We were scheduled for the Freightliner Mechanic to come to our dead RV on Tuesday morning , Feb 23rd. When he called to say he could come over Monday night we were thrilled. After spending about an hour diagnosing our issues he determined our ECM was probably fried. He told us they would test it and if needed, order the part. He said they’d call to let us know what it would cost along with an estimated time the part would come in. He assured us they’d have it all done well before our departure on March 1st.
As mentioned in the previous blog I also had to order a new Magnum 2012 inverter to replace our old Xantrex Freedom 458 unit. On Sunday when I ordered it I paid the steep price for overnight shipping thinking it would arrive no later than Tuesday night so we could get it in plenty of time to install it before March first.
It seemed things were looking up, right? Well, as they say – Not so fast! Tuesday I received a tracking number for the Inverter which said I would get it Wednesday before 9 pm. Sigh… Next, when we called to check on the ECM we found out that freightliner hadn’t fully tested the ECM because they were waiting for wiring diagrams.
Wednesday came and went without any progress on either the inverter or the ECM for our RV. We now would have two more working days left before we’d be screwed since there would be no way for us to leave on March 1st without the ECM.
Thursday I am told by Freightliner that my ECM was indeed bad and a new one had been located in Arlington Texas. It would arrive on Friday. They knew we were slated to leave on Monday so they assured us they’d send the techs out Friday or Saturday to install it. Also our inverter finally arrived on Thursday as well.
When I open the inverter I see I got the wrong one. I should have gotten the Magnum 2012-20B. By getting the wrong one I would now be unable to install it myself and would need someone else to do it. We called all the mobile techs and no one could do it before we needed to leave. Finally I found an electrician (a friend of a RV mobile tech} who agreed to take on the job and had it installed Friday morning. Yes!!!
The good feelings were short lived as Freightliner called Friday evening to inform me the part did not arrive as planned and they would now come out Monday to install it. Well crap, we were supposed to leave Monday. We decided we needed to talk to the park office and beg to stay another week knowing someone else had reserved our site.
Sharon got it done for us but not before having to shed a few tears while trying to communicate our impossible situation. . I mean without the ECM we can’t move our RV not to mention it would be nearly impossible to tow since our site is a nose-in site with trees in front and beside us.
At least we now have another week to solve this mess.
NOTE: We are currently in South Padre Island in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas until March 8th…
Odd coincidence that both the inverter (converter?) and the ECM would both go bad at the same time.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely electrical, also took out a relay and one fuse.
DeleteOh Good Grief. From bad to worse. Hope everything is again working now.
ReplyDeleteDon’t normally use it but just discovered our gas furnace is not working Nothing compared to your freezing
Saw on the news of the fish die-off near you. Hope you’re not also in the middle of that
Yes we have seen lots of dead fish. They also were able to save several thousand sea turtles from being cold stunned here on the island.
DeleteHeyduke, the national news showed a flotilla of boats in the Gulf with hundreds and hundreds of sea turtles going down chutes to go back into the water. They were happily swimming away. I wish I could have been there.
DeleteYou have, in the biblical sense, the patience of Job in taking care of your problems, one by one. But I have to ask you a question, keeping in mind that I know nothing about electrical problems except how to change batteries in a flashlight. Did you have a surge protector in place between your RV and the park's site electrical pedestal? We use one which is called Progressive (and not cheap either) which monitors electrical spikes or low current coming into our RV and shuts down the electricity to the RV before the spikes or low current reaches the RV electronics. With the Texas rolling blackouts, it made me wonder if such events might have affected some of your RV equipment. Just a thought!
Yes, we do have the Progressive surge protector in place but alas the problem occured anyways... Even the relay that failed was designed to protect the ignition and the ECM and it also failed to do so.
DeleteI hate it when things don't go as planned and it seems if it isn't one thing it's another. And all happening during that nasty weather. But hey, you're living the dream ... lol.
ReplyDeleteLiving the dream, indeed! There is a flipside to everything and as you know well this lifestyle isn't always rosey!
DeleteAnother wow. Sure hope the next post is better. Take care be safe and healthy.
ReplyDeleteEven bad things that occur eventually can only be seed in our rear view mirror...
DeleteGot a chuckle out of your replay ... 'Objects in the rearview mirror may appear closer than they are' ~Meat Loaf
DeleteHope all the objects and obstacles are now well behind you.