Few Repair/Maintance questions for new RV owner

[soloblazer]

hey everyone, i have rented Motorhomes in past, and also owned campers, so late last year we decided to buy our first MH, we bought a 97 Fleetwood Flair 31', we got a heck of a deal so couldnt pass on it. We used it a few times last year locally to see how everything work and what did and didnt work, but i have a few things i need some info on before starting repairs.

1. i have a slight vibration, not in steering wheel, but just in general, the passanger seats vibrates if no one is in it, from about 20mph up. i had all the rear tires balanced. i have not had the front ones done yet, but could be next?

2. The rv seems noisy on the inside when going down the road, just all around noisy, i have road in other rv of same age and older and they seem like they are alot quieter. is this normal for the flair?

3. It seems like this is very common issue i have read tons of forums, but i have a exhaust leak, not sure if its a cracked manifold or bad gasket yet, but will this hurt to leave like this for a little while as it seems expensive to fix at least from the shops i have talked to her in NC.

4. I also have the issue of the temp getting hot when pulling mountains or hard acceleration. i dont think it ever overheated as never heard or saw and boiling or overflow. it runs about 200-210 normal and up from there on hills. i have changed and flush radiator and also added water wetter, also changed thermostat.

5. The engine AC unit, when i got it i could turn the AC on and it would sometimes squeal like crazy so i wold turn off and turn on and it would start to work fine and blow cold for 5 mins then start to squeal again. i changed the belt and it work for about 5 min trip then it started to squeal and eventually broke belt. When it started to squeal the compressor still was turning, so it was locked up and is not locked up now. but could it be the compressor bad or what?

sorry for all the questions, but thanks in advance for the answers.

[soloblazer]

UPDATE:

Ok, so i got the new front shocks on, the old ones were shot. you could compress them and they wouldnt come back apart.

Also i jack it up and test for out of roundness of tires..

1 rear tire and one front tire where a little out of round, maybe about a 1/4". the rest were dead on. would that little bit cause a vibration? or is that within spec?

Another question is, the previous owner but 2 6v golf cart batteries as the cabin batteries. would i be better to put 2 deep cycle 12v batteries instead?

Also on the generator, about every 2nd or 3rd time i try to start it it will click over but doesnt seem to have the juice to start the generator? if i click the button a few times it will spin and start right up. any ideas?

[Gjac]

Rear no front yes. Do you have levelers on the MH?

[soloblazer]

Even on the rear I can just jack up one side and spin it? I thought both rear tires have to be off the ground?

[Gjac]

Bill you can just jack one wheel at a time to spin the tire and check the roundness yourself. New shocks should not change the ride height.

[soloblazer]

No i have not had a change to check roundness, i need to take it to a tire shop to do it, as i dont have 2 big jacks, only have one, and need to lift the whole back to spin the tires. hope to do that tomorrow. i ordered new shocks for the front, hope to have them tomorrow, but just changing air bags added 2-3" of lift, hope to gain anohter 1/2" with new shocks.

[Gjac]

soloblazer wrote:
No not yet, i was just asking for my own knowledge, i am going to check them tomorrow.

Did you check your tires for roundness yet? Also I would be curious what your ride height was before your adding bags or springs?

[soloblazer]

ok, so i have som updates.
1. i changed out the fan clutch, also made sure radiator was clean.
2. i ordered a new AC Compressor, and so in the mean time i gotten a new belt, and i want to test fit it, to make sure it was the right size, because the first time i changed belt it took like 3 times to get the right size, so i put the new belt on, and figured i would start it up and see what happens, and sure enough it seems to be working just fine now.. go figure.
3. i check the u joints, and bearing and all seem to be good and tigher, so i guess next it getting front tires balanced and seeing if the rear tires are out of round.
4. i also installed new airbags in the front, that was actually a easy job, from what i have read seamed like it was hard, but only about a hr to swap both.

So i need to find the light vibrations now and i should be good, most of teh rest seem to be ok. Still need to find the exhaust leak.

So that is my updates so far, again thanks for everyones advice.

[soloblazer]

OK, i will try that, i can hear the clicking sound but cant pin point it, i can tell its on the drivers side.

[Gjac]

What I did was take a piece of hose and put it to my ear and moved the other end around. An exhaust leak is very noticeable this way. A better mechanic would just listen for a slight clicking sound.

[soloblazer]

Ok got another one, whats the easy way to tell where the exhaust leak is from, i can listen but it all sounds like the same place, hard to tell if its manifold or manifold gasket, or donut. any ideas??

[Gjac]

When I checked mine with the IR gun it was 50 degrees. It has to be checked from inside the dog house and the fan clutch has to be held and re positioned to take temp readings starting at the inlet were it comes in at the top across the inside of the rad. I took readings every 2 ins paying close attention to the center of the rad where folks told me it it most likely to clog. I saw no cold spots. Many just said replace it if it is over 10 yrs old but I think the IR gun is a great way to test it. If you search Gjac you will find this more detailed.

[soloblazer]

What should the temp difference be between the inlet and outlet?

[havasu]

I have heard of people boiling out old rads but have no experience of it and having looked at the clogged tubes in mine, I seriously doubt any cleaning would have been very effective. When the tube is solid with crud there is no way for anything to work it's way through to break it up.

If you get a cheap IR temperature gun and run the rad up to full temperature, you can scan it with the gun and see where the hot/cold spots are to give you some idea of how bad it was.

My rebuilt 5 core was $500 at a local rad shop by the way.

[koda55]

When climbing hills and the temp starts to rise drop down a gear and keep the rpm's up. This will ensure more water is flowing through the system.

[WILDEBILL308]

Gjac wrote:

soloblazer wrote:
I have another question that deals with the shaking tire thing? alot of you agree with checking the tires to be out of round, but i have a dumb question, if the tire is out of round then it wouldn't balance correctly, right? All 4 of the rear tires were balanced and balanced out to 0 as they should? just thought i would throw that out there. thanks

Your tires maybe in balance but that does not mean they are round. The only way that they can be fixed it to true the tires, remount the tires or buy new tires. I don't know who can true the tires anymore. It entails turning the tire and shaving material off like a lathe. Did you check the tires yourself for being out of round?

The big question is the age of the tire. I would check the date codes before doing anything more to the tiers. I would think the big truck tier stores might still have the ability to true tiers. I have seen it done a long time ago and it looked like they were taking off a lot of tread. The owner of the truck being worked on said it actually made the tier last longer. We never (vary seldom) wear out tiers on motor homes so I have thought of doing it when I get new front tiers.
Bill