Maiden Voyage Complete!!!

[Pete Masterson]

Pete Masterson

'95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42

El Sobrante CA

"aeonix1@mac.com"

On Jun 23, 2008, at 10:52 AM, coreyg67 wrote:

More questions for you guys!

<snip> (I don't have LP Gas, so I can't advise on that point).

2.  I fixed the leak on the freshwater system, but i don't totally 

understand the operation of the switches in the water/sewage service 

bay.  No matter which way i have the switch flipped for the tank 

fill, it appears that the tank continues to fill, and I cant get any 

pressure from the city side of the system.  So far I have had very 

little luck getting any water to pump through the system at all.  I'm 

sure there is an easy method of setting this up properly, but I'm not 

familiar with this system.

Fill tank: Pump off. Fill switch on. No (or minimal) water pressure in coach plumbing.

City water: Pump off, fill switch off. Should have about 45# pressure in coach plumbing. BB has a built in pressure reducer at the water inlet. Both the fill and internal plumbing are limited to 45 psi.

Tank Water. No input from shore (disconnect hose). Turn pump on. If tank has water, you will have whatever pressure the pump provides.

If it isn't working like this, then there are "problems" that need to be checked.

The fill tank switch activates an infamous Sporlan valve. These sometimes need to be cleaned or have the internal seal replaced. If the Sporlan valve isn't working right, the tank won't fill (when the fill switch is on) or the tank will fill and the city water will never reach the internal plumbing. (i.e. the Sporlan can be "stuck" in either position.)

Running the pump while the fill switch is on will cause it to run constantly as the system won't pressurize and cycle the pump off. I don't think the internal plumbing will have significant pressure in this situation.

Note that some owners, having had trouble with the Sporlan valve (hard water build up is a source of ongoing problems) have taken the Sporlan out of the system and then the 'city water' only fills the tank and all internal water pressure is provided by the pump only.

Look near the pump to ensure that the Sporlan valve (it's brass and silver, if I recall correctly) is located on the bulkhead wall near the pumps.

3.  The front A/C unit is leaking water in the coach, so I'm assuming 

the condensate drain is blocked.  I have found the drain (i think) 

for the middle and rear units, but dont know where the drain for the 

front unit is located?

4.  I'm working on the leveling system, and currently waiting for a 

return call from HWH.  I did find the brain for the system last night 

in the bay and found three blown 15amp fuses.  These were the three 

fuses servicing the battery input, ignition input, and I don't recall 

the last input.  Hopefully if I can locate the cause of the blown 

fuses, we will finally be able to level the coach.  Does anyone have 

any ideas where I should start to trouble shoot the fuse problem?

Thanks again everyone for all the help, this is so much fun to learn 

my way around with your help!!

Corey & Jenni Graham

1996 PT 42'

--- In "WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com", "Stephen Birtles" 

wrote:

Give me a call  1 888 668 4288

 stephen  

dupreeproducts.com

--- In "WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com", "coreyg67" 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@yahoogroups.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@

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