Escaping in the Escaper Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 Hello all! I am new to the Toyhome world and would love to know more. I have an '87 Escaper with the rear driver's side bathroom (shower toilet combo pan). The other night the fiancé flushed the Thetford Magic IV and the handle stuck causing the toilet to fill up. I caught it before it overflowed but the blackwater tank was full so the water would not recede. When I went outside to dump the tank I noticed a lot of dripping, a whole lot actually. Thank goodness we hadn't been there long so there wasn't any blackwater actually leaking. What I am asking is, is there some sort of overflow valve? Or do I possibly have a cracked tank? I couldn't really get a good look at the top of the tank due to a heavy layer of what looked like the Goodstuff spray on floam covering the tank. Did it come from the factory like that? Or was it previous owners? Would I have to chip away and re-spray the foam if I had to replace the tank? Thank you in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neubie Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 There is a standard flange attaching the tank to the seat portion. The seal there isnt always a seal and thus provides unintentional overflow protection of sorts. Or you could have a cracked tank. But thats less likely at the neck. The insulation is a home remedy (if its insulation), tanks dont come covered with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escaping in the Escaper Posted June 5, 2018 Author Share Posted June 5, 2018 Would I have to remove the tank to fix that? Or just the toilet? I thought the insulation might be factory because it seems to be all along the bottom of my Escaper. Also, has anyone ever "deleted" the sink in the bathroom? It's not that great and if I took it out i would have a little bit more room to shower. How would I go about doing that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverwild Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 I can't help with the leak, but I just bought an 86 Escaper and I also have the "floam" stuff all over the underside of my rig. It's in great shape and does NOT appear to be something applied aftermarket, it's too smooth and appears to be original to the coach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neubie Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 56 minutes ago, Riverwild said: I can't help with the leak, but I just bought an 86 Escaper and I also have the "floam" stuff all over the underside of my rig. It's in great shape and does NOT appear to be something applied aftermarket, it's too smooth and appears to be original to the coach. The foam is aftermarket. They were not applying greatstuff at the factory thirty years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverwild Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 I will post a picture when I can get back under it. This stuff looks factory original/ I thought the same, that they didn't have the spray on stuff back then but after taking a good look, either it's factory or whoever applied it was a magician, because it looks like it was painted on, every crevice is coated with no overspray at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 (edited) The Escapers were factory foamed. helps keep the floor warmer. Its a high quality foam and is very fire resistant. The black tank on the mid shower/toilet is very low mounted. Suffers from ooppses. Its easy to check. Empty it and flush it several times. Over fill it and find the leak. If it leaks inside then you need a new seal... Its a simple foam gasket. Leaking outside then your looking at a crack some where. The tank vent is on the roof. The sink is molded in removing it would involve a lot of fiberglass work. A slight help with the shower room thing is a curved curtain track, gives you a bit more elbow room. Also the sink door is laminated and will peel easily, a cap of clear Gorilla tape goes a long way Edited August 29, 2018 by WME Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neubie Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 Today I learned something new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bikemike Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 I have an 87 escaper and have successfully rehabbed both the black and grey water tanks. They are thirty years old and getting brittle. You can buy some new tanks...or do this labor intensive but rewarding process: -empty and flush tanks -disengage all the plumbing that is going into the floor. I had to cut through a pipe that wouldn’t come apart any other way and then I put it back together with a rubber (1 1/4”?) flange that comes with two hose clamps. So if you cut, do it on a straight piece that can be repaired. -try as you may to unscrew the sensor wires from the tank or clip the wires. -unhook any outside sewer pipes that you need to or cut through them if you need to. -Chip away at the foam all around the edge that is up against the underside of the house and you should see some screws going through a flange on the tank up into the floor. That and the metal straps is all that holds mine up on the air! -drop the tank and if it’s like mine it will have several feet of cracks, but don’t worry! One of my cracks went from one of the flanges on top, over the corner and almost all the way down to the bottom. It’s bounced around for about ten thousand miles since the repair. I took the tank out again for some reason recently and everything looks fine. One benefit is that the repaired area seemed more supple than the gassed off old, unrepaired plastic. A likely place for cracks is around any plumbing going into or coming out of the tank. -clean the surface to be patched really well. Acetone will melt abs plastic, but a little bit won’t hurt. On the black water tank, you can reach in through the toilet flange, clean and apply abs glue to the underside of the crack. Sound fun? -with fiber glass house screen and abs glue you can make a good patch over the cracks. Even the ones that are spidering out from the flanges. Just make a hole in your screen to go around the flange. Go ahead and put a really big patch on. -put the abs glue on in layers and let it dry a bit before the next layer. I posted some pictures on this site at one point. After I did this I no longer had that dreadful smell on the house as I drive down the road. Driving creates pressure at the roof vent and can push fumes into your space. Also. Getting a different sewer roof vent can help. And, no more stinky leaks underneath when the tank is full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted September 2, 2018 Share Posted September 2, 2018 That is how I repaired mine but used MEK instead of Acetone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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