Back to Cummins in Grand Junction, Colorado National Monument and Canyonlands by Night

We departed Montrose on Sunday September 1, headed for Moab UT.  Our Grand Circle caravan starts on the 2nd, but we had made a reservation to arrive one day early on the 1st.  We headed north on US 50 which would take us back to Grand Junction, then I-70 west into Utah and finally south on US 191 into Moab, a distance of about 180 miles.  There was another, shorter (158 miles), more direct and scenic route that would take us over the mountains and away from Grand Junction.  But we elected to take the more civilized route through Grand Junction just so we wouldn't be so far off in the boonies if we had another engine issue.  

And it was a wise decision.  About half way back to Grand Junction we threw another fault code, this time  for "Intake Manifold Pressure" and "EGR System". 

We pulled over to the side of the road to once again cry and curse and plan our next move.  We really, really, really wanted to arrive at Portal RV in Moab tonight, if for no other reason than we had made a reservation and paid $143.65, which would be forfeited if we didn't arrive.  I made calls to the Cummins corporate help line, to the service manager at Cummins (I had his cell number) and to the Cummins emergency hotline at Cummins Grand Junction, but no one answered.  I primarily wanted to know the severity of these new codes and whether we should drive or not.  But we never received a call back.  Our route would take us within 1/2 mile of the Cummins service center in Grand Junction, but if we stopped there we knew they wouldn't open until Tuesday, due to the Labor Day holiday.  That would mean two more nights in the Cummins lot waiting for them to open and missing the start of our caravan.  In the end we felt we had no other choice than to go back to Cummins in Grand Junction. 

We arrived at Cummins Grand Junction and set up in our usual space in their RV parking area and plugged in to 50A power.  By the time I arrived the fault codes had become inactive.  Since there were only a few occurrences of the codes and they had become inactive, I really wanted feedback from Cummins if we really even needed to be here. I again called all the numbers I had called earlier, and again received no answers and no callbacks. Ultimately we decided to stay here until next Tuesday next week and let them have another look.  In the meantime our friends Dave and Lynn, who we had been trying to travel with since we left Pueblo CO an eon ago, and who were with us at Montrose, stopped by the shop to offer moral support and any help they could render.  They too are enroute to Moab to attend the Grand Circle caravan and had departed Montrose about an hour after we did.  We greatly appreciated their support, but there was not anything they could do, so after a short while they continued on to Moab.

The orientation meeting for our caravan was to be on Monday September 2 at 2:00, followed by a dinner at 5:00 and a "Canyonlands by Night" Colorado River tour at 6:00.  Since we were stuck at Cummins in Grand Junction with nothing better to do Dorcas and I decided to drive the 106 miles to Moab to attend these events and return to Grand Junction that evening, to hopefully get the coach into the shop on Tuesday morning.  On the way to Moab we would do a windshield tour of Colorado National Monument on Rim Rock Drive.

From Wikipedia:

Sheer-walled canyons cut deep into sandstone and granite–gneiss–schist rock formations. This is an area of desert land high on the Colorado Plateau, with pinyon and juniper forests on the plateau. The park hosts a wide range of wildlife, including red-tailed hawks, golden eagles, ravens, jays, desert bighorn sheep, and coyotes. There are scenic views from trails, Rim Rock Drive, which winds along the plateau, and the campground. Nearby are the Book Cliffs and the largest flat-topped mountain in the world, the Grand Mesa.

The monument's feature attraction is Monument Canyon, which runs the width of the park and includes rock formations such as Independence Monument, the Kissing Couple, and Coke Ovens. The monument includes 20,500 acres (32.0 sq mi), much of which has been recommended to Congress for designation as wilderness.

After our drive on Rim Rock Drive in Colorado National Monument we dropped down off the plateau, back onto I-70 and continued to Moab.  We arrived just in time for the orientation where we learned details on how the caravan would work and met the other attendees.  There would be a total of 25 coaches, including our Host coach and our Co-Host coach.  We also viewed the vacant campsite we had paid for and reserved but which we could not use.

We met at the "Canyonlands by Night" facility, just a few miles from camp for a group dinner.    After dinner about dusk we boarded a boat for the "Canyonlands by Night" on the Colorado River.  "Canyonlands By Night & Day" is a family-owned tour company on the banks of the Colorado River near Moab. They have been providing guests with experiences of a lifetime in the Canyonlands area since 1963. We motored upstream about 5-6 miles then began to drift as a truck mounted with powerful lights illuminated the canyon walls from the road that parallels the river.  At the same time they played a narrative of the history of the canyon and the river from the beginning of time until the present along with dramatic music.  It was really cool.

Izzy was our guide and narrator. She was great

After the boat tour we piled back into the Pilot for the 106 mile drive back to Grand Junction. We arrived back at the coach shortly after midnight and crashed.

Bright and early at 7:30 am on Tuesday I was at the service counter at the Cummins facility.  We were repeat customers, and they got us into a service bay pretty quickly. Following is the report from the technician: 

CLOCKED INTO JOB AND RV WAS MOVED INTO SHOP. COMPLETED JSA. PLUGGED INTO RV AND CONNECTED INSIGHT READ FAULT CODES. 3389 AND 3361, ALL INACTIVE WITH 1 COUNT EACH.  ENTERED THEM INTO THE FAULT CODE ANALYZER AND FOUND 3361 TO BE RELATED TO 3389.  STARTED DIAG OF 3389. WENT THROUGH TSBS FOR UNIT AND FOUND NONE THAT ARE RELEVENT TO UNIT. NEXT STEP WAS TO PERFORM AN AIR HANDLING PERFORMNCE TEST. HAD TO LET UNIT WARM UP TO BEGIN TEST. ONCE UNIT WAS WARMED UP AFTER 10 MINUTES OF RUNNING I STARTED TEST. TEST COMPLETED AND FOUND NO PROBLEMS AND STARTED THAT ALL TESTS COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY AND NO FURTHER REPAIRS NEEDED. CHECKED THE CALIBRATION HISTORY. UNIT IS UP TO DATE ON THE ECM CALIBRATION. NO PRIOR ECM CALIBRATIONS ARE SPECIFIC TO FAULT CODE. NOTIFIED SUPERVISOR OF FINDINGS. CLEANED UP WORK AREA. AND CLOCKED OUT. 

In summary: they could find nothing wrong.  All was fine.  Everyone was baffled. The fault codes had cleared, but they could find no reason why they had occurred in the first place.  In the end all we could do was to continue on our journey and hope for the best.

So that's what we did.  By 10:30 we were on the road to Moab to catch up with our caravan. We topped off with the last relatively cheap fuel we would see for a while before leaving Grand Junction. We headed west on I-70 and shortly entered Utah. Then south on US 191, then, just outside Moab .... you guessed it, another fault code.

I sent a text message to the service manager at Grand Junction:

Since 1) there seemed to be no clear solution 2) the coach seems to be running fine and 3) we really, really, really don't want to miss any more of our caravan, we will continue on and hope for the best.

The Utah desert is a lonely place to break down

The Adventure continues ......

Broken Again!!!!!! Grand Junction CO

On Saturday August 24 we departed Glenwood Springs headed west on I-70 to Montrose CO to meet with our friends Dave and Lynn, who were already parked at Meadows of San Juan RV Resort.  

But, alas, on this trip things seem to keep going awry.  We had a pleasant drive following the Colorado River through scenic Western Colorado.  We exited I-70 in Grand Junction and were headed south towards Montrose, when, you guessed it, another check engine light appeared.

I used my Cummins Inline Mini code reader to see the nature of the code. It still showed the older fault codes, which were inactive, but a new DPF pressure fault, the same code we had before we were towed to Denver and spent enough to buy a small house to make repairs.   CRAP.  At least it wasn't a "Stop Engine" code, meaning we could still drive, at least for a while.

We pulled over to the side of the road to curse and to cry and to consider our options.  If we continued on we risked throwing a "Stop Engine" code, which might mean another tow. There happened to be another Cummins factory service center in Grand Junction, only about 8 miles away, but being Saturday, it was closed until Monday.  If we went there it meant sitting for two more nights in a Cummins lot and losing another camping reservation.  This would be the last factory Cummins shop we would be near for many, many miles.  The beginning of the rendezvous with our Grand Circle caravan was quickly approaching, and we surely didn't want to miss that, so we made the decision to detour to the shop here in Grand Junction.

So here we sit at a Cummins shop ... once again 

Aren't rainbows supposed to be a sign of good luck?

On Monday morning I checked in at the service desk and they reviewed all the work done at the Cummins shop in Henderson and checked out the new fault code.  Luckily they were able to get us into the shop quickly. This shop is not nearly as busy as the one in Henderson and the service manager here is much more friendly and communicative.

I won't even try to paraphrase the work they did over the next three days, but I will paste the technicians notes, for anyone who may be interested.  

FAULT CODES

AFTER TREATMENT DPF DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE-DATA VALID BUT ABOVE NORMAL OPERATING RANGE-MODERATELY TO SEVERE LEVEL.

COURTESY INSPECTION- CHECK DRIVE LINE VIBRATION AT 5-15 MILES PER HOUR.

THE SOOT LOAD OF THE AFTERTREATMENT DIESEL PARTICULATE FILTER HAS EXCEEDED THE RECOMMENDED LIMITS.

X055

LAST SAVED: 29 AUG 2024 09:18:19 AM MDT

8/29/2024-VX055 CLOCKED INTO JOB AND COMPLETED JSA. BROUGHT UNIT INTO SHOP FOR CHECKS. REMOVED THE EXHAUST BACK PRESSURE SENSOR AND MADE SURE IT WAS NOT CLOGGED. AND REMOVED THE EGR VALVE FROM UNIT TO SCOPE DOWN AND INSPECT THE GRID HEATER OF THE UNIT. FOUND MINIMAL SOOT AND GOT WITH SENIOR TECH AND SUPERVISOR ABOUT NEXT STEPS. PUT UNIT BACK TOGETHER AND STARTED UNIT. WATCHING THE SENSORS USING INSITE. WAS INFORMED AS WELL TO CHANGE THE MINIMUM SPEED FOR ACTIVE REGEN FROM 20 MPH TO 5 MPH. AFTER CHANGES WHERE MADE I CLEARED FAULT CODES CAUSED BY UNPLUGGING SENSORS FOR TESTING. GOT ECM IMAGE AFTER DOING SO AND CLEANED UP WORK AREA AND GOT WITH SUPERVISOR. THEN WROTE STORY.

VX055

LAST SAVED: 29 AUG 2024 09:11:02 AM MDT

8/28/2024-VX055 CLOCKED INTO JOB AND COMPLETED JSA. BROUGHT UNIT INTO SHOP AND STARTED GETTING ALL THE INFORMATION FOR TECH SUPPORT. PULLED EGR VALVE AND EGR DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE SENSOR.

GOT PICTURES OF COMPONENTS THEN CLEANED AND PUT BACK TOGETHER.

ENSURE THE TEMP PROBES FOR THE AFTERTREATMENT SYSTEM WHERE IN CORRECT LOCATIONS. FINISHED GETTING INFO AND SENT IT OFF TO TECH SUPPORT. WITH VIDEOS OF THE SNAP TESTS AND STALL TESTS. WAITED FOR TECH SUPPORT TO GET BACK WITH ME ABOUT NEXT STEPS. FINALLY HEARD BACK AROUND 4 PM AND GOT WITH SUPERVISOR. SENIOR TECHS WERE IN 

ROOM AS WELL AND WE ALL WENT OVER STEPS AND I WAS GIVEN ADVICE AND

EXTRA THINGS TO CHECK ON UNIT. SUPERVISOR GOT WITH CUSTOMER AND I

BROUGHT RV BACK OUT FOR THEM. CLEANED UP WORK AREA AND WROTE STORY.

VX055

LAST SAVED: 27 AUG 2024 11:14:08 AM MDT

8/27/2024-VX055 CLOCKED INTO JOB AND COMPLETED JSA FOR TEST DRIVE.

GOT WITH CUSTOMER AND BEGAN TEST DRIVING UNIT WITH DATA LOG RUNNING. GOT UNIT BACK TO SHOP AND COMPLETED DATA LOG OF UNIT REGEN. SENT LOGS TO GUIDANZ AND CALLED TECH SUPPORT AT 10:12 AND WAS PUT ON HOLD THEN GOT AHOLD OF SOMEONE AND THE CALL ENDED AT 11:12. TALKED WITH TECH SUPPORT ABOUT FINDINGS AND LOGS. WHICH IN RESPONSE HE TOLD ME HE WAS GOING TO LOOK INTO IT AND EMAIL ME INSTRUCTIONS.

VX055

LAST SAVED: 27 AUG 2024 10:05:31 AM MDT

UPDATED-- HAD SENIOR TECHNICIAN JEREMY LOOK OVER DRIVESHAFT TO CONFIRM CLOCKED POSITION AND INSTALL.

VX055

LAST SAVED: 27 AUG 2024 08:57:44 AM MDT

UPDATED--BROUGHT UNIT INTO BAY WITH LIFTS. LIFTED REAR OF UNIT UP TO CHECK DRIVESHAFT ON UNIT. FOUND DRIVESHAFT TO NO BE CLOCKED CORRECTLY. REMOVED DRIVESHAFT FROM UNIT TO CLOCK IT INTO THE CORRECT LOCATIONS. PUT DRIVESHAFT BACK IN AND TORQUED THE BOLTS TO

110 FT-LBS PER SPECIFICATIONS. CHECKED DRIVESHAFT BOLTS AND STRAPS ENSURING THEY WHERE ON AND NOT AT ANY AWKWARD ANGLES OR INCORRECTLY PLACED. THEN RETORQUED BOLTS. SET UNIT DOWN.

VX055

LAST SAVED: 26 AUG 2024 05:08:19 AM MDT

VX055-8/26/2024 CLOCKED INTO WORK ORDER AND COMPLETED JSA.

CONNECTED INSIGHT AND FOUND 1921 CODE TO BE ACTIVE WITH 1 COUNT AND INACTIVE FAULTS OF 2639,3389,3361 AND ALL HAVE 1 COUNT THAT IS INACTIVE.STARTED DOWN DIAG TREE PROVIDED BY GUIDANZ. FOUND TSB THAT WAS STEP 1 TO NOT BE APPLICABLE TO UNIT. THEN MOVED TO STEP TWO CHECKING THE PRESSURE TUBES FOR THE DPF FILTER. FOUND THEM TO BE NEW AS STORY STATES AND CLEAN. CHECKED THE PRESSURE SENSOR IN STEP THREE FINDING IT TO BE WITHIN SPECIFICATION AND NOT STUCK IN RANGE. PULLED SENSOR OFF AND INSPECTED IT. REFERENCE PORT WAS NOT BLOCKED OR DAMAGED. IN STEP 4 1 COMPLETED THE AIR HANDLING PERFORMANCE TEST. TEST PASSED WITH NO REPAIRS NEEDED. PERFORMED STEP 5 AND IN THE PROCESS THE SOOT LOAD WENT FROM OVER 2.8 TO 2.2. WITHIN THE NORMAL RANGE. PERFORMED THE FUEL INJECTOR PERFORMANCE TEST. TEST WAS STOPPED AT CYLINDER 4 DUE TO THE 1921 CODE BECOMING ACTIVE AGAIN, CONSULTED WITH SENIOR TECH AND CALLED TECH SUPPORT. WENT OVER INFORMATION FOR TECH SUPPORT WHICH CONCLUDED IN DOING A SNAP TEST AND STALL TEST WITH THE DOC UNHOOKED. FOUND THERE TO BE NO EXCESS BLACK SMOKE. THEN THEY RECOMMENDED TO DO A DATA LOG OF THE REGEN AND A DATA LOG OF A DRIVE. GOT THE DATA LOG OF THE REGEN AND NOTICED THE REGEN TOOK THE SOOT LOAD TO 0. THEN TOOK UNIT ON A DRIVE WHERE SOOT LOAD CAME UP TO .5 AND WOULD CLIMB TO .56 THEN GO BACK DOWN TO .5, ALONG WITH NOTICING THE DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE NEVER WENT OVER 1.2 WHILE DRIVING AND WOULD STAY AROUND .2 WHEN IDLING. FOUND THEM TO ALO SIT AROUND .88 WHEN DECELERATING. GOT UNIT BACK TO SHOP AND SAVED DATA LOG. MOVED DATA LOG INTO GUIDANZ AND CALLED TECH SUPPORT. FINDING THAT DATA LOGS DID NOT COMPLETE OR GO THROUGH CORRECTLY RESULTING IN NO INFORMATION FOR THEM TO LOOK AT. CONCLUDED WITH TRYING TO GET THE LOGS AGAIN AND CALLING BACK. GOT WITH SUPERVISOR WHO RECOMMENDED ME TO TRY AND GET AHOLD OF ORIGINAL TECH SUPPORT GUY TO GO OVER INFORMATION IN THE MORNING.

WROTE STORY AND CLEANED UP.

CUSTOMER RECENTLY HAD REPAIRS DONE IN THE HENDERSON BRANCH.

Note that they did find that my drive shaft had been installed incorrectly back at Cummins Henderson, and they corrected that issue.  We also did 2 separate test drives totaling about 100 miles, with the technician riding shotgun monitoring engine parameters live as I drove, but those drives showed no issues.  During the three days we were in the shop they logged almost 17 hours of labor, at a rate of $220/hour, but only charged us for about 4 hours, plus the cost of a few gaskets. This was a pleasant surprise, and I can't say exactly why they did that.  They would have covered anything the Cummins shop in Henderson had done incorrectly, but that was not the case, except for the drive shaft.  In all we were very fortunate that they were able to spend so much time on our coach when we just dropped in with no appointment.  That is seldom the case; often folks must wait days, weeks even months for RV service.

In the meantime we had been calling Meadows of San Juan RV Resort in Montrose every day, explaining that we won't make it this day but might be there the next.

Finally on Thursday August 29, after being parked for 5 nights at Cummins in Grand Junction we departed for Montrose.  Cummins had declared that our exhaust system was as clean as the day the coach left the factory, and we should have no more problems.  Surely now we would make it to the beginning of our Grand Circle caravan on September 2, right?  Not!!!!

Escaping Denver and Exploring Glenwood Springs

 The turbocharger that had been originally expected to arrive last Thursday, finally arrived on Tuesday August 22.  On Wednesday at 7:15 AM the coach went into the bay once more, hopefully for the last time. They finished the installation shortly before 5:00 pm.  On Thursday morning they conducted final checks and tests, including a new "air handling test" which is the test they did to determine that the turbo was bad in the first place.  And finally, a test drive.  Everything passed (or at least they said it did .... more to follow).  We never did receive a credible explanation as to why the turbo charger failed.  All during the events leading up to our fault codes the coach seemed to be running fine, and the turbo boost pressures seemed normal.  

We escaped the Cummins service center shortly before noon.  We had been here for 15 nights, and had shortened or totally missed camping reservations in Kremmling CO, Rocky Mountain National Park and Nathrop CO.  The only good things I can think of about this experience is we were able to sleep in the coach each night (i.e. didn't need to go to a motel) and thus we got 15 nights of free camping .... so to speak.  

As we left the shop I immediately noticed a rather severe vibration and shudder when accelerating between about 5 and 15 mph.  Above 15 mph the shudder went away and everything felt fine.  I should have turned around and gone back to check it out then, but I didn't.  I was just so happy we were on our way, and besides, if something was wrong, wouldn't they have seen that during the test drive?  Perhaps it was just my imagination, or perhaps I had just driven over some rumble strips .... Not!  More on this issue later.

We headed west, first on I-76 and then on I-70 and made it through the metro Denver area rather easily. We then began a steady climb which would culminate at the Eisenhower Tunnel about 60 miles west at EL 11,185.

From Wikipedia:

The Eisenhower Tunnel, officially the Eisenhower–Edwin C. Johnson Memorial Tunnel, is a dual-bore, four-lane vehicular tunnel in the western United States, approximately 60 miles west of Denver, Colorado. The tunnel carries Interstate 70 (I-70) under the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. With a maximum elevation of 11,158 feet above sea level, it is one of the highest vehicular tunnels in the world. The tunnel is the longest mountain tunnel and highest point on the Interstate Highway System. Opened in 1973, the westbound bore is named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, the U.S. President for whom the Interstate system is also named. The eastbound bore was completed in 1979 and is named for Edwin C. Johnson, a governor and U.S. Senator who lobbied for an Interstate Highway to be built across Colorado.

We last passed through this tunnel over two weeks ago eastbound and attached to a gigantic tow truck.  Not an experience I enjoy recalling.  Upon exiting the western portal of the tunnel we pulled off into the "brake check" area and had lunch. So far the coach was running well, excepting the low speed shudder, which had not been my imagination nor rumble strips.

After crossing the Great Continental Divide we began a long gentle descent heading west to our destination at Glenwood Springs.  The Colorado River carved the Glenwood Canyon and had stunning views. I-70 hugs the cliffs, often on elevated roadways and one roadway stacked on top of the other.  It is an amazing feat of engineering.

Views along the drive through Glenwood Canyon:

We had called ahead and Ami's Acres Campground, just a few miles west of Glenwood Springs, was expecting us.  The campground is very close to the interstate and the river, but we were parked way up on the hill and the noise was not too bad.  Our plan was to spend two nights here, spending the next day exploring Glenwood Springs.

The campground is built into the side of a steep hill and the entrance road and outer loop road were bumpy and steep.  The camp sites however were terraced into the hill and were level and reasonably large.

On Friday August 23 we poked around downtown Glenwood Springs.  John Henry "Doc" Holliday came to Glenwood Springs in 1887 hoping the curative powers of the spring would improve his lung ailments.  It didn't.  He died and was buried here in an unmarked grave.

From Wikipedia:

In 1887, prematurely gray and badly ailing, Holliday made his way to the Hotel Glenwood, near the hot springs of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He hoped to take advantage of the reputed curative power of the waters, but the sulfurous fumes from the spring might have done his lungs more harm than good.  As he lay dying, Holliday is reported to have asked the nurse attending him for a shot of whiskey. When she told him no, he looked at his bootless feet, amused. The nurses said that his last words were, "This is funny." He always figured he would be killed someday with his boots on.  Holliday died at 10 a.m. on November 8, 1887. He was 36. Wyatt Earp did not learn of Holliday's death until two months afterward. Kate Horony later said that she attended to him in his final days, and one contemporary source appears to corroborate her claim. He died from tuberculosis.

Dorcas and I started the uphill trek to the Linwood Cemetery ... a light rain became a bit of a downpour.  I turned around and went back to the car.  Dorcas continued up the hill to capture some photos and just to say she did it!  The memorial to Doc Holliday says "This Memorial Dedicated to Doc Holliday who is Buried Someplace in this Cemetery".  I told Dorcas she should have picked up some of the coins left at the memorial to help pay for our Cummins work...

On this evening Oran Mor was playing at a weekly music series "Music under the Bridge"  They played a combination of traditional Celtic music, American folk and soft rock.

We watched the music from the patio at Casey Brewing and enjoyed some cool ones.

There was a lot of fish art.

Tomorrow we will depart Glenwood Springs headed for Montrose CO where we will meet up with our friends Dave and Lynn.