What have you fixed on your motorhome this week?

Brought the seat cushions and backs home and cleaned them with a vax spot wash.
Came up good for 23 yr olds...This was the first, with the muck in the container.
Cheers, Dave



IMG_0616.webp

IMG_0615.webp
 
Not the motorhome, but have a 5 year and 20 year tasks to do on the SAAB. SWMBO is going away next Thursday so I’ve a week of manly stuff, wearing my pants and socks for the week and lots of mechanical stuff on the motor 🚙

Secure vehicle.

Remove lover engine shield and crossmember.

Remove rhf wheel and inner arch.

Jack up engine and remove top mounting.

Remove air filter, air box and trunking.

Secure wiring.

Remove aux belt, tensioner and idler.

Remove cam belt cover.

Check ac compressor operation.

If required, vent and remove compressor and check part number details and order replacement.

Time up engine.

Bolt fuel pump drive and remove drive nut.

Remove high pressure fuel pump.

Replace inlet manifold, swirl flaps assembly, egr valve and map sensor.

Refit fuel pump drive and torque drive nut.

Drain coolant.

Check timing marks and remove cam belt and water pump and replace with new.

Check correct timing and briefly run engine to confirm correct timing.

Replace ac compressor.

Replace timing belt cover.

Fit new aux belt tensioner and idler wheel. Fit new aux belt.

Check all work completed so far, then secure wiring harness and refit engine mount, air box and replacement air filter. Refit trunking.

Remove battery and battery box. Remove trunking and gear linkages.

Remove thermostat assembly and hoses. Check condition of hoses and look to replace all required.

Fit new thermostat assembly.

Drain gearbox oil and measure quantity removed. Replace drain plug and refill gearbox with new synthetic oil.

Bleed clutch.

Refit gear linkage, battery box and battery.

Fill with antifreeze.

Run engine and bleed coolant. Check for leaks across the system.

Drain engine oil. Replace oil filter. Replace sump plug and washer. Fill with oil and slick 50.

Replace pollen filter.

Replace fuel filter.

Check levels.

Road test.

Have the cold leftover fish and chips from 2 nights ago, for breakfast and open a new beer.

Relax in front of tv watching real mans stuff, like…

The Sweeney
The Professionals
Minder
The Saint

Then more beer….
 
Not the motorhome, but have a 5 year and 20 year tasks to do on the SAAB. SWMBO is going away next Thursday so I’ve a week of manly stuff, wearing my pants and socks for the week and lots of mechanical stuff on the motor 🚙

Secure vehicle.

Remove lover engine shield and crossmember.

Remove rhf wheel and inner arch.

Jack up engine and remove top mounting.

Remove air filter, air box and trunking.

Secure wiring.

Remove aux belt, tensioner and idler.

Remove cam belt cover.

Check ac compressor operation.

If required, vent and remove compressor and check part number details and order replacement.

Time up engine.

Bolt fuel pump drive and remove drive nut.

Remove high pressure fuel pump.

Replace inlet manifold, swirl flaps assembly, egr valve and map sensor.

Refit fuel pump drive and torque drive nut.

Drain coolant.

Check timing marks and remove cam belt and water pump and replace with new.

Check correct timing and briefly run engine to confirm correct timing.

Replace ac compressor.

Replace timing belt cover.

Fit new aux belt tensioner and idler wheel. Fit new aux belt.

Check all work completed so far, then secure wiring harness and refit engine mount, air box and replacement air filter. Refit trunking.

Remove battery and battery box. Remove trunking and gear linkages.

Remove thermostat assembly and hoses. Check condition of hoses and look to replace all required.

Fit new thermostat assembly.

Drain gearbox oil and measure quantity removed. Replace drain plug and refill gearbox with new synthetic oil.

Bleed clutch.

Refit gear linkage, battery box and battery.

Fill with antifreeze.

Run engine and bleed coolant. Check for leaks across the system.

Drain engine oil. Replace oil filter. Replace sump plug and washer. Fill with oil and slick 50.

Replace pollen filter.

Replace fuel filter.

Check levels.

Road test.

Have the cold leftover fish and chips from 2 nights ago, for breakfast and open a new beer.

Relax in front of tv watching real mans stuff, like…

The Sweeney
The Professionals
Minder
The Saint

Then more beer….
A big list is that
You still in Drifeld?
WB

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Not so much this week .....


The week before we left for 8 weeks in Ireland ….

Shunting the camper around the garden the glow-plug warning light came on. Took it to be diagnosed but neither local place could fix it before we were scheduled to leave. Consensus was leave it till we get back. Ok with that … sometimes it comes on, sometimes it doesn’t …

I knew we had a problem with the water pump (Reich Twin) so I had already sourced a replacement, I fitted it, put some water in the tank and tested OK (and made new gaskets for the tank fittings too). But I then noticed that the pump was running with both taps closed - logic dictated that the Thetford C260 was calling for water. Removed C260’s control panel, disconnected it and pump stopped. There was corrosion on some of the board’s edge contacts, which I tried to rectify by scraping with a blade then adding solder. All to no avail. After a couple of hours ont’internet I discovered that no C260 control panels were available in Spain, France, Belgium, Holland or Germany or at least from an online retailer who would ship to Spain. Out came the duct tape to plaster over the hole in the bathroom wall …

Conclusion: The C260 failed which then caused the pump to run non-stop in an empty tank until it seized (I opened it up) and the fuse blew.

We’ll just have to use it without the flush (we don’t use that function very much), the SOG and the effluent level gauge. For the latter I substituted a wooden spoon from the cutlery drawer …….not!




Then two days before departure….

Plugged in EHU and switched fridge on. Won’t run on AC, only gas. (Other AC services OK, so not the cable) Got the cover off the control panel, wiggled what connectors I could access, no effect. (As an aside the installer of the gas BBQ point, Rhino Installs, routed the BBQ’s gas pipe immediately in front of the fridge control panel. The pipe will have to be cut to get the control panel out). Ah well, no worries, we never use hook-up on the road. But the following day fridge and freezer are still warm. Checked nice bright blue flame, switched it off and blew compressed air through the inspection hatch and re-lit it. No effect. Dash to Decathlon to get a 12v/240v cooler.

And that was what we lived out, and tripped over constantly, for the next two weeks. We subsequently managed to get an appointment at Cara Motorhomes near Tipperary. They plugged it into AC and in two hours the freezer was -12º and the fridge 5º. EHU disconnected, doors left open so the fridge warmed up a bit then switch on using gas. It worked ! We went away happy, but €120 poorer. Over the next 4 weeks the fridge performance slowly deteriorated until it was barely cooler than outside ambient, but the freezer was managing to maintain -10º or lower. Ended up at a campsite with EHU (€40/pn) and freezer went down to -16º and fridge to 5 but as soon as we disconnected EHU normal service was resumed

Meantime I had some thermal paste on board so fins removed ( A story in itself, 80km round trip to a Middle-of-Lidl where a couple of days earlier I’d seen the required t10 or t15 bit I needed to get the fins off) cleaned up, some foam removed from cooling pipes and fresh paste applied - to no discernible effect except on my temper. We cut our losses when we crossed back to Spain and came straight home instead of heading for Galicia.


Back to the day of the ferry ….

Arrived in Bilbao did some errands, fuel, LPG, Mercadonna, Kiwoko etc and checked in early, nothing else to do - or so I thought.

Thetford C260 (yes, that again), the cassette blade jammed. Ho-hum, tool-bag & kneeling pad comes out and with a bit of jiggery-pokery cassette extracted. Inserted the spare cassette (which had been tested/lubed before departure) and the same thing happens. So toilet completely u/s - and no bucket either. Identified that the problem was the slider activating mechanism inside the body of the toilet; gears skipped or broken. Amazingly I had a spare. Prescient aren’t I - it predates the current van. What I didn’t have was a posidrive screwdriver that I could get on the 5 or 6 ss self-tappers holding the toilet body down.

Boarded ferry, disembarked Rosslare and drove the 12km to the Coal Bunker pub, where we knew we could overnight, but arrived too late to eat. Explained our predicament and the management arranged to leave the bar toilets, accessed via the beer garden, open all night for us. Our first experience of Irish hospitality. More t’internet research and I found that Mahon Point shopping centre in Cork had a mall with toilets accessible 0900-2200hrs, a Tesco, B&Q and a car-park without barriers. Two and a half hours and 200km later we were tucked into a corner of the car-park close to the mall entrance. Rooted around in the bottom of the toolbag and found a rusty PZ1 bit and got to work. It was raining, of course, it does this a lot in Eire. I should probably mention here was coming up to my 76th birthday and there is a limit to the time I can spent on my knees (in the rain, or not) before they, the ankles and toes complain. Anyway got the old mechanism out (damaged teeth) and the new one in but it was an absolute bastard to get the retaining self-tappers back in. I ended up walking to B&G, in the rain obvs, for an electric screwdriver which got the job done.


And off we went on our merry WaW until 10 days before the ferry back, the engine warning light came on. (The glow-plug light got into the habit of coming upon some days and some days not) Turned off and restarted, like you do. No throttle response at all. Off and on again and normal service resumed. Seemed to happen less when the engine was warm. Then the Navigator got a call from the UK, family medical matter so we abandoned the WaW and headed for Dublin airport for her flight. I lurked around and about minimising engine starts and it was then that I noticed the coolant leak - not a lot, but any is a worry. Have kept a close eye on and it hasn’t needed topping up yet. When the wanderer returned we headed to Co.Wexford hanging around a couple of days waiting for the ferry and hoping we got on it. We did, sighs of relief, and the 900km between Bilbao and home was done, uneventfully, in two days.


Fridge has now been looked at, new burner fitted (original gunged up, flame half the size it should've been, allegedly. €72), under test atm.

Engine’s being diagnosed Monday.

Oh, almost forgot, discovered that the Maaxfan leaks too ..

Apart from that, good trip.
 
Not so much this week .....


The week before we left for 8 weeks in Ireland ….

Shunting the camper around the garden the glow-plug warning light came on. Took it to be diagnosed but neither local place could fix it before we were scheduled to leave. Consensus was leave it till we get back. Ok with that … sometimes it comes on, sometimes it doesn’t …

I knew we had a problem with the water pump (Reich Twin) so I had already sourced a replacement, I fitted it, put some water in the tank and tested OK (and made new gaskets for the tank fittings too). But I then noticed that the pump was running with both taps closed - logic dictated that the Thetford C260 was calling for water. Removed C260’s control panel, disconnected it and pump stopped. There was corrosion on some of the board’s edge contacts, which I tried to rectify by scraping with a blade then adding solder. All to no avail. After a couple of hours ont’internet I discovered that no C260 control panels were available in Spain, France, Belgium, Holland or Germany or at least from an online retailer who would ship to Spain. Out came the duct tape to plaster over the hole in the bathroom wall …

Conclusion: The C260 failed which then caused the pump to run non-stop in an empty tank until it seized (I opened it up) and the fuse blew.

We’ll just have to use it without the flush (we don’t use that function very much), the SOG and the effluent level gauge. For the latter I substituted a wooden spoon from the cutlery drawer …….not!




Then two days before departure….

Plugged in EHU and switched fridge on. Won’t run on AC, only gas. (Other AC services OK, so not the cable) Got the cover off the control panel, wiggled what connectors I could access, no effect. (As an aside the installer of the gas BBQ point, Rhino Installs, routed the BBQ’s gas pipe immediately in front of the fridge control panel. The pipe will have to be cut to get the control panel out). Ah well, no worries, we never use hook-up on the road. But the following day fridge and freezer are still warm. Checked nice bright blue flame, switched it off and blew compressed air through the inspection hatch and re-lit it. No effect. Dash to Decathlon to get a 12v/240v cooler.

And that was what we lived out, and tripped over constantly, for the next two weeks. We subsequently managed to get an appointment at Cara Motorhomes near Tipperary. They plugged it into AC and in two hours the freezer was -12º and the fridge 5º. EHU disconnected, doors left open so the fridge warmed up a bit then switch on using gas. It worked ! We went away happy, but €120 poorer. Over the next 4 weeks the fridge performance slowly deteriorated until it was barely cooler than outside ambient, but the freezer was managing to maintain -10º or lower. Ended up at a campsite with EHU (€40/pn) and freezer went down to -16º and fridge to 5 but as soon as we disconnected EHU normal service was resumed

Meantime I had some thermal paste on board so fins removed ( A story in itself, 80km round trip to a Middle-of-Lidl where a couple of days earlier I’d seen the required t10 or t15 bit I needed to get the fins off) cleaned up, some foam removed from cooling pipes and fresh paste applied - to no discernible effect except on my temper. We cut our losses when we crossed back to Spain and came straight home instead of heading for Galicia.


Back to the day of the ferry ….

Arrived in Bilbao did some errands, fuel, LPG, Mercadonna, Kiwoko etc and checked in early, nothing else to do - or so I thought.

Thetford C260 (yes, that again), the cassette blade jammed. Ho-hum, tool-bag & kneeling pad comes out and with a bit of jiggery-pokery cassette extracted. Inserted the spare cassette (which had been tested/lubed before departure) and the same thing happens. So toilet completely u/s - and no bucket either. Identified that the problem was the slider activating mechanism inside the body of the toilet; gears skipped or broken. Amazingly I had a spare. Prescient aren’t I - it predates the current van. What I didn’t have was a posidrive screwdriver that I could get on the 5 or 6 ss self-tappers holding the toilet body down.

Boarded ferry, disembarked Rosslare and drove the 12km to the Coal Bunker pub, where we knew we could overnight, but arrived too late to eat. Explained our predicament and the management arranged to leave the bar toilets, accessed via the beer garden, open all night for us. Our first experience of Irish hospitality. More t’internet research and I found that Mahon Point shopping centre in Cork had a mall with toilets accessible 0900-2200hrs, a Tesco, B&Q and a car-park without barriers. Two and a half hours and 200km later we were tucked into a corner of the car-park close to the mall entrance. Rooted around in the bottom of the toolbag and found a rusty PZ1 bit and got to work. It was raining, of course, it does this a lot in Eire. I should probably mention here was coming up to my 76th birthday and there is a limit to the time I can spent on my knees (in the rain, or not) before they, the ankles and toes complain. Anyway got the old mechanism out (damaged teeth) and the new one in but it was an absolute bastard to get the retaining self-tappers back in. I ended up walking to B&G, in the rain obvs, for an electric screwdriver which got the job done.


And off we went on our merry WaW until 10 days before the ferry back, the engine warning light came on. (The glow-plug light got into the habit of coming upon some days and some days not) Turned off and restarted, like you do. No throttle response at all. Off and on again and normal service resumed. Seemed to happen less when the engine was warm. Then the Navigator got a call from the UK, family medical matter so we abandoned the WaW and headed for Dublin airport for her flight. I lurked around and about minimising engine starts and it was then that I noticed the coolant leak - not a lot, but any is a worry. Have kept a close eye on and it hasn’t needed topping up yet. When the wanderer returned we headed to Co.Wexford hanging around a couple of days waiting for the ferry and hoping we got on it. We did, sighs of relief, and the 900km between Bilbao and home was done, uneventfully, in two days.


Fridge has now been looked at, new burner fitted (original gunged up, flame half the size it should've been, allegedly. €72), under test atm.

Engine’s being diagnosed Monday.

Oh, almost forgot, discovered that the Maaxfan leaks too ..

Apart from that, good trip.
What a great story, you have me riveted :) Glad you got back safely though and kudos for having spares like that :)
 
Changed the thermal paste on our fridge this morning. Not an easy job with a bad back & stiff neck, but I wanted to make sure it was working properly to cool beer for Drax.
Freezer now sitting at -20C and fridge at 4C.
 
Removed factory fitted, but 'dumb', Alphatronics tv and shortish "Lippert Pantograph" TV bracket from rear bedroom of new-to-us 'van. Replaced them with smart Avtex TV + soundbar and longer tv bracket, a "NOVUS SKY BASIC 2" (all removed from our previous 'van when we bought this one).

With some washers, spacers and longer machine screws, I mounted some ply to Carthago's TV 'space' using their original mounting holes. Then I put threaded inserts into some 12mm plywood, for mounting bolts to hold the new bracket.

It's a shame that Avtex can't pass through the 20w (max) which the soundbar needs from the TV itself, but as it doesn't I needed two 12v supplies.
So, I got a male 2.5mm plug to connect into the Alphatronics original supply, fed power from it into a couple of Temu 3-way wago style connectors. I snipped a length of the original Avtex 3-pin DC connectors, bound them up with heat shrink and electrical tape and connected them into the 3-way connectors. I've lost the 2amp inline fuse from the 12v cigarette connector on the end of the Avtex lead, but the original dc supply is fused as part of the Carthage entertainment system.

I looked into soldering up new 3-pin 90 degree DC plugs, but I couldn't find the ones Avtex use anywhere online. Shame though, as it would have been a neater job and I wouldn't have needed to cannabalise the original leads.

Sadly, while the longer TV mount means the TV is more centered at the foot of the bed, it also means the factory fitted aerial lead is about 6 inches too short. I'll extend it at some point, but we rarely use terrestrial tv anyway so it's not a problem for now.

IMG_3661.webp


All mounted and working nicely (picture to follow).

Only issues were
a) forgetting that the soundbar has two power controls, both of which need to be 'on' for it to work, and
b) not fully seating the HDMI cable, so no sound came out for ages.

You wouldn't believe how much time these problems caused me to waste in the TV's menu before checking the physical connections and reading the manual! So frustrating.

And before you say, why didn't I just put a firestick (or similar) on the original Alphatronics TV, I'd already used the one I have on the larger, but still dumb, Alphatronics TV in the front of the 'van.
 
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Not me but an act of god means the control panel is displaying again after about 2 years of being blank. Did a reflow on the display ribbon cable PCB connector a couple of weeks ago and got some life for a few mins but then it died again. Then randomly yesterday it came back to life and us still on today 🤷
 
Yesterday I didn’t fix, but removed the stupid props that allow us to tilt our bed heads up so you can sit up in bed.

Bloody stupid design, that the beds have cupboards above so no room to sit up, the beds self raise when you go over speed bumps a bit too quick, and they hang down in the garage so I’m constantly hitting my head on them.

The beds are now fixed down, and the props are in the box of bits removed.
 
Our 11-year-old van is due it’s MOT tomorrow so the last couple of weeks we have carried out a service and pre-MOT checks. The front disc pads had 6mm left - which would be fine - but on taking them out for a good clean it was clear that the friction material was delaminating from the backing plate due to rust. Not really surprising as they are the original pads. So we have replaced front discs and pads and now all looking good.

Anyone contemplating the same work might find these two posts helpful:
For us, the big challenge was extracting the large Allen screws holding the carrier onto the hub. These are tightened to 210nM WITH Threadlock. We had to resort to a 1000mm breaker bar and heating with a blow lamp to shift them. Even a 680nM impact wrench didn’t make any impression!

IMG_20250726_164154681.webp

IMG_20250726_164208564.webp
 
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For us, the big challenge was extracting the large Allen screws holding the carrier onto the hub. These are tightened to 210nM WITH Threadlock. We had to resort to a 1000mm breaker bar and heating with a blow lamp to shift them. Even a 680nM impact wrench didn’t make any impression!

I waved one of these at the screws in mine, and the threat must have scared them. They came straight out. :LOL:


I had the lump hammer all ready to give em a whack.

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I waved one of these at the screws in mine, and the threat must have scared them. They came straight out.


I had the lump hammer all ready to give em a whack.
Great! Had yours been in place undisturbed for over 11 years though? 😳

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Not fixed but maintained lol
Fiat sealed for life gearbox oil, could have lasted another 11 years lol
Also fitted an Airplus fan, god dam brilliant



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Great! Had yours been in place undisturbed for over 11 years though? 😳
I don't honestly know. everything around it was well rusted. That wasn't my point though.

My impact started to cam out on the first side and had it not released at that point I suspect I may have knackered the bolt. Hence I bought this hammer impact driver when I was doing the other side as they do not cam out like an impact wrench can in my experience.
 
Our 11-year-old van is due it’s MOT tomorrow so the last couple of weeks we have carried out a service and pre-MOT checks. The front disc pads had 6mm left - which would be fine - but on taking them out for a good clean it was clear that the friction material was delaminating from the backing plate due to rust. Not really surprising as they are the original pads. So we have replaced front discs and pads and now all looking good.

Anyone contemplating the same work might find these two posts helpful:
For us, the big challenge was extracting the large Allen screws holding the carrier onto the hub. These are tightened to 210nM WITH Threadlock. We had to resort to a 1000mm breaker bar and heating with a blow lamp to shift them. Even a 680nM impact wrench didn’t make any impression!

View attachment 1096857

View attachment 1096858
Good job looks nice. Yes those caliper carrier bolts are freaking tight when removing factory fitment as I have found out myself. I see you replaced the pads with Brembo - did you also replace with Brembo discs? Hope your MOT went well.
I strip out, clean up and re-lubricate the pads and slider pins front and back brakes every 2 years as preventative maintenance.
 
Over the weekend I lost all the habitation lights in little red.
Was pulling my hair out couldn’t find the fault then I notes under the cooker unit a load of black wires hanging
Yes everything was earths negative to one part of the van.
Behind the battery box
It had come adrift
Not my work but previous owner who converted it
All secured now but will be improved at first opertuny when we get home
WB
 
Good job looks nice. Yes those caliper carrier bolts are freaking tight when removing factory fitment as I have found out myself. I see you replaced the pads with Brembo - did you also replace with Brembo discs? Hope your MOT went well.
I strip out, clean up and re-lubricate the pads and slider pins front and back brakes every 2 years as preventative maintenance.
Yes, Brembo pads but opted for Bosch discs as the Brembo were currently quite expensive with my supplier. Just got back from the MOT - passed with no advisories. 😀👍

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connected all the wiring for the solar system not victron but the same stuff o have used on my boat the last five years except for the flex panels
Battery fully charged to 13.7 volts put kettle 1800 wat boiled two cups of water in 2min pulled battery down to 12.7 volts while operating recovery to 13.5 about for min
Seems to be working fine.
Very happy so far
WB
 
Not the motorhome, but have a 5 year and 20 year tasks to do on the SAAB. SWMBO is going away next Thursday so I’ve a week of manly stuff, wearing my pants and socks for the week and lots of mechanical stuff on the motor 🚙

Secure vehicle.

Remove lover engine shield and crossmember.

Remove rhf wheel and inner arch.

Jack up engine and remove top mounting.

Remove air filter, air box and trunking.

Secure wiring.

Remove aux belt, tensioner and idler.

Remove cam belt cover.

Check ac compressor operation.

If required, vent and remove compressor and check part number details and order replacement.

Time up engine.

Bolt fuel pump drive and remove drive nut.

Remove high pressure fuel pump.

Replace inlet manifold, swirl flaps assembly, egr valve and map sensor.

Refit fuel pump drive and torque drive nut.

Drain coolant.

Check timing marks and remove cam belt and water pump and replace with new.

Check correct timing and briefly run engine to confirm correct timing.

Replace ac compressor.

Replace timing belt cover.

Fit new aux belt tensioner and idler wheel. Fit new aux belt.

Check all work completed so far, then secure wiring harness and refit engine mount, air box and replacement air filter. Refit trunking.

Remove battery and battery box. Remove trunking and gear linkages.

Remove thermostat assembly and hoses. Check condition of hoses and look to replace all required.

Fit new thermostat assembly.

Drain gearbox oil and measure quantity removed. Replace drain plug and refill gearbox with new synthetic oil.

Bleed clutch.

Refit gear linkage, battery box and battery.

Fill with antifreeze.

Run engine and bleed coolant. Check for leaks across the system.

Drain engine oil. Replace oil filter. Replace sump plug and washer. Fill with oil and slick 50.

Replace pollen filter.

Replace fuel filter.

Check levels.

Road test.

Have the cold leftover fish and chips from 2 nights ago, for breakfast and open a new beer.

Relax in front of tv watching real mans stuff, like…

The Sweeney
The Professionals
Minder
The Saint

Then more beer….
And after lunch?🤣

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

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