Monthly Archives: August 2019
Cummins and Goings . . .
Spent some time on the phone with Cummins’ Tech Support asking about my rig’s oil leak problem. And this time I got a new insight on the problem.
Especially based on the age of the rig, (20 years) he thinks it’s very probably the gasket between the oil filter flange and the oil filter head adapter where the filter screws in.
And even better it looks like something I can replace myself. Just remove the oil filter, and the two screws and the gasket comes off.
So I’ll order a new gasket tomorrow. Hopefully this will fix the problem once and for all.
I also asked about changing out my green coolant for the red version. I was told that all I have to do is drain the green, replace the coolant filter, and add the red stuff. So I don’t need to do any type of flushing. Nice.
Pretty simple, but the oil leak comes first, and then our Onan generator not running, before I worry about the coolant.
About 1pm Jan and I headed out with a first stop at Lowe’s to return some left-over parts from my recent water leak repair. Then it was on up the Cheddar’s in Clear Lake for lunch. Delicious as always, especially the croissants.
Then after a quick stop at the office, it was on off to WalMart for some things.
Finally coming home, we stopped off at our storage room to drop off the small suitcase that Jan took up to Brandi’s.
Coming down I-45 we checked out the location of the new Black Bear Diner that’s coming to our area. Having eaten at BBD’s all over the west, and the one now up in Katy, we’re really looking forward to it.
A great place to eat, especially for breakfast.
I’ve got some clamps and grounding wire coming in from Amazon tomorrow. I want to ground our new antenna pole since it’s right up against the side of the rig, in case lightning takes an interest.
Safety First.
Thought for the Day:
“No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot.” – Mark Twain
faj
Oil Leak Redux . . .
Spend most of the day at work designing new labels and printing up a lot of other labels using Avery’s free Design&Print program. We have a number of products we buy in bulk and then bottle ourselves, or buy bottled, but unlabeled.
Here’s a sample
When I got home this evening I realized I had left my phone at work. My client had stopped me on the way out the door and asked me to take a look at something, and apparently I laid it down.
So, though we had planned to eat at home, this seemed like a good excuse to go back up to Clear Lake to retrieve it, and of course, stop off at Yummy Yummy Chinese Buffet along the way for dinner.
I need to get back on my continuing rig oil filter leak saga, so tomorrow I’m going to put in a call to Cummins to get some more info.
Back this past March, I pulled the old oil filter off the engine and did my best to clean the area where the rubber gasket seats. I was able to clean the mount except for what looked like some discoloration on the bottom of the seat. I’m calling it ‘discoloration’ but I could feel it .
However I was afraid to do any real scrapping on it since I wasn’t sure what the flange was made of, aluminum or steel.
So I put the new filter on after soaking the gasket in oil as recommended. And a 15 minute high-idle test showed no leaks.
Then the next day Jan and I took the rig out for a test drive. We did a little over 50 miles, at both Interstate speeds and side roads. Getting back home and taking a look, I found no oil spray on the rear of the rig, and none around the filter underneath the rig.
So we were good to go, right?
The next Friday morning we headed up to Kingsland for our family get-together at Chris’. Along the way we made a stop at the Buc-ee’s up in Katy, about 70 miles away.
And found oil on the truck and on the rear of the coach.
WTH!
So either the filter suddenly started leaking between 50 miles and 70 miles, OR the extra load from towing the truck, (the only real difference from our test drive) caused the filter to leak.
Which is the one I’m going to talk about with the Cummins’ Tech.
And while I’ve got him on the line I also want to talk about flushing the green coolant out of the engine and replacing it with red. It’s getting harder and harder to find the green now, so I want to know the flush procedure.
You’re not supposed to mix them, but I’m not sure how much ‘flushing’ I actually have to do. Can I just drain the green and replace it with red, or do I need to flush it out with water first, or what?
I guess I’ll see tomorrow.
Thought for the Day:
“Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize the bottom half is stupider.” – George Carlin.
And then there are politicians.
asdfasd
