Chuck, glad to see you getting taken care of and able to be back on the forums....Hope you and the wife can get back on the road tomorrow.

Keep in touch.

Thanks Bob. We hope to be where we can get wifi coverage in the next several days. In spite of advertised internet service at this coach care facility, they reported it does not work.

I have something of interest to post in a couple of days regarding the oil dip stick tube which may be a problem for some Spartan chassis owners. As a precursor, there appears to have been a problem for quite some time with the the dip stick tube being located too close to the turbo charger causing it to melt and throw out oil. When we thought we had a blown turbo charger, Carl at high line told me what it might be before the Cummins diagnosis. He was exactly on. More later, got to go check on the state of repairs.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cwg,

40 mph don't sound to bad to me...

When we went I-70 a couple of months ago our 400 hp ISL slowed down to 35 mph/3rd gear (towing a Tahoe) on the really bad climbs.

Hi Guys

Been a while.....Just looking in and saw this thread.
Gabi and I have been tearing through Colorado the last few weeks and have been up and over several passes; Loveland-Eisenhower, Rabbit Ears, La Veta, Etc. and thought 40 mph was fine towing a car and all. My point of reference was our last coach, 40ft Revolution with 400 cummins--same 35-40 mph at top of Eisenhower. Other than a funny squeak from time to time, no problems. Should I expect more?

Oh and BTW--Transwest Trucks north of Denver replaced a burned up oil dipstick tube last week. It sprayed all over tow car for a while. Seems to be common. Made a mess of the motor too. They cleaned it up well. Great Place!!! Clean and professional staff....see Matt.

Also--does anybody know how to secure front hubcaps???? On our 3rd one..

Ernie and Gabi
2007 4502 Essex

Previously had similar hubcap problem. Put 3 1" beads of clear silicone on seam between hubcap & wheel

After losing one hubcap as a result of Spartan service work at their center, they replaced it and recommended to bend the small tabs out so they catch better and are retained in place.

Recently I saw the hubcaps had loosened a bit so I torqued them out a little bit further... so far so good.

The work was completed yesterday by the time we got back to Rocky Mountain Cummins. I saw the fix for the gap between the air intake tube and the rear cap of the rig... they used some expanding foam to fill the space to prevent hot engine air from rising up to the intake. The tech explained that it is very much like the foam that Spartan uses for the same application.

They also put in place the new dip stick tube, moving it and well insulating it from the turbo heat. Said it could "withstand a blowtorch on it now".

cwg - which Rocky Mtn Cummins branch did you go to?

The dipstick burn through fix is a Spartan "as needed" fix. Only those of us running the turbo at 100% for very long Rocky Mountain climbs have seen the problem. The fix is a new dipstick tube inside a larger tube of insulating heat shield material. The harder a turbo runs the hotter it gets and they start out running hotter than hades!

We were at the Denver facility ( actually the surburb of Henderson ).

Jeff, I don't agree with the fact that "only 100% turbo" runners have had a problem. Since this has happened to me, I have been contacted by others including one friend who had a 2005 Dutchstar where the first drive away from the dealership resulted in oil being thrown out all over the engine and toad from the burned through dipstick tube. His dealer told him on the phone what the problem was and was waiting with the repair when he limped back to the place of purchase. Seems to me that Spartan has been put on notice for a long time about this and should have repositioned the tube a long time ago.

We had a similar problem with our previous coach, an 05 KS. Our towed car was being "splashed" with oil. The Cummins Philadelphia service facility could not find an oil leak. Went to Spartan in Charlotte for a U-Joint problem. While there they found the dipstick tube had melted allowing oil blow thru. Spartan said that they had mounted the tube too close to hot engine parts.