Green Energy Project

[Diesel Dan]

Glad to see y'all finally found a warm climate... or at least some warm water to soak in. There are a lot of natural hot springs in the northwest if you're heading out that way. Enjoy!

 

[dangie-SKO]

We finally found a host in CA and had planned to leave this past Saturday, but a new mechanical problem has developed. The last week or so I noticed the bus lurching when shifting gears, then an ominous clank sound when shifting into overdrive. The lurching is barely noticeable if I let off the gas while it shifts, but the clank remains... over the past few days its grown louder. Saturday I decided it was too risky to try and make it through the mountains heading to San Diego, so we're hanging out in AZ a little longer while it gets inspected. Should know whats wrong tomorrow (hopefully). Right now just hearing the word transmission makes my stomach turn.. so wish me luck!

On a lighter note, Phoenix has been awesome! We have made some really great friends and I found some really cool art gigs. I renewed my license when we got here (because VA is dumb and wanted me to fly back for a vision test! no really... apparently there are no exceptions.. ) and now I don't need to renew until 2052! 40 YEARS!! compared to every 6 in VA thats crazy. Here are some highlights in picture form:

Thats me with vinyl toy artist Huck Gee at one of his book signings, if your not familiar you should visit his site: http://huckgee.com/ He makes some really cool art toys.

Mural job for my new friend Kevin, among other paintings I did here he also is setting me up with some work when we get to CA which is awesome!!

We're riding our bikes everywhere now and have mastered hanging them in the light rail trains which are so cool! I wish we had one in Richmond.

This is a power station we toured at Stara Technologies who are researching alternative energy sources for the military among others.

Another art gig, painting logos..

I've managed to get some more paint time on the bus.. she's about half way covered now.

Celebrated my 25th birthday with new friends!

My dad came to visit one weekend between work meetings in CA and took Angie and I up to Sedona, beautiful! This is a picture of a giant sinkhole we came across near coffeepot rock.

The only other news is that our scooters for sale. Partly in anticipation for the enormous maintenance bill I'm sure is coming, and partly because we really do bike everywhere now and haven't driven the scooter since Albuquerque. However, this has raised yet another problem.. I don't have a title for it. The guy I bought it from didn't have one, and in VA you don't need to register or have a license for anything 50cc or under so I didn't bother. However, AZ (and CA) requires registration so everyone that calls about the ad asks if I have a title. I drove the scooter over to the MVD today just to see what it will take to get one but I got there too late for the inspection. Most likely when I go back they'll tell me I have to do a bond title, which will probably be more money than its worth for me but I'll post what I happens next time.

 

[bansil]

Thank you for the update,great pics and stories...one question...what does the tag art on the nose wrap say?I don't speak inner city

You are very talented,good luck in Ca...when you get there

 

[dangie-SKO]

Bansil- It says 'living sustainably' but its mostly just letter practice for me. I'm pretty new to can work, and while I find graffiti lettering interesting I don't use it much in my own work. I've always seen this bus as canvas space for me to practice can work, and it will undoubtedly get covered again and again. If you would like to see more of my art you can visit my website @ http://www.johnsondaniel.com

Igloo- Yea I wondered what they would have done if I just neglected to mention I was from VA because they ran the VIN through AZ database and obviously it didn't come up as stolen. If I had left that out maybe they would have been satisfied.. who knows. As it stands, I called VA DMV and they said I will have to submit a form that gets them to do a search for the last known title holder, then DMV sends that person a letter requesting that they come to DMV and transfer the title. The odds of the person actually being located by itself are unlikely.. they could have moved out of state, not forwarded their new address, they could have died, or more likely than anything lost the original title. Even if they thought they MIGHT have the title somewhere in some box... would they bother tearing apart their house looking for it for some random kid in AZ? So unless someone wants it for parts or is moving to another state that doesn't require registration then im probably just going to keep it till I get home. We'll see.

I haven't received the actual bill yet, but Aamaco called earlier today and told me the transmission is shot. They gave me two options: Rebuild with a 12month warranty for $2600 or 'Re-manufacturer' it for a 3year warranty $2900. The difference in price seemed minimal for the warranty range difference and supposedly they will upgrade any parts that have been updated since the original transmission was installed 20years ago... So thats what I went for. Its going to mean some frugal spending in the months ahead... probably for the rest of the trip... but as long as I can still find side work and make all my payments we'll try to soldier on. If anyone is interested in some artwork... I can paint a really cool Skoolie portrait for you!!!!!

 

[bansil]

That seems awful $$ doesn't it have a TH400(TH350 same R&R) in it? they should be able to have it out and on the table in less than a 1/2 hr(driveshaft,1 nut for shifter,6 crossmember bolts,4 dust cover bolts,3 or 4 torque conv bolts,2 lines and speedo); tear it apart,clean and have back together and reinstalled in 1 day

 

[chev49]

You can easily rebuild a turbo 400 or 350 transmission yourself, but you need some bushing drivers or make your own, and a clamping device to release the snap rings, and some good snap ring pliers, n torque wrench.

I started doing my own for my street rods because a few years ago i paid a shop to do one, and they had 3 things wrong with it when it wouldnt work in a street rod, and i tore it down...

 

[dangie-SKO]

They said the transmission had a Jasper tag and was one step down from an Allison, I don't know what that means really.
If we were home I might attempt to fix it myself, although I'm not confident I could. I have zero mechanical experience except the few minor things I've managed to fix along the trip so far. But since I have no tools, and I'm staying on someone else's property passed the agreed upon time, and I didn't want to risk be stranded in the mountains crossing into CA I really didn't have much of a choice. However, the shop also mentioned a slightly leaking injector and a coolant leak somewhere near the back of the engine... perhaps when we make it to CA I will call upon the collective knowledge of skoolie.net and try to fix those myself.

 

[chev49]

first you need to know the exact transmission you have... should be listed on the data plate..

 

[Bullwhacker007]

Your bus is on the Chevy G30 Van chassis.
More likely you have a 4L80E "diesel" programmed trans in it.

This trans is used in allot of vehicles at one ton size. Chevy P-30 vans etc..

 

[chev49]

those are good transmissions, but you should replace some of the stock parts with the good stuff on rebuild...

 

[dangie-SKO]

I believe Bullwacker007 is right, I think he said it was a 4L80E but its not on the paperwork. Next time I'm underneath I'll have to remember to look. So I picked up the bus from the shop Thursday (final bill was $3080) and it felt alright, no noises and shifting better. But yesterday I took the bus out on the highway to go camping and 10miles later im overheating!! It was too late to get to the shop and we were pushing it to make our hike so I limped it to the trailhead. Then today we got back to the bus and over to the nearest Aamco but they were booked up till Monday. So we're spending yet another weekend waiting for the shop to open back up.
In the mean time I have been pulling my hair out trying this or that to figure out whats wrong. Nothing appears to be leaking out anywhere, I'm getting heat blowing from the vents so the thermostat (which I replaced back in Austin) should be open, I bought a new reservoir cap today but no change, Oil dipstick is black and at level so we dont have a cracked header... unless one of the hoses is collapsing I can only assume there is a clog somewhere.. but why would that magically appear right after they finish working on it? My other theory is that we aren't getting out of 3rd gear and the high rpm's maybe are making it run hot, although I don't actually know that would happen. But I can't feel it shift into overdrive (4th) and it sounds MUCH louder now than it did before on the highway, kind of has a whine to it. And I drove a back road home from Aamco where we only drove 45mph and we didn't have a problem at all, so it may just be the overdrive. I think that makes more since given we didn't have an overheating problem before I dropped the bus off. guess we'll find out Monday...

Here's some pictures of my one night hiatus from mechanical problems..

Big Easy does not blend in well in the desert..

Because of the overheating we got a late start and couldn't make it to Geronimo's Cave.. maybe next time.

Weaver's Needle

We camped here with our friend Trenton (far right) and had two visitors share smores with us before they hiked back down in the dark. Desert camping is so different than anything I've done in VA where your always under trees. It was so bright last night we could have hiked on without flashlights and been fine. It was actually the first time I've camped without a tent too (VA has too many mosquitos and I usually get destroyed without the safety of a tent), fun times.

 

[Bullwhacker007]

You can check to see if the trans is in overdrive; travel at 50mph and shift it down to drive; if it down shifts then it was in OD.
There are two speed sensors on the drivers side of the trans; front one for the speedo and rear is for computer.

I had a 1996 C2500 Chevy service truck that was stuck in 2nd and wasn't throwing any errors.
I fixed it after 500.00 in parts.

 

[chev49]

also always check to see if tranny has right fluid level.. and the stuff doesn't smell burnt.
If you don't know whether the transmission or the engine is causing the overheating... first ya gotta isolate which one it is.

 

[dangie-SKO]

FINALLY! So my hunch was correct, we were'nt getting into overdrive and that's why we were running hot. Turns out our throttle cable either needs some adjusting or replacing, but it was only showing 58% on his computer and he had set the sensor as if it was working 100%. So when the sensor picked up the difference it automatically took the throttle down to 35% which prevented us from shifting into overdrive (forgive me if this sounds off, i'm doing my best to remember how the mechanic explained it to me). So he adjusted the sensor to what our peddle is doing and we're good to go. He said fixing the throttle cable is not imperative, and that we're actually probably getting better gas millage (i assume because its only allowing 58%fuel usage?) than if we fixed it... but then he also said he's not too familiar with diesel's and they may all be set like that he wasn't sure. All I know is we can't wait to get on the road and be moving again! Hopefully our next post will be from CA!!

 

[chev49]

Not good for tranny when not adjusted correctly...

 

[bansil]

Not sure about that trans since its more computer controlled,but on say a 700r4 the throttle cable determines the amount of "pressure" applied to the bands...incorrect pressure will kill that tranny,glad you got it running tho'

 

[dangie-SKO]

We made it! WEST COAST!!! The drive through the mountain range after El Centro was pretty brutal, we had to stop dozens of times to keep from overheating and the wind was insane. Even on flat ground we couldn't get above 45mph. I definitely want to replace that cable if it means we'll get more power out of our engine. Here are a few pictures of the drive and our new spot:

First fuel up of Bio-Diesel from a pump. Anyone know what the Flex-Fuel stuff is? It was cheaper but I've never heard of it.

Wind Turbines!

Crossed through some dunes.

Our new spot!

New doggie friends!

 

[roach711]

Flex fuel is gasoline and alcohol mixed 85%/15% if memory serves. That's for gassers. You don't want it in your rig - ever.

Very cool shots.

 

[dangie-SKO]

Interesting... I'm glad I didn't try it in ours then. I'll have to read up on that, wonder why you would want to thin down gas with alcohol? Just to use less gas? hmmm..

 

[RavensOracle]

My new truck is flex fuel. I've found that you get worst mpg with flex fuel than you do with regular gas so the savings at the pump ends up being lost to more gas being used. I went through a couple tanks of flex fuel then went back to normal gas because it wasn't really a cost saver.