On replacing an Aqua-Hot Control Box in a 2000 LXI

[luckyron1]

Ordered the part from Roger Berke, got it in 3 days, installed it yesterday and
am back to normal again. But, as we BB owner's have learned to expect, hardly
anything is plug and play in a Bluebird. In order to get at the Aqua-Hot
components you first have to remove the hose from the overflow tank that is
mounted on the cover of the Aqua-Hot unit. Then you take out the 3 screws
retaining the cover on the left side of the Aqua-Hot. Easy, but then you
discover that in order to get the cover out of there and get access to the guts
of the Aqua-Hot itself you have to remove the gas strut & bracket from the
compartment door. Whoops, can't forget that you also have to remove the
compartment door clip from the door jamb and the piece of carpeted metal
shielding some piping on the low/front side of the compartment. Of course you
then clean it up and set it aside and then get on with the control box
replacement. That actually was a snap. After checking the fuses for continuity
and for DC power with the meter, you simply unhook the two plugs from the bottom
of the faulty control unit, then gently slide the unit (in it's clip) to the
left and it comes off of the cylindrical something that it's attached to. Then
you disengage the faulty unit from it's snap spring steel type clip, and note
that this will take some strength and deliberation but the clip didn't break or
bend, (and don't try to slide it out up or down because it won't come out
easily) insert the new one in the reverse, and turn it back on. It works again
but now I have to get something to compress that gas strut so that I can
reattach it to the door post. Someone had suggested one of those ratchet straps
from Lowe's or Home Depot, we'll see.

Now I can get back to the Inverter/Charger project.

2000 LXI in (finally) sunny MN

[Fred Hulse]

Hi Ron

You have given a very good tutorial on the R&R of the Aqua Hot Control box on your LXI, for some units,it is a little simpler,but patience takes over when necessary.

Thanks for your post.

Compressing the strut shouldn't be a difficult task.

Fred Hulse
Morristown Arizona
1997 Wanderlodge WLWB41

[david brady]

On 5/15/2010 10:59 AM, luckyron1 wrote:
> piece of carpeted metal shielding some piping on the low/front side of
> the compartment.
Wow Ron,

That sounds like a lot of work. I've been able to get my
AH cover off by removing the overflow tank, the piece
of carpeted metal shielding some piping on the low/front
side of the compartment, and the face plate for the water
manifold system. That gives me the clearance to rotate and
remove the stainless steel cover. I haven't had to remove
the gas shock or any of it's associated bracketry. In fact
I replaced my entire AH with a Reman'ed unit. Rolled it
in on sections of 1" pvc, and even then I didn't have to
disassemble the door gas spring.

David Brady
'02 LXi, NC

[jkenn48105]

I agree, a lot of work. My 98 LX is dirt simple, just remove the AH cover,
loosen two screws and everything is right there. Now someone did do some
creative fuel hose work that took about 10 hours to untangle but that's a
different story. My AH is readily accessible.