Maiden Voyage Complete!!!

[Pete Masterson]

On Jun 16, 2008, at 8:22 PM, coreyg67 wrote:

Still no luck on the levelers.  I pulled the panel from the front of the coach, replaced both 

fuse #24 and #69 just to see, no luck.  Checked all the sensors on the bay doors, best I 

can tell, all are functioning.  I did find two that the ground had broken, but after fixing 

ground, no luck still.  

Pulled HWH panel from wall, and checked to see if wire was disconnected, all seems 

proper.  So now I'm starting to worry.  It is rather uncomfortable walking in and sleeping 

in a coach that is on an incline or angle, so I really need to figure this out.

I will begin to list some of the other problems. 

1. no key for safe,

Ace key is used (the round ones) -- probably need a locksmith to get in to that one. Try the plastic barrel of a pen -- that was famously used to pick similar locks on bicycle locks.

2. door lock button for front door will not lock door, although I can hear it trying.

Probably the door isn't correctly aligned with the latch. The solenoid is not very strong and isn't able to overcome even the least amount of friction. It's possible that something is loose inside the door. You'll have to take off the inside panel to work on that. Be sure the door is tightly closed when you try.

3. Compartment lock will not lock front curbside compartment, although I can hear it 

trying to.  This isnt good, I don't have a key for the bays

See a locksmith about making up a set of keys for the bays. The key to the electric hookup cord is the same as the bays on my coach. 

I had one sticky latch on my coach. You can take off the inside cover on the bay door (bunch of screws around the perimeter) -- then clean and lubricate the latch mechanism. It ought to work, then (if you can hear it clicking when you hit the lock button). If there's no sound, then there might be a loose wire.

The keyless entry pad will lock the front door (if it was working) and the compartments by hitting the two right-most buttons (5/6 and 7/8) at the same time. Enter your 5 digit code then immediately press "6" and that should unlock the bay doors (that work). 

4. fridge is not cooling, but freezer works great

?? What kind of fridge? I have a home-style Amana. I was told by the previous owner that it was once recharged with "freon".

5. Engine break works great most of the time, but then other times it wont engage.  It 

will still shift transmission for breaking, but no Jake brake

Possibly a wiring problem -- I have some weirdness with my Jake brake. I also suspect that the on-off switch is malfunctioning. During a recent service visit at CCW, they put the computer on the system and got a report of a "problem" on the DD side of the DDEC unit. My Jake brake was apparently rewired to avoid the fault in the DDEC (instead of low-med-high, I only have low and high settings). The "solution" is a new DDEC board -- very expensive.

6. standard items such as light bulbs, needs servicing all the way around, rope light has 

several burned out bulbs, needs replacing

Me too. Some of the "burned out" light bulbs actually were ok, but the ground or something was not good. Just fiddling with the light and fixture brought a couple back to life. The rope lights are probably hopeless. The entire rope would have to be replaced. I mostly only use the one around the base of the bed (at night) and once the novelty wore off, I've rarely turned on the others.

7. The fresh water drain in the bay with the pumps has a broken valve, so I cant get good 

pressure from the fresh water system.  I did get it to pressurize, by rigging the valve 

shut, and it appears everything is in good working order.

You don't really need that valve anyway. The main fresh water dump valve is in the sewer dump side -- a white pipe with manual slide valve behind the tall door.

My pumps were leaking so I replaced them with a single variable speed pump and I simplified the plumbing, eliminating the expansion tank. I re-plumbed the drain valve and installed a brass valve.

I got "flair-it" compression fittings from pexconnection.com to transfer from the (gray) polybutylene plumbing to (new) Pex tubing and a "Flair-it" (note the spelling) pex to mpt (pipe thread) fitting -- then I used "normal" hardware store plumbing parts to re-plumb the drain valve.

8. I have no idea how to use the aquahot, and I am a little afraid to mess something up.

Do you have any hot water? If you do, the aquahot is already working. To use it:

turn on aqua hot switch (labeled hydronic heating) on the dash. That allows the diesel burner to operate. It has no effect on the 2000 watt electric element that works when you're plugged into shore power.

Turn on the three AC switches on the dash. (This is non-intuitive: turn on AC for heat.)

Set the Dometic thermostats (the rectangular, gray ones) to a higher temperature than ambient. Heat should shortly start coming out of various places. Under the galley and probably under the sofa. There are little radiators all around. On an older coach, some of the fans may not be working. There are also A-H radiators in the basement and a special low-temperature thermostat (minimum setting 40 degrees) on the forward bulkhead inside the first curbside bay. Use in freezing temperature situations to keep the bays from freezing and keep the plumbing (in the basement) from freezing.

There are two "regular" thermostats in the bath. One controls an electric toe kick space heater the other controls the aquahot (hydronic) heat. 

The heat in the bedroom comes out from behind the bed in the side-island arrangement. (controlled by the bedroom thermostat). The various hydronic heaters will have a little or a lot of fan noise, depending.

You can check the A-H unit, when the heat is turned on, you should hear the burner start up. There is an exhaust pipe just below the A-H that will get quite warm when the burner is running.

The A-H also has a 2000 watt electric element that gives heat for domestic hot water when the coach is plugged in to shore power or on the generator. The burner (burns diesel) will fire up if there's no electricity. The A-H is a continuous flow water heater, so you never run out of hot water (if everything is set properly).

The hot water in the A-H is about 16 gallons, the electric element can't keep up with (say) a shower, so you'll run out of hot at 16 gallons. You can take an endless shower if you have the burner running.

When you're on the road,  the A-H gets heat from the engine cooling system to provide hot water and hydronic heating.

You should probably contact A-H (they're in the Denver area as I recall) and get a referral to a local A-H service technician. The A-H should have the burner orifice replaced annually and some other burner compartment cleaning, etc. An A-H technician can explain more about the care and operation of the unit.

Be absolutely sure that the coolant (see the overflow container) on the bulkhead behind and to one side of the A-H system) is properly filled. Running the burner without coolant will risk serious (expensive) internal damage to the burner section. In the two years I've had my coach, the A-H has rarely required any additional coolant. Use the same stuff you use for the DD series 60. (Note that there are specific coolant requirements for the Series 60 -- do not use regular automotive coolant.)

The burner uses about 1/4 to 1/2 gallon of diesel per hour (if I recall correctly). But it doesn't run all the time so it's not a big drain on your fuel.

I guess I need to find someone in the DFW area whom is familiar with Bluebirds, 

preferably a 96', and pay them to walk through the entire coach with me and help with 

all my little questions.

Go to a Lone Star Birds rally -- there are usually several folks who can help you.

Pete Masterson

'95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42

El Sobrante CA

"aeonix1@mac.com"