More Coolant Woes

Well, good news-bad news.  We made it to Moab but we definitely have a coolant leak somewhere in the system.  The first 3 hours of driving went well, up and down over some long steep grades without any issues.  Then, about 2 hours from our destination, again the dreaded amber light and low coolant warning came on.  Luckily there was a scenic pull off right there so we stopped and surveyed the situation.  It was hard to tell how we were doing because the parking lot was really slanted so we waited a bit and started up again.  It wasn’t too long until we had the light again.  Again we stopped, this time along the shoulder, which was safe enough to stop, but not really safe enough to add coolant..  Luckily we were on the interstate with wide shoulders.  This time the engine stalled as we pulled off.  We waited again, then went on.  This happened about half a dozen times, the last time just below the last long grade.  This time a state trooper stopped to check on us.  He told us the hill in front of us was the last one for a long while and if we made it over that hill, it would be all downhill to Green River, UT where there were gas stations and other amenities.  So we gave Chuck a pat on the rear and headed up and over that last grade, rolled into a huge, dusty, level truck stop parking lot and caught our breath. 

A good look at the coolant surge tank showed that it was as low as before we added coolant so we repeated our coolant dance:  unhook car, removed bikes from rack, remove bike rack, open grill, add coolant, close tank, close grill, put bike rack back, put bikes back, rehook car and head down the road.  An hour later we were in the RV park in Moab.  We went out for dinner (BBQ, beer and margaritas) and came back to the rig and collapsed.

So today we track down a mechanic with the help of Freightliner and Coachnet (the RV equivalent of AAA) and see about getting Chuck patched up.  We’ll keep you posted.  Oh yeah, Moab looks sort of neat too.