On Friday I retreived Ellie from the shop, where she's been for the past two months. She has a new roof, new cover for the air conditioner and refrigerator, new skylight and new chassis battery. More about the battery later.
Since I decided to put a new roof on, I thought I might as well spring for new wing caps for the back of the motorhome. The current caps were yellow and cracked (see picture) from being out in the sun and since the roof was new and white, why not continue on with that theme? I thought it would be quick & easy. Funny me. I still don't have the wing caps. They've been on back-order for over a month now. They also have to re-order one of the vents because I didn't like the way it was sealed (or not sealed) on the side. They still haven't installed the new cover for the airconditioner, even though I was told it was done. Good thing I climbed up on the roof (in the rain) to check. Since I have a trip coming up, I had them put the old caps back on and I will return Ellie to the shop when the new ones come in. I finally contacted the manufacturer myself to see what the hold up was. All they told me is that there was a mix-up with my order and the wing caps have been ordered and are due to ship mid month.
Then there's the battery. Before I took the motorhome in to the shop I had to replace the battery because I had left it in the chassis, during the cold month of December, without a trickle charge and it was completely dead. Luckily I took it in to Walmart, where the last battery came from, and they swapped it out for me. So, with that accomplished, I drove the motorhome to the shop. Two months later I get in and try to start it.... "click click click click"... that's all. So I round up the tech and he comes out and jump starts my battery. He tells me my [new] battery is taking a charge but it's defective. Hum.... I'm skeptical.....He's also the tech who told me my [new] vent needed to be replaced because the glue [sealing the edges] was "old". Mind you, this was the vent that had just been replaced, by them! After I told him that, he blandly looked at me and said, "we'll order you another one." Geez.....
Next I drove it to the gas station because I was beyond empty and really needed gas to get home. Sure enough, it wouldn't start again. I ended up calling roadside service and they jump started it again. I drove it straight to Les Schwab because the next thing on my "to do" list was to check all the tires and the allignment, and now I had a battery problem! Once I turned off the motorhome it wouldn't start again. Wouldn't turn over at all. In the end I bought a new battery and had them install it for me. I found out that most of the water had boiled out of the battery, which was odd. They said it was like it had been over-charged. I'm debating about whether to bring it up to the shop or to just forget it. I'm not sure I could prove that they were at fault and at this point I'd just like to be done with them!
While Ellie was in the shop I also had them service the generator. I'm assuming they did the basic oil, lube because it still won't start from inside the motorhome and today I couldn't even get it to start from outside the motorhome. Next week I plan on driving to Eastern Oregon to see my parents. I think I'll see if my dad can check out the generator and maybe show me a thing or two about maintaining it! After a week there, we're headed to the coast for a little "shakedown" cruise before our big trip to Alaska!
First things first. Tomorrow I'm going to de-winterize Ellie and clean her up. She's been hibernating way too long. Me too.
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