winnie

[sandyswinnie]

Hello, and glad to find this forum!
I bought my first motorhome and after the radiator and fuel pump kicked the bucket 80 miles from where I picked her up and after spending my vacation money fixing her up I am glad to report she purrs like a kitten now! I had to cut my vacation short but am so happy with her! This lesson taught me to take as much money for break downs as I do for a vacation on extends road trip. Thank goodness the money was in the bank or I might have had to abandon her 1,700 miles from home! The lesson also taught me to keep the fuel tank, propane tank and water resevoirs full and the batteries charged! It was 113 degrees when she broke down and almost out of water! Thank goodness I had fuel for the air conditioner to run. She's a biggie at 35 feet and drinks alot of gas! But she kept me sheltered. A KOA ran B the good same club was near by and I got my baby there and was allows to get her fixed on their site! After she got her inards fixed she was happy and I was happy and made it home safely! Got a big trip coming up so I'm getting new wipers, plugs and sparks for the generator and all the pretty things to make me feel at home with her. She gets 8 miles per gallon and my next trip is 1400 miles so my Ford will be in tow! Have to find someone who does R-12 for the radiator or I will be running the generator with roof air all the way if its warm.Any suggestions on anything dealing with cleaning the curtains by hand hand and the ceiling panel glue causing the ceiling to bubble? She's all fiberglass, no leaks or cracks or water damage. And what causes a generator onan 6500 watt to have a hard start? Thanks for adding me to forum and letting me post?

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome Sandy to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips & Tricks" post lists some helpful information to get you started. We look forward to hearing more from you. highdesertranger

 

[AbuelaLoca]

Welcome and congrats on getting your Winnie home!!

 

[user 37446]

Welcome, my that's a big gasser Winnie! What year, what engine? Likely a GM 454 or Ford 460. Anyways, glad your trip didnt turn into a disaster. I'm surprised that the tires didnt give you problems, usually those old units have very old tires on them, just waiting to fail even when the tread looks good. Learn how to read the sidewall DOT code (google it or YouTube it) and find out how old they are. Tire shops wont balance, rotate or fix tires more than 8 years old, and you run a high chance of complete sidewall or tread failure on them at highway speeds.

The generator is huge! Again, YouTube is your friend. Often they have too little usage so the fuel has dried up in the lines or the carb bowl/jets. Sometimes its the plug but more often its a gummed up fuel line.

Don't quite know what you mean by ceiling panel glue causing bubbling.

Curtains can be washed by hand in dish soap and let to dry.

R12 is for the AC, maybe that was a typo. It is getting hard to locate. Here's a thread from an RV forum that discusses how to add or switch over to the newer R134:

Begin quotes:

[font=arial, helvetica, 'sans serif']Posted By: Gale Hawkins on 07/11/11 10:55am 

If it is a P30 the VIN will tell you the year. Our 1993 GBM is built on on a 1992 chassis that OEM used R-12.

GM when to R-134a in the 1993 P30 chassis.

You can not charge an R-12 system with R-134a hoses so that will be your major clue.

The PO had did the dirty conversion and it worked OK but when the trinary switch failed I researched how to do the 'clean' r-12 to R-134a upgrade and did it. 

The green O-rings cost $10 and a new dryer was about $50 I think. I did the flushing and pump downs, etc and go a good job.

[size=medium]If the system has not been opened and the PSI was at ZERO and I personally wanted cooling NOW I would go to WM, Autozone, etc and get the conversion kit and add three cans of the NON stop leak R-134a. The kit will include the oil you need. 

I have done it before and would do it again if pushed. The clean change over takes more time and money but some shops want several hundred dollars to do it. I wanted to get the stop leak junk out of our MH dash AC system. 

I do not know of any really risk of damage with the dirty change over if you do not over charge the system which most will do. Ours worked OK with both the dirty and clean change over but my mind is happier with the clean change over and it was cool to learn how to do auto AC jobs.

Again the fittings will tell you what you have in it now. [/size]

[/font]

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Posted By: MountainAir05 on 07/11/11 10:58am 

Did the ac work before you work on a vacuum line? As stated if empty then it need to be vacuum and find the leak and repair. Does the compressor turn when turn on. Low charge will stop it from working. Also as stated look at the charging fitting. If push on q-d type then it is 134a. If it has a adapter on the fitting then check further.


Here is some more [size=medium]readin[/size]g if you do have to convert.

http://autoacrepairs.com/134aConversion.htm 

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Posted By: Gale Hawkins on 07/11/11 11:05am 

nsaellis wrote:
[img=1x8]http://www.rv.net/SharedContent/cfb/images/x.gif[/img][/SIZE]
I wanted to recharge my Dash A/C in my 1993 Holiday Rambler since it is only blowing hot air now after fixing a broken Vacuum hose. I went and bought a Recharge & Retrofit Kit that has a gauge. My father in-law then tells me that I cannot use R134A. Is this True?


nsaellis I now see you have the kit you need. 

What vacuum hose did you fix that caused the dash air to stop cooling? 

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Posted By: garry1p on 07/11/11 11:09am 

There is at least one brand of R-134A that is NOT compatible with R12 systems and will say so on the can "Do not use on R-12 systems". 

The oil is not compatible with the R-12 system and will lock up the compressor in a few months.

The conversion kit will have the required valve with it for both hi & low side. 

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End of quote


Hope this helps. Read the various subforums about electricals and such, and feel free to ask away. Also, you might find it good to look up a Winnebago specific owners group on the internet, or join he IRV2 or the other RV forums. There's much more specific class A info there.

 

[sandyswinnie]

Welcome and congrats on getting your Winnie home!!

Thank you so much! I held my breath for 1700 miles..lol

 

[sandyswinnie]

Welcome and congrats on getting your Winnie home!!

Hi and Thanks!
She's a 1993 with a Ford 460. Yea I meant Radiator..? We found some R-12 on eBay at $18 a can. The generator we believe isn't getting enough gas through the line. I think it started hard after we had fuel pump changed. The air did work before radiator was changed. The tires are surprisingly in good shape.We put air in the air bags but they deflated. We hope its just the seals because they are simple to replace.