wanderso

Of interest in my case is the anode appears to have been replaced with a plastic plug that clearly is not original. It's possible that the prior owner had removed the anode plug and just replaced it with a plastic one.

In reply to this one, I did confirm that the valve will fall through the pipe if you remove the o-ring. Of interest is that this model has two valves near the freshwater tank and pump. I had only caught one and the other was still open.

Ok - so I figured this one out. (I also posted the plumbing diagrams to the files section of this site). There are two drain valves under the fold-down couch on this particular model. They are about 8 inches from each other and near the pump. In this case, there was one valve of the two that was still open.

Unfortunately that isn't the case on the Winnebago.

This sounds quite similar to an issue that I have with my 91 Winnebago Warrior although slightly different. The coach battery seems to get a decent charge when receiving voltage from the RV's alternator when I'm out on the road, but not much charge from when it is plugged in to A/C.

Eddie - I have a 91 Warrior and found the water release valve under the folding couch but what looks like valves under the oven (near hot water tank) don't have rings on them to pull up to release. Do you have a drain valve near the water tank itself to the left of water pump as well? What is interesting for me is that I pulled this valve open and the tank drained, but after pushing it back shut at one point to test it, it kept leaking onto the ground. I'm not sure yet if it is a matter of the O-Ring failing or something else.

I have a friend who had a mouse problem in his RV. Blocked the holes where he can; the "Bounce" dryer sheets actually did help. Weird, but true.

Hey there - I just drained the freshwater tank for the first time on my 91 Winnebago Warrior. The prior owner had filled the freshwater tank before the sale to demonstrate that pump, etc. were working properly. The thing is, once I pulled open the valve (ring on top) to the left of the pump below the lounge/couch, it started draining under the coach, which is great, but when I attempted to close it later while the water was draining, the water flow didn't stop. My guess is that the o-ring failed or popped out. I don't see the O-ring on the ground near the rig though. Any other thoughts? On another note, the manual shows that there are supposed to be 2 drain valves on this rig for freshwater, but I only find the one. Sounds from the above post that I can remove the ring on the top of the valve and push the assembly through the drain hose. I assume that it will simply fall out on the ground?

Bought the lenses at the above link. Found that they have the amber tail light lens as well.

Ok - so I finally got a chance to investigate this further. See the attached image. Light appears when you press on the top curved portion of the cabover. It does not appear when pressing on the sidewall. We had a horrible wind and rain storm over the past few days and no water enters the coach.

Buying a used rig always brings surprises. I'm very impressed by the efforts the prior owner of my 1991 Winnebago Warrior did to keep the exterior and interior in good shape, joints caulked, and appliances in working order. For the Toyota portion, a bit less so. I'm going through the normal behavior of replacing all vital fluids so that I know the history going forward. (still debating about the ATF). For coolant, the rig just had rusty water. As a result, I did a double flush and installed the proper coolant. This makes one wonder if there have been overheating issues, perhaps as simple as a radiator cap (is the original one) that isn't holding pressure. Thus far while under load, no overheating issues have been observed, but it's also not very hot out yet. I've got an e-mail over to the prior owner to get a better sense of his other maintenance efforts to determine my "punch down list" of what to focus on while I prep this to assure a reliable rig for summer travel.

I've added this diagram to the files section.

These folks by the way also have replacement lenses or clearance lights for the Winnebago or Itasca in red or amber. http://www.rvpartsoutlet.com/product_info.php?products_id=7478 (Miro-Flex 348)

On my 91 Winnebago Warrior, I'm amazed to see how easily water leaks behind the 3 lenses (turn signal, brake, reverse) When I remove the lens, there is no rubber gasket. Of course the bulb socket gets rusty as a result. My temporary fix to protect the socket and bulb was to coat them with di-electric grease. What are others using for a more permanent solution? I'm not a fan of using caulk because it probably will be next to impossible to remove the lenses. As an aside, I see that RV Parts Outlet has what looks like could be a replacement setup, although I would lose the amber signal portion for red only. http://www.rvpartsoutlet.com/product_info.php?products_id=8781 Any tips for gasket material or ??

Ok - so I have the answer. The storage location I am at has high voltage transmission lines that go overhead of the facility. These are creating a static charge in the air that transmits onto the body of the RV. If move it to a different location, the problem goes away. If I return, the problem always comes back. Placing a volt meter on the metal causes an erratic reading of 100+ volts in this location. I found that another RV nearby exhibits the same issue, but to a much lesser degree. Perhaps the combo of metal roof and fiberglass sides on the rig makes it much worse than the other rig.

Of course that doesn't mean that there might be an AC item still causing the issue (mircowave?). I'll do some more tests.

Excellent tips about shore power. Thanks. The "stumper" here is that this is happening when I am not connected to shore power.

Excellent tips about shore power. Thanks. The "stumper" here is that this is happening when I am not connected to shore power.

Oh - and this isn't just static electricity.

Great questions. In this case, I haven't yet put my volt meter to test it. (working for a living gets in the way of my "fun" time...) In this case, interestingly it literally is a "shock" felt when touching exposed metal, such as a chip in the paint or on the RV frame. This is what makes it unlikely that it is just 12 volts that I am feeling as the natural ohms resistance of the human body would make a 12 volt charge largely not noticeable. Ever stuck your tongue on a 9-volt battery as a kid to feel that it is "charged"? That is about what the feeling is to the finger's touch. It certainly does not feel like standard 110/120v household current which I have felt before (not on purpose of course). In talking to an electrician, he thinks that the voltage I am feeling is likely much higher than 12 volts, especially when you consider I am feeling this shock due to the circuit being completed between my feet (on the ground) and touching the RV. A few thoughts might be a capacitor in the RV electronics or vehicle that is not properly discharging and is grounded against the body. Perhaps a malfunctioning engine coil? All are simple guesses that I will have to explore through the process of elimination. The best way that I figure I would have to measure it is to drive a ground stake and touch the volt meter between the stake and the RV chassis. It's obviously something that I have to figure out, especially when one considers that RVs carry around propane and such. I know that this seems kind of like folklore and I've not experienced it on any vehicle (have had dead shorts in the past which were different), but it genuinely is an issue that I need to solve. The NIOSH states "Under dry conditions, the resistance offered by the human body may be as high as 100,000 Ohms. Wet or broken skin may drop the body's resistance to 1,000 Ohms," adding that "high-voltage electrical energy quickly breaks down human skin, reducing the human body's resistance to 500 Ohms."