I came back from our local astronomy club's star party about ten days ago; the engine A/C compressor didn't seem to work defrosting the winshield, and the temp wasn't holding in the coach. A couple of days later, I investigated, and found the mice had chewed the wires to the A/C clutch. I soldered them back together, put new wrap on the wires, and all was well.

Then last Saturday, our astronomy club had a Messier Marathon session; it got down to 25F at sunrise, when I was ready to leave, so I thought, I'll flash up the genset and run the block heater while I pack up. The genny wouldn't start.

There was frost and condensation on the inside of the windshield, so I ran the defroster....took forever.

Once home, I went to check the A/C charge level. Nada - suction and discharge pressures were the same. The compressor clutch wouldn't engage. Investigation disclosed the connector to the clutch had one of the connectors retreat into the plug, and so didn't make contact, so I reinserted it into the plug. Plenty cold air now.

Now the genset. Points checked out OK, ditto the coil. But someone had used steel washers placed between the primary coil wires and the coil terminal base, and they had rusted ...no contact. So I cleaned them up, and the genny fired right up.

My point? None; I just wanted to gripe.

Rusty, you're experiencing life with a 13 year old RV in a humid climate. If you're anywhere near the coast, so much the worse.

Indeed - I have a fondness for vehicular relics - my car is a '94 also, and my truck is a '97. The A/C compressor, while installed on a '94, was new last year (twice, as the first replacement, like the OEM, locked up).

I'm also well aware of the joys of living in humidity. I just wanted to bitch a bit...

Rusty you have "nothing" to gripe about. You fixed your coach like I brush my teeth. Many of the rest of us whould have shelled out $600.00 to get just those problems fixed..

You da' man..

A 94 would be a new rig to me Rusty, my newest is an 87. Then we drop back to a 68, 62 and a 59. If you add up the ages of all of them you get 152 years. Hmmmm, that would make me feel downright young.......if it wasn't for all the aches and pains i have.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
My point? None; I just wanted to gripe.

As a pseudo-psychiatrist, I can assure you Rusty, your actions are both healthy and normal.

Think of this place as a retreat from the daily grind of retirement.

You're amongst friends, go ahead and vent.

As you most assuredly know already, this would have cost someone else most of their paycheck and 2+ days of their time.

I feel better already!

BTW, my truck is an '87, not a '97 - a true brother-in-law special, but that's another story....

More pointless complaining - and maybe some useful observations...I bought a used Honda EV-4010 4KW gaso genset to replace the LPG Kohler Klunker in the Breakaway. Two reasons; 1. The Kohler is absurdly loud (the liquid-cooled Honda without a muffler is 3db quieter than the Kohler inside its compartment with a muffler and resonator), and 2. Fuel consumption; the Kohler burned .85 gph (LPG) at half load; the Honda is spec'ed at .55 gph (gaso), full-load.

Since I frequently boondock, and LPG is upwards of 30 miles away (and in some cases 50 miles), and since much of that boondocking is at star parties where noise is gauche, and since without LPG, everything stops - no stove, no generator, no hot water, no reefer, no furnace - the choice was easy.

What the seller of the used genset failed to mention was: a. The gasoline leak, and b. The lube oil leak. So this like-new genset with only a few hours on it had to come apart. The generator rear bearing was rotating freely, but the races were rusted to the shaft and collar. 5T gear puller, lots of PB Blaster, and a bit of tapping, and it freed up. The generator armature had to come out to get at the engine oil leak. Shop manual says, insert a bolt into the shaft and use a slide hammer to extract. That didn't work, but 2x6T bottle jacks on a strongback did.

The gasoline leak was caused by a bit of crud in the carb float valve seat chamber - Q-tip and some solvent cleared that.

Engine oil leak was the oil pump cover O-ring.

Total parts order was $43. Aggravation? Priceless.

If there's a point to this, other than I wanted to bitchabit about having to refurbish a supposedly primo genset is that:

1. A gaso genset on a diesel, requiring a new fuel tank and other mods, may be very worthwile. If you're not mechanically inclined, it may not be. (I expect the installation and hookup will consume about 8 MH after the old genset is removed - 2 MH.)

2. A used genset WILL require work, regardless of how well it's been kept. If you're not mechanically inclined, a used piece should be avoided.

3. Murphy (of "Murphy's Law") was an optimist.

4. If you need to replace the existing gaso genset on your coach, I can't recommend the Honda EV-4010 (120V 4KW) or EV-6010 (240V 6KW) highly enough. Mine started instantly, and ran perfectly, despite its issues. In addition to the cost of the genset and installation, figure ~$450 for the fuel tank and ~$400 for the sheetmetal enclosure and sound-absorbant material. The muffler is usually additional at $260.

I'll have about $3K in mine when it's finished. A quote from the local RV center, which does good work and isn't overpriced was ~$7,000 installed for an Onan 4KW gaso Quietpac, which has only a 1-cylinder, air-cooled engine. It was nearing $8,000 with tax and new fuel tank.

Rusty demonstrates once more the $ value of familiarity with hammers, wrenches, & various other shop tools. Of course it also helps to have the time to deal with such stuff.

I may have told this story before, but when I was 15, I backed my dad's car into a ditch, reversed a spring shackle, & kinked the spring. A junkyard replacement was, I recall, 2 bucks, shop labor to install, I remember clearly, was 2 hours @ 2 bucks per, total $6 while I was taking home $4.50 per week at 35 cents an hour after school & Saturdays. I decided then and there that any time I had to pay more for someone else's labor than I was earning, I'd learn to do it myself, & I've done so. I draw the line at surgery, but you get the drift.

I'm at a stage in life when my body has lost so much flexibility I can't do much myself. I gnash my teeth, & break into a cold sweat at some of the prices I have to pay to get things done now.