Closure – September 6th

We are wondering how to explain where we are at with our brake rotor issue. It has turned out to be shocking? confusing? a miracle?

We are going to go with a miracle………

To recap: on July 17th we went down Salmo Hill in BC with a 13% grade and had a significant incident with our brakes. Over the course of the following days we got the brakes checked and were told all 4 brake rotors were warped, with the front having significant overheating. We saw the pictures of the brake rotors (called disks in Canada, rotors in the U.S.) they were the colour blue, which is a clear sign of overheating. After Barb made NUMEROUS and we mean NUMEROUS calls to Ford Canada/Ford Roadside Assistance/Ford US, we had case #s logged and the Ford dealer in Trail ordered replacement parts under warranty on the recommendation of the mechanic.

We sat in Trail from July 18-Aug 24 waiting for said parts. No one could tell us when they were going to get shipped from the manufacturer in the U.S, so no date on when they would arrive in Trail. After discussing this with Ford Canada/Ford Trail/Mechanic and between the two of us (and the fact Barb’s daughter was getting married mid Sept.) we decided to make our way back to Ontario carefully to start the process all over again in Hamilton at the Ford dealership there.

We made it back without incident. We learned how to effectively use manual shifting on large and small hills, slowing down for traffic/red lights etc. We are much better drivers today than we were on June 27th when we first started our journey and frankly had probably overloaded the RV with too much stuff like heavy food and alcohol bottles from Lori’s home in Calgary. Not to mention the full water tank weighing 700lbs. Wish someone had taught us about that before we hit the road. So we were very proud of ourselves for having the courage to even attempt the drive back as well as having zero issues on the way home.

Sept 6th: We arrived at Ford in Hamilton. Dropped off the RV and headed back to Barb’s. We received a call from the service dept. on the 7th stating they couldn’t find anything wrong with the motorhome. We said “that’s impossible”. We were stunned and drove to the Hamilton dealership to speak to the mechanic ourselves. When we arrived we spoke the most senior mechanic there. Another mechanic had checked the brake rotors and told him there was no evidence of warping at all. You can imagine how we wanted to believe this, but couldn’t quite believe what we were hearing. We asked if this senior mechanic could take a look himself, to make us comfortable with what we were now hearing. We informed him of the blue coloring (we had called Trail that day to confirm what they had seen and taken pictures of) and that he should be able to see this when he took everything apart again. He headed back to the bay to take a look himself.

Later that day he called us, confirming that there was nothing wrong. There was no evidence of anything that had gone wrong. We drove back to Hamilton, talked to him again. We asked if the blue could have been worn off driving home from BC. Answer was no, that wouldn’t have happened. All parts look like new. We are still shaking our heads.

So off we went with our motorhome. Parked it at the Milton Campground where Lori, Winston and Safiya are living while Barb get’s to be involved in all pre-wedding events for her daughter Michelle and spends quality time with her family.

To conclude: We continue to believe all parties involved. Trail individuals who didn’t need our business, bent over backwards to try and help us and eventually told us to leave for home driving carefully. In fact the Ford dealer in Trail was taking a huge risk ordering the parts under warranty, as he is on the dime for the parts as he is required to send the old parts back to Ford to prove this was a warranty issue. If Ford disagrees with the dealership, the dealership pays, not the warranty at Ford HQ, which would be a significant cost to the Ford dealer in Trail. The mechanic in Trail took photos of our rotors which had turned blue. We saw the photos ourselves. We also believe the senior mechanic in Hamilton. He also took pictures, no blue/no evidence of overheating/warping. He had taken the Motorhome out on the road doing his best to overheat the brakes, and couldn’t. We can attest to this fact as the cupboards were a mess, all clothes off their hangers in the closets.

So a miracle is what we are chalking this up to. We will be stationary for about a month or so and then head down into the US for the winter.