mobilehippo

1500 is a lot of money... I am glad you were able to figure out the pricing though because I needed to paint mine pink and was considering having it plasti-dip so that it would be temporary. Instead I jumped the gun on just air spraying the whole thing which cost me about 500 dollars. Way cheaper...... it's permanent but it looks way better than it did before so I am quite proud of her......

I've heard so many people advertise these Toy get 20mpg on craigslist. I guess that is just fantasy right? I think mine gets about 13-15mpg. Mine has a performance carburetor which I've heard drops the mpg quite some but has anyone ever got 20mpg?

Hi, I plugged in my 78 Odyssey into house power and I disconnected my deep cycle battery (to prevent overcharging). Then I turned off all the lights and the only thing running inside was the mini fridge. I went into the house for the rest of the day and when coming out at night, I discovered the lights in the RV were on. Then after being on for a few, they all turned off. Thinking I might have gotten a drifter living inside, I checked to see what was happening. I tested the lights, they turned on and off. And there was no strangers living inside. Has anyone experienced this before? Lights turning on and off by themselves? Thanks!!

If you're living in a backyard here are a few things you should consider. You don't need to go to a campground to dump your black water. Actually some campgrounds don't even have a place for your black water just gray water. You can find a dumping station in most towns, that are just specific for dumping. I had figured this out thinking I would camp somewhere to dump the water. Ends up I couldn't dump there anyway. It happened more than once. Depending how cold, you'll need to prepare your RV for it. If it's cold, you'll need to think about dealing with freezing of your water either in the pipes or in your tanks. You might need to do some winterizing and you can read about full timers who use the RV during the winter. They usually dump windex or RV antifreeze into the toilet after use to prevent freezing. They might also use RV antifreeze in the pipes and go with bottled water source. I dunno guess you can test a few things once you get the RV. Also if you plug it in, it'll solve a lot of your problems and make your life more convenient. If your in a backyard just run a line in. If you plan to shower or stove and all that then you probably will have to take the RV out to use for the hot water heater, etc. Mine use propane not sure if they have electric versions. But once you get electricity, running toaster and microwave will be simple. My two cents is Toyotas get good gas mileage if you do plan to drive it around and it has good resale value if you plan to resell it after you get yourself settled down. Getting a large RV might actually be way cheaper in some ways but.. I see 5th wheelers and Dodges, a dime a dozen.. not sure how well they sell....

I've been reading about the camperForce team. Which location are you working at? I've heard bad things about the NV facility.

I really appreciate the responses. How would I use compressed air to blow the water out of the pipes? I have a pretty old RV and there is a hose line and a drip line on the side but that's it. Should I try to blow some air through the hose line? Thanks so much!

I painted mine as well..... The owner before roll painted it and it was not a very good job and painted over the trims. It looks fine from a far but it leaves weird textures on the body. I had to spend a lot of time prepping her for the new coat.... All together it'll cost about 300-500 dollars to do it... that's with prep material. I just used single coat car enamel paint from the store... and you need to get the catalyst and hardener... Definitely recommend doing it during mild weather...

Hello, So it's getting pretty cold here in the Northwest. This is this pretty newbie question here as this is my first winter. I got a plastic tarp with the RV. Should I wrap my RV for the winter? There are no leaks in the RV but I can't fit her under the carport so she doesn't get any cover for the winter. Is covering her for the winter necessary? Then, I have dumped RV anti-freeze into the grey and black water tanks that I've emptied. I've pumped all the water out of the fresh water system and drained my hot water tank. Now, is it that necessary to run the RV anti-freeze through the fresh water system. It says bypass my hot water tank and run the antifreeze through the fresh water tank on the instructions. I don't know how I feel having that kind of toxins in the fresh water system. It seems like not something I would like drink out of in the spring. Would like to hear how people are winterizing to get a better idea on what I should do. Thanks!

If you get a 4 cyl you'll be looking at an RV that's about 30 years old. Mine is 35 years old with 4cyl 20r engine. The 5cyl I believe are the 22r. Anyway in good news you're looking at a much cheaper RV, easily under 4k but you'll be missing some of the amenities that the newer ones have. Like mine doesn't have a generator or a cabin AC. Also some of the appliances might not be working. Like my furnace isn't working but it's a death trap apparently. Also my fridge was replaced with a non propane one. Also these older ones won't have the 6 lug axle unless it was replaced but if the rig is under 18/19 feet you'll probably be fine. Anyway if you are looking at one this old definitely look at the rust and water damage if it has any. The engine is a beasts but you'll be looking at replacing things here and there under the hood cause its old.

Thanks for the replies! I'll see to it to invest in one of the tender chargers. I plug it in for half an hour seemed to have helped the charge a lot but in the long run probably need to invest in a trickle down charger.

Me and Lola (Odyssey '78) are out in east Oregon.

Hello, I have an old 78 Odyssey. The deep cycle battery is running low on charge and I don't take the girl out frequently enough for it to take a slow charge from me driving her. I want to plug it into the wall power from my house. I do not have anything fancy to tell you when the battery is charged or the percentage. How long should I charge it on the wall? Or should I even be charging it on the wall. The previous owner told me that the battery can overheat if I keep it too long on wall power. I've heard things not to leave deep cycle batteries drained and to power them up once they get low. But I do not know much about plugging the RV into the house power to charge up the deep cycle. Any help would be great!

Well that's the thing. When I jumpwire the horn, use alt wire, from horn + to battery +. The horn works when the button is pressed. This is with keeping the original ground wire from the horn. However, when I use the original + wire to the horn, the horn doesn't work, even though the voltmeter says there is 12v of electricity running through it.

Hi fred, So I tried a bunch of things and now have ran into something very strange. So I jumpwired the horn to the positive of the battery and the horn. The horn works this way. Then I tested the car positive wire to the horn for electricity. The voltmeter reads 12v. So the car wire going to the horn is actually working cause power is running through it. But for some reason when I hook it to the horn, the horn doesn't work. It doesn't make any sense why electricity is reading from the wire but when connected to the horn wont blow. I took a picture of the positive wire. It has this brown cap on it. When I touch the voltmeter onto the metal it reads 12v. Can't tell whats wrong with this thing. My next guess is to change the caps but there is also this tiny blue box on the wire and don't know what that is for. Thanks for all the help!

Hi Fred, Thanks so much for the help. Just checked the horn on a 12v battery, it works. Look under the steering wheel and the connections look good. Tried to put the feed wire on the metal steering column but the horn won't blow. It is definitely something to do with the wiring. I am not looking forward to opening her up to get to wires.....

Hmm this is very helpful. I have a 1978 chassis even though it says 79 on the title. I've checked the brake light fuse, looks good and the brake light works. So that's out of the question. Not sure if there is a relay but maybe I will have to open up the steering wheel and see if there is any lose connections there. I'll keep working on it. Thanks for the help!

Hi fred heath, I was able to locate the horn and used a voltmeter to see if there is any electricity going through it. Looks like there isn't. There is a fuse box under the dashboard of the driver seat that has a box of fuses but none for Horn. Do you know where that might be? Is it in the steering wheel? Thanks for all the help!

Hahaha, yes that might have been but I doubt it.....

Hi! I found out my horn is not working but I opened the hood and I can't find where it is. It's usually pretty visible in other cars because it actually has a horn but in 1979 Odyssey, have no idea? Not sure why it's working... might be electrical? Or I dunno if these even uses fuses? That might have gone. Any one who can point me in the right direction would be really helpful! Thanks!

Yeah the top bunk cushion. I did read that one just uses a D shaped plywood over it. That I guess is the route I'm going with...

What about the top cushion that goes above the driver seat? Mine didn't come with one but I'm afraid it's going to be deathly expensive.. so expensive I just want to use a piece of plywood...

Yeah I don't see any trap door or glass window...... Do you know if I have to hold down the piezo switch or should that one spark light the pilot? Thanks again for all the help!

My guess is this because someone else posted in a yahoo group with the same model rv. It's definitely Hydroflame. I think HF7712 is the model number. Thanks!

Thanks for all the responses. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a PDF on instructions for the vintage furnace. It's pretty old. Though the owner did say it worked who I bought it from. I wish I could see where i would light the pilot. I do indeed have the Piezo switch as indicated. Would anybody be able to help me figure where I could manual light it with a match? I included some more pictures.

Hi, I'm trying to trouble shoot my heater furnace of my 1979 Toyota Odyssey. This propane heater furnace is pretty old but maybe someone with an old model might be able to help me. I've included some pictures. So I've tried different combinations of things. I am not sure whether I'm doing the procedure wrong or if maybe something is broken. I turn on the propane. I know this works because the stove and hot water heater work fine.The heater has a red knob with Off, Pilot and then On. I put the red knob to Pilot. Then there is a switch to ignite the pilot. I press that down, I hear the click and let go. I can't hear any gas coming through at this point and of course when I go to On it definitely doesn't work. Then I tried this again but this time I held the Ignite switch compressed for about a minute. Still I don't hear anything. Then I tried this combination, I turn the thermostat to high, till I hear the fan. I read somewhere about a sail switch. Then I turn red knob to Pilot, Then I switch on the ignite. This also doesn't work cause it wont activate. I might be hearing the propane running but with the fan blowing I dunno if the pilot can stay lit. It doesn't make much sense but I never used one of these before. I have a theory either my switch to ignite might be broken or I'm really just not holding it down long enough. I had to hold the pilot button down on the hot water heater for a good 4-5 minutes to keep it lit. What is the right procedure? Thanks!!