What have you fixed on your motorhome this week?

[Lenny HB]

Not us but Fiat professional, fixed our faulty comfortmatic gear problem. Quick efficient but expensive hourly rate, less than fiat cars though.

What was the hourly rate?
Our local Fiat Professional is £115 +vat (£138).

 

[scotzsue]

What was the hourly rate?
Our local Fiat Professional is £115 +vat (£138).

We were quoted the same bill not broken down into hours as mostly diagnostic and seems quite involved, only parts were cable ties, no apparent charge for them
Just glad to get it back.

 

[Just smiffy]

We were quoted the same bill not broken down into hours as mostly diagnostic and seems quite involved, only parts were cable ties, no apparent charge for them
Just glad to get it back.

What was wrong with it…?

 

[scotzsue]

Some lead/component had become detached, making electronic system believe that their was no hydraulic fluid in the system. initial diagnostic by RAC had shown low/no pressure.
Can only assume it had vibrated loose, they said it had been incorrectly fitted/attached ? We have done a fair mileage considering covid restrictions. Happy to have it back without a 4 figure bill. Labour charges are excessive but not as bad as the Jordans would have been.

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

Kitchen tap, it was weeping out of the spout when not being used indicating the ceramic mechanism had stopped sealing.
I found these 35mm cartridges from Screwfix fitted and worked well as much cheaper replacement part.

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[peterc10]

Kitchen tap, it was weeping out of the spout when not being used indicating the ceramic mechanism had stopped sealing.
I found these 35mm cartridges from Screwfix fitted and worked well as much cheaper replacement part.View attachment 740771

Was the tap a Reich one, and if so can you share a photo of it. Our Reich kitchen tap has started to weep from the spout and I wonder whether we could do the same. What was the Screwfix reference number please?

 

[Tony68000]

Changed my leisure battery. Checked all my tyre pressures... which I know should be a regular thing. Clean out my toilet cassette. Fitted a dashcam. Replaced one of the mattresses.

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

Was the tap a Reich one, and if so can you share a photo of it. Our Reich kitchen tap has started to weep from the spout and I wonder whether we could do the same. What was the Screwfix reference number please?

Screwfix ref. 6086x. 35mm x 4mm. Yes ours is Reich. I think if it's weeping from the spout the ceramic side of the cartridge is kaput, if it's elsewhere, probably the seals on the bottom where it interfaces with the tap base.
Mike.

 

[swiftsteve]

Finally got rid of the airbag warning light. Sent the ecu to Northern auto tech, they sent it back saying it was toast. Bought a new one from coastal motorhomes, fitted it, took it to an auto electrician who was unable to do a proxy realignment. Booked it into a fiat workshop, who did the realignment in 20 mins for £74.
Now ready for the MOT next month.

 

[peterc10]

Spent a couple of weeks, not so much fixing things, more like upgrading what we have got in the way of electrical stuff. The idea is to make us more self sufficient with power now that I have upgraded to LiFePo4 batteries

Firstly fitted a new Renogy 2000W/4000W pure sine wave inverter to replace my existing modified sine wave version. Bought it on a whim when they went down to £200 in Amazon's sale. A bit of a pig to squeeze in, but I managed it. Very impressed with it at the moment and I can now make better use of the additional sockets added into the motorhome to serve the inverter. Especially liked the pass through mode which means that these sockets will run off of EHU, instead of batteries, on the few occasions that we are plugged into the mains when we are away.

Then tackled fitting a new Microwave oven in the wasted space above the Tech Tower. The new inverter copes well with the 1270W input power (800W output power). Took a bit of fitting to make sure it does not slide about and also matches as far as possible to the original look of the interior. Bought it from the company in Sellindge in Kent who specialise in microwaves in trucks, motorhomes and caravans.

Then I upgraded my solar array and beefed up its wiring. I already have 1 x 150W and 1 x 100W panels fitted and working well. Added another 2 x 100W panels bought from CraigSolar via Amazon. In doing so I beefed up and added to the existing internal wiring, as Hymer's 2.5mm2 wires were a bit too light. I didn't want to drill another hole in the roof so I had to change the existing outside solar wiring as well as fitting new wiring for the new panels. All now fed into an IP68 junction box stuck on the roof. My existing panels use a Votronic MPPT regulator. The new panels have different Voc to the old ones and so I fitted a separate Victron MPPT regulator for them.

I wanted to keep the new panels at the front of the van so as to minimise load on the rear axle. The reason for buying from CraigSolar is because they were the only ones that will fit and from a UK based supplier.

Finished the panels yesterday so I am giving the Sikaflex 292i adhesive a few days to cure before going for a drive. I checked what I was getting out of all the solar when it was sunny yesterday. Maxed at about 18A from the 450W, which I thought was not bad for mid afternoon in mid April in the UK.

Looking at the photo I really should have cleaned all the roof, not just the bits I was working on.

Finally I would especially like to thank Lenny HB for all his help and patience, especially when he phoned me from France.

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[gus-lopez]

Fitted a second leisure battery. Fitted a battery disconnection switch to the main engine cable. Removed unused & redundant wiring along with the wiring for the seat heaters & switch. Moved the garages 'bodged' canbus box live supply to a proper fused box.
Moved the wing mirror electric adjustment to a position on the door where it can be used whilst sat normally in the drivers seat extended the 7 way cable to it.

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

View attachment 741016 Screwfix ref. 6086x. 35mm x 4mm. Yes ours is Reich. I think if it's weeping from the spout the ceramic side of the cartridge is kaput, if it's elsewhere, probably the seals on the bottom where it interfaces with the tap base.View attachment 741018
Mike.

Side by side photo of the original Cartridge [ bottom] and the Screwfix £4.76 one. As state, you need to retain the fixing star ring of the tap, or you'll have to buy a new tap as their unlikely to be available as a spare part, 3 D Printers?
Mike.

 

[peterc10]

View attachment 742605 Side by side photo of the original Cartridge [ bottom] and the Screwfix £4.76 one. As state, you need to retain the fixing star ring of the tap, or you'll have to buy a new tap as their unlikely to be available as a spare part, 3 D Printers?
Mike.

Thanks. Bought one and will put it in my travelling "box of spares just in case".

 

[PP Bear]

Dismantled the C200 Thetford cassette, added lots of citric acid and soaked everything inside the main body.

Lubed and reassembled and nice and shiny clean for another year.

Luckily I took some photos and a video to aid the task.

I also discovered that the level sensor float was still in place, but wouldn’t float due to scale. Citric acid descaled it nicely so floats once again.

This is the blade mechanism retainer:

The float:

Shiny clean inside:

Ready for assembly:

 

[MisterB]

Fixed a leak on our Adria (mentioned on a different thread). Adria should be held responsible for all the leaks caused by their lack of pipe inserts.

I will make sure I do all the other fittings and fit pipe inserts in all those I can gain access to !

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[NigelNovice]

Just fixed my Grill we have just had a long weekend around Bridlington mainly to watch Race the Waves on the beach and touring around on me Lambretta and we have been having a nice cooked English breakfast in the morning until the last day when the grill decided it would not get hot, it lit and stayed lit but the Sausages would have got hotter if we rubbed them together, so back home I found you can still get spares but that means spending money so I found a manual online (free) and I removed the grill burner and gave it a good old tapping and blowing out with compressed air, I also took the jet out and blew it and the pipe out, whipped it all back together and whoosh, all toasty, happy days
By the by it is a Spinflo Caprice mk3 just for reference.

 

[bigwood]

The Omni step fitted to our motorhome has always had issues with the step out warning buzzer working intermittently and the retracting relay not working so as the bushes are falling apart I decided to sort out the electrics at the same time.
The switch for the buzzer is simply full of road gunk being in line with rear wheels so that’s just needing a good clean out.
If it’s the retraction relay that is faulty I noticed a new relay comes with a capacitor to be fitted between pins 85/86. The old relay dosnt have a capacitor fitted. I know what a capacitor is for but does any one with more electrical ideas know the reason for this being fitted.

 

[MisterB]

Installed an additional 240v socket just fed by the inverter so we can use the electric kettle on the kitchen worktop. We were using a different socket to test that everything worked as it should via the inverter before drilling holes in the 'kitchen area'.

We already have one socket in the kitchen area but we will leave that connected up for 240v on EHU.

Being able to use the kettle whilst not on mains EHU has been such a bonus and now being able to use it in the kitchen area just puts the icing on the cake.

Cable is routed through the back of the passenger seats and under the floor, so it's all well hidden. As I've used the same fittings that are in the motorhome (Adria) it looks as though it has always been there !!

 

[WallaceandGromit]

Fitted a new radio to replace the all singing all dancing Kenwood that got drowned when the cab skylight leaked bought a bog standard sony radio with dual Bluetooth and cd player also got this to fill the gap https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/14465432...d=link&campid=5338547443&toolid=20001&mkevt=1 more use than the stupid touch screen

 

[Lenny HB]

Screwed my waste pipe bracket back on this morning at our wild spot in Spain. I think I pulled it off when rinsining out the loo with the waste water at the last stop.

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[mofurt]

Got around to fixing the dashboard blower fan - since we got it, the fastest speed hasn't worked. Last time we took it out, the next fastest was a bit intermittent, which suggested the rotary switch rather than the resistor pack (as fastest speed wouldn't be going via a resistor). It's a bit of a pain to get to on a 2000-2006 Ducato - radio out, then work downwards to be able to pull the ventilation control panel off - but a surprising amount of room behind the panel to get the old one out and the new one in. That was nowhere near as bad as I expected, and I did the job whilst retaining all the skin on my hands, which is generally unheard of for me when working in tight spaces behind dashboards.
Dismantling the old one showed the contacts had badly burnt.

 

[3crispies]

Had to rewire alarm and tidy up cabling after finding dealer fitted alarm like this after it all lost power due to bad connection. Used spiral wrap to tidy cabling and temp fix a 12v back up until weekend.

 

[KD]

...and fit pipe inserts in all those I can gain access to !

Please excuse the silly question but what are pipe inserts for?

 

[MisterB]

Please excuse the silly question but what are pipe inserts for?

In simple terms they ensure the pipes maintain their shape within the fitting they are 'squashed' into. They provide more rigidity to the pipe which makes them less likely to distort when subjected to the pressure of the clamping effect of the fitting.

Pipe inserts are also used on plastic pipes whenever a compression fitting (with olives around the pipe) is used, for very much the same reason of ensuring the rigidity and shape of the pipe inside the fitting

And it's not a silly question!

 

[MisterB]

Finally got round to permanently installing the remote inverter switch. Looks so much neater and importantly (for me) looks like it's always been there from the original build. Had to feed cables through the floor voids but got their eventually!!

The switch operates a relay

Then I fitted the display for my Votronic MPPT ( will at some stage fit a 350 to replace the 165). I made a mounting back box using my 3d printer and chise white instead of grey because of where it's going. Again lots of trim removal to hide the cables etc. Decided against drilling any holes into the woodwork for this one in case I change things around. I will secure it using velcro.

I then installed a piece of ply under the microwave so that the door opened properly without catching slightly. I know some people suggest size doesn't matter, but even a couple of millimeters has made my wife very happy, who would have known ...

All in all a busy days work, but lots if little jobs done that have been waiting for me to make time to finish

Next job is to remove the current home made shelf for the TV in the lounge area and fit a bracket using the same mounting process, so that no holes are drilled into the walls etc and it can be easily removed.

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[herald_400rl]

Screw missing first overhead locker.

Replaced split charge relay.

 

[danielf]

Having had a few days without work I caught up on a few planned fixes and improvements.

Leather steering wheel cover
Service the sliding step
Add fiddle rail on shelf
Improve the boot lighting
Added aluminium trim to the cassette door as the plastic was getting marked.
Swap the useless swivel shelf in bathroom to make a much more useful tea shelf over the bed

 

[chesterfield hooligan]

I purchased a cheap OBD code reader I don't have a problem in the UK this is just to try to clear code's while we are travelling not realising it had to be updated before using so I've sat here in Mequineza updating it hopefully it will not be required

 

[pagey]

I know this hard to believe but my sunlight developed a rattle after going up and down a mountain near grenoble I thought I'm not putting up with that so I set about stopping it and found a loose screw in the top hinge on the toilet door slip shod Germans ay what next

 

[Patiopat]

Not done anything today but I can recommend this. Great on garage door locks or any moving part. I was recommended this by a Austrian in Spain who had a Morello and used it on his hydraulic levers so I use on mine now.

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