Mary & Glenn

When we bought our 2000 Dynasty in 2013 the fuel gauge didn't work. The spedo would vary some initially and it progressively got worse to the point that it is a joke. Also, whoever at Monaco designed the dashboard, at least for the 2000 model year, never bothered to sit behind the wheel and attempt to look at the gauges. They are almost impossible to see without leaning forward. I solved the problem right away by installing a Silverleaf interface to the CAN interface of the engine and transmission and put a small laptop in a spot that doesn't impair my view but gives me everything I need to know from the dash and a whole lot more. It is a bit of a project to determine what is best for situation to place the laptop but well worth the effort. This is an old picture to show the install. My laptop gauge setup is quite a bit different now.

I'm surprised no one suggested a switch to Coleman Mack. From what I understand from speaking with Van, they are used in many of the higher end coaches. I also believe they are much quieter than the other manufacturers. I know my Duotherm's are really loud but they are also 20 years old. I though about replacing mine when I got home last month from a road trip to WI and MI to visit family but we rarely go places that we need AC and they work well enough still.

I should add that Roger Berke has been very helpful in the past too. Between both of these resources and not being afraid to get your hands dirty (literally... clean the combustion chamber and change the fuel nozzle and filter on a regular basis) you can keep your A-H unit running it top condition.

John Carrillo is also another super knowledgeable AquaHot repair guy. He used to work for A-H and then opened his own repair business. A-H now contracts out repair work to him. He is happy to talk to you on the phone and has a good inventory of parts too. He's been a big help to me in the past. (970) 518-3085 www.heatmyrv.com.

On 7/24/2021 at 5:03 PM, mandms59 said:

Glenn,  we are on a timeline due to reservation availability in CO & NM in Sept.  we are staying at USAFA Family camp for 14 days and will be taking a few day trips to include Garden of the Gods/ Royal Gorge railway trip  ( Was happy to see Ray Davis endorse the ride above) and a few other biking excursions while there.  

We will keep your trip routing highlights/suggestions handy for our next stop through as we have friends in Denver area we visit (Lived in Arvada for 2 yrs before I retired from construction management and we started FT in Mar 2020).

 

R/ Mark

Mark, Glad to hear you were able to get a spot to camp at USAFA and thank you for your service to our great nation! Our son is a graduate of the Academy and after flying C130's he ended up returning to the Academy in an administrative role. It is a great place to visit and if you like to hike the mountains there are some great hikes from the Academy grounds, the Stanley Canyon trail up to Stanley Lake is a favorite.

Enjoy your travels around CO! Glenn

The best part about the DIY mindset is you continually learn new skills and information. I have always pursued this mindset because when I do pay someone else to do a job I typically regret it and feel that I could have done the job myself at a lower cost and often times a higher quality end result.

This effort did not end with success in getting the AC working. It turned out that the vacuum pump loaner from O'Reilly Auto Parts was broken but that was determined only after 2 trips to my small town hardware store to try to fix it. On top of that I only realized once I dug into the whole process that the "parts professional" at O'Reilly had no understanding of what he was sending me out the door with and the manifold gauge set did not include the proper adapter for the small AC recharge cans.

I did gain lots of knowledge though. I understand all of the system components of a vehicle AC and where they are located, and I understand the process for swapping out the receiver/drier, low pressure switch as well as the process for checking vacuum and refilling properly.

Living remote has lots of wonderful benefits and I hope I never have to move from here... but one of the major downsides is that we don't have nearby conveniences and the travel time and expense get to those conveniences. O'Reilly at least did the right thing and credited me back everything including the vacuum pump oil that they said was non-refundable. They will be sending the pump back to the warehouse and getting a new one. We depart this weekend for a short trip so I don't have time to screw around anymore... it is 4 hours of back and forth travel to get to Cañon City to pickup and return the tools so I'll wait for another time when I can incorporate it with another run to make it more efficient.

Thank you all for your help and knowledge... and a silent shout out to my friend Van Williams who saw my post and talked me through a lot of this. That man is an incredible wealth of knowledge and always happy to share. So actually, this project has been a real success... I now feel comfortable getting the proper replacement parts and doing the job properly next time. You guys are all great, God bless you!

Mark,

You shouldn't have any issue with Wolf Creek Pass. As with any of the high mountain passes keep an eye on your RPM's and don't lug your engine. Anticipate the climb and downshift when needed to keep the RPM's in about the 1,800 to 2,000 range to keep the torque up.

Depending on your schedule you can add some fantastic scenery as opposed to the boring drive down I-25. We used to live in CO Springs and moved to the Wet Mountain Valley (Westcliffe, CO) 6 years ago. It is a hidden gem 2 hours southwest of the Springs on the east slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. It will add time and a bit of mileage to your trip but the Sangre's are a unique range that runs from Santa Fe, NM to Salida, CO. We have four 14K mountain peaks out our front door and the rest of the spine are 13K+ peaks. We have 2 nice campgrounds in town Grape Creek CG and the Wet Mountain RV Park. I'm guessing they are both full but keep in mind for future planning. There are only 2 roads into the valley from the north and one from the south. From the Springs the best route is through Cañon City and west on US 50 to Texas Creek which is right along the Arkansas River. This brings you past Royal Gorge which is beautiful, especially the train ride. At Texas Creek turn south on Hwy 69 which will bring you into Westcliffe, and continue south down to Walsenburg to pick up Hwy 160 west.

If you decide to stick with your I-25 route enjoy the ride, enjoy the mountains, take your time and don't sweat the trip over the passes.

Cheers, Glenn

6 minutes ago, trailmug said:

Re: the receiver/dryer.. there's a sack of desiccant in it that absorbs any residual moisture. If the system lost its charge it would have taken on air/humidity and saturated the desiccant. You might be able to bake the old one in the oven in a pinch. If you do get a new one, you can cut open the old one to get an idea of the condition of the system. This is what mine looked like. Gross. That oil should be clear. 

I don’t recall seeing a round thing that size. I’ll check in the morning.  Is it up front on the outside of the firewall? Is it a readily available part? I live in the mountains with a tiny NAPA store for the ranchers. It’s a 2 hour round trip to the closest real town so getting parts isn’t super easy. 

I was able to borrow a vacuum pump and gauge set from ORiellys. So tomorrow I get to add a new skill to my resume. Fingers crossed there are no broken components and all goes well. I did get a handful of schrader cores to replace the old ones. 

I'll pick up another 1 lb can tomorrow when I make the run to CO Springs. I'm sure its cheaper there then up here in our little mountain town. Hopefully it will do the trick and not need a new switch.

Thanks all you guys for chiming in with ideas, much appreciated.  Glenn

OK, so I took Ivan's suggestion and pulled the leads from the stat and attached a flat fuse... the compressor turned on and I was able to add 4 lbs of freon. This only got the pressure to around 12 psi. I have no clue when the system last ran. I bought the coach in 2012 and never ran the dash air so I'm guessing it will take a lot.

My assumption was wrong about the stat not being a part of the pressurized system... I started to loosen it and learned. Based on the comment above from Paul Busch, I'm wondering if the stat is fine and I just need to get it fully charged.

29 minutes ago, Paul Busch said:

My 05 sig wouldn’t turn the compressor until I un plugged it and jumped a hot and ground to the compressor and once it was spinning it would take a full charge and after fully charged it worked fine. I believe you are unable to charge it if the compressor isn’t running. I am sure more damage is done to these coaches from not being used.

paul

Paul, do you recall how much freon you had to add to fully charge? Thanks, Glenn

1 hour ago, MrAmbassador said:

Hi Mary/Glenn, Our AC was doing the same. Checked fuse and relay,  all good. There is a Thermostat Switch that is used to keep the Compressor from being damaged. It is located in the front where the Evaporator case is. Mine failed open so there was no power to relay and Compressor. You can find a replacement at NAPA or Frieghtliner. Study the attached diagram. Hope this is the problem. ja

 

This is great ja... Does the part in the picture look like what you replaced? If so, can that be removed without depressurizing the system?

Thanks a bunch, Glenn

Follow-up question... if that is the thermostat switch, does anyone have any comments regarding my jumpering across the leads as a test to at least see if that allows the compressor to kick on?

...now that I look at this more I see that it is a stat and not actually connected into the pressurized tubing. Feeling like this it the suspect piece and would be great to test if the jumper idea passes muster with y'all.

First a disclaimer... I'm pretty experienced mechanically but I know zilch about AC systems. I picked up a few cans of freon at NAPA including one with a hose and pressure gauge so I'm not working with high precision equipment.

I turned on the dash AC and then connect to the system. The pressure is indicating about 80 psi but little to no freon seems to be going into the system.

I decided to try to get my dash AC working. For the past 8 years we typically stayed away from real hot weather so I never bothered. I assumed it needed a freon charge so I started there. I started adding some and then realized that the compressor clutch wasn't engaging. Checked the 20A fuse in the FRB and it's good. Checked the relay in the RRB and it seemed fine but just in case I swapped that out with a new relay. Checking the legs of the relay, I doesn't seem that I have power coming from the dash switch to the relay. Anyone have any clues if maybe a sensor is telling the system to not turn on the compressor?

Great thread guys... and thank you Richard for reminding me that the the useful life of the patch jobs I've been doing using gaffer tape and zip ties on the flexible hose has been exceeded. Also for the ebay link for the hose and the reminder that Its time for an air filter change. Hose and filter ordered. On my mini Dynasty (34 York) it is real PITB getting changing the filter but my buddy with a Windsor is coming up to Happy Valley for a visit in a few weeks so it should go pretty smooth.

This will give me a chance to inspect the Filter Minder which doesn't seem to want to change indication whether the engine is running or off.

48 minutes ago, wamcneil said:

Thanks Glenn. 
I’ll experiment with extensions.
And I’m kicking myself for not setting rivnuts in the brackets. Still thinking about it, but half of the panels are stuck down at this point, so re-drilling and adding rivnuts will be a pain!

Cheers

Walter

I think I understand what you are saying and I'm not suggesting that the extensions are permanent or that you need them on all panels. I believe you have the L shaped brackets attached to the roof and I assume you have knob screws to secure the panels to the brackets, somewhat like the brackets and knob screws in my attached picture (mine are not from AM Solar).  Is my assumption correct?

The rivnuts would not go in the "L" brackets, they would at least go in the bottom holes of the extensions and maybe the top depending on the mounting brackets on your panels. The extensions would only be attached once you are settled where you are going to camp and you can see which panels will be affected by shadows. For winter boondocking you'll definitely want to have tilt bars so when you are on the roof attaching the tilt bars you can add the extensions as needed. No need to make extensions for all panels just a few for the ones that may be in a shadow from about 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. A quick run up the ladder at those times will tell the story.

Walter, if you are planning to use your coach in the winter when the sun is at a low angle you will almost certainly have shading on the panels from the AC units. After putting all the effort into adding solar the last thing you want is any shading especially considering the short charging hours in the winter. Consider making some extension brackets that you can attach to the roof brackets to raise the panels that are on the shade side of any obstructions. They can just be simple rectangular aluminum plates with two holes. If you have a rivet-nut tool add rivet nuts to the holes, get some extra screw knobs to make it a tool-less job to attach. You'll also need to consider the amount of slack needed in your wiring to allow for the panels to be raised.

Good luck with your solar project... and if you do nothing else, install a Trimetric meter so you know the exact state of charge and replaced charge of your battery bank. We have solar on our coach and we also live totally off grid and we rarely ever have to run our generators, so I have a little experience with making solar work. The Trimetric is an absolutely essential tool to know if you are really charging your batteries properly.