Thursday after work I drove the Brave over to Suburban Propane to get the tank that they leak tested for me filled for the trip to Dark Skies, a Burning Man regional event in Primm NV near Las Vegas.
Once the tank was full of LP I drove home to wait for Laura to arrive at my apartment so we could get on the road. I decided to get the refrigerator going on propane. I opened the valve and viola!...the valve leaked. So much for "leak testing". Once Laura arrived we drove over to Suburban and I had them replace the valve with a new one. We were now 2 hours behind schedule.
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Once out of town we stopped in Gilroy for groceries and hit the 152 over to 5 to head south. The Brave was rocking along the highway and taking the pass inclines with ease.
Interstate 5 to 46 to 99 to 58 and the Tehachapie grade. That's when we heard it: a high pitched squeal. It was intermittent and unsettling. We pulled off in the town of Mojave and I had a look under the hood. I could not reproduce the squealing sound. I thought it might be my fan clutch. We decided to get back on the road. Unfortunately the Brave would not turn over. No juice at all. This made no sense as we had just driven for hours and the battery should have been nice and charged up.
A guy gassing his huge truck up at the station was kind enough to jump us and we were on our way. I got back onto 58 and had gone about a mile when the squealing returned and I suddenly lost all power. The lights went out and the motor stopped cold. We were still trying to process what the hell happening when two very loud backfires lit up the landscape all around us. I coasted to the shoulder and resigned myself to the fact: this trip was over.
I crawled under the Brave and surveyed the damage to the exhaust. I had just replaced all of the muffler clamps a few days before. The old ones were rusted and loose and I had leaks at every junction. If this had happened with the old clamps my whole exhaust would have disintegrated. As it was, the weak point was at the exit on my muffler. At that point 6 feet of tail pipe pipe was blown clean off and was hanging by a rubber exhaust hanger. I cut it off and pulled it free of the axle.
I was at a loss as to what had happened. I was sure that my motor had blown. The sound was horrific. I took the engine cover off and had another look. My alternator belt was off its pullys. Further inspection showed that the shop that was supposed to have changed this belt along with the others, did not. It was 30 years old.
I had tools with me so I put the belt back on and adjusted it the best I could. It was soft and worn very badly. This could only get us a short distance...and that was IF we cold get the RV started. The battery was DOA. The belt was slipping so badly that the alternator was not charging the battery even when the belt was in place.
Oh...those explosions: When the alternator belt jumped the alternator was no longer putting out any juice. Since the battery was dead there was no spark. All at once unburnt fuel was dumping into my hot exhaust system. You do the math.
It was 2:00am and AAA was no help. The woman on the phone said "we dont jump RVs". We found a tow truck driver out of Mojave that was kind enough to get out of bed and come give us a jump..for $165
He told me where Car Quest Auto in Mojave was and that they opened at 7:30. I limped the Brave into town and parked in front and we slept for about 4 hours while waiting for the store to open. At 7:30 I was able to get the belt and a new battery and we were on the road again by 8:00am. We were now 6 hours behind schedule. But the trip was NOT over.
I made my way along 58 to Barstow. After stopping at a gas station to pick up a map the Brave would not turn over again. I checked the voltage on my new battery and it was over 13 volts. I crawled under and shorted the starter solenoid with a screwdriver. The Brave fired right up. The switch is intermittent. I only had to do this one other time on the trip. More on that later.
We drove for many more hours along 58 and into 15. We passed through Calico and picked up cool beverages. It was getting very warm.
We gassed up in Baker. Did I mention it was hot? The world famous giant thermometer read an oppressive 96 degrees.
As I left the parking lot, the Brave began to cough and sputter. Once underway she ran fine...for a while. The heat was causing the Brave to run hot. The sputtering was vapor lock or fuel percolation. The fuel literally boiling in the carb. About 40 miles later we had stop on the side of the road and let the car cool. 45 minutes later the Brave started right up. A couple of burner girls on their way to Dark Skies stopped to see if we needed help just as I started the motor.We were able get to Primm and the event site without further issue. We got to our camp placement at 1:30pm and began setting up the radio station.
We were only 5 hours behind my original arrival time target of 9:00am.
Sacramento Dave and Playa Barbie were well aware of our progress via cell phone updates. They were very glad to see us and we all jumped into action getting K-Svert on the air as soon as possible.
I had to move the Brave a couple of feet to get the antenna base under the tire. The starting problem I saw earlier happened again. The engine would not turn over with the key. I grabbed my big screwdriver and crawled under to short the starter solenoid. When I shorted the solenoid the engine roared to life. Unfortunately, the Brave was in gear! Somehow I left the transmission in reverse and the safety switch will not prevent starting while in gear if you directly short the solenoid.
The Brave was trying to kill me now. I began to roll over my legs. I used my knee to brace against the wheel as it rolled backward. I calmly announced that I needed someone to take the RV out of gear. Laura and Sonny jumped into the Brave to help. Laura told me she had to pause and make sure she was pushing the correct pedal (brake) and not the accelerator. A passerby was holding the RV bumper as well he could as this was all going on. Once Laura had the brake on, Sonny was able to get the Brave into Park.
Funny, but I was pretty calm during all of this. Not until later I realize how bad it could have ended.
The rest of the event was great. I'll save those details for another Blog. The Refer, Air Conditioner, Water Heater and Pump, and Generator worked flawlessly.
The trip home included a couple of stops for the overheating and percolation problem. It was nearly 100 degrees in the Mojave desert and we stopped twice to let the Brave cool down.
The belt that I had replaced in Mojave started to squeal while we were heading down Hwy 46 towards 5. I had to let the motor cool a bit so I could re-tension it. The adustment bolt is missing a good lock washer so it eventually works loose. This is likely what caused the old belt to go in the first place. A new washer should have been installed along with a new belt.
In addition to that washer, I'll be upgrading to a high performance water pump and rod my radiator before Burning Man. The over heating problem is not really a big issue. The conditions were worst case to be sure and I never boiled over.
The tail pipe will need to be replaced. I'd love to upgrade my exhaust to headers and 3" dual exhaust to get heat out fast and improve gas mileage but it's probably not necessary.
I had planned to take the Brave to Fire Mountain this weekend but I think I'll drive my truck.
1500 miles of grinding my teeth is enough for one week.
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