Question Now what? Can’t shut engine off

[flyboy013]

Also the spartan message center (with the 3 buttons) on the dash will also show fault codes.

 

[flyboy013]

We took delivery on July1, 2018. I‘ve been told that ours was the last 2018 Mountain Aire to roll off the line; the next one was a 2019. That would just get us just inside the 3-y,ear window, If it is a Spartan issue, isn’t it a 5-year coverage?

TJ

My understanding is that the Spartan warranty is 3 years unless it’s emissions related in which case it’s 5 years.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

My understanding is that the Spartan warranty is 3 years unless it’s emissions related in which case it’s 5 years.

I think you are right. That said, I just verified that our purchase date was 6/30/2018 so we should still be good…by about two weeks.

TJ

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

A little research shows that the Spartan warranty is 3 years, 50 thousand miles, lifetime frame warranty, a 5-year/100,thousand-mile warranty on the Cummins engine and a 5-year/200,000-mile warranty on the Allison transmission. I think I should be covered any way you slice it. And, I would assume the “check engine” light would indicate that the problem is somehow engine related.

From the Newmar 2018 Mountain Aire brochure.

“Industry-best Warranty

“Every Spartan chassis comes with the industry’s best 3-year/50,000-mile transferable warranty with complimentary roadside assistance from Coach-Net. Our chassis also includes an industry-first lifetime frame warranty as well as a 5-year/100,000-mile Cummins Engine warranty and an Allison Transmission 5-year/200,000- mile warranty.”

TJ

 

[flyboy013]

I would assume the “check engine” light would indicate that the problem is somehow engine related.

Not necessarily. I’ve had my check engine light come in when the anti-lock brake system had a fault due to a dirty wheel speed sensor. Where you able to access the fault code?

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Where you able to access the fault code?

No. It says there are no faults…but, the check engine light is on. I’m going to have the Cummins folks walk me through that process in case I’m doing something wrong.

TJ

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

On the road again. The check engine light went out on it’s own, but we stopped at Cummins anyway. The fault codes were almost all cruise control related. One old “air filter flow restriction” code but we had a new filter installed in May so the tech just reset it.

They weren’t interested in trying to find the engine shut-off issue. If it happens again, I will just put it out of it’s misery with the .40
S&W. ?

Frankly, other than the tech that checked the codes, our visit to Cummins was underwhelming! It seemed like they don’t like to work on motorhomes. The guys at the service counter were abrasive and surly. I sure didn’t feel welcome there.

Oh well, we are back on the road with LadyDi at the helm. That’s a good thing.

TJ

 

[MapNerd]

On the road again. The check engine light went out on it’s own, but we stopped at Cummins anyway. The fault codes were almost all cruise control related. One old “air filter flow restriction” code but we had a new filter installed in May so the tech just reset it.

They weren’t interested in trying to find the engine shut-off issue. If it happens again, I will just put it out of it’s misery with the .40
S&W. ?

Frankly, other than the tech that checked the codes, our visit to Cummins was underwhelming! It seemed like they don’t like to work on motorhomes. The guys at the service counter were abrasive and surly. I sure didn’t feel welcome there.

Oh well, we are back on the road with LadyDi at the helm. That’s a good thing.

TJ

Glad you’re back on the road. Sorry for the bad experience. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed for you that it’s smooth sailing from here on out - minus the Girard sails.

 

[Old-RV'er]

Try turning off the chassis master and house master switches for 2 minutes. Leave both off together, then turn chassis back on then turn the house back on. Sounds like a low level computer has gotten a gremlin in it. I would manually turn off the refer prior to doing this so it's not shocked by the loss of power.

If you cannot get the engine to stop, turning off the master chassis switch should make it stop. This should not affect the house side.

When we were at Newmar last Summer, countless folks with adaptive anti collision/braking/control were complaining. The unofficial rule was to turn off all the "extra stuff" just keeping the cruise control working. The adaptive braking especially was a problem for every high line coach in for work. We had "all the fancy stuff" on our last coach, and every time we took it out, something broke. Now we got the all electric Ventana 3407, not too much fancy, but I can take it on trip, and nothing breaks either.

Rear PDM ([power distribution module) recall on Freightliner chassis can cause some of the issues you are relating to. If not freightliner chassis, the recall is not in your purview, however, FL, has new issues with the replacement part, and have canceled the recall until their parts supplier can build a part heavy duty enough to not fail. In other words don't build this stuff in china, build it here, double soldering all the connections on the boards, using the best capacitors/transistors possible. Then you will not have a part which fails.

The Cummins facility in Portland, OR is excellent, The one in Coburg, OR (coach care facility) is excellent or better than PDX. The one in Chehalis, WA is a waste of time. The freightliner shop in Tucson, AZ is also excellent, the Cummins shop in Chattanooga, TN is also very good. We also enjoyed the Gaffney, SC facility, they are excellent as well. Almost any Cummins Coach Care Facility is an excellent place to have service work performed, since they are setup for Motorhomes by design. Freightliner in Portland, OR is reportedly to be excellent based on Friends Recommendations. DFW Cummins is also good.

If you do not wait for all the gauges, etc., alarms to wake up when you turn on the key, you can inadvertently cause the check engine light to come on. Just turn on, wait for 30 seconds or so, then turn to start. Found this out the hard way by not waiting long enough, freightliner taught me the correct way.

 

[sheridany]

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Thanks, @sheridany; me too!

TJ

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

We are now at Premier RV Services in Junction City, Oregon. The good news is that we are here, and that the new Girard awning is also here and the guys are working on installing it.

The not-so-good news is that the center AC unit has been diagnosed as terminal (locked up compressor) and replacements are hard to find right now. They are trying, but it doesn’t look good for finding one. We can limp home on two ACs in this hot weather, but if another one fails we’ll be in trouble. Right now, going to our Polson lot is out of the question.

And, the saga of not being able to shut the engine off continues. It happened again this morning (the sixth occurrence now) and not even the chassis battery switch would kill it. (I did later find out that if I am plugged into shore power…and I was…that might prevent the chassis battery switch from doing its thing.) Because having the engine running prevented me from bringing in the bedroom slide (the others came in…go figure), I called Premier RV Services and they sent a tech to the RV park to see what he could do, Naturally, the second time he turned off the key, the engine quit. We brought the coach over here to the shop and they’ve tried 15-20 times to get the problem to recur and it won’t. ARGHHHHH!!!

The techs here are still waiting for a call back from Spartan (it has been nearly four hours now, but it is Monday) for help in diagnosing the problem. Customer (or “technical”) service sure isn’t what it used to be.

We are looking forward to getting all the known issues resolved so that we can sell the coach. We’re just tired of having to deal with a slew of continuing problems. It was a good coach for three years, but has been going through a bad phase over the past few weeks. I’m sure we’ll eventually get things resolved, but waiting for the other shoe to drop has lost its charm!

TJ

 

[Old-RV'er]

Good Luck. Assuming, key switch does not go through a relay in starting/shutting down engine. if it does, assume one for start, one for stop? Otherwise, either signal is NOT getting to the fuel pump solenoid to close it, or to the correct part for that to happen. Please advise all, if situation is remedied. You are confirming all the things being told by folks in the know, about supply chain, and had a/c been made in USA, (assumed not), then their would have been enough in chain to keep things going for while. Since assume overseas for at least compressor/system, then that will be awhile for resolutions.

 

[Neal]

I still say go to Polson. Enjoy that RV and your site one last hooraaaah. It will be fine. If you don't go then it won't cool off in the northwest, you have to go for the temps to drop!

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Not going to Polson, @Neal; at least not now. We will limp back up to the sticks ‘n bricks in Washington and wait for a new AC to arrive. Hopefully, we can get Spartan to call back and help diagnose the engine non-shut-off issue. If we can resolve all the issues in the next couple of months (and, the lot doesn’t sell—we’ll list it next week) then we’ll go back for a little while.

We hate to give up the RV life, but the uncertainty associated with this coach at the present time just makes it untenable for us to travel.

TJ