At 8 am sharp this morning, the Freightliner technician was at the Journey's door, I was waiting for him.
I showed him the dashboard issue and he assured me that he'd take care of it. He drove the Journey out of the camping area where I spent a nice quiet night and into the shop. I had my laptop, Kindle and a couple of magazines in my briefcase, so I schlepped over to the lounge and set up for what I hoped was not going to be a long wait, but was ready in case it was.
In about 20 minutes, the service advisor came out to tell me the dashboard LCU (Light Control Unit) was defective. The tech had first opened the dashboard to ensure all the wire connections to the dash were tight, upon finding that they were, he plugged in the shop's test LCU and everything worked normally.
The fact that the shop keeps a test LCU on hand told me that they've seen this problem before. It was another rare moment of brilliance on my part to bring the Journey to Gaffney instead of the Freightliner Truck Service Center in Pensacola. Gaffney works only on motorhomes. They had a new LCU in stock and had it installed in about an hour. That was the Good. :c)
Enter the Bad. My extended warranty company agreed to cover the cost of the part ($595) and the hour of labor to install it. But I had to pay for the repair up front and the warranty company will reimburse me for the repair. Supposedly I should have the check in about a week. We'll see. With this repair, I've reached the break even point on the cost of my extended warranty and still have another two and a half years left on the policy.
Now for the other Good. I had the M2 service done on the Journey, which includes an oil and filter change, new fuel filters (2), a grease job on the chassis, a check of the cooling system, exhaust and intake systems, ride height and an inspection of the entire chassis. The Journey passed with flying colors. The best part was I was out of the shop by 3 pm and on my way back to the Woodsmoke Campground in Irmo, SC where we'll be staying for the next two weeks.
One more little good, because I'm a member of the Freightliner Chassis Owners Club, I got $54 knocked off my bill. Not a huge amount, but it'll buy two nights at the campground, plus a Diet Coke. :c)
Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.
Nice to hear you got the Journey fixed and that it was covered by the warranty. Enjoy your visit with the family.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear that the "ouch" factor for this mishap is temporary.
ReplyDeleteYou might even have enough left over to buy a BEE GEES CD - OMG the BEE GEES?????
ReplyDeleteYou done real good there! Sounds like everything is ship shape and ready to roll.
ReplyDeleteHope you got some advice on how to shut off the whistle in case anything that sets it off ever happens again.
That's better than good news. That's great news! Everything is running perfectly now and sounds like no out of pocket money for you ... well, after a week there won't be. I guess crossing my fingers and toes helped.
ReplyDeleteHope you get the check as promised! Contrary to many people's beliefs, I am sure glad I've had an extended warranty policy. I've paid for it three times over.
ReplyDeleteCheers on the diet coke!!!
ReplyDeleteGood deal - glad your all fixed up.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it nice when there are little (good) surprises! Glad all is fixed.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear it worked out so well for you.
ReplyDeleteA couple of questions...
I assume the shop you went to works on other chassis besides Freightliner? I want to add them to my list of good shops...just in case.
Also, I'm curious on which extended warranty company you have? We haven't had to use ours yet and we've paid a lot of money for it, so we sure hope it will be there for us.
Glad everything went well and the out-of-pocket expense will soon be back in your pocket.
ReplyDeleteEverything was so good that even the bad seemed fine! Have a great time in SC you two!
ReplyDeleteNothing better than a free coke:)
ReplyDeleteExtended warrenties are sure nice when the need arises!! Glad it all worked out.
ReplyDelete