The Vacation From HE!! Not Over Yet

[FrankMor]

Sorry long thread.

We were on our first long trip in the MH, Oklahoma to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We were staying at Jacob Lake Campground (good place to stay).
We left Oklahoma Tuesday Sep. 4th, got there on the sixth. Second night there the heater quit working, clicked once fan runs 30 sec. and turned off, no burner coming on, no clicking, nothing. Not too cold so we are OK.
We went to Bryce Canyon, really nice but huge crowds. We went to Cedar Breaks on the way back to Jacob Lake, no crowds and just as nice. On the way to Cedar Breaks, a relay on the climate contol in the Jeep started to chatter intermitenly, annoying, but no real problem.
Sunday back at the Canyon, had a good day.
Sunday night, back at the RV, I was chilling real bad. After a bad night and not any better, we went to the ER. ER for there is at Kanab, Utah, it has 9 beds. The people there were great.
Three days of IV antibiotics and they discharged me on 2 antibiotics.
Problem is we needed to be on the road home by 10 am that day! We got started out at noon. We decided to not make any stops on the way to Flagstaff to make up time. We had reservations in Albuquerque. Those of you that have come in Flagstaff from the north know that long upgrade coming in that way. Just short of the top, at 40 mph, the engine temp spiked to max, I had been watching it, the check engine light came on and I pulled over. The coolant reservoir was boiling over. I called Ford Road Side assistance. After explaining what was going on, the lady I was talking to told me that the F53 was not designed to be driven for 5 hours without stops to let it cool down. She said the they always stop every 2 to 3 hours to let theirs cool off. She asked if I wanted to have her send help, or try letting it cool off and see what happened. We decided to let it cool off. We ate and killed time for 30 to 45 min. When we tried again, 3 miles at 30 mph is all we got, temp spiked, check engine light and this time, DIC showed “Reduced Engine Power”.
Ford sent out a tow truck to take us to Winslow Ford, the nearest that would work on it. Jett Emergency Response Team Towing. They were very good. They also found a broken tailpipe hanger and a broken rear sway bar bracket. We got to Winslow just after they closed and had to leave it on their service road.
The next morning, we talked with them and they can get to it Wednesday. DW had to be at work 5:30 am Saturday, so we left it there and came home.

Frank

[Bob Denman]

Wow! I hope that you're feeling better...
Good luck with the repairs to your rig, and it WILL get better!

[FrankMor]

I sure hope so.

Frank

[Mr Sunshine]

Sorry for all that drama! Is your coach new and under warranty?

Hope some better educated folks will chime in about the overheating. What you described doesn't sound right to me.

I am wondering if you have issues with the radiator, thermostat, fluid or the water pump. You need to have a conversation with a Ford mechanic.

[FrankMor]

It is a 15 and still covered. We also have an extended on it.

Frank

[Mr Sunshine]

Hope you get some definitive answers from the Ford dealer on Wednesday. You may find out the value of that extended warranty. Please report back.

BTW, thanks for the comment about Cedar Breaks. Bryce Canyon and all those great Utah parks are on our want list.

[Woofwoof]

There’s no way the F53 needs to cool off every 2 hours. We only have 10k on our 2014, but for some MH 2500 miles a year is decent miles. I’ve never stopped and cooled off. Drove from Cape Cod Mass to Hershey Park PA this July, took the back way through CT and mid-upstate NY and the NE of PA, a very hilly/mountain route. Temps 90-100’s, we were walking around Hershey Park during the recorded breaking heatwave I need to cool off every 2 hours lol. 10-12 hour day driving there and back, the only time we shutdown was for fuel. My temp gauge never moved and I was towing my Ram 1500. Drove to Lake George NY last year 8-10 hours straight driving and we routinely drive to New Hampshire without stopping. Most of our trips are more than a 2 hour drive. I’d be willing to bet no one else on here with a F53 stops every 2 hours.

Don’t let them get away with telling you that. There’s something wrong with you’re rig. Sorry for your trip. I hope they figure out the problem. Please keep us informed.

[Elite Washington]

Sorry to hear of all the problems, hopefully they will get it fixed and this will end up just being a story to tell later. I will say there is no way that you have to let it cool down every 2 hours. I have a class C but the v10 is the same motor and there is no way Ford will sell those for use in buses ambulances etc if they couldn’t be driven that hard

[axis earl]

Originally Posted by Elite Washington

Sorry to hear of all the problems, hopefully they will get it fixed and this will end up just being a story to tell later. I will say there is no way that you have to let it cool down every 2 hours. I have a class C but the v10 is the same motor and there is no way Ford will sell those for use in buses ambulances etc if they couldn’t be driven that hard

Agreed. We have driven ours for hours and hours in temps over 100 degrees. That advice about 2 hours is pure garbage.

[Elite Washington]

You would never be able camp out west during the summer. Last summer we took at trip to Redding to visit friends. When we left eastern Washington it was 105 and by the time we got to Redding it was 115. If we had to stop every 2 hours that would had been a 20 hr drive

[JamieGeek]

I wonder if your thermostat got stuck closed...just a thought.

Sorry to hear of your trials and tribulations. Hopefully everything will get fixed (and you stay healthy!).

[Bob Denman]

"After explaining what was going on, the lady I was talking to told me that the F53 was not designed to be driven for 5 hours without stops to let it cool down. She said the they always stop every 2 to 3 hours to let theirs cool off."

This falls into the same category as: "It's normal: they ALL do that."

It pegs the "B.S. meter": every time...

[RV Pirate]

That lady answering the phone would be an AWESOME RV salesperson... LMAO

[woody]

We were in that same general area two years ago when I noticed my temp gage started to rise while climbing upgrades. Turned out to be the cap on the coolant recovery was not installed properly at the factory. Once it was threaded correctly no more issues.