dennis.mcdonaugh

The HWH system is easy to work on. There are three cylinders, a sync cylinder and two rams. Going in or out crooked is a symptom of air in one of the lines or cylinders. Since it’s a closed system it usually means you have a leak. If they put a significant amount of fluid into the system, you probably have a leak. 
 

A small leak usually isn’t noticeable at first, but eventually enough fluid comes out it’ll drip onto something in the basement and become visible. 
 

The rams usually leak into the roadside compartments. Open the slide and look into the boxed tubes that move in and out with the slide. You may see fluid there. 
 

The sync cylinder is hard to find, but it’ll be in the top of the basement, mine was evenly split between the propane and fuel tank compartment, right next to the wall. 

HWH has a lot of potential bro on line. 

4 hours ago, cbr046 said:

@Mike H, @StephenW - did you disable the steering wheel lock on your Fords?  If so, how did you accomplish that?

- bob

 

That's not an explicit part of the tow setup, but one of the steps probably accomplishes that task.

16 hours ago, Mike H said:

I've towed both a 2012 and now a 2019 both with the Eco boost engine BUT they HAVE to be 4x4's.  After 2019 or 2020 they started doing some funky things with the towing set up procedure.  Setting it up to be towed disconnects everything so no milage is recorded.

My 2017 doesn’t record mileage when towed. 

I’ve got 2 newish Penguin II high capacity units on my Dynasty. One is 8 years old, the other two. Both were easy to install and have been running well. I got 16 and 22 years out of the originals. 

3 hours ago, jacwjames said:

Multizone is how the AC's are wired with an AC usually representing one zone.  I have two AC so 2 zones, in my case the bedroom is zone 1 and the LR is zone 2.  My furnace shows up under Zone 2.  

My Dynasty doesn’t  have two zones, the ACs operate independently of each other and the furnace is controlled by the front AC t-stat. Made it real simple to change out the ACs. 

I got mine from camping world. Good price and quick delivery. FedEx boogered up the box on one of them and broke the shroud. CW sent me a replacement before they sent an RMA to return the damaged one. Great service from a frequently maligned company. 

On 4/16/2024 at 8:33 AM, Jdw12345 said:

Isn’t there a kit you can purchase with a gasket and drain cups to use the original drain line to the ground?

Yes. I am installed them when I replaced both my 20+ year old units. I still have a used set in case I need to replace one. 

It looks like I didn't screw anything up and the leak is gone. I'm going to keep the old one and rebuild it in case the new one leaks down the road. Its unlikely I'll be the owner when that happens since it took 24 years for the original to fail, but you never know. Do you remove the shaft and o-rings by taking off the knob with the philips screw in it?

I lubed the chassis with the DeWalt cordless grease gun this morning and what a different experience that is. I wish I'd bought one years ago when I went with a pneumatic gun instead instead. I was a little worried a couple of times when it took longer than I thought it should to get a couple fittings lubed, but eventually they I got them all done. Thanks for the suggestion! 

Are we talking step cover or step? Window actuator sounds like step. 

I had the same issue and Jim’s procedure fixed it. 

Sorry you went through that. Glad its fixed. 

1 hour ago, Tom Cherry said:

Rule of Thumb…..here for at least 15 years.

If you have only 676 hours and coolant has been changed and looks fine…..Drive (Generate) ON.  Many of our more experienced members have close to 1,000 and are confident.

BUT…..for the 7.5/8.0 KW……buy and carry the following…

Thermostat & Thermostat housing gasket

Drive Belt

Temperature Sensor

Spare Oil and Air Filter.

MANY folks, with good PM practices, as they approach 1000 hours will install all three….but that seems to be a “lets stop and reconsider” issue….lately 

Now…if you have the 10/12.5 KW….I’d do some reading or call Onan.  They have brushes….and there may be a few other parts….so, while you totally take things apart…some minor items might be replaced….I’m not that well versed on the innards of them.

NOW….for ALL 10/12.5 KW owners.  2 or 3 times per year….it is a MUST DO to start and run your genny.  You need around half a load….2 HP/AC’s work well….run that for at least 30 minutes.  That “cleans” the brushes.  If not, you will have regulation issues such as Voltage and Frequency.  
 

This has been published countless times, but we have several new members….this is NOT necessary on the 7.5/8.0 units….NO BRUSHES….LOL….  DO IT FAITHFULLY.  But if you drive with the genny on and AC’s running or dry camp…..not needed….just if you store it for long periods.

To climb on this band wagon…..ALL MH owners ought to drive with Genny ON every quarter.  My routine….genny on…both rooftops in AC mode and set way low.  Drive until the Tranny’s temp is the same as the engine.  Turn around.  Switch to Heat Pump.  Drive home…. Start the diesel burner on your AquaHot or turn on the furnace and let it run for say 15 minutes…..

The above times are “relative”.  If you drive far enough to get the tranny to engine temp….it will be fine….and exercised on the return leg.

I've got 1400 hours on my 7500 and have replaced the T-stat and temp sensor. The temp sensor actually failed about 7-8 years ago. I have thought about changing the belt, but don't see them go out often so have been putting it off. I probably need to do it for peace of mind. I carry an oil, air and fuel filter with me at all times "Just in case".

1 minute ago, wamcneil said:

Eek. 40ftlb sounds like a lot of torque. I didn’t attempt to put a torque wrench on mine. 

I just snugged it down as much as I could with a 10 mm wrench. There's not much leverage available on a wrench that size.

Thanks!  I’ll try to do that. It’s going to be hard to get a torque wrench in there since I don’t have a set of crowfoot wrenches. 

Thanks!  I Got it back on. What should I torque the bolts to?  The bolts threads are 12 mm with a 10 mm head. I looked up grade 8.8 bolts and it said 65 ft/lbs. I’m pretty sure they weren’t that tight. The next grade on the list was 5.6 and 28 lbs was specified for them. 

I removed the valve assembly this morning. I can't see what was providing a seal between the engine block and the valve body. There's no sign of anything like the aluminum gasket the new one has or any type of sealant. You can see the two 3/4 NPT fittings that bekec1 mentioned a couple posts above. I think I'm going to  go the route he did and stick two plugs in those holes. I wish I'd known about that 10 or so years ago when I bought the new valve body.

26 minutes ago, bekec1 said:

When you get the coolant filter housing removed from the engine, look at the coolant passages in the engine block. In the block of my ISC the passages were threaded 3/4 NPT. I installed a 3/4 inch pipe plug in each passage and deleted the coolant filter completely as I had also changed to OAT long life coolant, no SCA required and filtering not as necessary.

I’ve had mine turned off for years since I had a blank filter (no SCAs) anyway. Eliminating the housing would definitely have eliminated the possibility of the valve leaking. 

I received the blank coolant filter yesterday and decided to replace the coolant valve today. I had a plan, turn off the valve, remove the old filter, turn the valve on and let the coolant drain. Remove four bolts and the valve, replace with four new bolts and new valve, install the new filter and replace lost coolant.

Things went south after the first step. The filter was stuck and I broke my filter wrench trying to get it off. None of my other filter wrenches were big enough or they were too big to work so off to NAPA to get a replacement. The new one was more robust than the 40 year old wrench I broke so I was sure I'd have the filter off in no time. It was so tight I bent the filter and twisted the new wrench. Plan B was to just take the four bolts out with the filter still attached.

The valve is held on by four 24-year old M10 bolts so I was really worried about breaking one off. I think you'd have to take off the manifold and turbo to get a broken bolt out because there is no space there to get a drill in there.  I used a ratcheting gear wrench because they aren't very long so I couldn't put a lot of torque on the bolts. I still had to pull on them pretty hard, even after spraying them with Kroil every day since last Monday. I worked back and forth and sprayed them again and in the end they came out intact and I backed them out just enough so the coolant could drain into the big square tub I used to collect it. After an hour, I'd estimate two gallons have come out. 

I'm going to let it drain over night and put the new valve on tomorrow. 

My 2000 Dynasty S Series chassis uses the same bag as Jim's Windsor, the Firestone number is W01-358-9376.  

7 hours ago, Ivan K said:

There should not be much oil lost if you had to remove the oil filter to gain access, at least not on my engine since most all of it will be in the pan. Just as much as drained when you removed the filter for oil change.

Thanks, I didn't know that. Now I have to decide which is worse, wrestling the oil filter off or leaning over the bed frame to get that top bolt off.

On another note, the coolant valve has stopped leaking again, just like it did about 8 years ago when I bought the new one I have in the box.

On 3/30/2024 at 9:03 AM, wamcneil said:

Not the same engine (isl), but I drained about 4 gal when rebuilding my coolant filter valve

Thanks

I’m still waiting on the new empty coolant filter to arrive. Why does the empty one cost double what one with SCAs cost?  In the meantime I’m spraying the bolts with Kroil every day in hopes that they all come out easily. 

I can get to 3 bolts from the bottom, but one I have to reach through the exhaust manifold from the top. That is the upper bolt next to the oil filter. The filter totally blocks it from below. 

If this leak had started a couple days earlier, I could have replaced it while the oil was drained from the engine. 

I used Penguin 2s. I had to change both thermostats. The heat pump operation is wonky in the front unit. It also controls the furnace. I used to be able to select A/C, furnace or heat pump. Now I can only select heat or A/C. When heat is selected, the furnace or heat pump comes on, depending on the difference between ambient temp and selected temp. If there’s a big gap, the furnace comes on. Once the gap is smaller the furnace goes off and heat pump comes on. 

The first time I changed the coolant, I didn’t realize I had to pull out the hose attached to the radiator cap and top off the coolant level. The system was low and I didn’t know it. The level in the overflow tank was correct. The generator would run 10-15 minutes and shut down. 

Wow. That’s all I can say, just wow!  You and your boys did and incredible job.