What have you fixed on your motorhome this week?

dunnah01 said:
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 🤷
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Update: - Still working 😀
 
Replaced Micro switch in the bathroom tap. Sorry no pics of job in progress as lots of effing and jeffing during the operation. Hardest part was feeding the wires down through the tap.



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Mr Colpot said:
Replaced Micro switch in the bathroom tap. Sorry no pics of job in progress as lots of effing and jeffing during the operation. Hardest part was feeding the wires down through the tap.



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From your picture it looks real posh, like it’s a his and hers sink in the bathroom 😀👍🏻
 
gus-lopez said:
On arriving in the Uk I parked in Sainsbury's Portslade & well away from the store.Came back to a dozen seagulls all sat on my solar panels.
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Around there they aren't as bad as the famous Newquay gull that attacks people and steals food. But Sainsbury's in Hythe has them all over the cars... Sometimes sleeping.

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Today I have replaced the rear lights on the tow bar mounted BackRak that I broke whilst away. Tested & all working. I need to replace the two 30mm crossbars that also bent & I had to straighten but the steel supplier is on holiday until the 1st September.
Thursday & replaced the 12volt cut off switch under the drivers seat that appeared to be weakening & not fully making contact all the time.
Nigel Crompton said:
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.
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Sounds like our trip.Wife counted up 22 different problems that we had:rolleyes:
 
I suppose this comes in as a fix.
The battery level of the engine battery has been floating around 12.3 volts and not recharging for whatever reason, but never going flat, but just enough to get a warning from Metatrak each time the engine turned on.

Our 350 watts of solar goes directly into the leisure battery.

So I added another 130 watts on a separate system which incorporated a victron duo solar pwm which splits the incoming energy (it is resettable but 50/50 and am happy with this) but when one is full it sends all the energy to the other one.

So hopefully, the engine battery stays very full from now on and I get extra charging for the leisure battery for less than 200 quid.

Also got it ceramic coated this week.
 
Have just replaced our 11-year old leisure batteries which were two Powerline T-105 6 volt 225Ah wired in series. Although still functioning very adequately, we are about to do some off-grid days and decided to bite the bullet on the basis that they owe us nothing.

As the whole system has worked so well since we built it, I was not even tempted to consider updating to Lithium or anything else but at 28Kg each, these are awkward items to remove and re-install! The new ones have the same spec as the ones fitted in 2014 but this time are from Trojan.
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Visible in the picture are the main fuse and the shunt for the battery monitor on the left hand side. The construction sitting above the batteries is an automatic venting system which is voltage dependent and uses a small PC fan to push any gases down through the floor to the exterior. It is only needed when the charge cycle includes a period of higher voltage to maintain battery condition. Under the blue retaining strap there is a temperature sensor which is connected back to the charger.

We have a mains power supply which can supply up to 20A and takes over from the solar panels as the power source for the charger when we need to augment their output. This setup is mostly of our own design but has been inspired by learning from the work of enough others to be classified as “research” rather than “plagiarism”. 😜
 
Recently had a shock when I found out that the auxiliary belts on the chain-cam Ford Puma 2.2 engine in our Citroen Relay need changing after 100,000 miles or 10 years. As the van is now 11 years old, this seemed like a good idea. Parts were around £30 for the two good quality (Gates) belts.

Did the job with the two front wheels on the top of our Milenco Quattros and this gave adequate access - although if I were to do it again I would probably go for axle stands and take off the offside front wheel for a marginal improvement in accessibility.

Lying on the drive under the van on one of the hottest days, meant I was working mainly in the cool. Not a very enjoyable task apart from that, with minimal space for removing the cover over the belts and pulleys. Best bit is that they should now be OK for 10 years! 😀
 
ericroy said:
Recently had a shock when I found out that the auxiliary belts on the chain-cam Ford Puma 2.2 engine in our Citroen Relay need changing after 100,000 miles or 10 years. As the van is now 11 years old, this seemed like a good idea. Parts were around £30 for the two good quality (Gates) belts.

Did the job with the two front wheels on the top of our Milenco Quattros and this gave adequate access - although if I were to do it again I would probably go for axle stands and take off the offside front wheel for a marginal improvement in accessibility.

Lying on the drive under the van on one of the hottest days, meant I was working mainly in the cool. Not a very enjoyable task apart from that, with minimal space for removing the cover over the belts and pulleys. Best bit is that they should now be OK for 10 years! 😀
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Interested in what was the condition of the belts and how many miles had they covered? Did you take photos?

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Drexl said:
Interested in what was the condition of the belts and how many miles had they covered? Did you take photos?
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Condition was very good at just over 30K miles. But as the aim of scheduled maintenance is to change well before failure, I kind of expected that. 😉 Not sure how much will be visible in the photos, but here they are anyway. 😎
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I have just fitted a Victron 75 15 mppt solar controller,to charge the leisure batteries from my portable solar paneI. I only have a 150w panel on the roof, and no room for any more,so this is a welcome addition (y)
They will get a good test next week in Cromer for festival week, which starts on Wednesday.

I would like to thank Gary Just smiffy for taking the time at Drax to have a look over my motorhome to see what I needed and where to take the feed from, he’s a shining example of a Funster (y)
And thanks for the chat about your recent trip to Morocco Gary, I’m still trying to persuade Jo to give it a try :giggle:
 
ericroy said:
Ford Puma 2.2 engine in our Citroen Relay need changing after 100,000 miles or 10 years.
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i've changed both mine & all idlers & tensioner ,three times in 6 years of ownership

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Just making the most of the dry weather to spend some time under the van to attack some areas with zinc primer and chassis paint where the under seal has split or cracked and rust has started nothing serious found and it passed its MOT this week,yippee !
I did find an area under the garage where the black epoxy? has disappeared leaving some very dry wood, not sure what to do with this yet as this is a new problem to solve for me. There is always a new challenge when owning a motorhome!
 
Since we’ve had the motorhome from new, the grey plastic trim around the front roof light kept coming out. I tried to get Lowdhams to fix it under warranty but it still kept coming out.

Finally, after nearly 6 years, I’ve done it myself and replaced the plastic trim. It took several weeks to track down the correct size plastic trim. Hymer, in the factory, had cut the previous trim too short so it was never going to stay in position.

It’s hot working under a roof light in this weather. The tops of my arms, and shoulders, are now aching from reaching up for so long. I’m glad I finally got around to doing it. It had better stay in now as I’m not doing it again!:LOL:

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Two items fitted this week No 1 new 90ltr condenser fridge in place of original 3way fridge and No 2 a new roof mounted air conditioner after sweating cobs in Spain in July this year.



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Nothing as it is tooooooooo hot to even venture outside after 10am & until the sun has set.:hot:🥵🥵 I¡d like to swop some cables on the van roof but needs to be done first thing & I have plenty of other things that also need doing at that time41º out there in shade at the moment.
 
Odd smell in van, removed carpet in kitchen as most likely place to hold rotting debris. Decided to clear out underfloor cupboard, found semi liquid rotten bag of potatoes. Not sure where else to look for the smell, did I service the toilet?

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After a fair amount of use so far this year had quite a long list of maintenance tasks / repairs to get through:
1) Replaced cable ducting on roof for a much neater job £10 and 1 hour.
2) Added a full length LED strip to awning with dimmer switch £80 and 2 hours (desirable only, but turned out nice)
3) Removed and refitted bathroom mixer tap which had worked itself loose and was rattling around - no cost and 5 minutes.
4) Topped up alde heating fluid - £30 and 5 minutes.
5) Replace broken front fog lamp - surprisingly only £45 but unbelievably 2 hours of fiddling about!
6) Pressure wash underneath followed by annual re-application of Lanoguard to chassis - £100 and about 5 hours (over a couple of days).
7) Full wash down including entire roof, followed by wax polish (3 times a year task) £20 or so in materials and 6 hours of time
8) Replaced faulty component within inverter / charger set-up which had been causing major issues whenever we attempted to use EHU for the Aircon during our recent 6 week tour of the European heatwave - for all the grief, was a 5 minute job costing £9!
9) Emptied out garage, reorganised storage to accommodate new ‘pride and joy’ the Vespa 125.

All in all a good week of work and as always extremely rewarding given what we get back from motorhome touring experiences.



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PP Bear said:
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….
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So an update to my huge list of tasks I had set myself.

All now complete and all done in the blooming heatwave over last week, but glad I got it all completed. Wasn’t without its dramas, but then it’s a 20 year old beauty and have to expect the odd hiccup.

Here’s the list:

17 Aug 25: 124,715 miles.

Engine service, Mobil 1, 750ml synthetic slick 50, oil, air, fuel, pollen filters (new drain-plug).

Renew inlet manifold and swirl flap assembly, new EGR valve and MAP sensor.

Replace timing belt, water pump, aux belt and all new aux idlers and aux tensioner (old belt was 5 years old and had no signs of wear that I could see, the same with the auxiliary belt. Both were Gates coming off and new Gates going on). The only area of wear, was the weep from the waterpump, but that had dried up and showing the old signs of the red crusty coolant.

Replace ac compressor and ac pressure sensor (bugger of a job and blooming heavy).

Replace thermostat assembly.

Replace R/H/F wheel bearing.

Under seal R/H inner wing.

Reseal all electrical wiring loom.

Drain and refill gearbox with fresh fully synthetic oil (3lts Castrol TransMax Manual 75W-90).

Bleed clutch fluid through system.
 

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