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April 2002 at: www.smallrvs.ca/gmc2
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June 11/June 19, 1999: Estimated revised date of departure is Monday, June 21th, 1999. This trip will include visits at Sacramento, Stockton and Santa Fe Springs with a possible sidetrip to San Diego to check on possibility of a quiet AC unit.
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June 27, 1999 - Santa Fe Springs, CA: Time to catch up, or at least try to. I finally did manage to depart last Monday on what was to be the longest trip ever to California, Perhaps I should have had a premonition at the border. It took me about 3 hours to get through due to traffic conjestion, partially due to new construction and partially due to a couple of wide loads making it rather difficult to park for the necessary customs paperwork. I finally squeezed by with an inch or 2 to spare on each side. Didn't like it but didn't want to wait forever for the wide load guys to come back. Things went well for a while ater that. Made my first gas stop and even found new Chevron Cars ( for the grand kids ). Shortly afterwards I started to hear a noise coming from the front. Stopped to look around, but nothing. Of course it was right around Everett... where I lost an exhaust valve sometime earlier :-) As it was starting to get dark I decided to call it quits for the day at the Everett Rest Area. Pondered some and consulted the Black List and gave Eric Tipton a call. He was kind enough to come and lead me to his abode. On the way the brakes went soft on a couple of occasions going down some semi-steep hills so the Master Cylinder became a prime suspect as the MC was a non-GM one. The following morning, thanks to Erics hospitality and a very complete set of tools I checked for loose items underneath and then decided to change the MC to the spare I had optained in the meantime from Cinnebar as a "just in case". A little tricky doing a one-person bleed, but the brakes have no more leakdown. Headed out before rush hour got serious. Thought I had it beat, but as the day came to an end and the temperature dropped, the noise came back. It wasn't a steady noise in any way so very hard to pin down. The worst I feared was bearings and CV joints. Having never have experienced a CV joint failure I was very concerned about "sudden" failure. Thanks to all the help of the GMCnetters I'm able to breathe easier on that as I now have a better idea of what surrounds or leads up a CV joint failure and it's not as dramatic as I had feared. To back up a little here... at this stint at home I did the timing chain, changed transmission cooler scheme, new waterpump, alternator bracket changed and a few other odds 'n ends. Hence the apprehension as to the noise as it could be anything from an airflow problem to serious stuff dragging. As the day cooled off again I did find a center cap working loose. While I was chasing the noise I'd take the temperature of wheel and hubs immediately upon stopping and next time after allowing some heatsoak time. While at Eric's I did the crowbar check to see if any bearing play. Checked/torque'd wheel nuts several times and just in general tried to stay alert for anything that might give a hint. The overall objective was to not get stuck as in "immobile". As if to take my mind off the occasional noise the tranny temps where higher than desired and expected. The tranny cooler installed was a PermaCool, biggest available as well as with fan installed to help when insufficient airflow could cause less cooling capability. Also installed an external filter and a thermostat. The external filter included a spot for a temperature sender so I now had temperature availabe in the pan as well as between transmission out and external filter/cooler in. It's this out temperature I was keeping a close eye on. One of the disavantages of living in the cooler NorthWest... getting a good test for cooling efficiency. That's how a few rest area reshuffles became the trial and error test environment to find an ultimate solution for cool tranny temps. At first I considered the external filter not allowing sufficient flow and/or the thermostat gadget malfunctioning. Ultimately it was the cooler itself that was not efficient enough. To assure myself of that I moved it to several locations but after heading up the Siskious grade and seeing temps in the pan as well as at the external filter of 260 degrees it was time to admit defeat. At my last re-shuffle stop in Medford I stocked up on a Tranny Cooler from NAPA (Hayden), not really planning or thinking I'd have to use it. I ended up using it, or rather installing it, at the rest area part way up the grade. I installed it high so it would get full impact of airflow through the grill. I installed it in series with the PermaCool as it was easier at the time. Temps were much better the rest of the way up and I continued on to Redding fealing both happy and taken. In Redding I bought enough synthetic ATF to do a change. I didn't drop the pan, but did exchange about 5 quarts of fluid. I also reinstalled the external filter, with a new element. PermaCool was still in series. Stayed overnight in Redding. A big thank you to the folks at Redding for allowing overnight parking for RV's by the K-Mart. The next few hours of driving turned into pure joy. Tranny temps at the filter were hovering around 180 degrees and remained there even as the outside air temperature got into the low nineties. Once I was sure it was indeed stable I took the PermaCool out of the flow and when I confirmed that it made no change for the worse I removed the PermaCool altogether at a rest area further down the line. At the heat of the day (low nineties) the temps remained at 190 or less cruising I-5 between Sacramento and Bakersfield. Temperature in the pan ranged between 130 and 160, much much better than when PermaCool was primary cooling device. Going up the Grapevine the temps did shoot up some for a while and while temp out did reach the 260 mark again, the pan temp maxed at 205 degrees instead of 260/260 at the Siskious grade whith the PermaCool. To remedy that I'm going to install an additional Hayden cooler in serial, also up high and actually in front of my electric fans so that they can assist with airflow in gridlock situations. My goal is to keep the temp at the transmission outlet side to less than 200 degrees under most, if not all, conditions. As to the front-end noise... it has gone into remission. I still suspect it's heat related as I've been in somewhat wamer climates the last few days. I am suspecting that it's a brake pad or caliper. I'm going to pull a wheel before heading north again (I think). I do have a set of pads on board now and also a RH & LH caliper, just in case. AV10 and GPS's have been working great. StreePC even had sufficient detail to find Eric's house tucked away up above the ferry landing. Great spot. Alternator pulley has been staying on (knock on wood) and battery management has been greatly improved with the rewiring I did and the installation of the battery combiners. Timing chain replacement was a good move. Seems to run better and have more power. Not too surprising as there was a lot of "slop" in the old one. Of course all the additional non-scheduled rest stops took their toll. Inside the rig it's as if a hurricane is still travelling through... toad's trunk is full too but I hadn't planned on needing an oilchange pan, etc. on what was supposed to be a regular uneventfull trip. The coveralls cartainly got a workout but that's ok. As long as a tow truck doesn't get any business from me I continue to be a happy GMC'er. July 5, 1999 - Stockton, CA. Had an enjoyable ride up from LA. Will elaborate on it later. July 15, 1999 - at Home Didn't get a chance to elaborate. Hopefully will yet but was more anxious to get out of heat :-) Had a very nice trip north. The debugging of the Tranny Coolers on the southbound paid off.
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