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Spied in Cascade Locks OR
           

Just want to share my recent experience with tank level sensors.   My vintage uses penetrations through the plastic tank walls at the 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and full points.  There is also a common penetration at the 1/4 level.  That makes for a total of 5 sensors per tank, and 10 sensors per coach.

The common sensor for my potable tank started leaking on my most recent trip. I was also experiencing poor operation of the sensors on both tanks.  That was new as the potable tank usually gave a good and reliable reading.

The common sensor for potable is in a difficult location directly behind the Mach5 water pump with very little room to even see in there.  It took my flexible camera and display to even find where the leak was coming from.  As I felt around with my hand back there, oh no, the sensor just fell out and a stream of water flooded the bay.   I opened the tank drain and let the rest directly to the ground until it reached the 1/4 level and stopped.  Since I was at the factory at the time I inquired about replacement sensors.  My service advisor thought they were in stock and my visit to parts did not go well.  With Creslie in tow the next time, we determined that Newell no longer stocks these sensors.  I taped over my hole and went home.

I decided to try removing the high level sensor figuring if I screwed it up it would not matter much since it was at the top of the tank.
Eventually I removed 9 of them.  Some can be pulled out with vise grips, other don't want to come out at all.  For those I ran a nylon web strap through the jaws of the vise grips, wrapped the web around my waist, looked around to be sure no one was watching in case I fell on my butt, and pulled for all I was worth.  That got them out!

In this post I will show pictures of the corroded sensor as well as the others.  They are all in some state of deterioration including being pretty well covered in mineral deposits.  

The thickness of the tank wall and the diameter of the hole do not fall in the range of sizes that grommets are available for.  Or at least that is what I decided after much searching.  In the end I made my own sensors that seem to be working very well. Now tank levels in both tanks work perfectly.  A few tips if you plan to make yours too.  I used #6 hardware as #8 ( what was there ) was just a bit too big since I had to put a nut on the inside of the tank.  My rubber plug just matches exactly the hole diameter.  I had to drill a hole down its center to accept the 2" #6 SS screw.  That is a bit tricky as the rubber wants to expand and the hole you get is smaller than you expected.  But soon I learned what size bit to use and was turning out my ten new sensors.

I used LocTite on the nut and when dry pushed in the sensor, centering the plug and have about 1/8" beyond flush and each side.  A few turns of the outside nut and it expands the plug and it is leak tight.

I removed the water pump and water filters to make access easier, but was never able to get access to the high level sensor in the waste tank.

Some picture attached.   Russ

[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961)]     Driving on I90 West from Spearfish, SD to Billings, MT. Towing 2006 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. Within 10 minutes of starting out the coach began to climb in temperature above the 190 red mark to almost 210 (see attached). The engine oil did also heat up over the red mark for a few minutes then settled down.  I don't know who marked this gauge this way. Now the grades were not steep but were gentle hills. We hit a couple 6 percent but that was later in the day.  We were averaging about a 62 MPH and running about 1,600 RPM.  I got worried the heat would damage the engine so we pulled over and disconnected the Jeep. Drove another 60 miles and the engine cooled down to about 185 on the gauge. I also had installed a digi panel gauge to more closely monitor temps. The digi is consistently 15 degrees cooler than the gauge. It also measures transmission temp. The regular gauge showed that at 210 - 220 while digi said a steady 175.[/color]



[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961)]So first question is can these old gauges go bad? Trying to decide which one I should trust more. [/color]



[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961)]Next question is what temp should I try not to exceed on the engine or is there a point where you say if you exceed this temp for X time stop and let the engine cool. When I stopped the engine it cooled right down and went over 190 on the old gauge again just a couple of times on big hills after we unhitched the jeep and drove it. I kicked the speed up as well to 65 with 1,800 RPM. Grade of road was the same and maybe even hillier. I will hook the Jeep up again tomorrow and try again. I don't think I missed anything in that. We have towed it before as well as a car trailer with no issues. The temp may spike on a hill but settles down again. Oh and I am topped off on radiator fluid so that's not an issue. [/color]



[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961)]Lastly on dead flat roads at 65mph with not much wind the turbo never went below 5-7 PSI. going over simple bridge overpasses it would go to 15 psi. I have never watched this before. I think I have power but wonder if I should change fuel filters just the same. If she is beginning to clog in the filters will that make the turbo run more and thus get hot?[/color]

    After searching for more than a year I finally got a truck. Now I'm deciding if I should see if I can flat tow it.. Here it is.

Curious - any Gurus going to be @ OshKosh WI this week?

I have never set camped so managing my batteries when not plugged in is new to me. I am at my parents place in the hills. If I have nothing else on except my outside Dometic fridge/freezer on the freezer mode will it draw my batteries down too far overnight?  I realize there are probably a couple other small draws here and there like the clocks that don't turn off but there are no lights or anything running. 

Guys last year my cruise went out suddenly. However, I could hold the set switch and at times it would surge like it was engaging. Not always just occasionally. Later my mechanic checked everything and found a wire loose. He soldered it and it worked. So when it surged I think it was making a momentary connection. 

Fast forward to today and I just had it go out again. Same thing as it surges once is a while. So where do I find said brake air switch to see if it broke loose by chance?  My mechanic was gone but the service manager read these notes to me. I am stoppping for the evening in a couple hours and would like to find this rascal and hope that is the issue. We just started this trip and driving all the way to Yellowstone without cruise will royally suck. 

Oh the service manager said it may be under the dash somewhere but he did not know.

Guru's

When I park my coach for a few days the passenger side is noticeably lower than the driver side if I don't have it plugged in and the compressor running. It seems to be on the front and rear on that side. I am camping all next week and so will have some time and access to snoop for leaks. Wondering if with this description you would have any suggestions for why and entire side would lose air like this. I am not an expert in air systems but are the front and rear systems using separate supply tanks as well as their own 6 pack of control valves?

I will snoop all of the fittings that I can access, but looking for ideas of why one side would do this that might point me to the source quicker. 

Thanks. 

hi all,

on my last trip, my prosine inverter would overheat and shutdown.  only after drawing the batteries down and then charging them at a high rate.  

the fans on the unit are not hardly running and if i put a small box fan in front of it it cools down and works fine.  

i have yet to troubleshoot it by taking it apart, but i know there are 3 small 80mmx80mmx25mm 12v 3000 rpm 40cfm computer fans in there.  

easily gotten for 5-10 bucks each.  

has anyone had a similar problem?

thanks

tom

I am at the Mountain View RV park in Creede and the temp. this morning was 32 degrees.  Took the jeep over the Engineer Pass out of Lake City and back to Lake City on the Cinnamon Pass Tues.  7 hours and enjoyed every minute of it. Could hardly tell what color the jeep was when got back to the park.  Life is good.