Gary Cole

On my 2005 400 ISL that is a high temp alarm sensor.

Not sure what to think about the tire age issue and using a fixed expiration for all conditions. A friend of mine is looking for new tires for a 60s muscle car . He was told that the date did not matter on limited run repro tires because they were wrapped and protected from sunlight. I want to buy some repro tires for my classic Monaco next time.

Thanks for the pictures Harry and for pointing out the contact problem with your ground wire. I also noticed from your pictures, and from experience with my own coach, that Monaco did not consistently (rarely) use a necessary washer between lugs and nuts. A washer is necessary in order to assure that friction between the nut and lug does not distort torque values and, also very important, provide an adequate clamping area in order to assure low resistance. A belleville or cone washer with an approved conductive coating used with a grade rated lock washer between the nut and clamping washer is the industry standard. Just an observation. The installers who install the wiring for these coaches are not required to have a license or experience of any kind. They might have been hanging drywall or running sprinkler pipe the week before they went to work for Monaco.

Square D has a circuit breaker buss bar clamp design which is unique to their line of push in commercial breakers. They do have an economy line called Home Line which shares a configuration with some other manufacturers. They also have a bolted buss style which is used in industrial applications. The circuit breaker used in our RVs to the best of my knowledge is the Q series which is the commercial clamp version. They are expensive however are considered one of the best and most reliable choices in the industry by electrical designers. If your SQ D circuit breaker is tripping it is probably because it sees something it does not like in the circuit.

Bill I don't have any experience with small modulating water valves such as yours outside of an industrial application. The auto systems which I have played around with have used a blended door design. If your valve motor only has 2 wires then it is likely just a DC motor which stalls against a spring counter force and does not require a reverse function or position tracking. I'm thinking a simple system like that might be more likely to gum up as you suspect. If the servo board is bad then a generic dc/dc pulse width modulated motor driver board can be had for about $40.00. If your motor has more than 2 wires then things get more complicated. That would indicate that the motor has a closed loop which tracks position. In that case it is probably a stepper motor. Hopefully not. Stepper motor driver boards are not that much more expensive and generally conform to a common protocol.

Bill I don't have direct knowledge of your digital controller. However I can share a few troubleshooting suggestions. I couldn't discern from your description if your system uses a blend door or a modulating water valve. The systems are closed loop in that they typically monitor ambient, cabin, and sometimes coil temperature. I've only encountered coil temp sensors in industrial systems so I'm guessing you don't have to worry about that. By necessity there is a certain degree of hysteresis, time and temp band for example, built into the control system in order to prevent hunting. So the delay you noticed could be by design. Your digital display has 2 sources of power if it is capable of remembering previous settings. Try disconnecting both sources of power for 1 minute in order to bleed the capacitors down and clear your data registers. If that doesn't help then I would check to make sure you have a solid ground. Lots of electronic problems are caused by poor grounding. Then I would check the grounded output pin on your circuit board to make sure it is grounding external components. I always use a loaded probe when I'm checking low voltage grounds and 12V supply sources. Next I would check the thermistors. They are 2 wire and plug into the circuit board. You are looking for 0 to 5 V to ground. Industrial systems do often use higher voltages however I've never encountered that in an automotive system. The output that you are looking for is almost always going to be inversely proportional to temp. The directionally proportional type is most often used in protective circuits. Something around 2 or 3 volts at 70 F would likely indicate a functioning thermistor. It would be helpful if you could find the manufactures chart plotting temp vs resistance. However they usually fail open and rarely drift out of range. You could also inspect the board for burned components or broken trace wires. Also pretty common. Good luck.

Frank if you only hear it when its cranking you might consider having your wife start it for you. Then you can go out. My wife always complains that the engine is too noisy and the fan blows so much air that it messes her hair up when she stands at the rear.

Someone remarked that America might one day become the "new" Cuba with some deciding to do what ever it takes to keep their vehicles running rather than submit to the oftentimes wishful fanciful desires, and mandates, of the same people who it is said designed the camel in order to replace the cowboy's quarter horse.

Your engine torque will easily overcome the friction of a stuck or frozen brake pad. No reason to beat or hammer on it. I would backup as some brake systems are designed to utilize forward rotation as mechanical advantage to increase shoe pressure. Then you can make sure the S cam is rotating properly and the springs are holding the shoe off the drum.

I'm with Jim. George the shop is probably waiting to see if you are willing to pay for their mistake. Its worthwhile to be familiar with how mechanics lien laws work. Many states grant mechanics significant advantages over a customer in a dispute. If a shop has possession of your vehicle, or part in this case , and a dispute arises then it can be very expensive and time consuming to just regain possession. Oftentimes it is cheaper to just pay the bill than go to court. And mechanics know that. If a dispute does occur and your vehicle is still mobile it would be prudent to move it off the shop's property if at all possible before the discussion became acrimonious.

I agree with Gary. Dave makes a good point. However the temperature of the delivered air plays a large part in the sensory perception of cool in HVAC systems. . Rough interior flex is even more of an obstruction to air flow. Many OEMs avoid flex for that reason. In our case a better system would be insulated snap lock and a short piece of flex at the outlet if needed. After reading this discussion I wish that I had of done that when I completely replumbed my mess of a system this summer. Anything one can do to increase airflow over the evaporator and prolong compressor runtime is going to help. The duration that the compressor is shut down by the evaporator thermostat when it senses 45 degrees or so and also throttled by the expansion valve is lost and very much needed cooling Btu's.

Lee I have never successfully stripped a fitting like the one you pictured with a standard wrench. The shoulders will round off first. I call that close enough from the school of tighter is better. I would recommend a set of fitting wrenches which are made for the purpose. Less chance of rounding the shoulders. Had to look it up however o rings are sized to standard dash sizes (in 1/16") of the fittings. Dash size is the first number usually followed by fractional size and thread pitch. Metric is a different story. Don't confuse that with hose size. That is oftentimes different.

Not sure what to think about all of your new o-rings leaking to that extent Lee. They typically work very well. Have had an rare occasional failure over many years. Always my fault. If they all leak then I would take a second look at the o-rings as Tim suggested. Maybe try another supplier. The o-rings do require being squeezed between the 2 clamping faces surfaces in order to provide the necessary compression force on the tube. However that small clamping force is limited by the design of the fitting. I don't have one in front of me however I believe the assembly is a type that bottoms out mechanically in order to limit the force on the o-ring so that the o-ring can flow from high to low pressure and provide a seal. Which is how o-rings work. The moderate torque on the nut is largely to prevent it from backing off. A/C FITTING TORQUE GUIDE The following is a general list of recommended torque values for standard O-ring fittings for reference during service operations. Always use specific torque values on installation instructions over these general values. HOSE FITTING CONNECTIONS -- RECOMMENDED TORQUE VALUE: Fitting Size* Thread Size Torque Value (ft/lbs) # 6 5/8-18 11 to 13 # 8 3/4 - 16 or 18 15 to 18 #10 7/8 - 14 or 18 18 to 22 #12 11/16 - 14 or 16 24 to 28 COMPRESSOR FITTINGS AND SERVICE VALVES Type Thread Size Torque Value (ft/lbs) 3-Way Service Valve to Compressor Fitting 1-14 20-40 Compressor: Sanden, Seltec, Zexel 3/4-16 18-22 7/8-14 18-22 eti-AC Fitting Torque Guide.pdf

"and perhaps trying to convince Bill to take up ANOTHER HOBBY..."😉 Bill this might be a good time to step back and read the previous posts. The answers you seek will be found within. I most always troubleshoot with jumpers in the front pocket. And for some perhaps, a small bible in the back pocket.

I suspect that many intermittent faults of suspicious validity don't last long enough to meet the requirements to be logged. The warning light is going to come on however is not reset. Nice if a trip to the shop just to make sure everything is ok wasn't so expensive these days.

Richard I installed a water temp sender at #6 cylinder for my new gauge. There is a plug on top of the engine at that location. That seemed to be the quickest solution. I determined that my engine has a high temp alarm sender at #1 cylinder and another sender which is buried at the front of the engine. Hope I never have to replace that sender. I was thinking that the original gauge might share the output of that sender with the ECM. The wiring diagram I have does not show how Monaco derived the signal for the original gauge. I did verify that the ohm range is not standard and could not find a new gauge to match it.

Suggestions and need to do's from DW seems to be missing?

Ivan you are correct. Though some capacitors have polarity which must be observed. Here one is reversing one lead of the capacitor with the other lead of the winding with L1 and L2. The capacitor remains in series in the capacitor/winding circuit. Looks like an interesting project Lee. As to the schematic. Doesn't look like it is reversing the motor as drawn. Need to swap -/+ at one relay?

Lee I assumed you had a DC motor. AC is a little more complicated. If the motor reverses, which I assume it does because it terminates on the board, then you have to reverse the polarity of the start capacitor using a 1P/2T switch in order to change the rotation of the motor. Your control board was doing that. Also AC motors are not tolerant of a locked rotor condition. So its necessary that you keep your limit switches. The limit switches are going to be a problem unless they are 1P/2T. I'm guessing that they are not. If not then you are going to be required to use latching relays if you elect to keep the 1P limit switches. It is certainly a doable project if you decided to get into it that deep.

Lee I would hardwire without question. I wouldn't waste anytime with unsupported, always obscenely overpriced, components. Two momentary pushbutton switches in order to reverse the motor. Or a 2 throw switch if you preferred. Forget about the limit switches as they are most certainly 1P and could not be wired in a 3 way configuration without using latching relays. Small dc motors are very tolerant of stalled rotor conditions. If you are concerned about the gear mechanism then experiment with an inline fuse that blows at some small amount of current above normal load in case you go to sleep on the push button. An automatically resetting dc breaker would be even more convenient. Very inexpensive.

Have you tried giving it a really good whack? If that frees the needle then it really doesn't matter much what it reads. They are so inaccurate anyway that they read either no oil pressure or suspicious that you might have some oil pressure.

I agree its not the best way. However it is a solution for the casual do it yourselfer. Due to the excessive pressure drop in our systems there is not a direct correlation between temperature and pressure. Particularly when using the gauge scales. This seems to confuse many. Judging from the comments on this topic the tendency is to grossly overfill their systems. I have wondered if the poor performance of my system might not be caused in part by the inability of the compressor to keep the evaporator flooded at high ambient temperatures due to the pressure drop. I think the hoses should have been one or 2 sizes larger given the length. Please correct me if my premise is incorrect. I'm only a casual do it yourselfer myself.

If you are going to top off a system without drawing a vacuum and you know the recommended charge then you can bleed off the existing charge to within a few lbs of positive pressure and then add the recommended charge. A slight overcharge to ensure that the evaporator is flooded with freon for maximum cooling is preferable to an undercharge. The accumulator and hose length will ensure that no liquid freon reaches the compressor so long as one exercises discretion. You can use the frost on the fittings as a guide to how much freon you have in the system.

Try 50 50 50. That is the code most safes ship with. Lot of people don't change the code. Afraid they might make a mistake.

All you need to determine is if your air brake chamber is long or short stroke and the diaphragm diameter. All units are built to DOT protocol and interchange between manufacturers. The parking brake unit and service brake unit are completely independent. If you cage the parking brake unit you will still have fully operational service brake capability. Spring applies the parking brake. Air applies the service brake. I don't know if the parking brake chamber will piggyback with the service brake chamber between different manufacturers however my suspicion is that they will.