Part 15: Repairs and Engel Cooler Addition

201706-201707

Navigation Links
 Trip Home Page     

 


The Experience

By 2017 Thor had accumulated a bit over 70km under my ownership.  We do regular maintenance on the truck, but sometimes lack of use is worse treatment than hard use.  In this case, I had taken a consulting gig that prevented our travel for nearly a year.  During that time, the truck sat in my driveway slowly eating itself.  I had purchased an Engel cooler to be installed in our center tool box to provide cold beverages and ice during trip.  The installation spanned months as the consulting gig kept eating up my spare time.  When the mechanical installation was complete, we attempted to run electrical to the unit and discovered that the voltages were low.  During subsequent investigations, we discovered a set of interconnected issues.

The Photos

We were preparing for a summer road trip and discovered a multitude of problems had occurred during Thor's extended vacation.  To meet our goal of seeing the solar eclipse from the path of totality, we needed to get our repairs in motion.  We tried to start the truck and discovered that the starter had developed a hitch.  Having never removed a starter, it looked like a big job.  And it was.  Not because the removal was difficult, but rather it was clearing a path to the starter that was difficult.

After staring at the tight working conditions, I concluded that the only way to access the starter was by removing some exhaust plumbing, linkages and the turbocharger return oil line.  Above, the exhaust line was removed from the turbo.  Fortunately, our recent turbo service left some non-corroded bolts that allowed an easy removal.

Several linkages have been removed as well as the exhaust line to allow viewing the starter.

The access to the bolts that held the starter in was occluded.  The biggest issue was there was no "straight shot" from the outside world that would allow putting a socket on the nuts.  In the end, I ground a socket that allowed access skirting the shoulder of the starter.  Add in a wobbly extension and we were in business.

The mounting points looked quite clean.

The starter is a big chunk of meat.

Doing some web-work, I discovered that I could examine the brush cup of the starter.  I mounted it in the vice and tore into it.

The shaft protection cup.

Stator housing removed showing the rotor.  It was in good shape.  It turned out that the solenoid was the issue.

Rebuilt and clean, it was only $150 to get repaired (and several days).

Rebuilt unit installed.

All the parts put back in place.

Next up were the truck batteries.  I had installed a multi-channel marine charge maintainer on my battery array, but since the issue was with the Xantrex controller, the charge maintainer had no shore power, thus allowing the batteries to be damaged.  Heavy, awkward and expensive, the batteries were simple to replace.

The overall source of the problem was the box in the center of the frame above - thet Xantrex inverter/charger.  As you can see, I outdid myself during installation, packing components tight into the available space.  Removal was a hassle, but we finally were able to get access to the unit without a full removal.

Oops, there is a problem here.  A simple visual inspection showed the likely cause of the issues.

For whatever reason, the hot side of the input line had become a high resistance connection and started on fire.  The issue went no further than the junction box.  We are not sure when this happened, but there was never the smell of smoke in the cabin.  Happily, when the bad wire was removed and low resistance crimped connections were used, the unit came back to life and was performing correctly.  After opening access to the guts of the system, I concluded that given the electrical load of the Engel, it was time to finally install solar on the roof.  Once that task was completed, the truck should be fully self sufficient.

Back to the original task - installing the Engel cooler.  We had installed industrial drawer slides inside the tool box years ago and they served us well carrying our Yeti ice box.  We were lucky enough to have the same mechanical setup work for the Engel.  Almost.  The Engel cooler was deeper than the Yeti and needed a bit of help to prevent a mechanical interference.

A second set of drawer slides were required to allow the Engel to open without interference.  These locking slides were installed flat due to space restrictions.

The Engel is a nice unit and fits within the existing infrastructure.  We may need to add vents to the tool box, but we are going to run it for awhile to see.

This effort is an on-going saga.  This round of enhancements uncovered a number of other issues.  The window regulator on the passenger side has broken preventing the window from closing.

Navigation Links
Previous Adventure
Top of this Page
  Next Adventure
Trip Home Page  
Bill Caid's Home Page

Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2017, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.