Apologies to all our loyal readers -- apparently, Blogspot had some problems today and our blog was inaccessible for some time. Other Blogspot blogs were unaffected, and we thought at first only ours had disappeared, but everything seems to be back to normal right now.

Today we had a visit from reader and fellow bus nut Chuck Newman. We chatted about a number of subjects, including our current troubleshooting conundrum. For the record, Chuck was no help at all -- but he did buy lunch, so he's OK in our book. Thanks, Chuck! Seriously, we enjoyed spending a couple hours with him and diverting our attention from the all-consuming engine repairs.

We also met John Bell, an interesting fellow with considerable marine background. He's been here helping Virgil with his boat. John will be a good guy to know if we ever decide to trade Odyssey in on a boat.

Last night, Virgil and his wife Rachel took us to dinner at one of their local favorites, a Mexican place which I think was called "Veracruz." It was quite good, and we enjoyed spending some time with them away from the shop and just being social.

We are still at PEDCO, and tonight marks a full two weeks that we have been here. Today they replaced the injectors, and we did some further troubleshooting relating to turbo boost pressure and fuel delivery. Rather than repeat it all here, since I know many readers are following in both places, I will just point you over to this discussion on the Busnut bulletin board regarding the turbo boost issue. Tomorrow morning, when the engine is back together, we will do some more testing on this. We will also install a larger fuel line. Then, whatever may happen, we will button it all up and head north.

We really need to be in San Jose in the next few days. Also, our holding tanks are full after being here for two full weeks. Lastly, we are already planning to swing back by here on our way east from San Jose. So we are looking at our departure from here as one of going on an 800-mile road test. The engine is mechanically sound, and I am convinced that, even if the power is not up to where it should be, we will not be hurting the engine by running it that far. We'll collect as much performance data as we can, and, if it still seems low on power, we will plan to bring it to Valley Detroit when we return, and run it on the dyno. This will also give us a chance to see if any other ECM gremlins (such as the throttle position problem) resurface.

I have to say that Virgil and his team have been quite determined in chasing the problems down. They have also been very accommodating, and absolutely professional. We are very happy with our experience in this shop, and will not hesitate to return should we need any additional work.

If all goes well tomorrow, my next post will be from a different location...