Happy to be Back in the Barn

[dale farley]

First time I've ever had a Prevost towed. We left for Tampa Monday morning and got five miles from the house. I saw I was having a problem and planned to get off the road on the other side of the red light I was approaching. Lost power to my transmission shift pad , the speedometer ceased to work, Check Engine and Check Transmission lights came on and engine died while stopped at a red light. Engine would not restart. After a few hours, we were towed to a local authorized Detroit Diesel truck repair shop.

While waiting on the wrecker, I called PASS and went through several diagnostic checks but was not able to isolate the problem. It was a little difficult to trouble shoot while standing next to the fast lane with my electrical compartment open, holding a voltmeter and dodging traffic, but we did determine that I didn't have a blown breaker or bad relay. The first picture makes it look like I was sitting on the inside lane, but that's not the case. The fast lane was on the left side of the bus. My CRV is sitting in a turn lane on the right side of the bus.

I left the PASS phone # with the shop because I knew they would need it. They finished the diagnostics/repairs Wednesday. The service manager told me they talked with the PASS technician five times. The problem was a loose wire between the battery and the ECM. The tech at the repair shop was off until next Monday, but he is supposed to call me and tell me exactly where the loose wire is located. A very small and seemingly simple issue that resulted in rather catastrophic results.

If I could have been towed back to my house, I think I could have worked with PASS, and eventually got the problem solved and saved myself a lot of money. Unfortunately, I have a steep driveway, and I was afraid I would have some serious damage to the rear of the bus if the wrecker pulled the bus up the driveway with the front raised.

I am very thankful that I was close to home when this happened, and it is good to have the bus back in the barn.