217 tow miles via US 301, I-10, I-295 (around Jacksonville), I-95 and I-16. 219 truck miles. Cumulative tow miles: 452. Cumulative truck miles: 528.
Two hops with no truck problems! That has to be some kind of freaking record. At least it seems that way.
I was actually more concerned about the state of the truck on this hop than the first one. That is because my truck emailed me a problem report last night. That’s right – no sign of a problem while operating the vehicle but a problem report shows up in my inbox:
Your 2005 GMC Sierra 3500 has triggered a Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) with the following details:
| Code | P0727 |
| Description | The Engine Speed Sensor tells the Transmission Control Module (TCM) how fast the engine is spinning so the correct gear can be engaged. When the TCM receives an inaccurate signal from this sensor, it can’t properly shift the vehicle from gear to gear as the vehicle needs to change speed and rates of acceleration. Most vehicles use the crankshaft position sensor for this information. The engine control module (PCM) or TCM will set code P0727. |
This alert was detected at 05:54 PM on 05/22/2020. We arrived at the campground at 5:58pm, so this happened just as we were approaching the driveway.
I researched the problem a bit and what I learned was (1) it would cost somewhere between $200 and $1000 to fix and (2) if it was a real problem then the truck was probably undrivable.
But was it a real problem? The arguments against that were (1) nothing was reported to me in the cab as I was driving (serious problems are reported on the dashboard and the “check engine” light usually appears) and (2) I drove the truck to get dinner and a full tank of fuel before I read the email and had absolutely no problem.
So… maybe nothing. But as it is Memorial Day weekend and there is ZERO chance that I could get a problem fixed before Monday, it caused some loss of sleep. Getting out this morning was white knuckle time.
But the truck ran like a champ. Very smooth. I started to relax after about 100 miles.
Our home for the evening was the Royal Palms RV Park. It is a small (maybe 30 sites) RV park with a mix of long-term residents and transients. It was pretty low-class, but perfectly fine for one night. The worst thing about it was that it was on the wrong side of US 301 – we had to do a U-turn on a fairly busy highway to get there (maybe that caused the PCM to skip a heartbeat? It caused my heart to skip a few) and another this morning to get out. Our “pull-thru” was large enough but the turnaround to get out was so tight that I decided it was easier to back up into a wooded lawn. Pain in the neck. I probably will avoid this park in the future.
So we are in Savannah for 2 nights. I hope I can get Jett out to dinner or, failing that, get some good take-out for her. Fried green tomatoes!