Oh Happy Day!

Our Location today is at the La Posa South, LTVA, Quartzsite, Arizona.

Click on the pictures to Enlarge

We were back Home shortly after 5:30 this evening talking to our neighbour Wayne. The answer to his first question put a smile on his face but his eyes opened in bewilderment when we answered the next one.

As soon I started the Truck this morning our Edge Monitoring System immediately started to flash an Error Alert. The Engine sounded fine until it accelerated to the Five MPH to make our way to the Highway. Then it started that high pitched sound that had walkers stopping to stare. Besides feeling slightly embarrassed that our vehicle sounded that way we also silently prayed that we wouldn’t have to listen to that all the way to Yuma.

We left La Posa South LTVA at 9:20 turning south on Arizona 95 and as I slowly brought the Truck up to speed the noise disappeared. We both thought that this was a fluke and that we would pay for this reprieve later up the road. Once we entered the 65 MPH speed limit zone in an attempt to recreate what happened over the last Two Days I set the Cruise Control at 70 MPH. Don’t worry about me speeding because even Police Cars were passing us as if they were out for a Sunday Drive. After entering the Yuma city limits the Truck continued to perform perfectly.

We arrived at Bill Alexander Ford at 10:45 and I was able to pull right next to Al the Service Manager’s Desk. With a smile on his face he immediately paged Ernesto the Mechanic. Both Kathy and I explained what had been happening and then I told him about my ride with Wayne. I explained that Wayne is not a Mechanic nor does he try to be but was trying to help us determine what the problem was. The fact that Wayne does work on his own Diesel Engines added some credibility to what his observations were that I passed on to Ernesto. I also remembered to ask a few of the questions that Wayne told me last night.

We settled in to our favourite table in the Customer Lounge by 11:00 Kathy reading her Book and myself solving Cryptograms. It was past 12:30 when I went out to see what progress was being made. Al told me that Ernesto had hooked up his Laptop found the Error Codes checked what was causing them and hopefully found the problem. As we were speaking he was out road testing the Truck.

I asked for a ride so we could go for lunch. While Al called the Transporter I help Kathy gather our belongings and come outside. When Kathy heard the Truck was being Test Driven she had Al tell Ernesto to drive it at 70 MPH or better to really test it because we don’t need to be stranded by the side of the road.

Fat Albert upper right of center watching the area.

We haven’t been to Cracker Barrel since the middle of November so that’s where we headed for a change. When someone that is familiar with an area drives you somewhere it not only allows you time to relax but you learn the layout of the city as well by asking questions. We were dropped off at 1:00 and since it was crowded outside we had the Driver come back at 2:30. We both enjoyed a Fish Dinner that left us comfortably satisfied.

Fat Albert. (A tethered Balloon used to monitor Illegal Activities.

When we got back to the Dealership at 3:00 our Truck was parked out front having been freshly washed. Al led us through the shop to speak with Ernesto.

I have often commented that today’s vehicles have too many Computers that control things. Following the suggestions that I relayed from Wayne, Ernesto used his Laptop to find the cause of the problem. When replaced he had the Front Cover on the Engine as he reconnected all the Sensors one of them didn’t completely lock together. As it was driven the Road Vibration cause the Sensor that controlled the Fan to become unplugged. The Computer thought the Engine was overheating so it had the Fan operate in a Safe Mode that caused it to stay on High Speed. In other words Ernesto made a mistake that he apologized for making. We felt relieved that the only thing we lost today was Time and Fuel even though it caused us both a lot of stress.

These two look down because they aren't in front with the other two dogs.

We were on our way to Walmart by 3:00 to pick up some Paper Products that we had not put on our Shopping Lists before. We stopped at the Chevron where we filled up our Diesel for $2.699 a Gallon.

On the return to Quartzsite the Truck purred while the Cruise Control was set at 70 MPH but Kathy wasn’t convinced. When a slow moving RV started weaving a wide lane a bit more pressure on the throttle convinced her the Truck was running properly.

We arrive in Quartzsite just after 5:00 to see about replacing our Mudflap that was damaged in Borrego Springs and my Sunglasses that got a bad scratch the other day. We stopped at the Pilot where I got new Sunglasses but not the Mudflaps. Since there was a Dairy Queen in the corner of the store we substituted a Small Ice Cream Cone for our supper. We tried to go to Love’s but it was jammed pack with RVers coming in for the Big Tent that starts tomorrow.

We thanked Wayne for helping us out because without that information they might not have found the problem. He was just happy for us that our Truck is finally going to work the way it should. Thank you for following along and feel free to leave a comment.

Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

You Might Be a Redneck If

You traded your truck for a dog.