Holiday starts with a breakdown

[mhartzel]

Warning, long narrative ahead...

Yesterday was our first day of our 9 day second trip for the Fourth of July with our HTT. After getting a late start on the day and then trying to pack everything before our scheduled departure time (which we missed by 1.5 hours) we finally get on the road.

I'm leading the way, my friend following with his Ram and Starcraft Leisure Star 27B. As we head East on I-94 towards Algonac, we hit road construction with one lane shut down and a traffic shift one lane to the right, now driving on what was the right shoulder.

As I pass exit 246, (2 exits from my intended exit) the A/C suddenly stops blowing cold air. Also sensing a decrease in engine performance, I look down at my gauges to find the temp gauge rapidly heading north of 240°.

Exit 247 wasn't coming for another 2 miles and with no shoulder to retreat to I had to keep going. Dropped speed to 50, turned on the heater, fan on high. This did help a little. These were the longest 2 miles I think I've ever driven. Watching steam roll out from under the left side of the hood I finally made it to the next exit and find a gravel spot to hide in.

I couldn't see anything significant leaking but could hear steam hissing from the radiator. Opened the overflow tank to find it empty. Shut the engine down and start weighing my options.

My friend needed to get up to camp, set up and head back towards home as he had to work in a few hours. Luckily the CG was only a 45 minute drive from home. We decide to leave my rig as is with the hood up so we can get to the CG, drop his trailer then come back to get mine. My boys and I pile into his truck and we continue uneventfully to Algonac.

Checked in and set up his trailer, he jumps into the minivan our wives were driving with his 2 youngest kids and heads to work. My wife and I load up into his Ram and head back to rescue our trailer.

So now an hour and a half after I parked my broken down rig, we're half way to our trailer when I remember that we have CoachNet emergency roadside assistance. Call and setup a tow truck call and we're told that they wouldn't be able to get there for another 1 to 1.5 hours. My cousin just happens to live less than 5 miles from the spot where I stopped. We call CoachNet to cancel the tow.

Unhitch and push my Blazer out of the way, and hitch the borrowed Ram to my trailer. My wife then gets a crash course in towing a full height TT, my cousin straps the Blazer to his Sierra, and we head the 5 miles to his house.

Once there we fill my radiator with water only to watch it run out the left side. The radiator is toast.

Called the local Auto Zone and they happened to have the correct one in stock. Rush over to buy the parts and extra replacement fluids. Drop these at my cousins house and then head to the CG with my trailer to finally get it set up.

I'm heading back to my cousins house in about an hour to work on my Blazer so I have a way to get home.

Looks like the Silverado I had my eye on will be appearing in my driveway sooner than later. :-(

[SaskCampers]

Geeze,

Quite the way to start a camping trip. Hopefully everything goes better for the rest of the weekend.

[capucine]

This is what is happening with older vehicles. If you overload them with a trailer in tow and the A.C on on a hot day you are bound to have serious problem. The cooling system is old specially if it is the original. I had a Jeep Cheroke 1990 in almost new condition but the millage and age was there. I blew the transmission one day while pulling in hilly country. The millage was aprx 120.000 miles. The best is to put the Blazer to rest and invest in a good newer vehicle for a piece of mind. It is hard to depart of our vehicle but sometimes we have to.

[h20ski]

Congrats on the new Siverado. This will be one of the stories you tell your grand kids. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip.

[KRS]

Get rid of ot because the radiator leaked? That is fixed now. Nothing is wrong now.

"Invest in a good newer vehicle"? Personally I would rather have the one that I know the true history of, rather than a newer unknown vehicle. And newer does not equate to better.

New water pump, hoses, and radiator and it will be good for years.

[mhartzel]

Originally Posted by h20ski

Congrats on the new Siverado. This will be one of the stories you tell your grand kids. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip.

Well, we don't have a Silverado yet, but it's definitely closer on our radar now.

I installed a new radiator at my cousins house the day after it blew and the rest of the week went by without incident... except for weather.

The average temperature was 92+ with 70+% humidity every day. Tuesday the 3rd was the worst day for weather. Low 90's with severe thunderstorm warnings. They weren't kidding. We had at least 4 waves of thunderstorms roll through with just enough time to dry everything off and reset all of our chairs, then it would let loose again.

After stowing the awning and anything else that could be blown away, we decided that we would go into town to see "Brave" with the boys to escape the rain. It was a cute movie with a great message, but I wouldn't necessarily take the younger kids. For a Disney/Pixar film, it was kinda violent in parts and a few cartoon butts thrown in for comedic relief.

That evening we met my mom just a few miles away in Marine City for dinner and to pick up my oldest son. While driving there, lightning struck a telephone pole just behind us and blew a transformer on the pole in front of us. Needless to say, it's been an interesting week.

Despite all the weather and car issues, the trailer performed flawlessly. Neither bunkend leaked a single drop, the A/C soldiered on without a drop in performance and the fridge did ok keeping things cold.

I did find out why our entry door has been so hard to close. It appears that the door is bowed out. The top and bottom of the door contact the frame first, then you have to compress the middle to get it to latch. The kids had a very hard time latching it. Usually with several attempts to slam it shut.

Lucky me, I get to haul it back to dealer again.

[capucine]

For your door make sure that the jacks are not the cause of it. The jacks are to be used for stabilizing the trailer. Many peoples are over jacking the jacks and the frame becomes twisted and causes the door out of alignement specially if it is a hybrid trailer. Hybrid trailer are weaker that all solid walls trailers!

[mhartzel]

Sadly the door has been difficult to latch since delivery. We assumed that it was due to being a new trailer and that the seals just hadn't settled in yet. It was only after looking at it while camping that we noticed the bend in the door.

[LKicklight]

Might want to consider an additve sold by local parts stores that acts like an additional cooling agent in your radiator on very hot days..will make it run about ten degrees kooler..

Originally Posted by mhartzel

Well, we don't have a Silverado yet, but it's definitely closer on our radar now.

I installed a new radiator at my cousins house the day after it blew and the rest of the week went by without incident... except for weather.

The average temperature was 92+ with 70+% humidity every day. Tuesday the 3rd was the worst day for weather. Low 90's with severe thunderstorm warnings. They weren't kidding. We had at least 4 waves of thunderstorms roll through with just enough time to dry everything off and reset all of our chairs, then it would let loose again.

After stowing the awning and anything else that could be blown away, we decided that we would go into town to see "Brave" with the boys to escape the rain. It was a cute movie with a great message, but I wouldn't necessarily take the younger kids. For a Disney/Pixar film, it was kinda violent in parts and a few cartoon butts thrown in for comedic relief.

That evening we met my mom just a few miles away in Marine City for dinner and to pick up my oldest son. While driving there, lightning struck a telephone pole just behind us and blew a transformer on the pole in front of us. Needless to say, it's been an interesting week.

Despite all the weather and car issues, the trailer performed flawlessly. Neither bunkend leaked a single drop, the A/C soldiered on without a drop in performance and the fridge did ok keeping things cold.

I did find out why our entry door has been so hard to close. It appears that the door is bowed out. The top and bottom of the door contact the frame first, then you have to compress the middle to get it to latch. The kids had a very hard time latching it. Usually with several attempts to slam it shut.

Lucky me, I get to haul it back to dealer again.