Course Topic: Tech Forum (6/97)
Instructor: Bob Livingston,
This last class was an open forum, mostly posing a series of unrelated questions to the Instructor.
Why is it -- When someone gets an RV shower mixed just right, shuts it down momentarily at the shower head -- and when it's turned back on it's either freezing cold or scalding hot? Several answers were offered, but the most plausible explanation seems to be the hot and cold water are often at significantly different distances from the pump; and whichever one is shorter will flow through much faster when the shower head is turned on again.
What about the Banks system for gas engines? Livingston: It does a very good job, and is one of the better systems on the market. It improves performance significantly.
After market ignition systems, in Livingston's opinion, are often based on an older design. In general after market ignition systems aren't needed in new model vehicles. If some component in your ignition system is defective, and you replace the entire ignition system, you'll probably get a good result. But that will likely result from the replacement of some component which was already defective.
Trailer Life is in the process of publishing a new towing guide which will list comprehensive towing specifications and ratings for all tow vehicles for the last five years. It will provide an easy way to compare the towing capabilities of various tow vehicles.
Synthetic oil -- consumer article recently said they found no difference among major oil brands; or between regular oil and synthetic oil. Livingston used to think there was benefit inherent in synthetic oils, but is rethinking his position based on the recent report. [See recommendations from Cummins above]
What's better for towing heavy loads -- automatic or manual transmission? It used to be that automatics had higher ratings; but that's now changing. The concern was that the driver of a manual transmission truck didn't know how to drive it, and they didn't want to invite clutch problems. Dodge rates its stick shift models at least as highly as the automatics.
What about dualies -- when do I need one? While this is fairly easy to calculate using vehicle ratings, the Livingston seat-of-the-pants rule is that 35 footer and above, you'll need it. Or for slide in campers, 9.5 feet is the cut-off.
We had two different opinions this week about modifications to the Dodge Cummins engine. Eric Davis recommended a performance package, and the Cummins engine representative says not to make any modification -- pointing out it will void the warranty. Livingston notes Eric can get a lot of additional performance out of that engine; but also notes that he wouldn't do anything to his own Dodge Cummins that would void the warranty.
Livingston advises putting the temperature sensor for a transmission temperature gauge in the oil pan. Eric Davis, on the other hand, says it should go on "the hot side", because that way you'll get a more accurate picture of what the transmission temperature is. Livingston says while there is a difference of opinion, either would work. The main thing is to understand the allowable range of the temperature for wherever the sensor is placed.
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