Know your Road Side Assistance details, Lesson Learned

jshrop6004 · 08-22-2019, 03:57 PM

Was on the way to Savannah GA last Wednesday for our anniversary when the alternator went out on the F150 TV about 25 miles on the other side of Columbia SC at about 2.30PM. For those who have never been, Columbia SC is the hottest place in the state, it was 105 degrees on the side of I-26 last week.

Out of habit I first call AAA, who informs me that while my F-150 is certainly covered, my Cherokee 23DBH is not. DW says she thinks she remembers some form of roadside assistance that came with camper, so I go back to the camper to dig it out.

I find it, it is Xtraride and I call and tell them the situation and they say they will have someone there within an hour. After about an hour (did I mention it was 105 degrees?) I get a call from an unknown number, it is a guy from Xtraride saying the camper is covered but the TV is not! I tell him the camper can't go anywhere by itself but he will not budge, so I hang up.

Not sure what to do so I look at the paperwork from Xtraride again and lo and behold, it says the TV is covered, so we call back and get a different lady who agrees both are covered and says for the 2nd time someone is on the way.

Three hours later (did I mention it was 105 degrees?) the awesome Mack Towing shows up. They put the TV on the roll back & hooked the camper up to the back & pulled us back to their shop where they changed the alternator and got us back on the road about 8.30 PM. They are a great family owned business and were our heroes that day.

The lesson learned is know the details of your roadside assistance programs because evidently they do not!

Joel S.

upflying · 08-22-2019, 04:38 PM

Glad it all worked out for you, I believe my Premium AAA towing covers what I am pulling but now you got me wondering.
Did the engine quit running when the alternator quit?
If not, I would have swapped one of the fully charged 12 volt coach batteries for the discharged F150 battery and kept driving until you reached a shop to fix the alternator.

JWood422 · 08-22-2019, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by upflying

Did the engine quit running when the alternator quit?
If not, I would have swapped one of the fully charged 12 volt coach batteries for the discharged F150 battery and kept driving until you reached a shop to fix the alternator.

Great thinking, Batman!

A32Deuce · 08-22-2019, 05:14 PM

Modern electronics in today's vehicles will shut down with low battery. May go into limp mode. That's one of the reasons they are thinking of 24 volt systems.

jshrop6004 · 08-22-2019, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A32Deuce

Modern electronics in today's vehicles will shut down with low battery. May go into limp mode. That's one of the reasons they are thinking of 24 volt systems.

Yes, suddenly the truck started shuddering and the info center said "Engine Low Power Mode" or something to that effect. Not wanting to damage the engine I pulled over. That is a good idea on using the battery from the camper though.

Clcupp · 08-23-2019, 01:01 PM

Just FYI. AAA left me and my wife stranded in a highly populated area of NW Indiana. They informed us that they could not find a towing service willing to come to where we were. St. John , IN was our location. Gold member, I told them after an hour waiting for them to call back that I had a towing service on the way. Oh great they say. You pay them and we’ll reimburse you they say. When I turned the invoice over to them I’m told that was to much and they weren’t going to pay it. Contacted member services and basically was told to bad so sad.
So yes. Be sure of your coverage.

milton_w_herron · 08-23-2019, 01:14 PM

Would AAA even pay some of the tow bill?

JimMorrell · 08-23-2019, 01:18 PM

I have State Farm, Good Sam and AAA. All three provide assistance for both my Truck and my Travel Trailer. A couple years ago, a bearing went out on my trailer. It destroyed a tire, wheel, and axle. It was in the high 90's and I was on the side of 70 to 80 mph I-80 just outside Fairfield, CA. I was about 6 miles from a Camping World from which I bought the trailer. I called Good Sam and they'd have someone right out. 30 minutes later, they called and said they'd had some trouble but someone would be right out. Well, after 3 times, they quit calling back. I had run down my battery with all the truck and trailer lights flashing. I called GS and they said that i could call a number they gave me and they would chain up the axle and "you can drive somewhere to get it fixed. AND...you'll have to pay for it and later ask for a reimbursement". I called AAA after 5 hours and they had someone there in 30 minutes. He chained the axle, and slowly led me perhaps 3 miles to a fantastic truck and RV repair company which stayed open long enough to get me checked in and gone. A week later, I went back and got the repaired trailer. Needless to say, I cancelled my Good Sam insurance. State Farm would have helped, but I would have had to pay the bill and then they would have reimbursed me.

Clcupp · 08-23-2019, 01:27 PM

FrankMor · 08-23-2019, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A32Deuce

Modern electronics in today's vehicles will shut down with low battery. May go into limp mode. That's one of the reasons they are thinking of 24 volt systems.

No telling when it will happen though. I was told by the battery rep at the store I worked at that they were going to 48 volts by the mid 80s. This was about 1978 or so.

Frank

JimMorrell · 08-23-2019, 03:35 PM

I got stranded just before dark, 10 miles from any business when my 2011 F-150 just shut down without warning. Luckily a local came by, he called a tow truck for me, the driver jumped my car, called a local dealer to check on availability and followed me to the store to get a new battery. He even offered to put the new one in for me.

GXPWeasel1 · 08-23-2019, 03:38 PM

So are you saying that AAA would cover the truck (i.e. tow it to where it needed to go) but not the camper (or any trailer) and therefor your options were to not use them at all, or leave the camper on the side of the road?

What a crock. The TV was pulling the trailer / camper, who really cares whether the camper is covered or not... Especially if you don't make claims with AAA all the time. This is just another example of the decline in humanity of the companies and citizens of this great country. IMO.

Splashes3 · 08-23-2019, 04:46 PM

Over the years we need GS twice....and both times they severely let us down. We no longer have GS roadside assistance. The 2nd time, the rep didn't even know what a 5th wheel was. By the time they called us back and found somebody, we already had a mobile tech working on our trailer for about an hour.

No GS Roadside Assistance for us.....

jshrop6004 · 08-23-2019, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GXPWeasel1

So are you saying that AAA would cover the truck (i.e. tow it to where it needed to go) but not the camper (or any trailer) and therefor your options were to not use them at all, or leave the camper on the side of the road?

What a crock. The TV was pulling the trailer / camper, who really cares whether the camper is covered or not... Especially if you don't make claims with AAA all the time. This is just another example of the decline in humanity of the companies and citizens of this great country. IMO.

That is correct, the TV was covered with AAA but not the camper, and I was not going to leave the camper on the side of the interstate. I guess what got me was the Xtraride guy said the TV was not covered when it really was. Its not like the camper can go somewhere by itself!

NMWildcat · 08-23-2019, 05:24 PM

A friend of ours works from home and her job is to answer the phone for SEVERAL roadside assistance programs her company contracts with. All she knows about the policy is what shows up when she enters your policy info. So if she gets it wrong and then passes the incorrect info to the tow truck company (another third party), then you are screwed. So, know your policy and if you don't get the answers you want, hang up and try again

We gave up on most of these type of policies. We found that usually it is many hours (especially out west) before you can get someone to you. Usually by then we have either fixed it or found local help ourselves.
The only one we kept was OnStar in case we are really stuck between a rock and a hard place. Also we can usually reach the OnStar operator even when we have no cell phone connection with our mobile devices. Which happens frequently in the Gila National Forest.
As far as alternators going out, you can usually drive pretty far before having to stop. Our diesel has two batteries, the alternator stopped working (DIC started complaining and voltmeter was 0) on a recent trip and we drove two more hours to our sons house in Tucson. Batteries were still more than sufficient to start the truck. Luckily it was still daytime (no lights needed).

aircommuter · 08-25-2019, 08:18 AM

The term alternator went out is quite broad. If it quits producing electricity that is one thing. If a bearing seizes that is another, not much limping and two batteries won’t help. The lack of electrical power can be observed with vigilance and proper gauges. This offers one the most time to get somewhere before it becomes a roadside event.

NMWildcat · 08-25-2019, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aircommuter

The term alternator went out is quite broad. If it quits producing electricity that is one thing. If a bearing seizes that is another, not much limping and two batteries won’t help. The lack of electrical power can be observed with vigilance and proper gauges. This offers one the most time to get somewhere before it becomes a roadside event.

Okay......., you are correct, there can be many causes of alternator failure.
I was talking about the most common failure, which is one or more rectifier diodes failing. And when diodes fail, which causes the charging rate to drop, most modern vehicles will tell you right away, no need for extreme vigilance.
I suppose my point in this specific instance of alternator failure was that you can usually limp to the next source of help w/o roadside service.
Thanks for pointing out other possible outcomes.

aircommuter · 08-25-2019, 10:56 AM

I was referring to the OP’s wording but yours matched. Having rebuilt alternators since the early sixties I am pretty much aware of the failures. But it doesn’t have to be a newer vehicle to know the output is low or non existent. Just simple gauges will work. The OP sounds like he had good load on his that day given a/c clutch and blower likely on high. As far as taking a battery out of his coach, maybe he follows the idea of 2 sixes? The coach could have been part of his load as well, depending upon how he has his charge system configured.
I put my first alternator on my 1954 Chevrolet, Leece Neville with selenium rectifier. I still have some boxes of diodes, brushes, and stator coils from rebuilding and increasing output when needed or requested. The Zener diode for regulation and PM for a field coil revolutionized the system.

By the way are those ear muffs for listening or reducing what one listens to?

cfo111 · 08-25-2019, 11:13 AM

I do know AAA has AAA plus which is also covered for RV's. Not says sure but just car and LT trucks rates are much cheaper just maybe you get what you pay for no ?

NMWildcat · 08-25-2019, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aircommuter

By the way are those ear muffs for listening or reducing what one listens to?

Actually, the 'earmuffs' are for both, at the same time!

You may also like: