off again only to overheat

Third time is the charm?

I drove back to Kent to pickup the RV late last Thursday.  Crashed at my sisters for the night and had a pleasant surprise visit with my cousin Travis.  We talked until late in the evening about what else but... DIVING!  It was off to coffee early in the morning and to NC Power Systems by 7AM for the RV.  Then after choking on the bill.... I made my way back to Spokane. It ended being maintenance related items that were not kept up by the previous owner, nor done by the dealer. Basically the air filter hadn't been changed for over 4-years! I figured since that was not kept up,  I highly doubted any of the other maintenance had been kept up (and shame on me for thinking a dealer would address those things before selling it)!  So I had them take care of it while they had it! Unfortunately, my timing that morning put me right into the thick of rush-hour on 405!  Took me nearly two hours to hit I-90.... ugh!

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS IN THE CLEAR....

Made it easily over Snoqualmie (mind you, I'm towing my dinghy for the first time) and everything seemed to be going well.  Then just prior to Vantage I get the dreaded ENGINE WARNING LIGHT - STOP!! My first thoughts....  well, they were rather choice words so I won't share those!  The PG version "What on earth was going on?" Luckily, I was less than a mile from the Ryegrass Rest Area. I pulled over and discovered coolant over-flowing from the relief hose.  Long story short (really) after a few calls, I sent the pictures I took of all my gauges to the tech from NC who was concerned it was some type of coolant flow or pump issue.  He got back to me and told me not to tow it, not to shut it off, but how to drive it to Spokane.  DIVE IT?? REALLY??  I've learned diesels need to work hard to keep cool but this was so counter-intuitive to me!  So, I geared it down to keep the RPMS around 2K and took it a slow 55-60 mph all the way home.  Had to take a little break after the steep grade out of the Gorge and got more diesel considering my fuel mileage was going to royally suck now!  Things kept cool all the way back to Spokane Valley.  Phew!!  Monday I called around and found Ray's Truck and RV Service in Spokane. They could get me in on Friday to check everything out.  I dropped if off late Thursday night and they had it done by my lunch.  Everything checked-out okay! Relieved but I can't help be slightly skeptical at this point. They also did a full inspection and replaced some bulbs that were out.  Overall they said the coach is in super nice condition despite my little streak of bad luck. I may have had a thermostat stick - it may have just been freak'n too hot, it was close to 100° out there!!  Time will tell... I do feel better though! I will continue to monitor my gauges as taught and now I know how to address things if they start getting too hot again without going into a stress-response mode.  This is a great way to force me to learn more about my diesel and apply what I did learn in my training.  I would definitely do things a little different when it comes to purchasing an RV from any dealer - but that's hindsight. I'll chalk it all up to another learning opportunity :)

Meanwhile, this grandma has been enjoying lots of coffee dates with my daughter and grandson!  There has been lots of fun and silliness....along with a few 2-1/2 years old type tantrums.  He is ready with his fireman gear incase grandma's RV overheats again!

It's time to dive!!  This girl needs some bubble therapy....

​Cheers!