Another Newbie with 0 Knowledge about RVing

[efiguero]

So I picked up a used 1997 Fleetwood Tioga T29Z that only had 27,000 miles on it, it was the only older Class C that I had seen which had 4 bunks in the back room instead of one queen bed, seemed kind of rare. I have been reading all through this forum and I think there is just a ton of info that I am getting overwhelmed so I figured I would just ask my questions and hope to get answers or directed to a thread with the correct answers. First off, I seem to have two issues with the Motorhome, the first is the Generator (Onan Microlite 4000) will not start, it turns over, but it does not seem to be getting fuel. So It could be a fuel filter, Fuel Pump, or Carburetor I assume. The second is the fridge, the previous owner told me that it is an electric/Propane fridge, but that the electric portion never worked since he had it, but the propane did so he never bothered to fix it. With that said, here are my questions.

1. Is there a check list of what I need to do get the living quarters ready? Not a check list of what to pack but, how to get it all working. For example, it is parked in front of my house, now what? I read through all the manual, but it is vague and does not give you a how to step guide on how to get started. Do I have to turn certain things on first in a specific order to get everything working? Note, since the gen is not working at the moment, I was told I could plug in Motorhome to our house, but not to run it very long (Less than an hour and a half maybe), especially the AC, and not the microwave and AC at the same time.

2. For me to test the fridge, other than having the RV plugged in to get power to it, and me turning on the propane, is there something else I need to do to ensure the propane is making it to the fridge and the rest of the appliances?

3. Is there a main power switch that kills power to the whole unit? Kind of like an on and off switch to the whole living quaters?

4. I have a red rocker switch below the steering wheel to the right, what could that be for?

5. I have located my Black and Gray tanks and where they are to be emptied, is there a location to empty my Fresh Water tanks?

6. Lastly, do you guys trust your local RV dealers to do service on your RVs? The reason I ask is it seems the majority of the RV dealers in my area (Austin, Texas) seem to have way more bad reviews than good ones. I mean, in my searching I have yet to find one with consistent good reviews. Is this normal in the RV industry?

Anyhow, I have a ton of more questions, but Let me get these out of the way first.

[pcryer]

One of the first things, and most helpful things, we did was Google the model numbers of all appliances and found all of the manuals on-line for free. Print them out and put them in a notebook in the RV to always have with you. Maybe they will help you with some troubleshooting. Google is your friend 😃

[Bordercollie]

There is almost no standardization in various brands and models of motorhomes. Your questions may seem basic, but correct answers, not guesses, are often technical and require you to do electrical and other tests and adjustments that are probably beyond your experience. I would guess that your fridge needs serious electro-mechanical work or the previous owner would have had it working on AC power. There are generic motorhome operation and maintenance books that can help you become familiar with the various 12volt DC, 110volt AC, propane, plumbing and holding tank systems, including fuse and breaker boxes, control panels and switches. I think that you would do best to find a good friendly mobile RV repair guy to show you how to locate and operate things and at the same time diagnose things that are not working properly and fix them. There are not many repairs, replacements or upgrades that you can do yourself at this point. You will eventually need to learn how to check battery voltages, electrolyte levels, clean terminals and connections, etc. Do not try to run the roof AC unit and/or microwave when plugged into an outlet in your garage unless is is rated for 30 amps and you are using a heavy duty shore cable extension. Low voltage can damage your air conditioner. Don't run your fridge unless your rig is nearly dead level, off-level operation can damage the cooling unit. Good luck getting your rig ready for full enjoyment. Make sure your tires, brakes, and engine cooling system are good. RV tires go bad/become failure prone, sitting parked for five years even though they may look like new. Expect to spend some money getting your rig reliable and enjoyable for any
kind of touring and camping you ask of it.

[efiguero]

So I purged the gas lines by starting one of the stove burners and then turned on the Fridge and no go. The check light just stays on and the igniter just keeps clicking, any thoughts? Also, I noticed that there are two wires disconnect in the back of the unit but I am not sure where they go or if they are needed. I have include pictures of the back, you can see a black cable, and an off white (Might have been white at some time.). I tried to take picture of the board and some of the empty slots. Also that blue wire kinda in the front, it is not connected to anything either and is actually taped off, not sure if that could cause an issue. Again any ideas would be appreciated.

[JohnSmith33]

Good post dear.Keep sharing these kind of information which is helpful for us.Its is nice idea to implement galline easily.

[efiguero]

Thanks for all the tips, I'll try purging the gas lines as suggested to see if that helps. GizmosMom, thanks for the suggestion, I looked up Camper Clinic II and saw some undesirable reviews. It seems all the places south of Austin get bad reviews, the Crestview in Georgetown seems to be the only place that has some favorable reviews but not many. The closest Camping World (New Braunfels) had nothing but bad reviews across the board. As for friends that have RVs, none really, I do have a neighbor that's rented a couple so I'll definitely be asking him for some pointers. Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Keep'em coming!

[bukhrn]

If you've got a friend, or a relative that has an Rv, I'm sure they'd be glad to show you, or if you get it together enough to go to a campground,most other campers would be glad to help you out.
Some campers are rude,obnoxious, mean spirited and anti social, then there are the other 99% of us who are happy to help other campers.

[GizmosMom]

A great company in Austin is David's Mobile Repair Service . They come right out to your home (or business, I would guess). But when I checked with them about a month ago, they were pretty booked up. Just the nicest couple you could ever meet and they are decent with their pricing.

We need a new refrigerator and they suggested Camper Clinic II in Buda. We are going to put off that expense for a year (will use our coolers) so I have not tried them. But that might be a good place. Because I trust David and his wife and do not think they would steer me to a place they also do not have faith in.

[donn0128]

To get the refer to start you first have to purge the air out of the gas lines. The easiest way to do that is to light off, or attempt to light off a stove top burner. Mine usually takes a couple of minutes. Once you have a good flame, you can turn it off and then try lighting the refer off. As for why it will not work on 120VAC, there are really only three things it can be. Bad control board, no 120VAC at the receptacle or a burned out heater element. Number 2 is easy to check. Number three is pretty easy with a VOM and number one would take a service tech with the proper equipment to test the main board.

[gkainz]

Generator - should be able to hear or feel the fuel pump running if it is. Easy to clean, easy to test (at least on the older Onans I've had). Pull the fuel line off the fuel pump, put a new section of hose on it and drop the end in a gallon gas can - try to start. If it starts, probably have cracked or broken fuel line into the main fuel tank, or main fuel tank level is below the generator intake hose.

If it doesn't start, and fuel pump is not running (test it in Prime position, noted in a post above). Again, mine was a late '80s 4K - no longer have it, but the fuel pump was a cylindrical unit about the size of a Red Bull can. Bottom unscrewed in a quarter turn and the plunger and spring slid out. Cleaned up the varnish and it ran again.

Your big red switch by the steering wheel is, in my opinion, most likely a battery combiner (emergency start) relay, that joins the engine battery and house battery together momentarily to provide a jump start to the engine, in case the engine battery gets run down.

[efiguero]

Thanks, donn0128 and bukhrn for your quick responses. Here is some additional information, I did pay an RV mechanic to go over the RV to give me an idea of the condition before I bought it. Unfortunately I bought it in a different city, and he was the only one I could get to come out to fit my schedule, so I had to take him at his word, but he seemed knowledgeable and very nice.

Anyhow, he took over 2 hours going over it all. He was able to text everything (Furnace, Water Heater, etc) with the exception of the Fridge and Generator. Now we did not get a chance for him to show me how to use most of the stuff as we were on a time crunch. Both batteries were good, the house battery and the main battery for the engine.
As for the generator, I have not tried to start it, I am going on what the owner and the Mechanic said. The Mechanic tried to start it several times, and there was about half a tank of gas at the time. He topped off the oil in the generator, but could not get it to start. He agreed with what the owner said, that is was one of the three I mentioned that could be the issue.

So in regards to the Fridge, I did plug the RV in and turned on the propane, then turned on the Fridge, and all I could hear was a little clicking going on in the back that would not stop. Is sounded like an ignition for a pilot or something, it just kept on clicking. I assumed since it is Propane powered (At least for what is working)the clicking was for the pilot, but assumed it would stop once the propane is lit?? (If that is how it works).

So once I plug the RV in and turn on the gas and hook up water, everything should start to function and be good to go? Also, I know I saw threads on water pressure deals that you should use when plugging in the water from an outside source, should I wait until I have one of those to plug in the water from my house to check all the water functions?

I had thought about calling one of these local places to have the work done and to see if they did offer a service to show me how everything works, but that is how I ran across all the bad reviews, so now I am kind of hesitant. I will continue to keep poking around here, but like I said there is SOOOO MUCH INFO, it is like I am drowning, lol. Thanks again for your posts!

[bukhrn]

efiguero wrote:
So I picked up a used 1997 Fleetwood Tioga T29Z that only had 27,000 miles on it, it was the only older Class C that I had seen which had 4 bunks in the back room instead of one queen bed, seemed kind of rare. I have been reading all through this forum and I think there is just a ton of info that I am getting overwhelmed so I figured I would just ask my questions and hope to get answers or directed to a thread with the correct answers. First off, I seem to have two issues with the Motorhome, the first is the Generator (Onan Microlite 4000) will not start, it turns over, but it does not seem to be getting fuel. So It could be a fuel filter, Fuel Pump, or Carburetor I assume.Are you trying to prime it first?, on mine, I hold the button down, in the prime position for a minute then try to start it, if it's been sitting for a long time, you may have to do this more than once. Also, if it runs off the main chassis tank, make sure you have at least a 1/4 tank of gas in it, they are made to shut of when the tank gets down to 1/4, also look around or ask the previous owner if he installed a fuel shut off valve in the line. The second is the fridge, the previous owner told me that it is an electric/Propane fridge, but that the electric portion never worked since he had it, but the propane did so he never bothered to fix it. With that said, here are my questions.Did you, or he check the fuse for the fridge, it runs on 120v but it still requires 12V to run the circuit board. either way, I would have it fixed, because if you camp in a campground with hookups, electric is free(or figured into your site fee) propane costs.

1. Is there a check list of what I need to do get the living quarters ready? Not a check list of what to pack but, how to get it all working. For example, it is parked in front of my house, now what? I read through all the manual, but it is vague and does not give you a how to step guide on how to get started. Do I have to turn certain things on first in a specific order to get everything working? Note, since the gen is not working at the moment, I was told I could plug in Motorhome to our house, but not to run it very long (Less than an hour and a half maybe), especially the AC, and not the microwave and AC at the same time.

2. For me to test the fridge, other than having the RV plugged in to get power to it, and me turning on the propane, is there something else I need to do to ensure the propane is making it to the fridge and the rest of the appliances? The easiest way to purge the air from the propane lines, (after you turn on the propane) light one of the stove top burners after it is burning good for about a minute, turn it of, the air should be out by then.

3. Is there a main power switch that kills power to the whole unit? Kind of like an on and off switch to the whole living quaters?Many, if not most, have a battery disconnect switch, which disconnects the "house" batteries, many, like mine are near the floor by the door.

4. I have a red rocker switch below the steering wheel to the right, what could that be for? It could be most anything, especially on an older unit, could be something the previous owner installed, I have a button to the lower left of my steering wheel that is an emergency start button that connects the house batteries to the chassis battery.

5. I have located my Black and Gray tanks and where they are to be emptied, is there a location to empty my Fresh Water tanks? Mine has a drain valve right next to the tank that goes to a tube through the floor & empties under the RV.

6. Lastly, do you guys trust your local RV dealers to do service on your RVs? The reason I ask is it seems the majority of the RV dealers in my area (Austin, Texas) seem to have way more bad reviews than good ones. I mean, in my searching I have yet to find one with consistent good reviews. Is this normal in the RV industry? Some are good, some are bad, & some are so-so, you may need to wait for someone from your area to answer that one.

Anyhow, I have a ton of more questions, but Let me get these out of the way first.

[donn0128]

efiguero wrote:
So I picked up a used 1997 Fleetwood Tioga T29Z that only had 27,000 miles on it, it was the only older Class C that I had seen which had 4 bunks in the back room instead of one queen bed, seemed kind of rare. I have been reading all through this forum and I think there is just a ton of info that I am getting overwhelmed so I figured I would just ask my questions and hope to get answers or directed to a thread with the correct answers. First off, I seem to have two issues with the Motorhome, the first is the Generator (Onan Microlite 4000) will not start, it turns over, but it does not seem to be getting fuel. So It could be a fuel filter, Fuel Pump, or Carburetor I assume. The second is the fridge, the previous owner told me that it is an electric/Propane fridge, but that the electric portion never worked since he had it, but the propane did so he never bothered to fix it. With that said, here are my questions.

1. Is there a check list of what I need to do get the living quarters ready? Not a check list of what to pack but, how to get it all working. For example, it is parked in front of my house, now what? I read through all the manual, but it is vague and does not give you a how to step guide on how to get started. Do I have to turn certain things on first in a specific order to get everything working? Note, since the gen is not working at the moment, I was told I could plug in Motorhome to our house, but not to run it very long (Less than an hour and a half maybe), especially the AC, and not the microwave and AC at the same time. Plug it in. Then start turning things on until you learn how and what operates what. DO NOT turn on the water heater until you have water in the system.
The refer will take up to about 24 hours to be cold, and operates from propane gas and 120VAC. But it also needs 12VDC for control voltage. So you will need a decent house battery.

2. For me to test the fridge, other than having the RV plugged in to get power to it, and me turning on the propane, is there something else I need to do to ensure the propane is making it to the fridge and the rest of the appliances? Depending on refer model it may or may not automatically switch from gas to electric based on how your setup. Plugged into 120VAC you can turn the refer on and wait 24 hours to see if it is cold. With propane on and a full water system or connected to city water you can test out the water systems including lighting off the water heater.

3. Is there a main power switch that kills power to the whole unit? Kind of like an on and off switch to the whole living quaters?It is possible you have a battery disconnect switch. It is also possible you do not. If you have one it will be a rather large switch with a removable red key. Normally fairly visible somewhere between the converter and the battery

4. I have a red rocker switch below the steering wheel to the right, what could that be for?No clue? does it have a removable key? If so that is the battery disconnect.

5. I have located my Black and Gray tanks and where they are to be emptied, is there a location to empty my Fresh Water tanks?Look under the coach. You should see a plastic tube with a valve on it. That will be the tank drain.

6. Lastly, do you guys trust your local RV dealers to do service on your RVs? The reason I ask is it seems the majority of the RV dealers in my area (Austin, Texas) seem to have way more bad reviews than good ones. I mean, in my searching I have yet to find one with consistent good reviews. Is this normal in the RV industry?NO! Since I have been turning wrenches for over 30 years I simply do all of my own work. Cheaper and I know how the job was done.

Anyhow, I have a ton of more questions, but Let me get these out of the way first.

Questions are easy to answer. I would suggest that before you ask any more questions that you also search using the function at the top of the page. Most of the time they will have been answered already.
Also, I have to assume that you bought this private party? It might be a good idea to locate a local dealer and pay the service department a couple hundred dollars to go through the RV and teach you about each system. Things like sanitizing the potable water system, while easy can be a daunting task for the first time.