sailfritz

Thanks Linda, am contacting the shop. Any Toy owners out there replaced the shackle bushings before can give me pointers? thanks

I have a 89 Dolphin and bushings are shot as squeeking drives us crazy. Im up in Eureka for 3 weeks hoping to find a shop either here or Bay area that can change them out. Perfer urethane bushings but how would you know what size unless one is pulled to measure? Anyone have tips for me?

Read some forum comments on electrical but not about my problem. Just bought this 89 Dolphin v6. Driving home at night the whole truck began to hesitate and lights dim/blink as if she were going to stop running then recovered, sporadic and not a happy camper now! I noticed a clicking coming from the electrical panel area in the camper. I replaced the 6yr old truck battery and isolator on firewall today. Auto store says alternator is good.The house battery has one large white wire on positive and a small red(see pic). The negative has a large black wire and 2 whites together as shown in pic. The converter area has a plate that is warming(my finger shows it) and making a clicking noise every minute draining the house battery. Whatever is wrong it is live with the engine off as when I put the positive cable(house battery) to the terminal she lightly sparks showing drain. What is happening?

My rig is a Calif. 1985 500 series with a mandatory Cat converter. How could that cat burn and hide a quart of burning oil every tankful? Possible? Why would adding the additive to repair worn seals($21 a quart!) work together with a new PVC valve as seen on the dipstick(no change in 200 miles) and showed out the tailpipe(no black sooty mist)? This is a mystery for sure and may never be solved and for sure till you hear "The Rest Of The Story" in Sept. when we hit the road again. Till then,.............fingers crossed!

Linda S is from the same part of Calif. and has seen my rig last year before this problem and knows me enough to assure you I'm 100% mentally ok. I'm not offended but perplexed as much as you experts are. Your right in saying the snake oil and PCV valve should not have worked and there should have been a Blue Angels style trail of smoke and a puddle under the motor but results don't lie and neither do I when I tell you I have had no blue smoke trails nor puddles under this rig. A little oil sweat around the valve cover yes,........... normal with 73,000 miles right? With the main seal gone does it burn oil blue or just out the pipe as a mist like I have had before I addressed this oil usage? I really can't tell you at this moment the oil usage is stopped permanently but hope it is! In the tankful I ran after the change of oil, the additive added and PCV valve changed I noticed a drastic drop in oil usage as in the dipstick level did not alter, also no black sooty mist out the pipe. The rig is parked as I'm out of the country till Sept. when we all shall see if this was a quick temp. fix or permanent. Till then all we can do is speculate and discuss this. I do thank you for your opinions and suggestions. If a tear down is avoided through these simple measures than good for me and worth a try to you out there, no? I spent $25 on the additive and PCV valve, if that fixed it I saved hundreds! I'll tell you I was so troubled by this oil usage coming from Louisiana to Calif. having to have extra quarts of oil in the rv and adding at every gas fill up that I was expecting a main engine repair. I got online and looked up "valve seal leakage" repair videos and there was a nutty guy promoting the wonders of just replacing a $5 PCV valve that may save you hundreds in repairs so before tearing into that motor try this and so I did. I also shopped at the Oreilys Auto parts store and looked for a valve seal stop leak product and applied that $21 a quart to my oil change with 10w40 oil and it worked for that tankful before parking it for the winter and summer 2016 so we will see in Sept. if it was permanent. I have a friend starting it and taking it for a spin around the block once a month to keep things lubed, meanwhile I'll keep the fingers crossed.

So how would sludge allow this motor to send almost a quart through the tailpipe every tank full? It never smoked, maybe a puff of blue when started cold and that's it. No one commented on how just changing the PCV valve could solve this mystery but I'm telling you I changed that and the oil using 10W40 and the "stop seal leaks" additive and in the tankful I drove my last week in Calf. I noticed no more black sooty mist coming out of the tailpipe that would leave a black ring on your hand and no more oil usage. Now just maybe when we return to take a fall trip to Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon Nat. parks we will see if this simple fix really works and I'll be sure to comment but for now she is parked till Sept.

I have it parked right now with fingers crossed and shall see in Sept. when we fire it up again for a short road trip if she still looses oil. These mail seals you talk about how do they leak oil if no drips are under the Rv? Do they allow oil to blow by? How do you loose so much oil without blue smoke, weird.

Well it seams that You Tube video I watched titled "change the PCV valve and stop that oil leak" really wasn't a crazy idea after all! I did just that and changed the oil adding a "stop valve seal leaks" oil additive and by golly they stopped the leak and no more black oily mist from the tailpipe in a tankful. Rv is now parked for the winter and we shall see next summer how she does but I'm almost positive it's fixed, will keep my eye on it next year. As that rabbit says,...........That,.......that's all folks,.................

Seems like replacing the PCV valve and adding the special oil additive "stop seal leaks" did the trick and no black oily mist leaves the tailpipe like before and it never did smoke so weird huh? Keeping my fingers crossed that no more has to be done. Thanks for all the great comments and Vermonter sorry I didn't honk back!

Keeping the fingers crossed but replacing the PCV valve and adding the special stop leak oil additive did the job and in a tankful no oil usage, weird huh?

No I had a bike or 2 mounted with a homemade rack on the back and have the 500 series large picture window in the rear(nice) Nicaragua is very safe but use common sense by not walking alone at night etc,................. I have a house on Ometepe Island, Lake Nicaragua (Google it) a must see for most tourists. Also must go to Coco beach south of San Juan De Sur (use the bus or rental car) and stay at a nice B & B called the Pananania.

OK, good responses from you all and I thank you. Changed the oil and put in Bar's Leaks Valve Seal Oil Consumption repair oil additive with synthetic polymers, ever heard of this stuff? Not as thick as STP. I also changed the PCV valve and noticed with the new one it's a one way valve like a reed valve. Suck in but can't blow out. With the old one I that I removed I could blow through and suck in so it wasn't working. Now granted I've only gone 50 miles and a tankful for me is around 200 (would use a almost a quart) but no sign of oil usage so far! I don't know if it's a combination of the seals now sealing from the additive or the PCV valve working properly but something is different for sure. I have another 60 mile trip tomorrow and will see how it goes especially hitting 65mph on the freeway.

Linda, just us 3 on this trip and we fit just right! We fly to Nicaragua Wed. the 11th and will park it at my church lot in SJ. and have a friend start it each Sunday and drive it round the parking lot each month to keep things oiled up. I don't have time to tear into the engine and so it will have to wait till we return in Sept. for a fall drive to Zion and the Grand Canyon area!

I tried using a quart of the special oil additive that flows like honey and was supposed to help stop oil leaks in seal and rings,.........and I have been using straight 30 wt oil for added thickness but with no results. I put my hand up to the tailpipe while running and a oily black mist comes out, the oil! I will try the compression test and the odometer reads 73,000 with a zero for the 100,000 mark so has not turned over yet. This engine can't be burning it as it doesn't smoke blue,........... like you think it would using so much oil. I heard a bad PVC valve can draw off oil out the exhaust,.true?