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the central vacuum cleaner on my Newell sends 120V to the micro switch where the hose plugs in. Is there a way to make that a low voltage circuit? I'm thinking of using a relay. I'm wondering if there is a relay available that's also reduces the voltage in the signal wire?

We are the proud new owners of coach 414. Originally ordered by the Blakes "Lot A Burger" Family here in New Mexico.

how do i determine the tongue weight of hitch on my coach #748?

This past Thursday, March 30, 2017, we departed Rancho Jurupa Regional Park in Riverside, CA where we had been for the last six days.  We were going to drive up to the Fontana/Rialto Elks Lodge to pick up my renewal membership card so we could be sure to be able to stay at a few Elks Lodges on our way north along the California Coast, and from there continue up the coast to Ventura, or further.  I have always been paranoid about overheating, and I check my coolant temp gauge often.  Thursday was no different.....as we drove up Cedar Ave. towards the Fontana Lodge I glanced at my gauge and it read a normal 185.....just a few minutes later I glanced down and saw it moving north of 220 fast......that is not normal.  I tapped the glass on the gauge to see if it was stuck, but it continued to rise.  I told Elaine what was happening and quickly looked ahead to see where we could get off the very busy Cedar....the first street available was Santa Ana.  I quickly turned  right, and pulled on to the dirt shoulder and shut her down quickly.....by this time the gauge was approaching 250 and automatic shutdown, but I managed to shut her down myself.

   

As I exited the coach to walk back to the engine bay I was thinking it was one of three things, or a combination thereof......stuck thermostat, ruptured coolant hose, or water pump.....I first opened the rear facing radiator door to check the site glass for the coolant level....usually I can see the red coolant line right in the middle of the site glass.....there was no coolant visible.  I then opened the right rear engine bay door, and saw steam coming out of the over flow hose.  Next I walked around to the left rear engine bay door and opened it......I immediately saw steam blasting out of a 1" stainless steel braided hose at the rear of the engine (not the radiator side), and it seemed apparent that was the problem.....always nice when the cause is immediately apparent, and no further guess work is necessary.

   

By the time I took this picture the steam had ceased coming out of the ruptured hose.....the hole was on the engine side of the hose.....not visible in this picture, but in the next one I have the hose off and you can see the hole.

   

Initially I called Good Sam ERS, but after an hour of waiting, and the fact the engine had cooled down enough where I thought I could remove the offending hose I decided to take care of the problem myself.  First I called a 'hoses and fittings' place just a few miles from our location that I had remembered seeing just off I-215 as we came into town a week before (Hose Specialist, Inc.) to see if they could make up a new hose for me.....I called and was advised if I brought in the bad hose they could fabricate a new one in just a few minutes with the requisite threaded fittings, so I got busy taking off the old hose.  I took about 15 minutes, but I got it out, and then headed over to the hoses and fittings place.  I was back in less than 30 minutes with a new hose, and began to install it....again, it took about 10 minutes to install the new one....

   

Next I needed to replace the coolant I had lost.....I had no idea how much coolant I had lost, but figured it had to be substantial for the engine temp to go so high so fast.  I carry about 4 gallons of coolant with me and began pouring that into the radiator checking after each gallon to see if I could feel the coolant yet.....after four gallons I cannot feel the coolant.  I decide to add water from my fresh water tank, again one gallon at a time......finally after reaching the 10 gallon mark I could see coolant appear in the site glass once again.  So, I started her up, went back to see if there were any leaks.....there were none.  I went back inside to watch the temp gauge.....it came up to operating temp and then leveled out just as it always does under normal circumstances.

To make a longish story shorter......while I was reinstalling the new hose Elaine drove the VW up to the Elks Lodge to get my renewal card, and by the time she returned we were ready to roll again.  We ended up driving 213 miles to Lompoc, CA and the local Elks Lodge there......no change in the coolant level over that distance, and the temps were totally normal all the way.

Whew!  I feel like I dodged a bullet!  I have checked the oil and see no coolant in it so far, but I will continue to be vigilant over the next few hundred miles.

My friends frequently ask me how I learned to fix so many things.  I usually answer, "because I've broken so many things!"

I'm not sure if this fits into the "broken" category since technically it wasn't broke.....but I had to fix it anyway.

If you want the short story, skip to the end.  Otherwise read it and weep.

Last year, before our 3000 mile venture in our '72 classic, I had some engine work done.  The day before our venture my wife asked me to replace the tail lights with a set of LED lights that I had purchased.  The original lights were painfully dim and she was worried that no one could see the brake lights in the daytime.  I obliged and replaced the lights.

Next day, as I'm getting on the highway the darned cruise control won't work.  DANGIT!!!!  I assume that the engine shop broke/cut/fried something and each night on our 3 week venture I would try to save my right leg from further pain by attempting to trouble shoot some part of the cruise only to resign that the circuit board must have fried.  Naturally upon returning home I purchased a brand new Rostra unit from eBay with a 3 year warranty to be installed this winter.

Of course I was busy with other projects this winter and did not get it installed.

Fast forward to the beginning of March and once again I'm pressed for time before we take the coach on our first outing of the year to Kentucky.  I carefully pull out the old unit and vacuum actuator (the control stalk was removed when we replaced the steering column earlier in the year....say, other projects!) and re-engineer the installation of the new unit with an electric throttle control.  I get it all neatly installed the night before our trip, of course I can't test it since my dear bride is loading the coach but what could possibly go wrong, I installed it EXACTLY as the instructions directed and I'm an expert at wiring now that I have at least 500 HOURS! wiring this or that on our classic coach!

Didn't work

My right leg again suffers the rigors of the trip, albeit a short 300 miles each way.

Once I get to Kentucky I start reading the TROUBLESHOOTING section of the owners manual where it clearly states that the unit needs to see a ground through the brake light bulbs and if you have LED's it will not be able to do this.  I'm thinking that would be a nice thing to

include in the INSTALLATION SECTION!  Once I calm down I drop the eBay seller a note and he kindly sends me a relay (free of charge...he must have felt my pain) that will fix everything and get me going down the road.

......which also means that the OLD unit was probably fine and didn't need replaced after all!!!!!!!

So......

If you install some nice bright LED brake lights in your classic coach and suddenly your cruise doesn't work, you're (probably) going to need a brake light bypass relay.

https://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/rvs/6051543687.html

Hi folks

I am helping a friend that has no internet sell her coach.
Just out side Chicago in N.W. Indiana
Her Husband passed. She can not drive it and needs help with the sale.
This is what we know for now.
45 footer
1996 with 195,000 miles  Number 431
No slide outs
very nice condition adult used.
Black in color. $59,000.00   SELL IT FAST NUMBER
More info to come.
I do not know a lot  about this type of motorhome!!

It is at a shop getting check out and cleaned up.

IF you are looking for one please get in touch.

3kls776 at sbcglobal.net

I had long wondered where the air for the step slide and pocket doors came from, now I know. Just in front of the supply tank near the drive axle is a valving setup that allows separation of the air for suspension from the air for all the other non-brake uses. Air going to the suspension is routed through the valve connected to the blue tubing and the air for the other uses is routed through red tubing. The red tubing valve has a tee with the 3/8" red tubing coming out of one side and a 1/4" black tubing coming out of the other side. that tubing heads forward to the rear bulkhead of pass-through compartment where it splits at a tee. One side goes to the valve for the slide, the valve is mounted on the same bulkhead. The other side of the tee goes back rearward to the pocket doors.

BTW, those two systems have separate pressure gauges so when both ball valves are shut off you can tell which system has the leak by watching the pressures drop. At least that's how my coach is set up.

Having figured this out, the only thing left is to figure out which ports on the front distribution block where. Someday, perhaps I'll spend a few hours sorting that out just in case I have a future problem to solve.

By using a dual thermocouple temperature monitor I was able to learn a couple things about the dash heat in my 93 coach.

On a 40 degree outside temperature day the heater produced about a 40 degree rise when the blower was on low and a bout a 50 rise when on high. That was strange since if the heater core was limiting the heat those temperature rises would be reversed. It turns out that my air-rest vents are pulling air in and not pushing air out unless the fan for those is turned on high and then the output is pretty anemic. I'll have to tear into the heater box to find out how that is possible but it explains some of my limited dash heat. When I taped over those outlets, the temperature rose by another 10 degrees.

The other thing I learned is that the solenoid at the coolant boost pump is needed or the heat is always somewhat on. I had removed mine to determine if it was limiting my dash heat, it wasn't though it did allow the "vent" setting air to warm 10 degrees even with the lever on the heater control to be all the way to the cold side.

Long story short, it was a long story, on the second day of my trip to Memphis my supply tank pressure started dropping and kicked the engine air compressor on about every 6-8 minutes, far more frequently than it had been. I isolated the leak to the uses downstream from the ball valve that isolates the front air distribution block. I finally eliminated the leak by cycling the step cover. Since the cover had not moved in the 3 years I've owned the coach that may have allowed some seals to take a leaking set. I will need to cycle all the air driven stuff now and again to keep the seals functional. Just thought I'd pass on a weird experience.