TRAVELINGWITHTOOLS

I’ve finally managed to break free from work in California to head east towards the Continental Divide. The heat wave has yet to break, and my motorhome complained to me on the way up CA-20 towards Grass Valley yesterday. For the first time in almost ten years, the temperature gauge moved off the middle and was pegged at the top, when my dash alerted me to the fact that I had a problem.

I’ve been driving the old gal pretty hard over the years. Teton Pass from Jackson Hole into Idaho was probably the most punishing climb, holding over 4000 RPM with the pedal on the mat for most of the way. It is only 8,431 feet high, but has sections with a 10% gradient. They just recently repaired a major landslide that had cut off commuters both sides of the border. I don’t think I’d take the house over that route again.

Dead Indian Pass from Cody, WY up towards the Clarks Fork and on to Silver Gate, MT, the eastern entrance to Yellowstone, is another brutal climb that I’ve undertaken multiple times. This pass is at 8,071 feet, about 3,000 feet above Cody. There are a number of turnouts on both sides of the mountain with fantastic views. (Lead image above looking west).

Last fall I climbed to the highest pass I have reached in the motorhome, Brazos Summit in New Mexico, between Taos and and Chama, on my way to fish the San Juan. I showed 10,102 feet on my GPS, though the actual summit is a bit higher than the overlook. No trouble, but it was late fall and very cool out.

The ascent from Buffalo, WY up to Powder River Pass in the Bighorn Mountains on WY-16 is always a little nerve wracking. 15,000 pounds is a lot for the Ford V-10 to move up such long sustained grades. I once met a guy in Colorado that had a Class A coach, powered by the same V-10, and he towed a trailer with a Cadillac in the back. He claimed that he had no trouble making the long climbs. (I was dubious.)

In any case, I had never overheated until yesterday. I was lucky to have a place to pull over, and all of the fluids were still in place. No steam, no leaks, oil still like new and at the right place on the dipstick. I spent some time trying to find my laser thermometer to check the actual water temp, and then more time looking for my OBDII plug to see if I could read the live temperature on the phone scanner app.

By the time I’d found both, the temperature had dropped to normal and the engine made no unusual sounds when started. So I carefully continued uphill, this time with my flashers on and self-limiting to 3000 RPM, which is about 35 mph. I made it to the top with no further temperature problem, so after stopping a few minutes to send some texts, I continued towards Reno.

After getting on Hwy 49, there are a number of other steep pulls before you reach I-80, and as soon as the trans kicked down to third gear at around 50 mph, the temp started to go up again. I rolled down the windows and turned the heater controls to full hot, and as soon as coolant started flowing through the heater core, the temperature dropped to the middle of the gauge.

Yuck. 95 degrees ambient and the heaters blowing full hot into the cab. But it worked.

I’m getting ready to cross the Great Basin in the next couple of days, and temps are forecast to be over 100 the whole way. I’ve bought a new fan clutch and a new thermostat, but I’m dubious that either is to blame. Just a few months ago, I replaced the radiator, the hoses, the serpentine belt and the belt tensioner and idler pulleys, and I had no trouble getting to SoCal and back. Including pulling up the Grapevine on I-5.

I also bought a fuel pump kit for an emergency spare, as I’m more and more worried that it will be the next item to pack up, now that I’m approaching 106,000 miles.

Wish me luck?

UPDATE: I made it to southeastern Wyoming without melting down the V-10! The pull up to Park City out of Salt Lake was brutal… 102 degrees at the bottom and near 90 at the top. The temp gauge did start moving towards the danger zone mid way through the climb, and I turned on the heater to put it back to the middle. Wasn’t needed on any of the Nevada passes.

Whew.