Tuesday, February 28, 2017

WE HIT A BUMP IN THE ROAD

Monday, February 27 - We hit a little bump in the road today in Sedona, AZ. Truck problems! In preparation to depart, Paul filled the fuel tank yesterday. When he went to start the truck, it wouldn't start. Thinking maybe it wasn't in park, Paul applied the brakes and shifted gears several times. It eventually started. Unfortunately, their was a wrench icon warning light flashing on the dash display center. Checking the owner's manual, we found it indicated the engine has defaulted to a “limp-mode” operation or a transmission problem has been detected. Darn!

This morning, we found a Ford Service Center in nearby Camp Verde, AZ. We checked with the service manager, and he recommended having it towed to the dealership. Understand, we are in a pretty secluded area and there aren't many choices for diesel truck repairs. They will undoubtedly plug the truck into their computer to diagnosis the problem and get back with us later today or early tomorrow.

truck being towed

truck being towed

A sickening feeling.
truck being towed

To add to our woos, the Elks Lodge campground here in Sedona does not have full hook-ups. We have 30 amp electric and water. No sewer. We've been careful not to overdue the use of water, but we expected to depart today and dump at a station about 15 miles away. If we need to sit here for more than a couple of days, we'll have to get a septic service to come pump out our holding tanks. Jeesh!

Paul's upset of course. He tries to take good care of our equipment to avoid problems like this but stuff happens! We'll relax in Sedona, AZ, for a day or so until we hear from the Ford garage. Unfortunately, it's raining and snowing in the higher elevations so we aren’t doing much sightseeing.

Beautiful before the snow.Sedona

Just as beautiful with the snow.Sedona

Sedona

We'll update you on our truck problems when we get word for the repair facility. We want to have it in the blog for historical reasons. Guess we have to take the bad with the good in this lifestyle!

Just heard from the Ford Dealer Service Department. We need to replace the low pressure fuel pump. They also recommend replacing fuel filters. Good news! Repairs can hopefully be done on Tuesday, and we can head to Phoenix on Wednesday.

We thought we would need to rent a car to go pick-up our truck after repairs but the Ford Dealer said they would send a curiosity car.  They picked Paul up about noon on Monday, and he picked up the truck and was back to the Elks campground by 2 o’clock.

ride to pick up truck

Marsha is a happy blogger again. After searching for a week, she came across a discussion group that had the solution. It seems Google Photos only allows 2,000 photos/album. Once it reaches the magic number, no more photos can be sent to Google Photos. She needed to go back into Google Photos, create a new album entitled “Open Live Writer.” It worked! She heard from many followers who said that they weren’t having any problems. Now she knows why. Once they reach the 2,000 and are using Open Live Writer, they will have to create a new folder to be able to continue using OLW and Blogger. After she found the solution, she a quickly emailed several people that she knew had the same problem. She hopes that they are able to use OLW again too.

We’ll pull-out in the morning and head to Phoenix. Usery Mountains here we come.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.

16 comments:

  1. Wow! I can only imagine how frustrating that was. So glad to hear the truck was taken care of in a timely manner and is back with you all ready to roll. It was nice of the repair dealership to send a loaner car.

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  2. Our truck went into limp mode out in the middle of no where on the,way to Kanab. We couldn't go more than 25 mph on a two lane road with no shoulders and no where to pull off. Not fun ar all. Glad you are all fixed up and headed to Usery. You must have brought the weather with you. Lol

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  3. So very glad to hear all worked out with the truck. That was great that the dealer sent a car to pick up Paul. Safe travels to Usery tomorrow:)

    Your photos of the red rocks with the snow are spectacular! I so love seeing the snow capped hills and mountains.

    Let's go Indians!! They are calling and you must go!

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  4. So glad it was an easy and inexpensive fix.

    Love the "curiosity" car. Darn spell check.

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  5. Glad the truck was an easy fix. Well, at least easy compared to what it could have been. Love the photos except for the one with your truck being towed.

    I thought it was related to your pictures since you post quite a few. Glad you got that figured out too.

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  6. Glad you got a fix, we are sitting at repair center in Apache Junction for AC repairs been here since Monday hope to get to leave Wednesday. Safe travel.

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  7. nothing better than inexpensive repairs...

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  8. Glad the problem was relatively minor and you're back in business. Continued safe travels.

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  9. Sorry to hear about the problems with your truck, but I'm glad it's not too serious and that it will be fixed fairly quickly.

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  10. Glad to hear the truck was fixed without to much trouble and expense. That is the most nerve racking thing about our life style. When we had the wreck was the worst time of our 11 years on the road. NOT FUN.

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  11. Nice to get you truck up and running again , we have 3 other friends with Ford Diesel pickups that have had similar issues this winter, hope you don;t have any more.

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  12. Sounds like things could have been worse but it's always stressful having a breakdown. Nice that you have the truck running and the blogger issue resolved. Enjoy your time at Usery!

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  13. Glad they got you back on the road. We've dealt with the dealership before.

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  14. Love all these pictures. Cottonwood is a great area, your pictures give
    us nice memories of our time there! Thank you

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  15. Way behind reading blogs.

    Limp mode is not fun, especially towing uphill.

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