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desertrat

Toyota Advanced Member
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About desertrat

  • Birthday 04/28/1957

Previous Fields

  • My Toyota Motorhome
    1988 Horizon
  • Location
    Aptos, CA

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Interests
    my 9 year old daughter, Photography, desert/mountain travel, climbing

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  1. I dealt with my heater not heating, fan only, for a while. One day I attacked, yanked the beast out, threw it out the door from frustration and the realization that a new one would be over $400.00 and labor to put it in. When the heater hit the concrete, I walked over to it. There were rust chips laying around from the inside of it. I started removing access plates and saw the burner tube was rusty. I wire brushed the burner tube, shop vacuumed it out cleaned the electrical connectionsand reinstalled. It's worked perfect ever since.
  2. Thanks everyone for the input. At this point, my rig starts. Looks like my solder job worked, but my new coach battery only gets up to 13.2 volts when I accelerate the engine. I wonder if the wire that leads from coach battery to isolator needs to be a thicker gauge. I think it's about 10 or 12 gauge now. Not sure how far that run is, but it's at the front part of the sofa area. I have photos of the mystery part. dayoff53 said it's a circuit breaker. I feel he's right. The new part I got that didn't work was a 30 amp Buss Fuse, standard 2 post type. I guess I really am ignorant, as I don't know the difference between a circuit breaker and a fuse. Also, when I had the new Buss Fuse installed, thats when my rig wouldn't start. Put the repaired, old circuit breaker in, and she started right up. My isolator is a 3 post type, old, and I'd like to replace it, but have no idea what to get. In the photos, you will see the red wire on the battery side (is this the wire from alternator. I can't follow it as it dissapears in a wiring harness), the yellow wire from the fuse box, and then the other red wire jumps over to the mystery part. From there, the other side has the wire from the coach battery. The black wires go to a toggle switch that are involved in the solar panel charging. The box with fins on it is not hooked up to anything RE: the isolator. I thought it was, but my mistake. Sorry for the long wind and confusion.
  3. So, I don't have pictures yet, but on my 1988 Horizon, I have a solenoid type battery isolator. Where it sits, there is a single wire running from the back side of the isolator to a small (maybe 1 1/4" x 3/4") black plastic box which has two connector tabs, (male spade type) one at each end. One labeled batt, one aux. The coach battery wire runs from the Aux side of that part back to the battery. I broke one of the tabs whilst taking everything apart to clean isolator connections. Rode my Honda trail 90 to the auto parts place where the guy told me it was the same as a bus fuse. I bought the replacement part which also had Batt and Aux labeled on it. It was a standard 30 amp gizmo with 2 posts on it., but it was made of metal, not plastic. I installed the new part, changing the connectors from spade type to ring type. With everything clean and installed, my rig wouldn't start. Just a click. I yanked the new part out, soldered the old one and reinstalled it. Bessie started right up. I don't know what that small plastic part is. Anyone know without photos? To confuse you more, some of the wires also go to a 3"x3" metal box with fins on it. I have no idea what that is either. I'll post some pics in a few days. When I get home, I'll have to check and make sure the coach battery is charging. I guess I do that by testing Volts while the engine is running? I guess there is supposed to be an audible click in the isolator when key is turned on too. Thanks in advance Steve
  4. A good thing to do. I bought an inexpensive digital volt meter from northern tools, wired it to the coach battery and velcroed it to the wall. A flick of the switch, and I can read my coach battery at a glace.
  5. I just installed a Curt bumper hitch on mine. Seems like it will work fine. It will hold a bike rack and I even use it to carry a light weight motorcycle rack and put my Honda Trail 90 on it. My bumper doesn't seem to be the strongest, with 2 welded attatchment points to I beam channels, but it seems adequate. They make bike racks that hang off rear ladders also, but you'd want to watch the weight. Good Luck
  6. Just bought a bumper hitch that attaches to the square 4 inch bumper. It bolts on with a 350lbload rating. Wondering if anyone else has used these. I'm planning on using it to haul a Honda Trail 90 (200 lbs) on an aluminum hitch rack. I also anticipate augmenting the load with straps to the roof ladder, just to belay the beast. I won't be able to see it whie I'm on the road, and I don't want my precious to fall off and get lost somewhere. I'll post pictures when I get this thing up and running. Happy trails
  7. As always, Thanks Maineah. When I get home, I'll check out the contacts and ground.
  8. On occasion, my left flasher will sound very fast as I'm signaling. The next time I use it, it will sound with a normal slow clicking noise. I can visualize that the lights/flasher are working when it sounds slow and normal. Haven't visualized it when it has made the fast clicking sound. I'm sure it's probably a bad flasher unit, but I wondered if they should either work or fail, not intermitantly work. Any ideas? Thanks in advance
  9. Mepps, I may not be able to answer your questions completely, but I will say, an auxilary battery needs to have the ground connected to work and to be charged. You'll have to figure out if it's wired correctly and whether that battery is good or not. Test it and review posts on battery conditions on this site. Make sure it's an appropriate battery ( i.e. deep cycle) It should have been charging off the alternator, but with the negative (ground) connection off, I don't think it has.. How long has it been disconnected (on the ground side?) You have a lot of questions about 12 Volt, propane issues that might be answered by checking out past posts on this site. Photos almost always help the folks on this site give you better direction on resolving issues. As far as the "power pack", you have to figure out what that is. Is it an inverter? If so, they suck a lot of juice from the auxilary battery. This whole 12 volt process is a matter of input and output. One auxilary battery can only supply a certain amount of power before it's exhausted. Lights, water pumps, heaters all suck juice from that battery, you or your son will need to learn how to calculate your amp usage and balance that with your battery capacity. You need to replace that energy somehow whether it's by driving and charging off the alternator, solar or a generator. Batteries need specific charging requirements. Photos would certainly help. Good luck and keep the questions coming. I have found this site a great resource for problem solving.
  10. Are You talking about interior lights? if so, each light ought to have it's own switch. Does anything else work off the coach battery? Check the battery, connections, fuses. Let us know more specifics. I'm not sure what you mean by " the lights to the truck". This site should be able to help. Happy Trails
  11. I agree with Ranger. My 1988 suburban heater made all sorts of weird noises. Actually, it wouldn't light at all. I decided it had to be replaced, yanked it out, threw it (gently) on the concrete, and roughed it up. I scrubbed the burner vents, removed the wasp nest, blew it out with compressed air, vaccumed it, threw it together and installed it with no hope of it working again. Guess what? It worked like brand new. Be detatched, yank it out, throw it on the concrete and start cleaning. Scrub the burner vents, vaccum out the dirt, beg it and plead with it that this abuse will stop if it will only work and keep you warm. Good Luck and let us know
  12. My 9 year old daughter has pretty much finished our interior design. Not exactly stock, but it works for us. She (the motorhome, not my daughter) is going away tomorrow for a new radiator, to fix the AC leak and for new shocks. I'm hoping it's back before too long, as I have vacation to coincide with my daughters winter break from 4th grade. In case I don't get back here soon, here's wishing everyone a great Xmas and New Years. Hope others post photos of their rv's, inside and out. Happy Trails
  13. I took my daughter up North (california) for the holidays. My brakes occasionally felt spongy/soft and the pedal would go down a little, then stop and sometimes it would go down a little farther. I never lost brakes and if I pumped the brakes once, they felt solid. I don't notice any leakage around brake cylinder and fluid is good. I recently had my brakes done by a friends brother. Could this be air in the lines or is my master cylinder going bad? Just wondering if anyone had any ideas. I guess I'm done driving it until it's fixed. Hope everyone had a great holiday. BTW-I have a 1988 with the 22RE Thanks in advance
  14. The big issue for me was whether or not it had a full floating one ton rear axle. I believe after 1986 was when they started to change the rear axle. Earlier years may have had an axle conversion. I suggest you read the axle facts and search prior posts RE: this issue. It's fairly easy to spot these one ton axles. Maybe you are already aware. This will be a good site for you for resources and info. Lots of knowledgable folks. I scoured Craigs List for several months to find mine. These things have a cult following and are sometimes hard to come by if they aren't trashed. Good luck
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