced, Charlotte sounded much better. As one commenter online remarked "dirty voltage means poor running." We also realized that the number eight injector was probably also in a weakened state, after we realized how much smoother Charlotte ran with that replacement. The overheat we experienced seems to have just been the straw that broke the camel's back. Two components, weakened with age and usage, literally could not handle the heat.
While it would be easy to see all of this as a sign from the universe that it's time to give up the bus life (and we certainly had our moments of despair), we do also have to remember that breakdowns are a factor of life. We had to replace the hot water heater in our stationary home before we left the frigid north. A repair or breakdown on the bus can feel devastating, but the rewards of getting Charlotte back on her feet and hitting the road again are innumerable. While we're going to be reassessing and rescheduling some of our planning, we're not just hanging up our keys and parking. Bus Life is a fragile existence, but it is so worth it.
Partially because of all the cool new dog friends we get to meet!
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