Maiden Voyage Complete!!!

[Curt Sprenger]

Drawer CATCHES...contact Stephen Birtles. If the CATCHES are the ones that a friend made up for us...I sent the inventory to Stephen Birtles for him to market as I did not want to deal with distributing them.

Replacement Bulbs...contact Stephen Birtles.


215 oil temp if fine, actually very good if the oil temp gauge is right on. Coolant temp. should be about 180/185. Radiator cleaning is a good thing to do.

Full Power Boost...about 20 +/- is good. The DDEC engines might be different than my non DDEC. I can get 20 +/-. More important is to watch the boost temp. gauge.

On Thu, Jun 19, 2008 at 5:35 PM, coreyg67 <"corey@cwgraham.com"> wrote:

More questions.



I have several drawers that will not stay in the locked position, so every time we turn

right, the drawers come flying open. Is there any trick to repairing the guides, or are

they a replace only type item?



I am also having a problem locating a list of replacement bulbs for the coach. I have

thumbed through every manual that came with the bus, and cant find any light bulb info.

Is there a list somewhere that contains part numbers for lights? I need just about every

bulb in the coach from headlight to taillight and everything in between. I'm hoping to

get a big shopping list and go buy all the necessary bulbs at once rather than make 6

trips to the automotive supply house.



Im having a locksmith come out tomorrow to rekey everything and get multiple keys to

the coach so that I can have access to everything, then I am going to spend the

afternoon cleaning the radiator as I learned in the Temps thread that is going around. I

noticed temps around 215 for oil, which seemed high to me, so I figure a good cleaning

is in order.



Can anyone tell me what the full power boost level should be? I am only getting 17psi

on full throttle pulls up hills, and I really figured I would be closer to 24-25psi.



Thanks again everyone, sorry Im writing a novel!!



Corey and Jenni Graham

1996 PT 42'

Prosper,TX



--- In "WanderlodgeForum%40yahoogroups.com", Pete Masterson wrote:

>

>

> 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@...

>

--
Curt Sprenger
1987 PT38 8V92 "MacAttack Racing"
Anaheim Hills, CA