Sunday, June 21, 2015

A Few Motorhome Repairs

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida (high 92, low 72)

We have been hanging out, visiting Mom, and working around the coach on things we have been neglecting.

It’s hot every day from morning until evening so we haven’t been inclined to do anything outdoors.  If it’s not storming, we manage to sit outside on the patio in the evenings for a few hours, but usually we need to run a fan due to the heat and humidity. 

The otters have been entertaining us and last week we saw a mother deer with two new born fawns.  They chased each other around for a while, but I didn’t have my camera with me so I didn’t get any pictures. 

This morning the otters were again chasing around on the bank.  I think they were getting ready to mate. 

Otter

The larger one was digging in the dirt and acting kind of strange. 

Otter

Otter

We never did see any mating, and soon they got back into the water and frolicked some more.

Otter

Otter

Some people walked up with their dog and the otters were checking them out. 

Otter

 

We have been working on small repairs on the motorhome.  Small things have a way of adding up, and they never end up being easy, do they?

We have been lucky until recently and never had a string break on a day\night shade.  Our luck ran out and a string broke on our small bedroom shade.  I guess I’ll finally have to learn how to restring these things. 

As I posted earlier, we had another problem with our Thetford Aria toilet.   We thought the foot pedal broke again after just replacing that same mechanism not two months ago.  It’s extremely frustrating.

On top of that our favorite, and only mobile Rv tech moved to North Carolina, so we were forced to find someone else.

With some recommendations from campground neighbors, we chose The Toy Doctor.  It’s a man and his son in law working together. They both seemed to be good and the older man had a lot of experience working on airplanes, boats and RV’s. 

Mobile RV Service Dade City   Zephyrhills  FL   Florida     Toy Doctor

Using a mobile Rv tech, you never know who you’re getting.  Is it someone who just went through 2 weeks of Rv maintenance school and thinks he is a qualified Rv tech. We were happy with their work and will use them again.

They removed the toilet and discovered a new problem.  The cable that operates the flushing mechanism broke.  That was about the only part we didn’t have on hand.  We thought we had  any and all parts we may need, after our last fiasco in the Keys, but apparently there are still a few additional parts that we didn’t have.

Fortunately, they had a replacement cable but it was a tad longer than our old one, but they made it work.  We had them replace the blade mechanism also while they were there, so for all intents and purposes, we have a brand new toilet.  (hopefully)

One problem we discovered last time was that the main mechanism was not installed correctly from the factory.  They corrected that issue, so hopefully we won’t be having this problem again.  The foot pedal seems to be a lot smoother now, so hopefully we’re done with toilet repairs for a long time.

 

On the way home from the Keys last month, we noticed the blower on our dash a/c was only working on high.  We figured it was only a matter of time until high speed quit working, so we decided we’d better try and fix it.  Apparently, this is quite a common problem.

Al removed the blower switch which was located behind the controls on the front dash.  It was a Ford part so he took it to the Ford dealer, who told him it could only be two things.  It was either the fan switch or the resistor. 

We were happy to have found the exact part we needed, and it was relatively inexpensive.  Unfortunately, it turned out not to be the fan that was causing the problem.  We really didn’t expect it to be that easy.  :)

Al was able to locate and remove the resistor which is in the outside front generator compartment near the firewall on the passenger side.  Ford had no comparable part and recommended we go to NAPA.  They had a similar part, except the little connector plugs were a little smaller than the one we had.  He felt they would grab on when we plugged it in and would work.  The part was about $25 and not returnable, but we took a chance and bought it. 

It worked!  Yay……we again have a three speed blower.  In the process of getting this done, we got some feedback from the Monaco owners group and they gave us some places to go find the part, should it ever go out again. 

Merikay and Craig posted an interesting blog about their problems with a dirty radiator and engine overheating.   You can read about it HERE.  If you have never cleaned your radiator, you might want to read their story.  I think we’ll have it done by a professional at Cummins when we get our oil changed.  A lot of people do it themselves with a special Simple Green cleaner, but I think given the importance of this part, we’ll go the professional route.  We’re hoping since our engine has easy rear access it won’t cost as much as theirs!

 

Otter

10 comments:

  1. Maintenance is crucial to keeping an RV on the road. And it sure is nice when you can do some of it yourself. Nice that you found another mobile RV Tech that you trust.

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  2. Sounds like you are getting all ready. Sorry we were not able to stop by on Friday. We checked Disney at the last minute and they had an opening on Friday so we changed our plans. It worked out much better for Catherine's friend and her family.

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  3. I was not finished-
    Those Otters are just adorable. I really wanted to see them.

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  4. Glad you got those issues taken care of so now you can relax and enjoy life around you.
    The otters are funny and cute.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  5. In reference to the radiator cleaning, if you do it as part of your regular maintenance (I do mine yearly) you won't have anything that looks nearly as bad (or costs as much) as the couple with the Alpha.
    It's really not that hard of a job, although you'll need to remove your inside engine cover and go at it from that side. I use Simple Green Extreme (http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Green-13406-Aircraft-Precision/dp/B001VXU7OE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434929583&sr=8-1&keywords=simple+green+extreme), but I understand it is comparable to Simple Green HD.
    You can do it yourself and save a TON of money!

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    Replies
    1. Steve and Karen. We had cleaned as much as we could get to with the HD simple Green, but the dirt build up was in an inaccessible (to us) area. Some Alfa owners who are far more willing to do the difficult stuff do remove belts and fan blades to get into it, but we would rather pay a professional. We also did get steam cleaning done on the last couple of annual services, but it was a used RV and the mechanic said he thought the problem may have started with an oil blow back at some past time. Steam cleaning, nor Simple Green cannot clean that.

      We spent too many years DYS on houses. We can now let the service centers fix things. That's why I set aside a big chunk of change for this kind of thing!

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  6. Glad to hear you may be out of the toilet blues. We are out of the refrigerator blues. Too bad we can't celebrate together. Your otter pictures are just so amazingly wonderful. I think you are lucky lucky lucky to be able to watch them. That picture of the two of them looking at the dog is priceless. I'd love to have it framed. SO CUTE!

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  7. Glad you found the solution for that finicky toilet. I always have in the back of my mind what to do if my toilet "crapped out". ;c)

    I guess I'd make a fast trip to a store to buy a Port-a-Potty until I could make repairs.

    Nice that the mobile RV tech corrected the factory mistake.

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  8. Typically the term "leadfoot" refers to someone who presses down hard on their gas pedal and as a result drives fast. You guys have added a new variation of this term for toilets. :-)

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  9. hope this is the final fix on your toilet!

    KarenInTheWoods and Steveio
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