not a great day, lil dangerous actually

Discussion in 'Watkins & Shepard' started by walstib, Jun 22, 2012.

  1. walstib

    walstib Darkstar

    I had 2 stops in Indiana just NW of Louisville today...As I was crossing the bridge from IN to KY on I64E I felt my accelerator pedal go "limp", for lack of a better word...It took me a few seconds to realize it was no longer giving the engine fuel...I was in heavy traffic and being I still hadn't crossed the entire bridge I figured I'd have to let it go as long as possible until I had a safe place to pull over, hoping it made it to that type of place...I drifted over almost 1/2 mile, with flashers on at this point and after coming around a reasonably sharp turn I could see shoulder so I went for it...Just as soon as my rear tires cleared the white line, the truck completely shut off which included the steering...Thankfully I was slow enough it didn't matter and being very light, if I had to lock it up, I would have...Now my concern is the traffic coming around the corner at 60-70mph and me being barely over the white line...More than once I thought I'd lose my mirrors so I tightened up the seat belt and called the shop...Within 1 1/4hrs a tow truck rolled up as the shop felt it unsafe to have someone work on the truck where it was located and after an hour of hooking it up, towed me to a shop...All they could find was a blown fuse dealing with the ignition...I felt stupid for not being able to check them, but in hindsight even if I had, I didn't have that size fuse(that will NEVER happen again), I had every other one, but not one of those small "5s"...So it fires up, we do the paperwork and $400 and 5hrs later, I'm off again...25 miles down the road, thankfully right after I turned off a major road with no shoulder, it happens again...Again, thankfully, there was a Cummins mechanic who lived right around the corner and he was there within a half hour...I had already changed the fuse with the extras the first shop gave me but it blew INSTANTLY...He put a 20 in it and it too blew right away...Now he hooks up his computer, with CUmmins software, and by this time all the faults had cleared, it showed nothing...He put in another 20 and it fired up...He's thinking it's a wire with a dead fault in it and starts wiggling wires trying to find it, no luck...All roads from my location are 2 lane, no shoulder, twisty turny roads and now I'm very nervous as I try to make it to the closest truck stop...The mechanic followed me until I got on a highway, super cool of him, but I was sweating major bullets knowing if it died on the road we were on, it could end up bad for me...I drove very slow every second waiting for it to die but this time it didn't...I made it all the way to the truck stop but it was soooooo stressful, I don't think I'm going to drive it anymore until a shop takes a REAL GOOD look at it...If during the first time it happened stopped me 100' sooner, I, well my truck, would have been on the evening news as someone would have surely plowed into it as there was no way to see it and stop in time on that curve with no shoulder...Someone was looking out for me today...I could have been home by 2pm, instead I walk in the house at 7pm after a long frustrating and scary day...It sucks when you have one of those problems they can't pinpoint knowing if it happens again, it could be at the wrong place at the wrong time...That was my day, how was yours? LOL

    Oh, and make sure you have tools to take out and put in fuses...This particular fuse was on the far right under the lip of the dashboard, basically impossible to extract with fingers due to proximity...Look at your fuses and ask yourself, could I change them all?...Lots of lessons learned today...
     
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  3. Greg20d

    Greg20d Light Load Member

    142
    43
    Aug 21, 2011
    stockton,Ca.
    0
    wow that sounds more exciting than i want ....my wife will ask if i had an exciting day ..I always answer i dont want an exciting day driving....glad you are ok
     
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