My thought that our engine noise might be fan belt related, wasn't even close to the actual problem. Yesterday morning, Ray, one of the techs here at Redding Cummins, came out to diagnose the problem. After I explained what the noise sounded like, he immediately crawled under the engine with a flashlight, and said "here's your problem", and it wasn't related to the belts, as I original had thought. The problem was several exhaust leaks where the exhaust manifold connects to the engine block. The first photo, with the manifold still on the engine, doesn't show the leaks very well. However, the second photo, with the manifold removed, shows the black marks on the engine block.
The good news is that the problem was quickly found. The bad news is that when the exhaust manifold (2 pieces) was removed, it was found to be badly warped. This was a problem that slowly developed over time, and when we were coming down a long grade west of Redding, frequently using the exhaust brake, it quickly got much worse. Steve, the service manager here at Cummins informed me that a check of the area showed that no one had an exhaust manifold in stock, and it would have to be ordered from the Bay Area. The other good news is that it should be here this morning, and we have been plugged into a 50 amp service since our arrival.
The photo above shows the top of the engine as viewed through the two hatches in the bedroom. It took Ray about an hour to remove the faulty manifold, and in the process, discovered a turbo coolant line that was about to rupture, so it was replaced. When the part arrives (fingers crossed), this morning, it shouldn't take but a couple of hours to get everything back together, and with any luck, we'll be out of here today. Steve and Ray have been super to deal with, and the best news is that all of this is covered under our Cummins 5 year, 100,000 mile warranty.
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