Just thought y'all would like to hear my latest misadventures. I'm on my first trip in the shuttle bus. Already drove to Cheyenne and back to Texas, but not home. Turned around and going to Virginia - gotta make some money bad.

Soooo, nothing is ever easy for me, right? Before leaving, I had all my tires checked - replaced 4, patched one, all had lots of tread. Drove a couple of good test runs and all was good except the front AC. Start my trip, get 40 miles and the tire I had patched blew. GRRR. Had to limp 15 miles on the shoulder to a tire store.

Also had AC problems. Rear blew cold, but front was hot. Made no sense unless it was an actuator not letting the dash vents open. I didn't have time or money to mess with it before this trip, so I duct-taped over the front vents. Question: why does air blow out the dash vents even with the AC on Off? Seems like there'd be a mode that shut them down. Anyway, got back to Fort Worth, wake, start my truck and the serpentine belt breaks. Turns out the AC compressor locked up.

I'm pulling a trailer, big shuttle bus. It would have been a helluva tow bill to take it somewhere. Tried some mobile mechanics, but no one wanted anything to do with an E450. So I dove in, and got lucky. Someone has removed the AC before and they didn't put the back bolt in, the one that's a huge PITA - wheel off, wheel liner, etc. So, I got it off and a new one back on. Then, it got ugly.

The auto parts store sold me the wrong serpentine belt. I spent hours yesterday, in 100 degree heat in a concrete parking lot trying to make that one work. Since the old one broke, I didn't see how it went on, and there wasn't a diagram sticker. Google up a diagram that looked right, but it wasn't. Still haven't found one that is right. These dual alternators set-ups are an unknown, it seems. Finally got it one right, but it wasn't tight, about 2 inches too long. Now, I'm waiting for the Ford dealer to get one in from the Dallas warehouse.

I had my trusted tech in Dallas ready to charge the new AC up, but after looking at pics I sent of the freon tubes, he expects it needs a total flush, front and rear, plus orifice tube, dryer, etc. I won't get done today in time for him to look at it, and not sure who I could find on the road over the weekend, so I'm probably driving 2500 miles with no AC, in a bus with only one window at the driver's seat. I hope my dog survives.

I'm going to go pull the orifice tube out to confirm it's full of metal/crap while I wait on Ford.

Otherwise, the truck ran good. Pulled a camper up to Cheyenne and the engine fan kicked on a lot going up hills. The thieves got my ScanGuage when they stole by last truck, so I'm driving blind right now, can't say how hot the engine got or the delta, but not getting any degas puke, and once I dumped the trailer, it runs great. Now I'm pulling a piece of equipment on a trailer that weighs less, but haven't gone far enough to see how it works.

 

Follow up: The orifice tube is totally caked. This truck has some long tubes to the rear AC - that's a lot of flushing. I'll prolly have to pay a shop to do that and charge it up.

So, it seems that my truck has a non-stock serpentine belt. Both Ford and AutoZone gave me 136" belts that were too long. I took the broken one back to AutoZone and they matched it's length to one they had, and it sure looked like the right length, but it was too short a couple of inches at 132". Nobody wanted to help me find the right one; they all had other customers standing in line. So, I Googled up a Dayco product sheet and found one 134", then google shopped the part number and found it in stock at a local Advanced Auto Parts.

It got dark, so I'm going to be up at dawn trying this new one. Third one I've put on, maybe it'll be easier. Dang, I miss my F450. These E-series basically take the top layer of skin from your elbows down to do anything to them. It'll be weeks before my arms recover from this beating. Raw meat.