Airstream Repair in Sonoma County

[Mrs. Bale]

Hi All, Mrs. Bale here again. Are there any Northern California Airstreamers out there? Our beautiful new (to us) Safari developed an electrical problem that I can't solve and I need to take it to someone who knows what they're doing. The closest Airstream repair place I can find is in Manteca, about 90 miles away. Does anyone know of someplace closer they can recommend? We're taking her on our first "real" trip (a week long trip to the coast) in August and I want her to be spiffied up by then. Thanks, and happy streaming!

[Goal15]

Always plenty of helpful folks on here ready to diagnose over the internet :-)

[Mrs. Bale]

Hi Goal15
Here's the deal. We bought our dream-stream three weeks ago from a couple who obviously took excellent care of her and they showed us the whole nine yards- everything worked fine. We pulled her home and the next morning I went out to do some Mrs. Bale-like cleaning and tidying when I discovered that the ceiling lights over the dinette didn't work. (They did work the day before...) I then noticed that the ceiling lights and fan in the bathroom, the Fan-Tastick fan in the galley and the ceiling lights over the kitchen sink didn't work. (With our floor plan, this is everthing on the "port" side of the trailer except the sink lights which are in the rear). I looked up the fuse diagram in the manual and replaced the fuse for the 5th circuit- when I did, everything came on again (bathroom fan, dinette lights, etc.) and after about 45 seconds, the fuse blew again. I replaced the fuse a second time, but couldn't get anything to work. All of the other electrical works fine. I had an RV guy come out and look at it and he checked the connections to the lights/fans and said that I would have to take it to an Airstream place. He said they would charge me $3.00 per rivet to pull off the aluminum panels to look for the wiring problem. (Nice guy, though - he didn't charge me for the service call). We took her for a weekend boondock (our first trip) after that and everything except the afore-mentioned items worked like a charm. The battery monitor is "green" and it doesn't matter whether we're on battery only or plugged in to shore power. That's the long and short of it. Any ideas?

[triterra]

I have used Chris a couple of times with good results. He travels to you. Give him a call and see what he can do for you. see his ad on craigslist below

Airstream mobile repair and maintaince

[Airslide]

Hi there,,,

and welcome to the airforums..

I just sent you a private message. Look on your home page, top right area.

Cheers Vinnie

[Airslide]

This turned out to be an interesting problem. Fuse #5 was blowing intermittently. This fuse controls the lavatory overhead lights x2, the light above the dinette and the fantastic fan towards the rear vent. The culprit was the wiring loom under the dinette. This loom goes between the fuse panel located under the fridge then travels under the floor above the axle area and comes up via a tin trough under the rear dinette seat. There was a nice rubber coated wire retainer that was loose and no longer fastened. This allowed the harness to make contact with a piece of metal flashing in this trough clearly designed to rub through harness if ever it had the chance. Several wires had made contact at one point or another but the #5 blue wire had rubbed through to a dead short. It takes just a minute to unscrew this lower seat panel for a quick investigation and if I owned this model its definately worth the time investment.

BTW.. these are two of the nicest people you will ever meet and we hope to see you and your new baby at the next rally!

Cheers.

Vinnie

[Mrs. Bale]

Well, our ailing Safari is as good as new thanks to Dr. Vinnie, who is not only a brilliant diagnostician, but is admirably skilled in Airstream surgery as well! I am still amazed that he was able to figure this one out - it was about as easy as finding a needle in a haystack. I am also grateful for the learning experience and for making a new friend. Life is grand! Now that all systems are go, we are headed to the Mendocino coast in August for our first "real" trip- 7 nights by the ocean in our dream-stream. Can't think of a nicer vacation. One thing is for sure- as we are sitting around the campfire under the stars watching the warm yellow glow coming from the now-fully-functioning lights in our lovely new Airstream, we will be raising our glasses in a toast of gratitude to Vinnie!

[corinnedavid]

Hello -
Please send me the contact info for the Airstream expert available in Santa Rosa, CA. Thanks, Corinne
cabinowner@sbcglobal.net

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by corinnedavid

Hello -
Please send me the contact info for the Airstream expert available in Santa Rosa, CA. Thanks, Corinne
cabinowner@sbcglobal.net

Your 2 closest Airstream dealers are in Sacramento and Manteca.

Non dealers will not usually have the correct parts, of course depending on what is needed.

Andy