We have had Caterpillar mechanics on our boat in three different locations. Which is great that they can come to us and do the work, but it is inconvenient for us as well. We (well mostly Ben) have to stay at the boat when we would rather be touring, our floor is open so the mechanics can come and go. The opening to our engine room happens to be in our living room/kitchen so that makes it awkward to lay on the couch and watch TV. A bigger issue is they seem to send their lesser experienced mechanics and everyone has "their" idea of what is causing the hard start. Except not one of them was able to figure out the problem. They ended up making things worse because they all touched and removed parts to assess the problem. It was getting to be an extreme annoyance!
While we were in New Bern we had yet another mechanic on the boat. This guy suggested a rack adjustment (which another mechanic adjusted and gave the engine a bit of a knock that was not there before), and needed to go back to the shop to get the kit. At that Ben asked him if he's done these a lot and comfortable with this. His reply was simply NO! These particular engines can be a bit tricky to adjust. If we were only using our boat on the weekends we would have time to dilly dally. BUT we live on our boat and we move almost daily. Ben very kindly says he does not want him doing the work and would like someone who is experienced and has done the adjustment on our particular type of engine. YOU GO BEN! I was totally thinking the same thing!
Next day (we are now one day past our plans) the head mechanic arrives and narrows it down to a possible problem with our governor. The governor restricts the speed of the engine by managing the rate of fuel into the engine.
Problem, the part is in Miami, we are in New Bern, NC and it will cost $200 to ship.
The mechanics leave (since they can't do anything without the part) and within an hour we have a call from Caterpillar. They will pay the shipping if we can stay ANOTHER day.
Our priority is to fix our boat, Ben felt comfortable with these mechanics. By the time the part arrived, it was mid afternoon. Caterpillar finally left the boat at 8:00pm.
Things have been running great! Our Jammin Jane is finally feeling good! The hard start is gone, the rack adjustment is spot on. We are very pleased now that we have all things running great. Our confidence is building and we will continue our travels knowing we are all healthy!
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