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Foretravel, Spartan Chassis, DEF head failures

June 17, 2021, 01:29:50 pm

Somewhere in 2018 Foretravel stopped making their own chassis and started using Spartan for the chassis. 

In reading other forums, there are a good number of DEF head failures that have been requiring new DEF heads.  When a DEF head fails it throws error codes.  The engine will go into derate but no one (Spartan or Cummings) knows how far you can go before the engine goes into derate. Some have made it 500+ miles and some only made it 150 or fewer miles before they had to be towed.  For a while Spartan was telling people they were saving their supply of DEF heads for people broken down on the  road.  Now they are saying that they do not have any replacements and you need to park your coach until end of August or September. 

Are any Foretravel's having this problem? 

I can not see how this will not hurt sales and construction of new Foretravels if Spartan can not supply chassis' since they do not have any DEF heads.

I know everyone that has a pre DEF engine are  breathing a sigh of relief.

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Re: Foretravel, Spartan Chassis, DEF head failures

Reply #1 – June 17, 2021, 05:13:32 pm

I swear as much as I like the fit and finish on the late model coaches I believe I go down the road with more confidence in a older pre def coach even with its 20 plus year old parts. Still I see the draw to a new Realm or IH 45. I hope they get that resolved so the owners can get the service from their coach that one should be able to expect from such an expensive rig.Engineers have the answer for cleaner emissions it looks like they could make it function so one could leave home without having to worry about a likely failure. They have the idea but if they want to impress me then make it reliable.

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Re: Foretravel, Spartan Chassis, DEF head failures

Reply #2 – June 18, 2021, 09:00:38 am

Read this on IRV2 today

DEF head derate emergency/temporary travel procedure

With both Spartan and FL chassis experiencing derating and stop engine problems becoming either a tow or brake down this is what the trucking industry has come with. To assist diesel engine owners with an option when their coach gets a check engine light along with DEF codes there is a option that owners can do to allow them to either to continue driving or avoid a tow. This is option that I know some owners would like to know about and use. This procedure has been posted on irv2 Entegra forum and today I went under our 2018 London Aire on a Spartan K-3 chassis with the Cummins 605 to check the location of the speedometer disconnect, which is on all Cummins engines and shot two photos to show where this connection is located. It is located on the transmission on the DS (right) side. By disconnecting this speedometer sensor this will allow you to operate your coach to drive to location to repair DEF head or until the time the DEF heads are available with out being derated or shut down. With the speedometer sensor disconnected your coach will not have a speedometer. Some owners will not be interested in this emergency/temporary procedure, but I would, if the DEF head problem caused me to be broken down along the highway.
Newmar Man

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Re: Foretravel, Spartan Chassis, DEF head failures

Reply #3 – June 18, 2021, 10:35:58 am

Lt
I saw that write-up two days ago and hesitated to share it here. The "truckers" using it are driving manual transmissions and questions still arise about Automatic. Another concern seems to be just when to implement disconnect, since one de-rate has started, it is of no use. Still another would be possibly having to manual shift or the transmission gets locked into one gear only. These are discussions still on-going and until the manufacture can come out and state what is the real deal, I decided to let the information ferment a bit before sharing.

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Re: Foretravel, Spartan Chassis, DEF head failures

Reply #4 – June 18, 2021, 01:41:38 pm

Turns out disconnecting the speed sensor does not work for automatics.  When the person who was told to park his coach where it sat until September tried disconnecting the sensor on front side of transmission and speedo  keep working.  He then tried the back one and all hell broke out. Speedometer did stop  working but got a lot of error message. Transmission would not shift out of first gear and he had to disconnect power in order to get the engine to stop running.

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Re: Foretravel, Spartan Chassis, DEF head failures

Reply #5 – June 18, 2021, 01:48:52 pm

In reading about the problem, shops are able to do a fix, modifying the ECU and other turbo fixes. This is not legal.

Prolonged idling is also seen as a potential cause of the sensor and DEF head problems.

Pierce

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Re: Foretravel, Spartan Chassis, DEF head failures

Reply #6 – June 18, 2021, 03:56:19 pm

I've seen dozens of times where these issues are resolved and the ceramic mufflers and liquid def applications are deleted on class 8 trucks. Wouldn't take deleted eq into California because to much risk being inspected in a truck. Myself I wouldn't tolerate it since there is away around it but you sure wouldn't want to mention you did it on the internet or any where else for that matter. I know first hand that a dealership won't work on a truck that has been deleted because of legal issues. Same would apply to a coach but there are places to get motor work done besides a dealership. It's a pick your poison situation.

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