Bob,
A few weeks ago going across Iowa with outside temp in the 90's, both
roof
AC's running and with a fan to circulate the air the best I could do was
about 98 degrees in the driver's seat. And this was with the
thermometer
placed out of direct sun light. The temperature in the rear was somewhat
cooler but still not as cool as I would like although I didn't actually
measure it. This was the good part. When the generator died the temp
would
only come down to 114 degrees when we were moving and we were 1000 miles
from home.
So I too am looking for answers to the temperature problem. I'm
wondering
if those roof AC's could have lost some coolant and lose effeciency at
high
ambient temperatures. I don't have much experience in this area. Do we
have any AC experts here?
My wife too is convinced that the GMC is a jinxed. Last year we bought
the
coach while passing through texas on vacation and left our Tioga parked
there thinking that all the GMC needed was new tires on the rear. After
a
couple hours of driving I decided that the handling was awful and
stopped at
a local garage. After several stops we had a diagnosis of bad ball
joints.
It took 2 days to get 4 tires and to figure out that the ball joints
weren't
available. There happened to have a copy GMCMM in the GMC so after much
phone work we located ball joints in Colorado so decided to divert our
vacation to there where we spent another three days in a repair shop.
Two
thousand dollars later the handling was only slightly improved. On this
trip I ran out of fuel when I switched tanks going over the pass from
New
Mexico into Colorado and a couple of other times the machine died
without
reason. This was later diagnosed as a marginal fuel pump. Then as we
started home the rectifier in the generator failed so we had no AC for a
thousand miles. Then a little later at one of our gas stops the
ignition
switch failed and we had to call a locksmith to repair it.
Later last year we were headed for Michigan when the engine started
reving
and it just wouldn't go anymore. The transmission had dumped all of it's
fluid due to some bolts vibrating loose. When I had figured out what
had
happened and got everything tightened up and refilled the starter
failed as
I was getting ready to move again. This was on a saturday and I couldn't
locate another starter until Monday.
Then on New Years day we were in South Miami coming back from the Keys
and
the starter failed again. We were in one of these neighborhoods with
chain
link fence and guard dogs but were lucky to find a store that was open
and
had the right starter in stock.
This year I replaced the dash AC compressor then blew a hose the day
after I
had it charged. While going to get the AC charged the gasket under the
heat
riser blew out. The blowby scorched the gasket under the carburetor so I
had
to replace that also. Then when we left on vacation I found that the
gasket
they had sold me wasn't the high temp type. I had to repair it again
when it
burned through about 40 miles from home. Then about the time we got into
Iowa the gasket under the EGR valve blew out necessitating more roadside
repairs. Later that week the exhaust pipe on the generator developed a
hole.
I stopped at a Napa store to get a muffler bandage. When I got that in
place
and the generator up and running again as I pushed the generator back
into
it's compartment it's cast iron starter bracket broke and the starter
fell
off. This shorted out the coach batteries burning the terminal off of
one of
them and killing the generator. This also left the engine alternator
shorted
until I disconnected the wire. Once again I had no AC.
This isn't even counting minor things like the air compressor not
working
and the plastic end on one of the air bags exploding. The list is
endless.
I keep telling the wife that nothing else can happen because everything
already has but then something else dies. I owned a '79 from '83 to
'93
without ever touching anything more involved than an oil change. Then
we
had a Tioga with no mechanical problems and swapped it for the GMC and
have
had catastrophic failures on each of four consecutive trips. These
other
machines had plenty of cosmetic problems but on the GMC I haven't even
looked at anything which is only cosmetic.
I think I'll hold off selling and try one more trip.....
Surely nothing else can happen.
Dick
A few weeks ago going across Iowa with outside temp in the 90's, both
roof
AC's running and with a fan to circulate the air the best I could do was
about 98 degrees in the driver's seat. And this was with the
thermometer
placed out of direct sun light. The temperature in the rear was somewhat
cooler but still not as cool as I would like although I didn't actually
measure it. This was the good part. When the generator died the temp
would
only come down to 114 degrees when we were moving and we were 1000 miles
from home.
So I too am looking for answers to the temperature problem. I'm
wondering
if those roof AC's could have lost some coolant and lose effeciency at
high
ambient temperatures. I don't have much experience in this area. Do we
have any AC experts here?
My wife too is convinced that the GMC is a jinxed. Last year we bought
the
coach while passing through texas on vacation and left our Tioga parked
there thinking that all the GMC needed was new tires on the rear. After
a
couple hours of driving I decided that the handling was awful and
stopped at
a local garage. After several stops we had a diagnosis of bad ball
joints.
It took 2 days to get 4 tires and to figure out that the ball joints
weren't
available. There happened to have a copy GMCMM in the GMC so after much
phone work we located ball joints in Colorado so decided to divert our
vacation to there where we spent another three days in a repair shop.
Two
thousand dollars later the handling was only slightly improved. On this
trip I ran out of fuel when I switched tanks going over the pass from
New
Mexico into Colorado and a couple of other times the machine died
without
reason. This was later diagnosed as a marginal fuel pump. Then as we
started home the rectifier in the generator failed so we had no AC for a
thousand miles. Then a little later at one of our gas stops the
ignition
switch failed and we had to call a locksmith to repair it.
Later last year we were headed for Michigan when the engine started
reving
and it just wouldn't go anymore. The transmission had dumped all of it's
fluid due to some bolts vibrating loose. When I had figured out what
had
happened and got everything tightened up and refilled the starter
failed as
I was getting ready to move again. This was on a saturday and I couldn't
locate another starter until Monday.
Then on New Years day we were in South Miami coming back from the Keys
and
the starter failed again. We were in one of these neighborhoods with
chain
link fence and guard dogs but were lucky to find a store that was open
and
had the right starter in stock.
This year I replaced the dash AC compressor then blew a hose the day
after I
had it charged. While going to get the AC charged the gasket under the
heat
riser blew out. The blowby scorched the gasket under the carburetor so I
had
to replace that also. Then when we left on vacation I found that the
gasket
they had sold me wasn't the high temp type. I had to repair it again
when it
burned through about 40 miles from home. Then about the time we got into
Iowa the gasket under the EGR valve blew out necessitating more roadside
repairs. Later that week the exhaust pipe on the generator developed a
hole.
I stopped at a Napa store to get a muffler bandage. When I got that in
place
and the generator up and running again as I pushed the generator back
into
it's compartment it's cast iron starter bracket broke and the starter
fell
off. This shorted out the coach batteries burning the terminal off of
one of
them and killing the generator. This also left the engine alternator
shorted
until I disconnected the wire. Once again I had no AC.
This isn't even counting minor things like the air compressor not
working
and the plastic end on one of the air bags exploding. The list is
endless.
I keep telling the wife that nothing else can happen because everything
already has but then something else dies. I owned a '79 from '83 to
'93
without ever touching anything more involved than an oil change. Then
we
had a Tioga with no mechanical problems and swapped it for the GMC and
have
had catastrophic failures on each of four consecutive trips. These
other
machines had plenty of cosmetic problems but on the GMC I haven't even
looked at anything which is only cosmetic.
I think I'll hold off selling and try one more trip.....
Surely nothing else can happen.
Dick
