hello all
well, we've had our first unexpected breakdown on our 08 fuso fg. i havn't had a chance to do a writeup of our last trip and camper progress but thought i'd at least get this info down.
we have about 20000 miles on our truck now, and as you might imagine we have not expected problems this early on.
so, we were driving along near mamath lakes, 20 degrees outside at 10 pm heading for bishop and the yellow check engine light comes on, a minute later the red check engine light comes on, 30 seconds later the engine goes into limp mode. we were in shock. looked into the owners manual and after reading alittle saw one way to possibly reset was to put the key to acc and wait 3 minutes. after repeated attempts the yellow check engine light finally goes out, red one still on. we started the engine, the engine is no longer in limp mode, so we decided to try and make it the 50 miles to bishop and deal with this the next day. we made it about 10 miles and the engine goes into limp mode again, still no yellow light. the red one is still staying on.
after waiting awhile and restarting the engine (now again out of limp mode) we decided to proceed another 10 miles to a campground and camp for the night. at least we found the new camper to be comfortable in the 20 degree temp and we did have a nice evening despite our worries over the truck. i disconnected the truck batteries for the evening thinking this might have some effect on resetting the computer.
at this point the engine was not making any funny noises or running poorly.
the next morning i hooked up the batteries and still had the red check engine light on (somewhat expected) we called the dealer and were told to have the truck towed to a dealer, in this case 400 + miles over the seirra's to sacramento. they also told us that these new trucks have priortory software and only the dealer can work on the problem. they also told us with this sequnce of lights it was a dpf system failure (exhaust system) and we had not watched the dpf regeneration lights and done a regeneration burn cycle. as you might imagine we were not to thrilled to hear this, esspecailly since we have never seen the regenation lights come on since we've owned the truck. we then called customer service and fianally talked to someone that understood where we were and that towing might not be a first and only choice. so after going over the truck symtoms we decided we would drive the truck to the dealer, being carefull to monitor things along the way. we also tryed to check the error codes by pulling the upc fuse and turning the key on, the check engine now flashs and by counting the flashes you can read some codes. this didn't come to any conclusions. we'll, we didn't make it another 10 miles and we're in limp mode again. after waiting, and only driving another 5 miles on the next run we called our freind at customer service again and decided this would not be a good idea. we decided heading to bishop now 60 miles away would be a much better choice than the 400 although theres no dealer there. we then overnighted a fuel filter to bishop as this has been a common problem lately for fuso and might get us running again. this quickly seemed comfirmed when now the truck would not start after our latest limp mode mode. so i pumped up the fuel filter pump and the truck started right up, good news. we kept our speed under 50 heading to bishop and didn't experince any more limp modes for 60 miles.
so, were now in bishop and the next day put in the new fuel filter, also had the shop check and ultimally read the codes and reset the check engine light.
our findings,
1st the fuel filters may (did not for us) not last the 12000 miles the owners book suggests. we will now change them every oil change.
2nd carry spare oil and fuel fiters with you, as these are not readily available at auto parts stores.
3rd the supposedly proiritory software is a crock in this case, both the dealer (who said we have no chice but to have it towed in to the nearest dealer, and no susggestions on getting us back on the road) and customer servive (who were much nicer but still insisted on only a dealer can reset the check engine lights and limp mode) made it sound like we only had the dealer option. and a BIG NOTE here : a fuel filter would not be a warranty item and as such would not cover a tow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as well, a dpf system failure from not doing a timely regeneration is not covered under warranty, the dealer insisted this was the case with us here after hearing the check engine light sequence.
not only did the mechanic in bishop tell us this proirity software wasn't so, he read the codes, reset the computer on our truck and showed us the expensive updated software he purchases evey few months to work on newer cars and trucks. when i shared this with the customer service agent he continued to tell us this was so and it has to be done at the dealer. we'll side with the mechanic this time since he was able to do what he said could be done.
our conclusion is the auto and truck manufatures are once again trying to convince everyone only there dealers can work on there vehicals. this is especially true with the new smog systems.
we we're pretty disappointed with this, but now we had the truck in top shape and were able to continue our trip minus a couple of days to deal with this.
i suppose this is one of the downfalls of the new vehicals, i could always get our old unimog running with the spare parts we carried and it never left us stranded. we sure felt stranded here, and for a moment wondered if we had bought the right truck for a new camper. i can just see us on the dempster hwy in the yucon territory 300 miles from know where dealing with this sort of problem, whew ??
we're happier now after enjoying the rest of our trip and realize this was actually just a small problem in the scope of things and the unknown was the more worry some thing. i hope to be able to purchase a full mechanics manual for the fuso to be better prepared next time i got a problem so as to not rely so much on what the dealer tells us.
we're also excited to hear of so many new campers being done in calif and oregon, i beleive we're up to 5 now. hopefully some of you can make to the overland expo. be great to plan an event ????
cheers lehel and laura
well, we've had our first unexpected breakdown on our 08 fuso fg. i havn't had a chance to do a writeup of our last trip and camper progress but thought i'd at least get this info down.
we have about 20000 miles on our truck now, and as you might imagine we have not expected problems this early on.
so, we were driving along near mamath lakes, 20 degrees outside at 10 pm heading for bishop and the yellow check engine light comes on, a minute later the red check engine light comes on, 30 seconds later the engine goes into limp mode. we were in shock. looked into the owners manual and after reading alittle saw one way to possibly reset was to put the key to acc and wait 3 minutes. after repeated attempts the yellow check engine light finally goes out, red one still on. we started the engine, the engine is no longer in limp mode, so we decided to try and make it the 50 miles to bishop and deal with this the next day. we made it about 10 miles and the engine goes into limp mode again, still no yellow light. the red one is still staying on.
after waiting awhile and restarting the engine (now again out of limp mode) we decided to proceed another 10 miles to a campground and camp for the night. at least we found the new camper to be comfortable in the 20 degree temp and we did have a nice evening despite our worries over the truck. i disconnected the truck batteries for the evening thinking this might have some effect on resetting the computer.
at this point the engine was not making any funny noises or running poorly.
the next morning i hooked up the batteries and still had the red check engine light on (somewhat expected) we called the dealer and were told to have the truck towed to a dealer, in this case 400 + miles over the seirra's to sacramento. they also told us that these new trucks have priortory software and only the dealer can work on the problem. they also told us with this sequnce of lights it was a dpf system failure (exhaust system) and we had not watched the dpf regeneration lights and done a regeneration burn cycle. as you might imagine we were not to thrilled to hear this, esspecailly since we have never seen the regenation lights come on since we've owned the truck. we then called customer service and fianally talked to someone that understood where we were and that towing might not be a first and only choice. so after going over the truck symtoms we decided we would drive the truck to the dealer, being carefull to monitor things along the way. we also tryed to check the error codes by pulling the upc fuse and turning the key on, the check engine now flashs and by counting the flashes you can read some codes. this didn't come to any conclusions. we'll, we didn't make it another 10 miles and we're in limp mode again. after waiting, and only driving another 5 miles on the next run we called our freind at customer service again and decided this would not be a good idea. we decided heading to bishop now 60 miles away would be a much better choice than the 400 although theres no dealer there. we then overnighted a fuel filter to bishop as this has been a common problem lately for fuso and might get us running again. this quickly seemed comfirmed when now the truck would not start after our latest limp mode mode. so i pumped up the fuel filter pump and the truck started right up, good news. we kept our speed under 50 heading to bishop and didn't experince any more limp modes for 60 miles.
so, were now in bishop and the next day put in the new fuel filter, also had the shop check and ultimally read the codes and reset the check engine light.
our findings,
1st the fuel filters may (did not for us) not last the 12000 miles the owners book suggests. we will now change them every oil change.
2nd carry spare oil and fuel fiters with you, as these are not readily available at auto parts stores.
3rd the supposedly proiritory software is a crock in this case, both the dealer (who said we have no chice but to have it towed in to the nearest dealer, and no susggestions on getting us back on the road) and customer servive (who were much nicer but still insisted on only a dealer can reset the check engine lights and limp mode) made it sound like we only had the dealer option. and a BIG NOTE here : a fuel filter would not be a warranty item and as such would not cover a tow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as well, a dpf system failure from not doing a timely regeneration is not covered under warranty, the dealer insisted this was the case with us here after hearing the check engine light sequence.
not only did the mechanic in bishop tell us this proirity software wasn't so, he read the codes, reset the computer on our truck and showed us the expensive updated software he purchases evey few months to work on newer cars and trucks. when i shared this with the customer service agent he continued to tell us this was so and it has to be done at the dealer. we'll side with the mechanic this time since he was able to do what he said could be done.
our conclusion is the auto and truck manufatures are once again trying to convince everyone only there dealers can work on there vehicals. this is especially true with the new smog systems.
we we're pretty disappointed with this, but now we had the truck in top shape and were able to continue our trip minus a couple of days to deal with this.
i suppose this is one of the downfalls of the new vehicals, i could always get our old unimog running with the spare parts we carried and it never left us stranded. we sure felt stranded here, and for a moment wondered if we had bought the right truck for a new camper. i can just see us on the dempster hwy in the yucon territory 300 miles from know where dealing with this sort of problem, whew ??
we're happier now after enjoying the rest of our trip and realize this was actually just a small problem in the scope of things and the unknown was the more worry some thing. i hope to be able to purchase a full mechanics manual for the fuso to be better prepared next time i got a problem so as to not rely so much on what the dealer tells us.
we're also excited to hear of so many new campers being done in calif and oregon, i beleive we're up to 5 now. hopefully some of you can make to the overland expo. be great to plan an event ????
cheers lehel and laura
