Well, first trip is finally in the books. Spent the weekend at a county campground 2 hours north of me.
Bus abruptly died 10 miles into the drive up. I was luckily able to coast over to the side of the road and start troubleshooting. No power to dash, no crank, etc. at first I though my starter interlock bypass had failed but it turned out to be a loose negative battery cable. Tightened up the connection and replaced the two 7.5 amp ECM fuses that blew when the cable got loose. Lesson learned!
Obligatory Walmart parking lot photo. The side door is invaluable for loading groceries etc. glad I left that accessible in my floor plan.
Arrived at the campground shortly before sunset. The site had 50 amp service and water, neither of which I could use since my electrical isn’t set up. $35 per night wasn’t bad though. I simply hooked up a small lawn tractor battery to power my interior 12v lights (it wasn’t cold enough to require the diesel air heater although I had power to it)
The main takeaways from this trip:
1. The Blue Fire data adapter is worth every penny. Even on the older buses like mine with the J1708 ports they transmit data that is so useful. It is nice being able to monitor my temps going down the highway especially with the level of accuracy they offer over the unreliable dash gauges.
2. Carry extra fuses! If I hadn’t bought that extra box of micro fuses I would’ve been screwed.
3. Curtains, I neglected this and paid the price for it. Privacy is essential especially in the crowded campgrounds. It also makes a huge difference in bus interior temps as well.
The bus ran amazing the entire weekend, cooling system kept it at 190 the entire time and I got to give the 8.3 Cummins a workout on the big hills. On the way back i took the Interstate. Bus seems happiest at 68 mph (engine is at 1700 rpm at that speed). So lucky to have a bus with the unlocked 6th gear already