500 miles with an engine problem in remote Canada

We traveled more than 500 miles with an engine problem through the most remote part of British Columbia. We loved our Alaska trip, but not everything was perfect. This story is about our engine problem and how we got it repaired.

Not all sunshine and roses

Having an engine problem after 100,000 miles on a vehicle is not unexpected. Over the years engines have become more complicated, a little more efficient, and a little less polluting. Our Cummins diesel engine is more than sixteen years old and has more than 100,000 miles on it. Overall, it is a very easy life for a diesel engine. This means that our engine went less than 7,000 miles a year. Commercial trucks often go ten times further than our RV year after year.

Compared to commercial truck engines, our engine is nearly new and some describe it as almost broken in. In terms of the big parts, our engine is perfect. It was one of the small parts that failed causing our engine problem. Our engine problem was complicated by being in an extremely remote part of British Columbia.

Remote Canada

In our last story, I described that we spent the night sitting on the edge of the road waiting for a fire to go out so we could take the Cassiar Highway south out of Watson Lake through the most remote part of British Columbia. I described the road as crazy remote. I also described it as 550 miles of road, without any towns. Here is a link to the story. The Cassiar Highway is the wildest part of Canada

South of Watson Lake, about one hundred miles give or take, is when the check engine light on the dash turned on giving us the first indication of our engine problem. We were committed to continuing down the Cassiar to the only place that could repair it. At first, the check engine light would turn on when we first turned the key on and then go away. Then, after another hundred miles or so the check engine light would turn on and not go away. Since the light wouldn’t clear, we knew we had a real engine problem and not just an incorrect report of an engine problem.

Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park

As I mentioned in my story about the Cassiar Highway, we cleared the fire zone south of Watson Lake and went right past Boya Lake, only stopping to change drivers (without visiting Boya Lake). Our first night on the Cassiar Highway we spent at Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park. In the United States, this would be similar in some respects to a State Park or maybe a Forest Service Campground. Kinaskan Lake was about two hundred miles south of the wildfire. Somewhere between Boya Lake (just south of the wildfire) and Kinaskan Lake is where we first started getting our check engine warning light indicating our engine problem.

Meziadin Lake Provincial Park

By the time we got to Meziadin Lake the check engine light turned on and wouldn’t go away. We were happy to be there; mostly because at Meziadin, we had friends who we could feel our pain and perhaps help us with the engine problem. The distance between Kinaskan Lake and Meziadin Lake is 130 miles

Prince George

As a preview, Prince George was the next city on our route. There were a couple of small towns. If we were going to get professional help it would be in Prince George. Prince George however was 400 miles away and we didn’t know why we were getting a check engine light. Our only choice was to leave Meziadin Lake earlier than we wanted and drive to Prince George not knowing what the engine problem was or how to fix it.

Diagnosing the engine problem

We didn’t go to Alaska with Devin and Cheryl, but did meet them in Alaska, and they were taking the same route as we were heading south on the Cassiar. It was at Meziadin Lake that Devin diagnosed our engine problem. He used a device called a BlueFire that when plugged into a port under our dash converted the check engine light into a real complaint.

I am going to cover the BlueFire later in this story, but it was Devin who had the knowledge and the tool to tell us that we had an error reported in our Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) Valve. As a side note, I purchased a BlueFire in Washington as soon as we got back to the US. The BlueFire is plugged in under our dash right now and I have been playing with it and could check it any time, even with the engine off.

Exhaust Gas Recirculation Valve

An exhaust gas recirculation valve opens and closes based on the engine computer input to take some of the exhaust gas and put it into the intake of the engine. This allows the engine to send it through the cylinders and burn it again. It is part of your engine pollution control system that helps keep the exhaust a little cleaner.

Each time the engine is started, the engine computer checks the position of this EGR valve and when it is in an unanticipated position this triggers the check engine light. Our problem was that the EGR valve was sticking and not moving when it should have moved and thus it either was recirculating too much of the exhaust gas or not recirculating enough exhaust gas.

Older diesel engines

Recirculating the exhaust gas isn’t required to operate a diesel engine. For years diesel engines never recirculated exhaust gas. Our engine was perhaps in a sweet spot concerning the EGR device. Our engine recirculates but unlike newer diesel engines, our engine still functions fine when the valve isn’t working correctly. On newer engines, the engine computer will limit the power output of the engine so much that it makes the vehicle unable to drive more than a few miles per hour.

So, since we have an older RV we were able to drive the next four hundred miles at full speed. Since we had an engine problem, we cut our stay at Meziadin Lake a little short so we could arrive in Prince George a little early and get the repair done. We also left Meziadin Lake a little early to make sure that most of our friends were behind us and if we were stuck in the middle of the road they could participate in our rescue.

Fixing the engine problem in Prince George

So we got to Prince George earlier than expected and hoped to get our repair early. We left extra time in our route so that if we had a bigger engine problem, requiring a tow truck, we could still make it to our appointment at the shop. When we arrived early, we hoped they could fix our engine problem earlier than our appointment but that didn’t happen.

Having the BlueFire diagnosis enabled me to show up at the shop knowing what was wrong. I even showed them a picture of the BlueFire fault codes. However, even though I knew what was wrong I didn’t know how to fix it. I am usually not afraid of taking things apart but emissions control devices are above my skill level. It is a lot like plumbing except you are making adjustments to airflow, not fluid.

Cleaning the valve didn’t work

Our repair was done by First Truck Center Prince George. Other than not being able to help us early, they were very accommodating. After cleaning, the EGR valve still didn’t work correctly, so the tech put the malfunctioning valve back in the RV so we could return to our campground and spend the night in our RV rather than sitting in his parking lot. Either way would have been fine by me.

When cleaning the valve didn’t work, we had to get a new valve from the First Truck Center in Vancouver sent overnight to Prince George. I was amazed at how fast the tech installed the new valve and put us back on the road heading for Vancouver. If you already know what is wrong and already have access to the engine, it seems like a 20-minute repair.

Bluefire

I mentioned the BlueFire Adapter earlier and have put a picture of Bobegd’s dashboard display near the top of this article. The BlueFire Adapter is a device that translates your engine computer information into usable readable information. It allows normal people, without out advanced scan tools to see what information the engine computer is thinking about. When you get a fault code, it allows non-mechanics to clear the codes. If however, you clear a code without making the repair you can expect the engine computer to complain again about the same issue.

The BlueFire Adapter

The BlueFire Adapter is a small device that plugs into your diagnostic port for your engine computer. It is a little smaller than half a soda can. Ours has nine pins on the connection side. Inside the adapter is a small computer with a Bluetooth transmitter that sends engine data out to a remote monitor such as a cell phone or computer.

Depending on how your RV is wired, the adapter will either activate with the key in the on position or be on any time it is plugged into the data port. It is easy to see when the BlueFire Adapter is on because of the three blue LED lights on the unit indicating that power is applied to the unit.

Normal engine data

We use an Android tablet as the normal monitor for the BlueFire Adapter to create a remote electronic dashboard. The picture near the top of this article is a very nice display created by Bobegd. My display doesn’t look nearly as nice, but someday I will construct something similar. Overall using a tablet computer you can create your own display and change nearly every aspect of the display.

Engine problems

If you have an engine problem the BlueFire Adapter will convert and translate the fault code into English and display it on the faults page.

Buying the BlueFire

After getting a demonstration of our fault codes and discussing the BlueFire with Devin, I did some more research including watching the video below. If you are like me, (a show-me type learner) then videos like this one are very helpful. I am not a BlueFire expert but I do find using the BlueFire Adapter very helpful and adjusting my dashboard may even be a little fun.

I used the link below to purchase my BlueFire directly from BlueFire LLC. If you use the link, I don’t get anything from your purchase. I intentionally do not participate in affiliate programs.

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Links

BlueFire Adapter

First Truck Center, Prince George

Cummings Exhaust Gas Recirculation Valve Description

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