Transmission woes

[cpatinjones]

I know it has been stressful, but having all those little things that have been done will make it a more dependable RV on the road for you (hopefully).

[Anniepoo]

I'm MOBILE!!!!!! All the major issues are fixed, I'm driving.

I'm sorta double posting, cause I keep giving the day to day blow in morning coffee, and then updating this thread, but here's the rundown:

Oh, it's the ongoing saga of the same business.

Here's the whole saga, in brief (LOL - well, it started out brief!)

Annie's transmission's slipping a bit and theengine has an exhaust leak.
Tom replaces exhaust manifold gasket and 'donut'. Still leaking - turns out there's a crack in the exhaust manifold.
Tom brazes up mainfold, but doesn't want to drop the transmission. I find Steve.
Steve drops transmission
Steve and Annie haul transmission to Shucks Transmission shop in Dublin
Schucks rebuilds transmission
Steve reinstalls transmission
Annie drives a bit,
cooler hose comes loose (not entirely Steve's fault - turns out this is due to some work performed before I got the car). Transmission is damaged, needs another rebuild
Annie drives to Dublin
Schucks rebuilds transmission again - at their cost, and Annie agrees to wait a week til they have time in sched to do it. Schucks identifies cooler line problem, partially repairs, but doesn't want to do labor intensive job of fixing properly.
Annie returns with RV to Tech Shop - is hearing a whining noise similar to what she was hearing before rerebuild. Assumes it's transmission, but needs to repair cooler lines before confronting Schucks.
Tom replaces cooler lines. While he's there he starts 'minor' repair of adjusting alternator belt.
Turns out alternator hinge bolt is frozen, Tom takes alternator to his house to drill out.
Tom's work on car interrupted repeatedly by relatives calling him to deal with brother, who'se having 'issues'.
Tom discovers it's impossible to reassemble alternator without removing radiator. He partially removes radiator
and has to leave to attend long-planned concert.
Annie completes removal of radiator
Tom reinstalls alternator. Annie performs some small repairs while everything is accessible.
Tom and Annie reinstall radiator.
Annie and Tom fire up car to test. Tom discovers cause of 'whining noise' is actually low fluid in power steering system. We win one for a change.
Tom discovers that car has gasoline leak from fuel line. Car not safe to drive.
Tom skips a day doing other work.
Tom and his brother come by and they install new fuel line.

Known remaining issues with RV. Starred issues have been known about for a while:
1. Schucks broke a vent while raising on the lift. This needs repaired asap so rain doesn't get in.
2. Somewhere in this saga the heater started being always on.
3. * Windsheild washer hose broken - trivial fix.
4. Transmission is presumably OK now, but I want to put some miles on the RV in the next few weeks to prove that.
5. * Fridge not operational - doesn't stay lit
6. * probably need a set of tires at some point here.
7. The darn exhaust manifold's still leaking a bit.

On the other hand, here's the things that have been repaired during this saga -
Engine got tune up. Plugs, plug wires, distributor cap and rotor replaced, carb adjusted.
Engine valve tick corrected
Valve cover leak repaired
Transmission slip corrected
belt slippage corrected
gasoline leak corrected.
Transmission cooler lines corrected
Crack in exhaust manifold corrected
exhaust donut replaced
horn repaired
power steering problem identified as source of whine
Engine no longer leaks transmission fluid, oil, or gasoline.
Poor fuel milage corrected.
Performance noticably improved.
Vehicle more likely to pass smog.

Aaaaargh! Glad it's more or less over. What a trip! Well, I know my RV much better now. That gives me a lot of confidence.

Annie