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1980 Toyota Dolphin


Terri

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So just purchased this home really cute! Haven’t been driven in 3 yrs tho according to prior owner.. So, I know I’ll need lot of service work done. Where do I begin? How do I find a good mechanic that know how to work on this type of vehicle? 

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It's like buying a house AND a car at the same time.  

You'll save a lot of money if you yourself identify what you need and take it one step at a time.

My recommendation is to start with the "car" part.  It will probably need at the very least:  A battery, all fluids changed, tires (look for the code to see how old they are, in case they look good they may be old and dry-rotted), belts, brakes, coolant, spark plugs, wires, air filter, all that stuff.  For that, treat it like a car and just have someone handy look into it and buy parts for a 1980 Toyota truck (there is no need to buy "special" RV parts at this point).  

I'd start with the car because once your RV is mobile, you can take it wherever it needs to go to get stuff fixed, it will make it easier if you can drive it safely.

Once it drives, stops, runs, does not overheat, and works as a "proper" car, then tackle the "house" part.  You should have some safety stuff at the ready, like a fire extinguisher (if you don't need it now, hopefully, you will want to have it with you anyway).

Start by identifying everything that pertains to that: Refrigerator, furnace, stove, LP tank, water heater, fans, AC, water tanks, faucets, etc...  Try to turn EVERYTHING on (but not at the same time), to see if it works or not.  Smell around, especially for gas, rot, "electrical" smells, anything weird.  Point your nose to where the smell may be coming from and take appropriate action.  You'll likely need a deep-cycle battery to test some of this stuff out, be very careful working around electricity, AC or DC (but especially AC).  Plug it in to an AC outlet at some point and see what happens, be careful as you do all this.

Fill the water tanks, LP (very careful with this), and try running what works (faucets, toilet, etc...) and note any leaks.

You'll need make a list of everything.  My recommendation is that you use your smartphone's "notes" application (rather than paper) to make a note of everything and ADD pictures of stuff, and especially write down numbers of items that you see, they will help you find stuff on the internet by looking by part numbers.

Then tackle one thing at a time, come to the forum, search for what you may need help (example: "toilet smell", or "coach battery", things like that), and if you don't find and answer, post specific stuff and people will help... a lot!

That's my 2-cents worth of advice, but just for today, it's completely FREE!

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