Florida Trip Part 1: We Almost Didn't Make it to Tampa |
| Angela White | Tuesday, 19 January, 2010 | |||
Starting in Pennsylvania at 5:00 am, we began our truck camping adventure down to Florida. It was a brisk morning at twenty-two degrees with snow on the ground. Shortly after Lexington, Virginia, our truck lost power and thick white smoke puffed from our tailpipe. Oh @#$%! We pulled over worrying that the trip was over. Idling on the side of the road, we let the truck rest for about five minutes. Then we got back on the road and it was like nothing happened. The truck was fine. Four hours later, it happened again. We pulled over and let the truck rest and started down the highway cautiously, but knowing that something serious was going on. Just a few miles later, the truck lost power once more and the white smoke returned. That was the final straw. We immediately pulled off the next stop. We called Brandon Parks at Turbo Diesel Register who referred us to Cummins Atlantic in Columbia, South Carolina. Brandon talked with us over the phone about possibilites including loose hoses and algae in the fuel. Since it was after 5:00 pm, we had to wait out the night in a Walmart a couple miles from the Cummins shop. Early the next morning, we pulled into Cummins Atlantic. They happily took our 1998 Dodge 12-valve Cummins diesel in for an evaluation. They found that our Check Valve was broken and that our fuel filter was clogged (probably due to our veggie oil system sitting). Now, we know to change the fuel filter more often. Cummins was great and we were so lucky they were close to where we broke down. After four hours of repairs, they sent us on the road and we made it to Tampa safely. Knock on wood, we haven't had any more issues since they fixed our truck. It purrs like a happy diesel again. In our next blog, we'll tell you about the Florida Supershow in Tampa. |
