What was your best DIY road side repair?

While driving the MH my lights would flash and the gauges would all spike, then it would go back to normal. Also engine power would cut out when it happened. Just as I was taking an exit ramp off one highway onto another it happened again but this time it was a total blackout and nothing came back on. It was nighttime, I had now power, no motor and no lights. Oh and I was going up hill.

Somehow and I don't know how, we made it to the top of the hill, took an exit, coasted down the off ramp, into a traffic circle that had not a single car in it, through to the other side and safely into a parking lot. If you could see where this happened you would never believe we made it to where we did.

When I opened the motor access panel in the front of the RV I found the problem....rather quickly. My battery box had decided it no longer wanted to go on vacations with us so it left us. The battery was just swinging by the cables. When the positive touched any metal it arced out and that was what was causing our problems. So with the limited tools I had with me and some ratchet straps I made a new battery box and secured it to the frame.

the positive cable end had melted off so I had no good way to connect the battery to it. Thank God for Visegrips!! I used a pair like they were terminal connectors. Started the RV up and made it to our destination. Then 2 days later I drove it home the same way. I fixed it the right way later that week.

Driving thru Salina,KS a few years ago, temp was 102F. We needed more interior cooling, so I found a hardware store that had a portable floor model AC unit. I went to pay for it and found my credit card was gone. I panicked, ran out of the store and back to the motorhome, which was a '92 Fleetwood Flair in not so good condition. I opened up the door and took one step up, lost my balance, fell backwards and pulled the door right off of the motorhome on my way down to the pavement. I was beyond angry, almost actually seeing red. I picked up the door and almost smashed it on the pavement, but thankfully some little voice way back in my head told me that wasn't a very good idea. My DW was trying real hard on to laugh. After I calmed down, I went into the hardware store, purchased the AC unit, some sheet metal,tin snips, and self tapping screws and rebuilt the door and rehung it in the parking lot,while sweating profusely. Oh, and my credit card was in the cup holder. But I DID lose my debit card 2 days later!

Spun a rod bearing in a 64 ford in mountains droped pan fixed it with a small peace of foil between cap and bearing drove it several weeks before i sold it

RLS7201 wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
not if the relay is energized by the weak chassis battery
and may RV's have weak converters that do not charge well, with very low amps
the 40amp or more converters NOW common, did not use to be common

an RV with a Diode isolator is not going to charge the chassis battery period
the jump start function is only momentary
although with a good converter, a jumper cable between house positive and chassis positive, would do the trick

It depends on how the diode isolator(s) is/are configured. Some will charge the chassis battery.

Then there are jumper cables to tie the two battery banks together.



Richard

diode types charge everything from the alternator
there is NO back feed configuration to run power from the house side to the engine side
and i have yet to see the house converter connected to the center feed post of a diode isolator so it could charge everything when on shore power

and yes jumper cable hot to hot
i think I mentioned that in a previous post

Spitfire story reminded me of a TR-4A story. It was a snowy day (in Rochester NY that was just normal) and I was driving in 8 to 12 inches of snow on a back road. The gen light came on and the lights went dim. When I looked under the hood, I could see a wire hanging down beneath the generator (this was a while ago - I had a generator, not an alternator) figured the wire had come off the bare spade lug I could see on the bottom of the generator. Ended up replacing it two or three more times before I got home. The snow kept knocking it off. In the comfort of my garage I got underneath and drove a screw through the connector so it couldn't be pulled off so easily.

I hated everything to do with the Lucas electrics on that car. In the rain the spark plug leads would get wet and the current would leak to ground.

MrWizard wrote:
not if the relay is energized by the weak chassis battery
and may RV's have weak converters that do not charge well, with very low amps
the 40amp or more converters NOW common, did not use to be common

an RV with a Diode isolator is not going to charge the chassis battery period
the jump start function is only momentary
although with a good converter, a jumper cable between house positive and chassis positive, would do the trick

It depends on how the diode isolator(s) is/are configured. Some will charge the chassis battery.

Then there are jumper cables to tie the two battery banks together.



Richard

In 1972, I bought a 1965 Triumph Spitfire from a college professor where I was in grad school. I hadn't had it too long and wife to be and I were riding around on some back country roads outside of Commerce, Texas. All the sudden the lights went dim,the generator light came on and the generator was making some noises. I banged it with a beer bottle which broke. The sound stopped and the generator light went out. Kept the car till 1991 and the light never came on again.

Daughter called that their Freightliner FL70 TV had stopped running fortunately at a truck stop. Engine would spin but not start. Decided it was the fuel transfer pump so stole one off a spare 8.3 and drove the 100 miles and put it on. Cranked right up and headed home, but 10 minutes late she called... stopped running before they got out of the truck stop. Went back, scratched my head awhile... went over and slapped the two fuel tanks. The one with the fuel gauge was fairly full and the other was empty. Walked around and found a stiff piece of wire on the ground and crawled under and cleaned the clogged vent hose on full tank which was passing enough fuel to the tank that feeds the engine for it to run briefly. With two tanks, just because the gauge says you have fuel that does not mean the enginee is getting enough of it.

ferndaleflyer wrote:
Hook us old f rts get it done because when we were young there was NO road service----it was DIY or not at all.......

Exactly

Hook us old f rts get it done because when we were young there was NO road service----it was DIY or not at all.......