Long Way Around

Somehow, in between all the things we did with Val around Nags Head, I managed to get a little work done on the bus. I replaced all the exhaust hangers, which were just barely holding the tailpipe up, changed the plugs, wires, oil, oil filter and half a dozen other little things that amounted to a good tune up to get her ready the hit the road.

We came up this way with the thought that we’d continue up the coast into Maryland and then cross over the mountains somewhere in Pennsylvania, head through Ohio, Indiana and up into Michigan. But then we realized if we did that it would be a long time before we saw Corrinne’s parents again, and if living this way teaches you anything, it’s that nothing really matters much beyond friends and family. So we chose to reverse course and head back to Georgia.

Still, we left the Outer Banks reluctantly. It was starting to get hot and buggy, which made it a little easier, but we rarely like to drive away from the beach.

The first day we drove to Cliff of the Nuese State Park, which proved to be something of a let down — there was no swimming in the river, something that had drawn us there. Ostensibly this was because there was no lifeguard, though judging by the smell I would guess it was more likely a raw sewage issue. No thanks.

We were on the road again early the next morning, bound for Columbia, South Carolina. It was a hot miserable drive. We took the Interstate, something we rarely do, and quickly realized why we rarely do it. If there is a more barren, desolate, lifeless place than the American Interstate highway I don’t know of it. It’s an awful experience driving them, inhuman was the word that kept coming to mind.

We made it to Columbia, SC in the late afternoon. It seemed about 20 degrees hotter in Columbia than on the drive. We cranked up the air conditioning as soon as the engine shut off. We kept smelling a strange rotten egg smell. We’d smelled it the day before too, but not enough to be concerned. This time it lingered.

I went out in the sweltering heat and sniffed around the outside of the bus, pondering what on earth in an engine could have sulfur in it. I was just above the starting battery component when it hit me — a lead acid battery. Sure enough, when I looked under at our starting battery it was leaking electrolyte. I pulled it out, wrapped it in a trash bag, and went down the local auto parts store to get a new one. Naturally ours was a month out of warranty. I started to buy another, but then noticed that the only one they had sported a manufactured date that was almost a year ago. I went to another store and got a different battery.

I put it back in and didn’t think much of it. The next day we’d scheduled a layover day to do laundry and run some errands, which we did, and then we spent to afternoon at the splash pad. It was hot enough that even the parents were in the water at this splash pad.

The next day we hit the interstate again. We spent most of the morning cutting across South Carolina and into Georgia on Interstate 20, counting the miles until we could turn off, back onto the two-lane roads. About halfway I started to smell electrolyte again. Hmm. That’s not good.

I only have two gauges on the dash that actually work. The speedometer and the Alt gauge, which gives a rough approximation of what the alternator is doing. I never look at it. But when I smelled the electrolyte I glanced at it, and noticed it was pegged over on C, which meant it was sending the maximum possible volts to the battery, which shouldn’t have been needed after an hour of driving. It was overcharging the battery to the point that even the brand new one swelled and cracked open, spewing out electrolyte again.

I pulled over to assess the situation. I read through the M300 manual a bit and came to the conclusion that the problem was either a bad ground or a bad voltage regulator. Or the alternator. I ran a few tests with the volt meter and the alternator itself seemed fine, though the wires coming out of the alternator looked like garbage — old and cracked with questionable connectors. I figured maybe I had bumped them somehow when I changed the belts back in the Outer Banks, and maybe they weren’t grounded properly anymore. I cut the ground wire near where it came out of the harness and put on a new connector and did the same for the field wire. I figured I could re-run the entire wire later on, but this might do for a quick fix.

As a side note, I happened to be right by the road to Raysville when I noticed the problem, so I got off the interstate at that exit. Three years after we were last there, the road is still under construction. Half of the two lane highway was still closed and made a great place to get the bus out of the way so I could work on it in peace. Exactly three cars passed in the half hour I was pulled over, and every single one of them stopped to see if I was okay. This is why we spend so much time in the south. Just preferably not during the summer.

I was feeling pretty good about the ground wire theory, but there was only one way to test it, so I packed up my tools and hit the road again. It was pegged over to C again as soon as I hit 50. Damn it. It was getting hot and I only had a few more miles of interstate driving so, against my better judgement, I pushed on. I didn’t want a bus breakdown to prevent seeing family. Some times you just have to push on through.

Something weird happened though, after about five minutes of being pegged over at C, it dropped back to the middle and the rest of way it was fine. About five minutes after that we finally got off the interstate and back on the back roads, rolling through the Georgia countryside.

We made it to the campground and settled in. I was pretty happy with my fix, though I wasn’t sure how I was going to convince the local shop to give me a new battery. I unhooked it and put in the car. I figured I’d play dumb as much as possible. It comes naturally. Unfortunately that didn’t really work because they tested the battery and determined it was fine. They also told me I had an overcharging issue. You think?

I set the problem aside for a few days. We weren’t going anywhere and the best way to fix things is to think about them for a very long time. You have to have an idea of what to do in your head before you can do anything. In the mean time we spent some time with Corrinne’s parents and her sister who flew in from Dallas to visit. There was air conditioning, relaxation, sleep overs, ear piercing and all sorts of family fun.