We are new and very inexperienced

Hello all

We purchased a "new to us" 99 adventurer in October. This was after searching for 2 years. We looked at so many that were just "too good to be true" There was always something major wrong with them after taking a good look. Then a friend mentioned he had his for sale. He has 3 girls and needed a different floor plan. The wife loved it. Only 28000 miles. reasonable price.

I have been reading as much as I can on this forum since September. Lots of useful information.

Unfortunately winter comes early up here in the Great White North and we did not have a chance to go any where with it. We do have plans to go to see races in Bristol in March. At 2:00 Christmas eve the wife says "lets go somewhere" By 3:15 we had a site booked at Bay Bayou in Tampa and by 4:00 had the MH at home to load up. We left on Boxing Day and were home on New years Day. We had a wonderful time but would have liked it to have been longer.

A few questions, concerns. How do you stay warm? I froze from Ontario to Georgia. Water temp stayed just below half way and vents blew cold air. Changed thermostat yesterday hoping this would help. I am considering a small heater. There is a rear heater under the bed. It's electric and doesn't give off that much heat unless you are sitting on bed.

Bad smell coming from toilet. It was only after getting home that I learned that you need to keep water in the bowl. Too bad that it won't hold water. Seal kit has been ordered. Should be in next week.

We lost shroud from front air conditioner. Went up on roof to find small peices of plastic surrounding mounting bolts. Also ordered.
While in Tampa fridge showed "no ac" and readout at hydro control panel had a "E1" displayed. The 30 amp plug was not clamped on the insulation and its possible the weight of the cable pulled a wire loose. I cut and re-stripped wires and re-attached to lugs on the plug. Seems to have fixed the problem

Furnace fan used to squeal really loud at startup and then get quiet. Now it squeals all the time. It took 2 hours just to get at the furnace today and it seems to be coming from the combustion fan. Didn't have a screw driver long enough to remove motor and blowers. I will have to try another time. Hope the weather stays mild long enough.

Now for the questions. Did we get a lemon? Is this what we can expect all the time, or, is it just a fluke that so many things are going wrong at the same time. I think that maybe with only 28000 miles, it has sat for a long time.  Motorhome was originally from Arizona and has only been in the North for 3 years. I am thinking that the furnace was rarely used.

Thank you

Dale

Totally normal stuff.  Think of it as trying to take your house down the road, and how much stuff would fall apart.  The plastic AC shrouds get a lot of baking and plastic fails, especially after 12 years.  The furnace fans are notorious for being noisy.  But yours may need to be replaced.  As for the engine heater?  Is this a diesel motor or a gas motor??  Diesels do take a long time to heat up and since you have a lot of SQ FT to heat it will take a long time using only the engine heater.  You will find the same problem with cooling in the summer.  The dash AC will no way keep you cool.  Next time you might want to try running the house furnace for a while too to help bring the temps up inside the coach.

It is a gas engine. Next time I will use furnace to help keep warm.

Thanks

You just did a 3000 mile trip without major incident in an RV you just bought, I'd say you did very well.

I assume it's a Ford F53 chassis?

My mom just sold her 1999 35C. Between the front/dash heat and the rear heat under the bed (also uses engine heat) you should be very warm. I probably would have replaced the thermostat too. If that doesn't fix it, I'd make sure the system is full of coolant. Mom's had two leaky heater cores, if you find you're losing coolant, I'd start there. Using some sort of scan tool to read the actual engine coolant temp would help too. The dash gauge has three positions, cold, OK, and HOT. The OK temp range is quite large, like nearly 150 to 250.

A few questions, concerns. How do you stay warm? I froze from Ontario to Georgia. Water temp stayed just below half way and vents blew cold air.

Click to expand...

They don't give off much when it's real cold out but should do better than just cold air. Check your temp control (red green, cold hot, etc.) on your dash heater. It usually controls a cable that hooks to a small gate valve on your water heater line, just like a car/truck. If this is off or turned 1/2 way it will not allow hot water to circulate through the heater core.
Sounds like a pretty good 1st trip to me also.

It is an F 53. No loss of coolant. It has also been suggested that flushing the heater core could help.

Dale

Hi Dale and welcome!

Also agree - all normal experiences.  It will take a few months of ownership to get everything sorted out.

A temperature differential should be done on the supply and return lines. As was stated there is probably a valve/door that bypasses the heater cores either vacuum actuated or mechanically. If the supply and return are the same temperature than the heater cores aren't transferring heat to the coach. If there is no restriction of the flow from a heater core than the fluid will take the easiest, least restrictive, path and thus the heat transfer will be less. Also the core can be plugged or air-bound. Again a temperature difference across a heater core will be instructive. Too much difference indicates too little flow, restricted whither by air or scale or valving, and too little difference indicates the lack of the heat being transferred to the coach, indicating flow might be too fast (I know it is hard to see how too fast will cause poor heat transfer but it can),and that's why a balancing valve/device is needed, but more likely poor air flow across the coil. This is how it works on commercial/residential systems and should apply to RV also. If I'm in error PLEASE enlighten me and explain my error.

Hi,
Sounds like a great trip; welcome to the group.
As for heat/cool; truck cab heaters are just not designed to heat a motor home. We usually have either the AC or furnace (or a 1,500W electric heater) running any time the temp is more than 10-15 deg. F from 70.
Ernie

Thank you all for the help. Just picked up a small ceramic heater. On the way now to take out furnace blowers. Seems like there is always something to fix. Black tank valve is not sealing. Big surprise when I took off the cap. I will pick up a new valve next week.

Thanks again
Dale

Regarding the furnace - if it is a Suburban, many of them have a screw on the front center towards the bottom that says "Remove for service".
If you have that screw and remove it and disconnect the LP the entire works will come out leaving the plenum behind.

44LLM said:

Thank you all for the help. Just picked up a small ceramic heater. On the way now to take out furnace blowers. Seems like there is always something to fix. Black tank valve is not sealing. Big surprise when I took off the cap. I will pick up a new valve next week.

Thanks again
Dale

Click to expand...

Seal kits are available for the black water valve. I am surprised that you have an electric heater under the bed, usually it is a motoraid heater witha blower controlled from the dash.

My mistake. Heater under under bed has coolant lines running to it. I got the furnace out. Having a little trouble getting the blower assy removed. All the parts drawings that I have found show both fan shrouds in 2 pieces. This one has shrouds that are one piece. At least its in the house now and I can take my time to fix it. Furnace is a Suburban SF-42.

Thanks again
Dale

The items you mention all seem to be normal wear and tear. Don't let it get you down. Sounds like your rig could have had a little better TLC and maintenance from previous owner, maybe if everything worked perfectly you wouldn't have bought it at the "resonable price" or maybe not at all. Could be that the previous owner sold it because they didn't want to deal with the "nickel/dime" items. Just work your way through this. It don't sound like anything major and once done you'll have everything the way YOU want it. Don't let it overwhelm you and enjoy every minute you spend with your rig. Even fixing things on your new investment can be fun. ENJOY. 

Hi welcome to rving. We are first timers as well. We just bought a new to us 97 adventurer with 52000 miles. We attempted three times to go on a trip. First attempt starter went out. had to cxl trip. Second attempt  we had a great time but on the way back could smell oil burning.  On the  third attempt we discovered a massive oil leak possible rear main seal. We put the RV back in storage. It seems rv's will demand lots of attention from your pocket book.  Wish we had of known that before. Our mechanic said when you buy an older rv be prepared to sink a lot of money into it.