For you non-Minnesotan’s "Feeling Minnesota" is
defined as “Feeling Depressed, Humdrum and you can now add frustrated to this
definition. When we started our RV’ing adventure we wanted a truck and 5th
wheel that we could rely on and hopefully have few and minor mechanical issues which is why we bought both of them new.
Over the past 18 months we have only had minor issues with the 5th
wheel and no issues with the truck……that is until recently. Over the past few
months Barb has taken two trips down to Minnesota to visit friends each time
she had truck problems. Warning lights came on indicating the Diesel Exhaust
system needed service. When this happens the system limits the trucks speed and
warns you the message 99 Miles to 65mph Max
Speed. After 99 miles the message changes to 75 Miles to 55mph Max Speed. This is usually taken care of by
adding DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid) but this did not take care of the
problem. Luckily Barb was close to her
destination both times this happened and she was able to get the truck into the
dealer and have it worked on. In both cases they replaced sensors and glow
plugs and took care of the problem……or so we thought.
With everything packed up we left Pasha Lake
when a few miles down the road…bam Service
Diesel Exhaust System 99 Miles to 65mph Max Speed. Oh crap, here we are on
a 400+ mile journey in Canada with truck problems. We made it to Thunder Bay
with several miles left on the first warning and decided to keep going. Soon
the 55mph hour max speed warning came on but we were committed and kept on
truck'in hoping to get back into the U.S. and find a GMC dealer. We had never
seen the warning after the 55mph one…..until now. 75 Miles to 4mph Max Speed. Luckily we were only a couple miles
outside of Two Harbors Minnesota and there was a GM dealer in town. We pulled
the rig into the dealership, unhooked and they took the truck into the garage.
A couple hours later they told us they took care of the issues by “Regenerating
the system” and clearing the codes. After hooking back up Barb was driving
through the parking lot when…..70 miles
to 4mph Max Speed. Ugh!!!! Since it was already late in the day, we found a
campground, unhooked and headed back to the dealer and dropped off the truck.
Since it was Wednesday we hoped they could fix it before the weekend as we had
plans to visit friends and family.
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| Our Pasha Lake home.....see you in '17! |
Thursday morning we received a call from the
dealer saying they think it is the glow plug monitor and have ordered one which
will arrive in 3-5 days…..unless we wanted to pay $35 for overnight
shipping…..ah yeah!
We had driven through Two Harbors dozens of
times but never stopped so we figured we may as well do a little exploring. It
is really a cool little town! We drove
down to the harbor, as luck would have it there was a huge freighter pulling.
The Cason J. Callaway was built in 1952 and is 767 feet long. It was very
impressive to see this behemoth pull into port and the way they maneuvered it
into the dock. I don’t know what they were picking up but my guess is taconite which
seems to be the prevalent industry in the area. There were piles (hills really)
of taconite pellets along the shore way which and is used to make iron. 
We arrived at my brothers without incident and
got set up in his cul-de-sac, said a quick hello and retired to our trailer.
Barb did some research on diesel exhaust issues with GMC trucks and found 135
pages of people having the same issues that we are….none of which had a
definitive solution…..great (now feeling even more Minnesota).
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| There are certainly worse places to be stranded! |
With the truck in the shop we spent a few days
visiting friends/family as well as dentist, doctor, hair (Barb) appointments
and our financial guy. Good news, we can keep on truck’in! One of the
highlights was meeting our friends Kevin and Cathy at the Wolf Creek Bar in
Cushing, WI. They were on a trail ride and met us at the bar with their horses.
When we were done with lunch Barb and Cathy rode the horses back the hour and a
half back to their trailer while Kevin and I had a few more beers. 
Finally we received the call we had been waiting
for….the truck is ready. This time rather than replacing the glow plug monitor
they replaced the connector pins and wiring harness, all covered under the
warranty. This is really the first vehicle issues we have had while on the road
learning how it can stop you dead in your tracks and bringing on a new level of
frustration. Hopefully this does the trick! So with our fingers crossed and no
longer feeling Minnesota, pointed the truck NW and headed to North Dakota but
not before stopping along the way to see our good friends Tom and Shelly who
live on the western edge of the Twin Cities. We had a great visit with them
with some killer ribeye’s and ended up spending the night in their guestroom.
The next morning we were off to ND with vision
of ducking hunting in our heads! About 20 minutes down the road all of those
dreams fell from the sky when the display on the truck read “Transitioning to 65mph Max Speed”. We
had made it about 100 miles since picking it up from the dealer….so we turn
around, head back to my brothers and Barb gets on the phone with the dealer.
They cannot see the truck until Monday, 4 days…. To be continued…….
