Surviving the Big Freeze in Texas (The Finale)

With our new batteries and a new inverter/charger installed we finally had a some successful moments. Now all we needed was to receive and have the ECM installed. Freightliner found a new ECM in Arlington Texas and it was to arrive by Friday. Well Friday passed and later that day we were told if it arrived Saturday they would still come out to replace it for us even though they would be normally closed.

When I saw I had a call from Freightliner Saturday I was happy to answer it only to discover the part didn’t come in on Saturday but they were hopeful it would on Monday. We were again assured they could replace it early and we could still leave on time.

Saturday afternoon Sharon and I decided to take a break from all the stress by driving over to the Laguna Boardwalk for a little stroll to do some birding and take a few photos. That was a great idea until our 2011 Honda CRV decided not to start. Crap, what else can go wrong??? Thinking the battery might be bad I looked at it and everything looked great but I knew the battery was only fourteen months old.  Luckily we found a fellow in the park who offered to check the fuel pump out and to determine if we had spark to eliminate some things.

Everything seemed to check out but he suggested that before we dig in any further he was going to throw 50 amps at the battery and have me try again. After sputtering a bit it indeed started. We were so relieved… I drove it over to Walmart to have them check the Everstart battery. They said it was good, but I was not convinced. I told them I had problems with their batteries before and that they should consider renaming them Never-starts. After the initial failure to start we have thankfully had no further problems with the CRV

Of course the call from Freightliner on Monday was that the part still hadn’t come in. On Tuesday they called to say the tracking on the ECM was wrong and they had no idea where it was but to not worry as it should arrive soon. Again Sharon and I thought it would be wise to book yet another week if it was available just in case it was going to be a while before the new ECM found its way down to south Texas.

Late Tuesday afternoon we got a call to say the part had been found and they would came out in the evening to replace it. Finally the part was here… Our mechanic came out and installed the new ECM only to find out our engine displayed the same No Eng code and wouldn’t start. Sigh…Well he checked  several other things and discovered that the ignition relay had apparently failed as well and once it was replaced we were able to start the engine. It was joyous to see all was back to normal…. Finally!

Our trials and tribulations are finally behind us (we hope). We cancelled the extended week despite the fifty dollar penalty as we really need to get back on the road and closer to the airport to send Sharon to NC for the birth of our new granddaughter…

NOTE:  Today’s photos are from some salt flats on South Padre Island’s bayside. We are currently in South Padre Island in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas until March 8th…

Surviving the Big Freeze in Texas (Part 3)…

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…