joefromperry

I have a 2003 Signature, and my door lock/unlock keypad is in front. 

Hi, Old. I had removed the unit from the coach, and then opened / removed the case. I pressure tested the unit then, and that's when I saw it leaked from the neck. The filler top came off pretty easily, as there was hardly any solder there. I couldn't fix it, and that's when I took it in to my radiator guy, who silver-soldered it back on. I concur with Paul's suggestion to join the above forum, although Roger was absolutely no help to me. He does have a non-solder replacement for the filler top, if you don't want to pull the whole thing out, but it's around $240. Let me know if I can answer any more questions.

By the way, I have it all reinstalled and everything works as it should. I did have to replace the whole exhaust, as it was so rusted that it broke during removal. I had a muffler shop bend me a new piece; I heat-wrapped it and installed it.

Thanks for the replies. Here's an update. My radiator guy fastened the filler neck / radiator cap area  with silver solder. No leaks. I then replaced the check valves, as they were less than $7 each at Menards. My final quest is to replace the brushes on the circulation pumps, as on the one pump that wasn't working when I pulled the brushes, there was nothing left, only the spring. I found a place that is open on Saturday and only an hour away, so tomorrow I'll get them, fix the pumps, and try to get it all back together.

I have my aquahot pulled out of my 2003 signature because of a coolant leak that I couldn't find; what a pain. Anyway, with the boiler full of regular water and both manifold valves turned off, I pressurized the system through first the overflow with regular cap on to around 13 lbs, and then again with a mity-vac radiator cap pressure adapter. I had some leakage around the filler neck. I heated the neck with a propane torch, and the top just came off easily with no persuasion. I was surprised to see there's only maybe 1/8 inch of overlap for the solder. So, I cleaned both surfaces very well, thinking it'll be easy to resolder. However, I must be missing something, because the top will not solder to the neck. Dissimilar metals? Probably going to head to my radiator shop to see if he can do anything, bur first, any suggestions?

My aquahot uses regular green antifreeze instead of boiler fluid. I wonder if it matters, or if regular radiator stop leak would work. Or if I could just replace all my fluid with boiler fluid if I have to drain it anyway to remove it.

17 hours ago, Busnut said:

 Rvhydronics site with Roger Berke sells these.  Mine was leaking around the base of the filler neck. I put one on mine. Fix my problem. I didn't even take the cover off. The bottom clamp is a shrink wrap hose clamp.

This might be the way to go if I find the leak at the cap, but $240 is a bit high for me.

17 hours ago, Ivan K said:

I was in a similar situation years back and after checking everything that was accessible, I pulled the unit out to find a pinhole leak around the exhaust port. Before removing the tank, which is a considerable effort, I poured a quart of boiler sealant fluid into it and it sealed the leak after few cycles running it outside of the rig on electric. Probably 4 or 5 years ago and no more leaks. No issues with sticking valves etc. Not saying that it is an ultimate fix, which it isn't, but it worked for me. Of course, I could have done it without removing the unit but at that time I did not know where the leak is and wanted to find it, hoping to find an easy fix. Ours is the one with external water loop and yours is probably too so I don't worry about fresh water contamination. Just my experience...

Please tell me more about boiler sealant fluid. I've never heard of it. Brand? Source? Thanks.

I hope I do not have to pull the whole unit out. Okay, here's the situation. In my 2003 Signature, which I've owned for about a year, the aquahot was working fine. Then last summer/early fall, I started losing coolant. I discovered the overflow tube to recovery tank was cracked, so I fixed it. Then I also found that one of the heater hoses to the front zone had cracked near where it comes from the circulation pump. I replaced that section and all was good all winter, both in cold Ohio and warm Florida. When we got back to Ohio in early April, running the aquahot for heat while getting some things done in the coach, I discovered I was losing coolant again. (Domestic hot water was fine.) I found it leaking from where the exhaust pipe exits the bottom of the unit. After consulting on the rvhydronics site with Roger Berke, I dried off everything in and around the aquahot unit and the filler neck. Then I placed paper towels all around the filler neck, and also on the base of the unit under the plumbing and the burner. I refilled the coolant and replaced the radiator cap (which was new) and started it up again to see where the paper towels would start getting wet. After a short while, the paper towels started getting wet along the base of the metal wall that separates the burner/plumbing area from the boiler area; the towels around the filler neck didn't show wet. This is what led me to believe the problem had to be on the boiler side of the wall, which can only be accessed by removing the unit. Maybe someone here might have some insight as to what I might try or look at before I pull the whole thing out unnecessarily. Thanks.

I had a similar problem with my chassis batteries not charging, and found the problem not to be the board, but the big boy relay.

Any members going to be at the FMCA rally in Perry, GA next week? We'd like to connect with members.

Thank you, Gary.

19 minutes ago, Gary M said:

Unless some has what u need before I find a replacement for my original, you can have mine just for shipping cost. My original is not glass and is hard to clean if something spills on it. But I need to find a replacement first. Ill keep watching this post for updates. Mine is a R-1874F.

I don't know what the original looked like, but the model number is the same, so should work. Where are you located? We're planning to head south from Ohio on Sunday, and not coming back for a few weeks or so, so there isn't any real hurry. Thanks. So far you are the only one who has responded.

I see lots of people swapping out their original Sharp microwaves. Ours works fine, but the previous owner must have broken the carousel tray that was in it and replaced it with a generic one that doesn't fit right. Replacement trays online are ballpark $65, which I think is ridiculous. So, if anyone has replaced their unit and might have the original tray available for a reasonable cost, please let me know. Thanks.

Last summer I replaced two of my Carefree slide toppers and broken springs on my 2003 Signature. One was Omega II and one was SOK II. It wasn't difficult at all, but did require two people to remove it and reinstall it. I got the parts directly from Carefree. I just gave them the model and serial numbers from my coach build sheet, and they sent me exact replacements. Actually, I got three toppers, but haven't gotten around to installing the bedroom topper yet. Total cost, including shipping was less than $1300 for three toppers and two springs. Instructions are available on Carefree's website.

Okay, just a minor update. I realize that there is no splitter before the amp box above the driver seat. What is labeled "aux" is the input from the cable coax from the pedestal, and the antenna label is obviously correct. I still haven't located where the cable from the "tv" port on the back of the amp goes to. Tone tracing the cables in the a/v area above passenger seat was non-productive. To be continued, hopefully, in the near future. Thanks again for the input.

Thanks, Steve. That's the same box we had in a couple previous motorhomes. My problem is not having any coax to the other TVs.

Thanks for the input, Ivan, Steve, Chad, and Gerald. Based on your feedback, and that received from the Monaco Owners Facebook group, I'll try some things tomorrow when I can. Steven, you said your switcher is connected to your three other TVs. How? Do you have coax going to each of them? I don't, so I'm looking at my options if I want to do anything besides using wifi with the tv apps. I'll keep you all posted. 

I apologize in advance for the long post. So, I swapped out the old TVs on my 2003 Signature with smart TVs, so I can connect with the internet just fine. The problem is that I can't use any antenna or cable hookups from a pedestal. The old/original setup had everything connected with the composite cables (red, white, yellow) coming from an a/v controller in the front cabinet. The coax from the antenna and cable hookup in the bay goes to the amplifier in the cabinet above the driver seat. Evidently the two inputs (antenna and bay cable) merge somewhere, because only one input goes to the amplifier. Then there are two other coax cables coming off the amplifier, one says TV and one says AUX. The Monaco owner book says antenna/cable works through the old VCR, which had a coax into the ANT port; from there composite cabling went to a switcher, and from there a whole spaghetti mess of wires went all over, including the Bose up there near it. I mistakenly thought that since the manual said everything went through the VCR, the coax cable that was connected to it would be the one from the ANT port on the amplifier. Well, it doesn't. In fact using a tone tracer starting with the amplifier end of the coax that was connected to TV port, none of the three coax ends in that a/v cabinet are the other end. My next step would be to trace the AUX cable to see if any of the cabinet ends are it. Frustration. So I guess the question to the group is: has anyone with a similar original setup redone their cabling, and can you please tell me which cables/wires run where? As mentioned, my goal is to be able to use the cable from pedestal, or antenna on roof, to the front and bedroom TVs. I'll figure out the Bose sound stuff later. By the way, the wiring schematics in the large wiring book are useless for this. Thanks in advance.