Almost since we have owned the GMC we have had a home-made console on the ‘flight deck’ to hold the computer on a swivel platform and a couple of drinks along with two drawers for books and junk. The console was not real big (I don’t have any photos of it) but it seemed like it took up all of the floor space between our seats. Another issue with it was that in order to open the engine hatch for check things it had to be moved somewhere, taking up more space and it was heavy. What we wanted was a computer holder that was held by an arm from the dashboard area and could swivel back and forth. Also, the under-dash air conditioning unit was pretty ugly looking and was installed in front of the switches that control the rear suspension.

I built a cabinet that covers the under-dash air conditioning unit and moved the switches for the rear suspension to the front of it. It has an arm extending to support the computer holder which swivels and also has a slide-out drink and cell phone holder. We’ll be testing it and seeing what kind of improvements are needed – I am sure there will be some.

On our last trip we spend a couple of nights in the heat and so had to run our Onan generator for several hours. The last couple of hours it started running rough and almost quit a couple of times so I decided to give it a little TLC. I watched the Duane Simmons DVD and followed his procedure for cleaning and torquing the heads and adjusting the voltage. I found and corrected several problems so I hope it runs better now – it sounds better and I am more familiar with it so I feel good about it. One problem that I did not have time to correct was the Low Oil Pressure switch is not working so, if we should run the Onan dry of engine oil, it will not stop automatically. It is easy to fix but, apparently, getting the correct oil pressure switch (a normally-closed one that opens with oil pressure) is a little problematic.

While I was messing with the Onan I decided to install a fuel prime switch –  a cheap and simple modification that makes it start almost immediately instead of needing lots of starter-motor cranking to get it going.

Since the new transmission had a bung in it for a temp gauge I wanted to install one – might have helped save the last transmission. I finally got a new sender via Amazon and got it installed in place of the old one (I could not find the correct electrical connector for it) without spilling more that an ounce or so of fluid. I got the gauge hooked up and test drove with and without the tow car. According to the book the normal operating temperature of the transmission is 190-200 degrees F. My test driving verified that but it took a 7-mile hill to get it that high – it was about 10 degrees hotter with the tow car. I will keep a close eye on it and try to establish a base-line of values.

I am sure there were many other minor things that I did also but an important one was installing a halon fire extinguisher in the refrigerator compartment. The refrigerator has been the cause of many RV fires and this is automatic. We have one on the engine too but that one is aqueous foam instead of halon.

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I finally got to pick up the coach on Tuesday afternoon. The A/C compressor works and has been converted to R-134. The seals in the final drive have been replaced and the weep hole is now open and not leaking. The only issue remaining from the original tranny swap is that it is a little late shifting into third gear. I am thinking that this might be how it was intended because of the weight of the coach not to mention the additional weight of the tow car. If it gets to be a problem I will have to adjust it on the road – it is not too tough but does require crawling under the coach – it won’t be the first time.

Now, on to the planned changes that I wanted to be working on for the past two weeks or more: the Onan needs some checking and maybe adjusting; I have to finish the chassis lube now that I know where the fittings are on the torque boxes – I had to go back and look at photos from the installation; I want to devise a cover for the furnace hot air outlet under the sink; I need to install a temperature gauge for the transmission (new tranny has a probe installed; I want to install a plastic bottle on the tranny vent hose so I can tell if it vents; and I really want to replace the center console that I made a couple of years ago.

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I heard from Jared this afternoon and he told me that they found that both final drive input shaft seals were leaking and there was tranny fluid in the final drive but we caught it before any damage was done. They have the seals, thanks to JimK, and they will get them in tomorrow. They expect to have the coach ready on Friday afternoon. Right now they are waiting for the A/C dryer. We are in Williams, Arizona celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary by staying in a B&B and riding the train to the Grand Canyon and back today.

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Got a call today with good news that later turned bad and bad news that is still bad.

The ‘good’ news was that they fixed the oil cooler adapter oil leak and the found the real tranny leak. The oil cooler adapter leak is fixed and that is good. The tranny leak at first appeared to be from the dip stick tube but they fixed that with a larger/thicker O-ring. When they took the coach for a test drive it was still leaking transmission fluid from a tiny machined hole in the final drive right next to the dip stick. The ‘good’ news was that some RTV made the leak go away. I decided to pursue the reason for that tiny hole and was told by Manny and JimK that it was called a ‘seep’ hole and indicated that one of the two seals that keeps transmission fluid and 90-weight final drive oil separate is leaking. It is meant to be a warning sign. The recommendation from both Manny and JimK is to (again) remove the final drive and install new seals. That is definitely bad news.

The bad news was that the A/C compressor is actually bad. It turns nice and smoothly but it leaks really badly and needs to be replaced. The local A/C shop that Jared uses says that rebuilt versions of the old compressors are unreliable but JimK says that is practically all they use with no problems.

I called Jared with the news about the need to reseal the final drive and that JimK recommends using a rebuilt A/C compressor. He will call me tomorrow with a quote for doing all of this – and I though a rebuilt tranny was expensive.

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Turns out the hub and pulley on the front of the A/C compressor somehow came apart and cut the high pressure hose coming out of the compressor spraying freon 12 all over the place. The noise was the sound of things rubbing on the hose. Unfortunately, that hose is pretty expensive and the labor is too but I don’t want to (can’t?) do it myself because it takes some special tools like a vacuum pump, etc.  Jared is going to recharge the system with Freon-12 again. That is the stuff that is now outlawed – using existing freon is OK – and he won’t talk about using Duracool because it is not legal in Arizona (yet). Duracool is a freon replacement that is made from petroleum-based gas and is legal in most states, including California, but not Arizona for some reason.

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We picked Barbie (our GMC) up on Monday afternoon after having the new (rebuilt) transmission installed. I was pleasantly surprised that the cost was at least $100 less than I had planned – they charge $85/hour for cars and $115 for RVs. This is a lot like a car so maybe they will stick with the $85 in the future if I beg.

I parked the coach at the clubhouse parking lot on Monday evening because I will be working on some interior things that need doing before our trip in July. When I went to pick up the coach on Tuesday morning and again later when it was parked in front of the house I noticed a small puddle of oil under the engine. It seems to be coming from the oil filter or its housing. It has been leaking there and I had asked them to look at it and now it is worse but nothing major I am sure.

I again parked the coach at the clubhouse on Tuesday evening and when I went to pick it up this morning (Wednesday) there was a 4″-5″ inch puddle of tranny fluid on the ground under it. I suspect the dipstick tube where it goes into the final drive again and there is fluid right under it.

I called Jared at Next Generation Automotive, told him what was happening and he said to bring it in. Since both leaks were there before I expect to have to pay again but I don’t think it is more than an hour of work.

On my way to drop the coach off I had just gotten off the highway and the under-dash A/C quit blowing cold air. I was leaning over trying to turn some dials on it (it is all apart because I am working on a new enclosure for it) when I heard a loud sort of grinding sound from under the floor and then lots of smoke billowing out from the right side wheel well. I pulled over wondering if I was going to use that new aqueous foam fire suppression system I had just installed but no fire just a little smoke now. I pulled open the engine hatch and could see smoke still coming from the front of the A/C compressor. I restarted and drove the rest of the way – a mile or two – with only some noises coming from that A/C clutch but no smoke. Jared will let me know the bad news about this tomorrow.

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On Wednesday, June 6th, I drove to Green Valley to pick up the tranny from Steve Ault. He originally had the tranny rebuilt in Colorado when he lived there in 1997. It was done by a known good shop along with 3 other trannys that Steve had at the time. The others were used successfully in other coaches but this one sat in storage until 2 years ago when Steve asked another GMCer (I forget his name) to take a look at it since it had been sitting for so long. I actually helped Steve move the tranny from his coach to the other guy’s at the GMCWS rally at Las Vegas. A couple of seals were replaced because they were starting to dry out but otherwise the tranny was again pronounced ‘good’.

On Thursday, June 7th, I delivered the coach and the tranny to ‘Next Generation Automotive’ (formerly Friedenberg Automotive) in Tucson. Jared is one of the new owners (I think the other guy’s name is ‘Truth’ so I have to trust them I guess) and I left him with instructions to flush the cooler, add the vent and hose (the tranny appeared to be threaded for a pipe fitting), use synthetic fluid (12 quarts), and put the temp sensor I provided into the bung in the pan (the old tranny didn’t have one and temperature is probably what killed it). I also asked Jared to check the engine pan for leaks while the tranny is out since that is the only way to get at some things. Jared asked it Monday was OK for completion and I agreed.

On Friday evening Jared called me and reported that the new tranny was in, he was waiting for the synthetic fluid to arrive – apparently this is not a high demand item – and the coach would be ready on Monday.

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I am still struggling with how to get a transmission – from Manny or Applied GMC – and how to get it installed. I used to have a mechanic that I trusted but he sold his business and is gone somewhere. When I started this I had asked for suggestions from Steve F., Carl S. and Dan G.  Carl has a mechanic but he doubted that he wanted to do the job so I didn’t bother calling him. Steve didn’t personally know anyone in Tucson but, based on Dan G.’s experience suggested Friedenberg Automotive in Tucson. I had already talked to Dan and knew his opinion. Dan, a fellow GMCer loves the place and the former owner, John, (now retired) and recommends them because they helped him with a bad engine on their GMC last year.

I had called Friedenberg – now called Next Generation Automotive – last week (twice) but they never called me back.  I called them back today with the intention of asking John to recommend someone but they were now not so busy and said they could help me. They will charge me 5.5 hours – the best price of several I have gotten while I was waiting for them to call me back. They penciled me in for Thursday morning this week.

Now for the luck. Yesterday (Sunday) I called Steve Ault, a former GMCer who lives just south of Tucson, looking for a suggestion of where I could have this tranny swap done. It turns out he has a freshly rebuilt transmission in his garage and wants to sell it. He made me a great deal and there will be no shipping charges.  I will go pick up the tranny in the next couple of days. Steve also has the hoist setup that is needed to hold the engine up and lower the tranny.

Stay tuned.

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I finally got the courage up to tackle the transmission problem. The problem was: “did I do any damage to the transmission?”. I had let the transmission run very low on fluid and it got hot enough to discolor the fluid from it’s normal red to a sort of brown color. I could have just changed the oil without removing the pan – I am told it can be done (no drain plugs in OEM transmissions) – but I figured that if I did anything bad I wanted to know and the only way to find out would be to drop the pan and look for bad stuff – pieces of metal or something else.

Pieces of a thrust washer?

I pumped most of the oil out of the pan using a Harbor Freight “transfer pump” that I paid $8 for and then removed the pan to find lots of pieces of metal (see the photo at left).

I called JimK and sent him this photo. He didn’t know what it was but suggested checking with Manny (the GMC transmission guru). Manny is not positive, but is pretty sure, the pieces are from a “thrust washer” and the transmission should be replaced. The strange part is that Manny does not think that the heat alone could have caused the thrust washer to fail, if at all. He suspects a vibration somewhere like from a loose pinon gear or a misaligned transmission. I am hoping he can figure it out once he gets the tranny back after I replace it.

Still trying to figure out how to get this done. The one good guy that anyone knows of in Tucson has retired and the guys who took over for him apparently have no interest in doing this.

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Since we returned from our Spring trip to California and Nevada I have been resting a lot and working on the GMC a little.

The first thing I did was fix the driver’s side exhaust manifold gasket. Seems that the process of cutting out the old mufflers and pipes and installing new ones was the culprit as far as causing new exhaust manifold leaks. The exhaust manifold gaskets are “Remflex” brand and I love them because they are so easy to install and they work. The reason that is the case is that they are thick and soft so that they don’t take a lot of torque and they conform to bad surfaces. Being thick and soft makes them susceptible to damage when someone is pulling and pushing on the exhaust pipes and that is what happened. All fixed now.

The next thing I did was tighten the air conditioning fan belt because it was screaming when I turned the
A/C on. I tightened it to what I thought was “spec” but it still chirps when I turn the A/C on so I bought some belt dressing. It comes in a spray can now (I used to use sticks) and I have not tried it yet but I am sure it will be fine.

The next big thing that needs to be done is to find and fix the really bad transmission leak that has been bugging us since that transmission was installed. I decided that I would use some fluorescent dye in the transmission fluid and see where it was coming out. Well, either I didn’t use enough dye or I am missing something but I never could see any fluorescent oil no matter what I did. I put the stuff in and mixed it up by running the transmission in gear while up on jack stands. I ran it for about 15-20 minutes and put about 15 miles on it without a load then checked with a black light and nothing was visible even at night. Next, I took it off the jack stands and drove it about 20 miles including a 7-mile long hill but still no fluorescence. I did see some heavier oil flowing from the bottom of the dip stick tube though so that is what I am thinking is the source of the leak. That and the pan gasket.

Today I bought a new pan gasket and transmission filter. I also bought a “transfer pump” at Harbor Freight so I can try to pump the oil out of the transmission instead of taking a shower in it. JimK says to use RTV at the base of the dip stick tube since O-rings don’t do well in there. Tomorrow I will try to drain the oil and fix the dip stick tube and the pan gasket. Wish me luck.

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