Watching for the Green Drip

 

Blairsville, Georgia  (high 65, low 53)

 

We’re watching the weather since there is a possibility of a tornado outbreak today in the Midwest.  We are expecting to get some of the storm front here in Georgia, but it is not predicted to be anything severe.  (hopefully)  Of course, being the weather wienie that I am, I will certainly keep an eye on things.   No storms will sneak up on us!   :)

 

Thanks for all the advice, tips and well wishes on yesterdays post.

I really think the cold weather may have caused some of these problems.  Jo Beth said her Dad says it often happens to his tractors after a cold spell, and if I remember right her Dad owned/owns a John Deere dealership.  Thanks JoBeth, that makes me feel much better.

It just reinforces to me what others have mentioned and that is to check all nuts, bolts, and fittings periodically and tighten them as needed.

So….yesterday,  Al crawled under the motor home and saw what he thought was where the leak was coming from.  He tightened a loose bolt and we bought some more of the Wrap it repair self-fusing silicone tape.

We had a few rolls of this stuff that we had bought at the Tampa RV show, and it’s come in handy a few times.  It is wonderful stuff.  It sticks to itself, it stretches, and it holds up to very hot and very cold temperatures.  We didn’t have much of the stuff from the RV show left, so we went to O’Reillys Auto Parts and picked up one roll of a similar product.  It seemed to be even thicker than the old stuff we had.  It worked great.  Al wrapped all around the pipe and then he put on a second clamp.   We let it sit and still got a few drips.   Crap.

We went back to O’Reillys Auto Parts for some more tape and another clamp.  We planned on getting a few rolls, but they only had one roll left.  It was the same as the first roll we had gotten from them.

This is the stuff we got.   Part number 82110.  No mention of it  being made in America, right?

We we went across the street to Auto Zone to pick up another couple rolls.  Overkill maybe, but better than being on the side of the road.

This is what we got.

It looks the same, right?

Notice it says proudly “Made in USA.”

The part number is the same, everything appears to be the same.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the same stuff at all.  It stuck to itself (notice the stuck piece I pulled off).  It tore when I tried to unstick it and it was wayyyyyyy thinner. 

In other words, it was junk.

We had also found some more of what appeared to be the same type of self-fusing tape at Home Depot.  

It’s supposed to seal under water, plumbing, high pressure hoses, and in extreme hot and cold temperatures.

Guess what?  It was the same thin crap that we just bought. 

GRRRRR.

Fortunately, we found another roll of the stuff we had previously gotten at the RV show.  I distinctly remember the guy there telling us that other places sold this stuff, but it was not the same quality.    He was absolutely right.  I will go online and order some once we get back to Tampa.

Rescue Tape is the stuff that we had from the RV show.  We will definitely buy some more.   Al has used if frequently on water hoses, the metal spray wand on his pest control gun, and many other things.

 

Anyway, Al worked on the leak, and he thought he had it fixed.  He didn’t find a bad hose, and thought the loose connections were the main problem. 

He was getting a little tired of crawling under the motor home, so I volunteered to go and look for leaks.

I was disappointed to crawl under and see the tell-tale little green drop.  It was on the bottom of a hose and not near a connection.  I felt the hose and examined it as well as I could.  I didn’t feel any damage so it made me wonder what was above that little drop.  Mind you, I know nothing about engines, so I don’t know which hoses lead to which part, but when I looked up directly over the little green drop, I noticed another little green drop.  

This drop was near another connection that apparently is another place the coolant travels through the radiator and engine.  I pointed it out to Al and he had to crawl under again.  : (

He found another loose heavy duty hose clamp.   He tightened it, we wrapped it in more tape and hoped for the best.  We started the engine, ran it a while and saw no leaks.  We turned the engine off, waited a half hour and checked again.  No more drops.

This morning, we checked again and saw no green drops.

So….our next step is to go have Sunday Brunch at the all you can eat buffet, then we will start the engine again and see what happens.  It could be that we have the problem solved, or it could be that we have taped up a leak that will eventually start to leak again.

We’re sure hoping it’s solved.

We have some extra anti-freeze and will keep a real close eye on the engine temperature as we drive. 

 

I have another question for all you experts out there.  According to our Cummins engine manual, we have to use their anti-freeze.  It has to have the correct additives in it….blah blah blah.   When we got the anti-freeze changed at Lazy Days last year, they apparently used Zerex brand anti-freeze and we have about a gallon of that left over, all mixed up and ready to add.  Al asked the guy at O’Reilly’s and he sold him another Zerex type antifreeze that was supposedly okay for Cummins and Cat diesel engines, with all the additives.  You just need to add the water.

Al thinks I’m being paranoid, but noting knowing nothing about these diesel engines, I worry that we’ll put the wrong anti-freeze in and blow up the engine. 

If we use this anti-freeze that says it has all the additives needed for a diesel engine, will we be okay?   Unfortunately, Cummins is closed until Monday, or we would call them.

Al has changed anti-freeze and radiator hoses on many cars, but a diesel engine is so different, and he doesn’t want to do anything to cause additional problems.