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Topic ClosedIntermittent "Check Engine" light when towing
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WillThrill View Drop Down
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Joined: 04 Jul 2014
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Posts: 298 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Intermittent "Check Engine" light when towing
    Posted: 11 Aug 2016 at 11:38am
Originally posted by TylerK9

Thanks for all the help! I could tell from the R-Pod owners we've met while traveling that this is a fantastic community of people, and this discussion forum is another great part of it.

Today we ran the fridge on propane while driving 350 miles from Elko, NV, to near Yosemite. We stopped 4 times for gas, lunch, etc. and the light came on twice. Now I'm thinking even charging the R-Pod battery from the truck may be placing an unexpected load on the alternator which is causing this to trigger. Will have my regular mechanic look at it when we get home in a few days.

I have had similar issues while towing.  Our GMC Envoy XL with the L6 engine has towed the 177 well, but we got intermittent and erratic errors codes.  It was usually some sort of timing-related issue but not always.  I've never had a check engine code come up except while towing, so I'm guessing that either the additional load on the engine or something electrical is somehow creating the issue.

Having a code reader is, IMHO, a must for anyone towing.  Ours was $20 I think, but it is a simple one that doesn't have Bluetooth capability or any cool features.  I just used it to cancel the bogus codes as they happened.

Originally posted by TylerK9

Other than that, I *love* the RP-171. Before this trip I was looking at the RP-180 because of the larger bathroom, but we've really only used the onboard toilet in the middle of the night (or when pulled over someplace for lunch) and have primarily availed ourselves of campground showers. So the wet bath combo is a great backup option. My wife thinks she'd like the larger space a slide-out provides, but until we start camping more than 3-4 times a year I think the smaller footprint of the 171 is perfect for us.

I did see in the "Podmods" forum that several folks have removed the sink in the wet bath, and I think that would make the shower much more usable.

We had the 177, which allows the entire kitchen and refrigerator to slide out about 16", until recently, and even though I'm a 6'2" guy, I didn't have a problem at all showering in the Pod.  I just sat down on the commode.  Standing while showering is more challenging in the wet bath I think.

The 177 was perfect for myself, my wife, and our young daughter, but we knew that once our little son comes along that it would just be too tight.  We sold it very quickly, and I'm still getting calls about it.  To be honest, as much as we loved our 177, I really think that we'll have to upgrade to a bigger RV if and when we get another one.  I've heard of families of five sleeping in one, but we don't want to try that, especially since our RV trips are usually several weeks long at least.
"Not all those who wander are lost." Tolkien

2014 Hood River 177
2005 GMC Envoy XL
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techntrek View Drop Down
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Posts: 9059 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Aug 2016 at 10:38pm
I didn't see the OP's posts when they were first made, but I'll insert my own thought now in case the problem is still occurring.  Since it relates to the cylinder head temperature probe (maybe) and it occurs after a stop, I wonder if the engine is being shut down while it is still too hot.  Looking at my oil temp (via an OBDII gauge) compared to the dash engine temp gauge, the oil can still be very hot even though it appears from the dash gauge that the engine is back to normal.  The coolant is, but the oil isn't.  There are some gas stops I won't even shut the engine down because I would have to wait too long (I want the oil to be below 230).
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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