Wanderlodge Owners Group to the Rescue

[Dieselbird01]

While at the Memphis Botanical Park with the Kids and Grand Kids I got a call from fellow 91 Bird owner John Schmieder. John and his wife Susan were on their way home from Florida today when their coach shut down. Fortunately they were able to restart it and get it off the highway to a truck stop but it shut down again and would not start. I understood John to say that he had lost almost all chassis electrical power. I gave him a few things to check thinking it sounded like an A/T circuit or engine battery problem. He had already called Travel Lynx Bus and was getting ready to call the nearest Detroit Diesel shop. I didn’t think Detroit Diesel would be able to help much so I called Bill Pape knowing he was at Birds at the Beach along with a bunch of our other WOG members. I passed the information along to Bill and he said he would talk to Randy and the guys and call John Schmieder back.

Hopefully others will fill in the details but Bill, Randy and several other guys went out of their way to figure out the problem. With their help John was able to make temporary repairs and get back on the road. John called me later and wanted to thank everyone for their help. He said the coach ran fine the rest of the day and that they were camped for the night. Thanks to all our WOG friends who were involved - once again proving the outstanding value of the Wanderlodge Owners Group Forum and it’s members.

[rrueckwald]

That's wonderful. Great guys. Now, perhaps someone will tell us what was the problem and how was it repaired? Sure would like to store that one in the back of my head.

[Randy Dupree]

I'm not sure its fixed just yet,the next morning he had more trouble and I gave him more ideas.
No word today.

[Dieselbird01]

Hi Randy,

I heard from them this afternoon. Unfortunately John & Susan only made about a hundred miles this morning before the coach shut down again. I was able to get more details this time. Sometimes when the engine starts to shut down it resumes running again in just a few seconds all by it‘s self (with no action from the driver) and the coach continues along like nothing happened. Other times when he has a complete shut down and has to pull off the road he has found that the turn signals do not work, the overhead Air Conditioner fans won’t work and the starter will not try to crank the engine. His Rear View camera and the dash radio stay on. Volt meters show normal voltage.

John was able to talk to Ex-Wanderlodge Tech. Jesse today. Jesse suggested that John temporally jumper the 75 Amp Ignition relay K36 in order to see if he can keep it going. John and I looked over our prints and it does seem that K36 dropping out could cause his symptoms so he is going to move the K36 output wire over to the K36 input before he starts out tomorrow and unwire it when he stops for the night. He has wired an indicator light from the input of the K36 coil and brought it into the coach so he can see if the power there drops off while he’s on the road. That may give him some clue as to why he’s losing the Ignition controlled devices.

It won’t stay acting up long enough to do much trouble shooting. For now he’s more interested in keeping it running than finding the exact cause. If it keeps running he’ll do more when he gets closer to home and is in a less congested area - hopefully he can avoid having a shut down in a bad place.

[Randy Dupree]

OK,good.
I was wondering if it was the front/rear switch giving problems too.
Keep us advised.

[Dieselbird01]

Hi Randy,

The first time John called I mentioned that the front/rear switch was a common problem. He did clean the contacts but didn't replace the switch. He’s been on the phone working with Jesse and Jesse says that if Relay K36 is kept picked it will keep the engine running. That doesn't seem to agree with the prints I have so for now I guess it's wait and see.

[Dieselbird01]

Hi Randy,

John Schmieder decided to stay at the camp ground today to do a little more trouble shooting. Working over the phone with John we were able to verify what Jesse said about keeping Relay K36 contacts closed - it does keep the engine running even if you turn off the ignition switch. We didn't look into how Relay K36 does that but it does.

The odd thing is you can remove Relay K36 and put it in your pocket and the engine will still start and keep running until you turn off the key. This showed that for the engine to shut down Relay K36 and the ignition signal from the key switch would both have to go away.

Anyway we may be getting closer - the cannon plug John checked a few days ago would have only dropped out Relay K36 so we took a closer look and saw that he had missed checking the Chassis “B” cannon plug. It supplies the battery power to the front ignition switch so losing power there would cause Relay K36 and the ignition signal from the front key switch to both go away and shut him down. He took the connection apart to inspect it and when he put it back together the engine would not crank until he wiggled the wires in the cannon plug. He’s checking that out now.

[Dennis and Joan]

I had two problems that were traced to "plugs". While at coach craft, their solution was to remove (jumper around) any plug in question.

[Dennis and Joan]

Was/is there a resolution to the engine shut down? How/what was the "trick" to getting it going again? I am sure I would have no idea what to do if the bus just shut down while goin down the road.

Are John and Susan still stranded somewhere and WOG forgot about them??

[Randy Dupree]

they got home,i talked to them several times.