[qcj]

I have an appointment with Newell the Monday before our gathering in Ark. to check the gaps on my slides along a few other things such as air bags, etc. It seems that the gap at the bottom of both slides are much lower than at the top. They are almost touching the body. Mike at Newell said they would check the plastic inserts that they ride on for wear. Has anyone else had this problem?

[RussWhite]

Chappel - Please update this thread with the results from you trip to the factory. I am having slide issues and one of the plastic inserts just fell from the bay ceiling when I removed some panels to look in there. Maybe after I hear from you I will know how much to save in my piggy bank!

Russ

[qcj]

Russ, I hear what you are saying. I don't know weather or not they have to pull the slide out to repair this. Will let you know.
I now have another problem which I am having repaired now here in Nacogdoches by my diesel guy. I keep having coolant leaks around the hoses and the hoses are in good condition and clamps are tight. So I took it to Bernd. He took one look at it and said there was way too much pressure and has seen it before on several Prevost and trucks. The problem is more on 96-99 DD engines(my 99 has a 97 engine). The head gasket shrinks and the head needs to be retorqued. He said he has done about a dozen and after they have been retorqued it takes care of the problem of 95% of them. Said he has seen some where some of the bolts were loose enough that they could be turned by hand.
So I told Bernd since we are going to this much work lets just change the hoses and the coolant. I do not know when the last time the coolant was changed. I ask him if coolant ever got into the oil. Most of the time it didn't but would check on that. I pulled the oil stick and it looked fine to me, but he said there was other way to check on it. Anyway I pulled the carpet so he could get to the engine.
This is all very disturbing to me and I told him that. He said don't worry about it, it is just maintenance and it will all be fixed. Yes, but it doesn't make me feel any better as of right now.
Talked to Roger Berke this morning and he is leaving today after being here almost 3 weeks. He had a list a mile long he gave Bernd and Roger said he set aside 3 weeks. They had that Foretravel in a hundred pieces. He had all his air bags replace and radiator repaired and a number of other things done. Roger just kept on working mailing out AH parts everyday. Didn't bother him at all. He is a great guy. Said it is too hot down here and is heading north.

[rheavn]

Chappell,
Did you have the valves and the Jake adjusted while they retorqued the head bolts?

[qcj]

Steve, the valves and jakes was done a little over a year ago. I wished he had checked a head torque at that time. I guess if not broken don't fix it. I still don't understand all of this and I have to trust Bernd. He is well known and used a lot. Always several MH there and nice ones, Prevost and such. A nice Wanderlodge pulled in as I was leaving.

Last week I drove from Motor Homes of Texas, about 5 miles, after they installed window awnings for me and when I got to storage I was dripping a lot of coolant. This morning when I got to Bernd's place I lost at least a gallon of coolant when they pulled my coach into the bay. It was leaking between the hose and the steel pipe. Bernd felt the rubber hose and said way too much pressure, more than likely the head has lost its torque.

This is all beyond me and I have to trust his judgement. He also has a good crew working for him. They do not mind getting dirty. One of them was under my coach the minute it was pulled in looking for the leak.

I also ordered four of the black handle cut offs that go to the AH and to the front heater. I'm having them replace them also. I'm tired of fooling around and want this coolant fixed once and for all.

[rheavn]

I asked because Newell retorqued my head bolts when they did the valve & Jake adjust. I too didn't think of asking them to retorque the head bolts, I'm just glad they did now that I hear your story.

[qcj]

Steve, doing this is not a big thing on a truck, but a MH it is. The floor is the problem, but it did not take me but about 5 minutes to get the carper up. I let them take the four bolts out and there it is.

[rheavn]

With a bath & 1/2 it took 4 hrs labor just to get access. Good luck in getting your issues fixed and look forward to seeing you & Mary at the rally.

[encantotom]

last summer i had leaking at the back upper radiator hose. i replaced all the hoses, used 3 constant pressure high end clamps and it fixed it.

i will be interested to know how the head bolt tightening goes

tom

[Richard]

Chappell,

Hang on a sec. Not that I distrust your mechanic, and he may have data you haven't included. Yes, DD later replaced the head bolts with different ones made of a higher strength steel. By all means if you go to the trouble of "torquing" the head bolts insist that you get the new ones.

Now, I could have totally misunderstood, but essentially what your mechanic is telling you is that exhaust gas is escaping into the coolant system and pressurizing it. If that is so, you will see two things. One the coolant will have black residue floating on top of it from the exhaust gas, and two you should be bubbling at the overflow tank unless you have put a high pressure radiator cap on.

If indeed you are pressuring the coolant from the engine, there are three ways I know of to do this and a leaking head is one. The second is a cracked head or cylinder liner, and the third is the air compressor can be leaking by. You may have joined the gang after I experienced pressurized coolant due to a cracked cylinder liner. I went through all kinds of diagnostics before tearing into the engine.

Your mechanic should be able to install a radiator cap that reads the system pressure. I wouldn't touch anything until I saw that. Feeling of a hose is not enough data for me. Second, with the engine cold, drain about a pint of oil into a crystal clear container. Let it sit overnight. coolant is heavier than oil and it will separate to the bottom. Turn the container gently so that it is slightly tilted to collect all the coolant into a bottom low point. Hold it up to the light. If there is coolant in the oil, you can see it. It you have that, tightening head bolts is not going to help for very long.

You can check the air compressor theory by simply disconnecting the big discharge air hose at the compressor and running the engine. If you had coolant system pressure before, and it goes away then you found the problem.

If I read you correctly, you said you lost about a gallon in a short drive. Can you confirm that?

Other things to consider in general, any time the head bolts are touched, the valves, injectors, and jakes have to be adjusted. No exceptions.

Call me at 817 223 2056 if you want to talk about this.