mustrmrk

I'm in the process of with an oil leak from the timing chain cover. One of the bolts had worked itself loose and I was losing about 1/2 qt. every 400 or so miles. It sprayed all over the underside and passenger side of the engine. A big mess. I tightened the bolt a bit and the leak decreased, but I'm going to have to replace the gasket pretty soon. It was really hard to find, tucked in behind the A/C compressor mount. Thought it was the oil pan, at first.

I just looked at all 4 cams offered by Comp Cams for the 22re and they all show 0.01 for both intake and exhaust. Guess that pretty much answers my question. http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/cam-specs/cam-search-results.aspx?sc=71&sm=By%20Engine%20Family

My Escaper came with the Comp Cams RV cam. I emailed Comp Cams to see if they use the standard 0.008 and 0.012 clearance and was told to use 0.010 and 0.010. Does anyone else have this same cam and, if so, do these clearances make sense? Never having done any performance stuff, I really don't know if an RV cam should or shouldn't have the same clearance specs as factory.

Excellent. Thanks for the info and the testimonial. I'll be ordering a pair.

Has anyone installed these? http://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19781 If so, how did your installation go? How are they holding up? Would you buy them again or go with another manufacturer?

Very cool! I used to have an old flathead 4 cyl. Oliver Cleatrack crawler - no steering wheel - just two hand brakes and a clutch. The little thing was awesome in the woods hauling logs for firewood. Used it to bush hog my apple orchard in the mountains of VA. The PTO was hard-geared, so I had to get a special overrunning clutch for the PTO shaft - w/o that, the bush hog spinning would keep the transmission turning and keep pushing the crawler forward even with the clutch in. Great, reliable piece of equipment, Another thing to check on a poorly running 22re - the cable connector that connects to the mass air flow meter. Sometimes mine runs like a dog w/ no power, esp. at low RPMs. Sometimes, once it reaches a highish RPM, it suddenly kicks in w/ loads of power. In either event, I have, in the past, "exercised" the connection and temporarily made it run better. I need to replace that connector, though - I've cleaned the connections several times, but I think the terminations are just about out of springiness, so they don't make as reliable a connection as they used to. One last thing I just recently ran into - sometimes in rainy weather it would start running badly - missing, low power. Sometimes exercising the MAF connection would fix it, sometimes it wouldn't. A few weeks ago I decided to change the plugs, wires, cap & rotor and with almost no pressure the coil wire came off the dist cap. w/o the terminal on the end. Sometimes the problem is really not complex at all...

You may very well be correct. I hadn't really thought about it. The Kyocera 120 watt panel has the following specs: Maximum Power: 120 watts Maximum Power Voltage: 16.9 volts Maximum Power Current: 7.10 amps Open Circuit Voltage: 21.5 Voc Short-circuit Current: 7.45 amps So at best-case maximum output I should never see more than 14.2 from the two panels - and that's with no losses. The "15.2" amps I saw was on the solar controller. It's a BZ250 MPPT, and not very well thought of in the industry. Just this morning I was looking at my Link 10 battery meter and noticed that it said there were 3.4 amps going in. This includes the 0.5a load from the inverter at rest and no other loads, for a total of 3.9 amps. However, the BZ controller was reading 4.5 amps in - that's 0.6 amps over my trusty Link 10. I'll have to keep an eye on things to see what I'm really getting. All this being said, we've kept everything cold, had loads of room in the fridge, and not been plugged in for about 3 weeks so far.

Preliminary results are in. We've just spent a week running the refrigeration on solar panels only. Granted, we've had nice weather, but the panels have had no trouble fully recharging the house batteries during the day. With the solar panels putting out nothing, we've been using about 40-45a per 24 hours. After about 50-60 hours, the inverter starts to complain about low voltage at start time only. So, not wanting to draw the house bank down below 50%, we figure we have about 2 days w/ no charging. With the solar panels, however, as long as it's not cloudy for longer than 48 hours, we're in good shape. At noon on a sunny day I've seen over 15 amps going into the batteries from our two 120w panels. We're very happy with the way things have worked out so far.

I just looked at the Escaper spec sheet and it does, indeed, list a 17.2 gallon tank as standard. Guess I need to check into this a bit further. At any rate, however, we've come too close to running out several times and I'm just not comfortable with the limited range we currently have. Our Escaper has a big void under the stern - I assume it's where the spare went originally, but now it's external above the rear bumper. I wonder if anyone has added an extra tank up under there? We're hoping to get up to Alaska next year and maybe head down to South America one of these days, too. Any additional range we can add would be a big plus. Having lived w/ jerry cans full of diesel on the deck of my sailboat for years, I'd like to have a better solution than jugs of gasoline on the rear bumper.

What a dumb a - -. The wiring diagram in my 2" thick 1987 Pickup Service Manual from Toyota shows blocks containing "Fuse - 7.5a Charging" and "Fuse - 15a Engine" right next to each other. Knowing the charging fuse was in the black fuse box under the hood, I assumed that the 15a fuse just below it was the engine fuse. With a freshly rebooted brain this morning, I searched for and found a photo of the label that's missing from my under-the-hood black fuse box. It said the 15a fuse was for the flashers. So I pop the fuse out, try the flashers, nothing, put the fuse back in, and the flashers work, confirming the photo. Sheesh. Having already tested all the other fuses and circuit breakers I could find under the hood, on a lark I looked under the dash on the driver's side. There, marked as plain as day, was one labeled "Engine", eliciting a great big Homer Simpson style "DOH!" along with several other phrases pulled from my "Appropriate Word Toolbox". Changed the fuse and everything, including the isolator, works as expected. I'm charging both the start and house batteries now. My apologies for wasting anyone's time..

Roger, roger. Or should I say "Rogah, rogah"? Can I put 12v on the IG (the E terminal) wire to see if the alternator pulls down w/o hurting anything? The red IG red wire comes out of a connector to a triple-tap riveted crimp-on terminal. One side goes to the alternator and the other goes to the E terminal on the isolator. Took the connector apart and tested the source side for voltage to ground w/ engine running - nope. Pulled the 7.5a charge fuse and neither side of the socket was hot w/ the engine running. The fusible links all show continuity and voltage at both sides. However, it seems to me that the problem is before the fuse - whatever supplies 12v to the line side the 7.5a fuse socket would appear to be where the problem is. I'll take another whack at it in the AM. BTW - thanks for all your help.

I pulled the alternator and it bench tested okay. Now I have to get it back in there and look for what else is wrong. Sigh. Anyone know the best way to bench test a 4 stud diode type isolator? I know A comes from the alternator, 1 & 2 go to the respective batteries, and E goes to the alternator's ignition wire. I tested across all studs w/ my multimeter in "diode" mode but had nothing but open circuits. Does the E wire have to be energized for the isolator to work? Another thing I found is that the wire connected to the E terminal is not energized when the key is in run position. The engine fuse and all the fusible links checked out okay, so now I need to figure out why the IG wire isn't energizing. And the O/D light isn't coming on, either, with the engine running. According to my schematics, they're on the same circuit. The charge fuse is good, but w/ the key on, neither side of the charge fuse socket has 12v. Is it possible that the short damaged the ignition switch?

Yep, must have missed that one. But I wouldn't call it a failure, yet. Just not quite the raging financial success I was hoping for <g>. Once I have it all up and running for a bit I'll post some "real world" numbers.

The new 2kw inverter works great. I bought a Xantrex PROwatt SW 2000 from Hodges Marine and it arrived the next day! Awesome service. I bought a chartpotter and VHF radio from them a few year back and was happy then, too. Unfortunately, the weak Walmart marine battery that came w/ the bus can't run the fridge for more than an overnight, at best. W/ a full charge, after I run about 20 amps out of it, I'm down to 12.2v and, when the fridge pulls in, it drops to 11.5. I was pretty spoiled by the 6 Trojan T-105s I had for a house bank on the boat (675 amps total), but there's no way I'm adding that weight. I'm going to replace the group 29 marine battery w/ 2 deep cycle 6 volt golf cart batteries. Way more bottom end "oomph" to handle the 13a load when the fridge is running. Consumption: still looking at about 5 mins every hour for a total of 26 ah/day. Inverter draws about 0.4-0.5a at rest, so add another 12 ah/day for a total of 38 ah / day, or about 10 ah/day less than the fridge on the boat. Unfortunately, the cost of this project is growing into something more than I'd hoped for, initially. Still less than the cost of a new 12v / 120v / propane fridge big enough to suit my wife, but not by nearly as much as I'd hoped. On the other hand, if I ever need to replace the fridge all the infrastructure will be in place to do it for the cost of a used Craigslist freezer. At least it's been fun. More when I get the batteries in.

Got it. Does anyone know if I can do a full field test on the alternator to check that it works? Basically, depending on the type of alternator, you either put 12v or a good ground onto the field terminal of the alternator to force it into full output. If it doesn't pull down and start generating, it's the alternator. If it does, it's likely the external regulator. I had to do this on my 120A Balmar alternator on my boat once (the +12v version) and it worked like a charm.

Yeah, been doing more testing. Both battery terminals on the isolator show voltage appropriate for the charge state of each battery - house on charger shows 13.2, engine shows 12.5. Field wire to alt has been spliced into to feed what i assume to be the the E terminal on the isolator - haven't changed anything and it was working properly, so I guess that's been wired correctly. And the voltage at the alternator output is the same - 12.5. Can I put 12v on the field terminal to run a brief full field test to see if the alternator kicks in? Not sure how to test isolator w/o output from alternator. Maybe disc. all wires, put battery on A term and look for voltage on 1 & 2? Isolator is probably solid state - it has fins.

On a related note, I just found the following link that actually makes sense to me. It's for a Bosch alternator on a Porsce 914, but I expect much of the theory is the same. Does anyone know if the 87 Toyota uses the warning light to excite the field in a similar fashion? http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/914_alternator_troubleshoot/914_alternator_troubleshoot.htm

Oops. I made a bad mistake - one I know better than to do. I assumed black would be negative and red would be positive. Someone before me wired a connection to the house battery w/ a black positive. I was messing around w/ my battery and inverter and managed to reconnect it to the neg. side of the battery. I know, I know... House lights didn't work so I started testing and found the problem. Fixed and all is well - at least on the house side. After I got it all working properly, I decided to test voltage at the inverter w/ the engine running. I started the engine but the charge light didn't go out. I have 12.2v across the starting battery posts w/ the engine running. I checked all the fuses and the fusible links in the black fuse box to the left of the engine (facing the engine) and everything checks out fine. I am wondering what a dead short on the house side of the isolator could have burned out on the engine side of the isolator that would keep the alternater from charging, It's an 87 w/ 22RE and AOD trans. Got any thoughts or suggestions? Other than "don't do stupid stuff like that again", I mean...

Yeah, I followed what seemed to be a pretty informed thread on Northern Arizona Wind & Sun's forum - something about "600w inverter won't start 1.2a fridge". One guy mentioned those huge capacitors, but everyone sort of poo-pooed it. The general consensus was "capacitors might help decrease the surge time, and might help it get started, but don't hold out a lot of hope". One intriguing idea I'd like to look into further was to install a couple of automatic (10 sec delay) valves between high and low pressure lines such that the compressor starts unloaded, then after 10 secs, begins actually compressing. Apparently that's how they do the "big stuff". Makes sense to me, but may well not be worth the cost. I'll be looking into this a bit more tomorrow. At this point, unfortunately, it seems my most cost-effective option is to upgrade my inverter to the 1500 - 2000 watt range to insure the compressor will start reliably. Yuck.

Yeah, it's bigger than we need, for sure - certainly bigger than our fridge on the boat. It just happened to be the smallest chest freezer I could find locally on Craigslist when I was looking for one, so I have this one by default. It looked a lot smaller before we put it in the RV <g>. And after 8 years of live aboard cruising from Maine to Panama we actually do have a pretty good handle on what we need vs. what we want to keep in a fridge. This is more a bit of an exercise in cheapness to see how inexpensively I can replace our fridge.

I'm a bit disappointed in my system to date. The starting load on the compressor is way above what I initially counted on. The 600w / 1000w surge inverter I have will run the chest fridge about one start out of three - the other two trip the inverter into overload. I bought a Supco 3 in 1 Hard Start capacitor and relay, but, when I opened the access to the compressor, the wiring is not what I expected to see. There's a capacitor already in the circuit and I can't tell if it's a start or run cap. And, of course, I can't find a wiring diagram to verify my guesses. Frigidaire / Electrolux don't even have my model listed. So I'm a bit frustrated. It looks like I may need to upgrade my inverter to the the thing to run reliably. On a good note, it does seem to be very efficient as a fridge. If I can get it to run reliably on 12vdc I' ll post some real life results.

We just ran out of gas yesterday in our 1987 Escaper. Got roadside service to bring us 2 gal., then drove 5 miles to a gas station, and topped it up w/ 13.2 gallons. So, assuming we used 1/3 of a gallon getting the engine started and getting to the gas station, we can fit about 14.9 gallons in our tank. So my guess would be that we either have the 14.5 gal. tank or we have a 17 gal tank of which only 14.5 gallons are usable. Either way, I'd like to get a bit more range without having to carry jerry jugs. Has anyone found a source for a larger or an auxiliary tank, yet?

We just took a short trip and left the freezer / chest fridge running w/ a watt meter on it while we were gone. It used 860 watts in the course of 56 hours to maintain 35-40 deg F. By my math, at 12 volts that works out to 15.357 amps per day or an average draw of 1.28 amps per hour. Assuming the inverter has a parasitic load of, arbitrarily, .72 amps, the total comes out to 24 amp hours per day. By comparison, the Adler Barbour fridge on my boat uses about 40 amp hours per day during average use. Of course, the door was not opened at all for those 56 hours, so this will be a "best case" scenario. However, since the chest fridge spills so little cold air when opened, I am guardedly optimistic that this just might work out well. I'll post more "real life" results once I get the solar panels on, the fridge mounted, the inverter wired, etc., etc., hopefully within a couple of weeks.

Wow - sounds like the system was designed more by the marketing people than by engineers. On a related note, when I measured the startup load on my little freezer I only saw about 2x the running load, e.g. 2.8A max starting vs. 1.2 - 1.4A running on 120vac. This is using a "Kill-A-Watt" plug in digital load meter, so I may well not be seeing a really brief surge greater than that. Most AC motors draw between 3x and 7x running load at startup. There doesn't seem to be a "display highest value" on the Kill-A-Watt like there is on my Fluke multimeter. Unfortunately, I don't have the $190 clamp on ammeter accessory. Hmm... maybe I could just insert a shunt so I can use my Fluke, instead. I'll have to think about that some more. jdemaris - one other question - how did you physically secure your Sundanzer in your motorhome? I've been running a few ideas around but haven't come up w/ anything I'm really happy with, yet. I'd rather not have a flying fridge land on me in an accident...

Bought a used 2-yr old Frigidaire 5.2 cu. ft. freezer for $90. At it's lowest setting over the past 25 hours it has used 0.83 kw including warm start and has maintained between 10 and -17 deg F including about 10-15 door openings. If my math is correct, and excluding expected inverter losses, this translates to about 2.76 amps per hour at 12v, or about 66 amp hours per day. Adding in another 14 amp hours per day for (guesstimate) inverter inefficiency and parasitic loss while in standby mode brings it up to a whopping 80 amp hours per day at 12vdc. Not too impressive, but then again, I won't be running this as a freezer, either. I expect to receive my external thermostat tomorrow and will post again after I've run the thing at between 35 and 40 deg F for a while.