TrekStop
07-10-2007, 07:15 PM
Greetings, all. I'm new to this board but am desperate for any help I can get with a serious problem I'm having with the 1995 6.5L TD engine in my Safari Trek MH (P-30 chasis, 46K miles)
We are on a vacation and were stranded over 2K miles from home for a bit and now are at least up and running but the problem is still there and I've no confidence in the machine, at this point.
We've had two dealerships and three independent mechanics looking over our engine but after a new fuel injector pump, ECM, rail pump, filters and speed sensors the problem has diminished but I'm afraid it could come back at any time since the we are only back to the initial symptoms.
It started with a sequence of events that began repeating more frequently until they finally led to a total engine stall each time, going something like this: speedometer begins to suddenly drop / bounce, a few seconds later two lights on the dash appear - Service Engine and Throttle Plate - followed a few seconds later by a abrupt stall.
At first, the engine did not stall when the speedo 'bounced' and the two dash lights lit, but as the frequency of these events increased, the stall began to happen. Once it began stalling, we had to wait 20 minutes to restart it before it would run and then it would stall again with the same sequence of events within 20 minutes to 1 hour.
We finally limped into a town where a mechanic, who was sure it was the notorious fuel injector pump, replaced that as well as the rail pump. At first, we thought the problem was fixed but after some road testing (30 minutes), it came back, with the only difference that the engine would not quite stall - just loose power and then recover. Also, the problem now happened pretty much only when going up a steep incline for some amount of time.
To make a long story short, we limped into two other larger towns where major GM dealerships ran diagnostics, tried to read the computer (it was not capturing the failures for some reason) and replaced all the additional components named above. The various dealers and mechanics could not reproduce the problem and could not figure it out. The speedo bounce that begins it all makes no sense to anyone.
I can reproduce the problem only if going up a steep incline for some amount of time. We tow a car, and that seems to make it worse. I try to be gentle on the engine, but it still happens but at least does not stall out yet. I am concerned though that since replacing the fuel injector pump seemed to help the problem go away before, we may be headed for another break down before we get home. Is the fuel injector pump failing again, I wonder.
I've checked all the ground wires and secured all loose harnesses and wires. I've looked for shorts (did find one in a wire against the manifold) and insulate those. I've checked the fluids, etc.
Since this problem has stumped all the mechanics I can find (particularly the speedo bounce), ANY assistance or information would be gratefully appreciated at this point.
Thanks! - Tim.
tim_dolan@hotmail.com
We are on a vacation and were stranded over 2K miles from home for a bit and now are at least up and running but the problem is still there and I've no confidence in the machine, at this point.
We've had two dealerships and three independent mechanics looking over our engine but after a new fuel injector pump, ECM, rail pump, filters and speed sensors the problem has diminished but I'm afraid it could come back at any time since the we are only back to the initial symptoms.
It started with a sequence of events that began repeating more frequently until they finally led to a total engine stall each time, going something like this: speedometer begins to suddenly drop / bounce, a few seconds later two lights on the dash appear - Service Engine and Throttle Plate - followed a few seconds later by a abrupt stall.
At first, the engine did not stall when the speedo 'bounced' and the two dash lights lit, but as the frequency of these events increased, the stall began to happen. Once it began stalling, we had to wait 20 minutes to restart it before it would run and then it would stall again with the same sequence of events within 20 minutes to 1 hour.
We finally limped into a town where a mechanic, who was sure it was the notorious fuel injector pump, replaced that as well as the rail pump. At first, we thought the problem was fixed but after some road testing (30 minutes), it came back, with the only difference that the engine would not quite stall - just loose power and then recover. Also, the problem now happened pretty much only when going up a steep incline for some amount of time.
To make a long story short, we limped into two other larger towns where major GM dealerships ran diagnostics, tried to read the computer (it was not capturing the failures for some reason) and replaced all the additional components named above. The various dealers and mechanics could not reproduce the problem and could not figure it out. The speedo bounce that begins it all makes no sense to anyone.
I can reproduce the problem only if going up a steep incline for some amount of time. We tow a car, and that seems to make it worse. I try to be gentle on the engine, but it still happens but at least does not stall out yet. I am concerned though that since replacing the fuel injector pump seemed to help the problem go away before, we may be headed for another break down before we get home. Is the fuel injector pump failing again, I wonder.
I've checked all the ground wires and secured all loose harnesses and wires. I've looked for shorts (did find one in a wire against the manifold) and insulate those. I've checked the fluids, etc.
Since this problem has stumped all the mechanics I can find (particularly the speedo bounce), ANY assistance or information would be gratefully appreciated at this point.
Thanks! - Tim.
tim_dolan@hotmail.com