AC and Transmission problems while boondocking

gypsydan · August 2, 2023

I took 70 over from Denver through Vale to Grand Junction, where I stayed for 1-1/2 weeks, then ending up in Richfield Utah.

Almost a fun trip, until my generator went out in along the way, so no AC While boondocking. Along the way I was unable to find a place where I could order the part through Amazon, as believe it or not I could not find a locker to send the part to. Even Amazon said there were no lockers in Grand Junction. It was only couple of days before leaving GJ that I discovered there were lockers

Now for the real fun part. After leaving Grand Junction, and climbing the steep hills towards Salt Lake City my engine light came on. My OBD2 indicated a P0713 code, which is a faulty heat sensor inside the transmission. Since I was more than halfway to Richfield, I had to keep going, Arrived there at 6:30 Thursday evening. Checked into the KOA in Richfield and tried contacting somebody to work on it Friday, but nobody in Richfield can work on RVs. I had to wait till Monday to start calling around and finding somebody outside of Richfield, like Salt Lake City area, which was 130 - 150 miles away.

THE SITUATION: I made many calls on Friday and Monday to find an ATRA shop to work on these transmissions. ATRA has 2 programs: Technical Subscribers, and Golden Rule Warrenty shops which issue nationwide warranties; I don’t yet know what kind of warranty Technical Subscribers offer {maybe only local}? The problem is that i had been looking for Golden Rule shops and in my frustration of not being be to find a shop (no call backs) I ended up today choosing the nearest shop in Cedar City (111 miles away), which the SKP Roadside Service accepted and towed me to at a cost of $1500, which Allstate paid. I will have to find out in morning what kind of warrenty this shop offers. (FYI: SKP Roadside Service contracts with Allstate for towing) .

DILEMMA: [1] Get it repaired without a nationwide warrenty, or [2] pay to have it towed to St. George (maybe $600) where there is a shop which offers nationwide warrenty, [3] trust it will be repaired without downstream issues by shop it was towed to, [4] other ideas??

Any thoughts?

Randyretired · August 2, 2023

Sorry to hear about all of this. Seems when it rains it pours. I wonder if they could provide an estimate to repair the problem. If the problem is just a sensor maybe ??? that wouldn't be horribly expensive. Also if a sensor fixes it maybe that wouldn't be an ongoing problem. In any case I think more information might lead you to a decision. Hope this works out.

gypsydan · August 2, 2023

Thank you Randiretired. They haven’t given me an estimate, because they have to do the workers. They’re the only transmission shop in town, and Re placement of the heat sensor is a must anyway. So I’m going to have them replace the sensor tomorrow and have a general service. Im stuck, but I know it needs to be done.

Since Re placement of the of the heat sensor is a must anyway, I’m going to have them replace the sensor tomorrow and also do a general service.

Being a full-time RVer when you’re traveling can be fun.

Edited August 2, 2023 by gypsydan
Spell

Randyretired · August 3, 2023

I understand your situation. We are not fulltimers but we have experienced vehicle problems while on the road. It has always taken longer than I imagined to get back on the road and it is frustrating. One of our times was in Richfield. It does sound as if you have things moving forward. Hope you are back on the road soon. We are in the high country just east of Grand Junction at our mountain property.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Randyretired

Ray,IN · August 3, 2023

I agree with you having the A/T fluid replaced, if the tranny overheated the fluid is ruined anyway. If the sensor just said it was overheated, it's a safe bet anyway.

I had the fluid N filters replaced in my Allison 3000 and on the way home it was obvious the tranny worked much better.

RollinAt40 · October 13, 2023

What was the problem with your generator and did you get it fixed?

I've been really interested in generators since my little gas unit started cutting out in the Utah desert. It was actually a combination of fuel/exhaust issues. I ended up cleaning the spark arrestor but still had a fuel issue until I figured out the shutoff switch had somehow shifted so I had to turn it past the "on" position to have it fully open. It works good now, but at 2,000 watts starting it never could power the AC.

gypsydan · October 14, 2023

Sorry for the late response, but I got the transmission fixed in Cedar city and have been traveling until a couple of weeks ago, but had forgotten about this post. Exciting part was I had the RV towed from Richfield to Cedar city, 120+ miles, at 80 mph. If you have to be towed, make sure you have phone number for the owner or manager of towing company.

Generator has a bad carburetor, which I’m just now ordering from Amazon while in Deming. I had ordered the part while I was in the mountains near Show Low, but after ordering it, I discovered that UPS would not deliver it to a post office. The only thing I can figure out is that I had labeled it as general delivery to a ZIP Code, without putting down the street address of the post office.

Learned a lesson about both UPS and the post office. i’ve shipped general delivery before, but it was always using the post office, not UPS or FedEx.