We're Airstreamers Now

[losbrowns]

Hello Airstreamers!

After checking out Airstreams at the local dealer, watching the ads, and reading this site for a couple months, our family just purchased a 1992 34' Excella 1000!

The trailer was in Arizona and we are in Washington, so we met the PO in Sacramento, CA to make the deal. Getting it home was an adventure (new WD hitch, cooked batteries, leaking propane, defective brake controller, etc.), but it is home now and we're looking at what we need to repair. I am hoping to get a few tips from anyone who can help. Here goes:

1) Right after buying it, I learned the hard way how lllooonnnggg it is. I drove it past a pickup in a parking lot which had the tailgate down. I didn't see the tailgate and now the trailer has a crease above the right wheels. I will try to post some photos later. How does one go about repairing the body on these?

2) The Auto Fill switch does not work. I left it on while on city water, but after a couple hours the fresh water tank was still empty. Where is this valve located?

3) The front vent cover (the vent with the integrated light) is cracked. How do I figure out what to replace it with? I hope I don't need to replace the entire vent.

4) The Black Water tank monitor always shows 2/3 full. I suspect the holding tanks may have some build-up in them. Yuk! What's the best way to clean them out? Is there any other reason the monitor would show it to be 2/3 full?

5) The holding tank valves will not close completely. I noticed a thread suggesting using an "L" shaped wire to scrape the valves which I will try, but I also see these are pretty inexpensive to buy. Can I easily replace them?

6) The level on the front is broken. How can I find a replacement?

There's a number of other things I need to fix, but have already found answers here for them.

Thanks a bunch for any help!

Dave Brown

[87MH]

Dave:

Welcome to the Forums....

One of the really great features of this Forum is the Search Engine, access to the engine is via a pulldown from a tab at the top of the screen.

Type in what you are looking for, and sometimes two or three pages of hits will appear.

I believe that each of your inquiries has been discussed in the last year or so.

Bummer on the tailgate hit --

Post some pics --

[uwe]

Dave,
I'm glad ou got it home ok. How did the Suburban do, towing it over the Siskiyou and Cascades?

[losbrowns]

Originally Posted by 87MH

Dave:

Welcome to the Forums....

One of the really great features of this Forum is the Search Engine, access to the engine is via a pulldown from a tab at the top of the screen.

Type in what you are looking for, and sometimes two or three pages of hits will appear.

I believe that each of your inquiries has been discussed in the last year or so.

Bummer on the tailgate hit --

Post some pics --

Thanks, Dennis

Actually I did search this site for information on each item on my 'fix list'. I found answers to quite a few of them, but not the ones I posted above. There's so much information here that I may have missed a few things. I'd appreciate it if anyone could tell me the thread to look at.

Thanks again ,
Dave

[losbrowns]

Originally Posted by uwe

Dave,
I'm glad ou got it home ok. How did the Suburban do, towing it over the Siskiyou and Cascades?

Thanks, Uwe

The Suburban did great. That 454 engine can really pull! Going uphill was no sweat for it. However, going downhill was a little more tricky. The Prodigy brake controller seemed to stop working except on manual. Seems like it doesn't see the brake pedal depressing or the initia changing. The connections look good so I'm getting the volt meter out to see if I can find the problem.

[87MH]

Originally Posted by losbrowns

Hello Airstreamers!

...... we're looking at what we need to repair. I am hoping to get a few tips from anyone who can help. Here goes:
....
5) The holding tank valves will not close completely. I noticed a thread suggesting using an "L" shaped wire to scrape the valves which I will try, but I also see these are pretty inexpensive to buy. Can I easily replace them?

There's a number of other things I need to fix, but have already found answers here for them. Dave Brown

As new a unit as you have, a rebuild kit would probably do the trick.

The valves are Thetford manufacture, and Valvera parts will not work. Larger camping centers handle the parts. You have to disassemble the valve (not too difficult, once you get to it). There will be a compression or rubber sleeve fitting on one side of the valve, remove this, and the valve body will come apart with (I think) six or eight screws. The "downstream" half of the valve with the slide valve can now be removed. The rubber insert that the slide seals against is the most likely early failure point.

Inspect the body and the slide carefully for damage (gouges or cuts), you may have to go one step further and replace parts of the body or slide.

If it is the black tank you are working on.....be very careful that you have the black tank clean, washed, rinsed twice, and then rinse again.

Getting the tank clean and getting to it are the worst parts of the job.

[BobbyW]

losbrowns;

One suggestion to help get answers is to break up your future questions into logical chunks and post them in the appropriate sub-forums instead of lumping a bunch of questions into one thread. Otherwise the posts tend to get to wandering, making it difficult to sort out suggestions and tips.

It also helps when people come searching for answers in the future like you have and then they don't have to wade through the many posts to find specific answers.

Just a suggestion.

And welcome to the world of Airstream Forums !!!!

[uwe]

Originally Posted by losbrowns

The Prodigy brake controller seemed to stop working except on manual. Seems like it doesn't see the brake pedal depressing or the initia changing. The connections look good so I'm getting the volt meter out to see if I can find the problem.

This probably mean that you lost the input from the brake pedal, basically the stoplight switch.
Should be an easy fix.

[losbrowns]

Originally Posted by BobbyW

losbrowns;

One suggestion to help get answers is to break up your future questions into logical chunks and post them in the appropriate sub-forums instead of lumping a bunch of questions into one thread. Otherwise the posts tend to get to wandering, making it difficult to sort out suggestions and tips.

It also helps when people come searching for answers in the future like you have and then they don't have to wade through the many posts to find specific answers.

Just a suggestion.

And welcome to the world of Airstream Forums !!!!

Thanks Bobby
I'll take your advice.

Dave

[losbrowns]

Originally Posted by 87MH

As new a unit as you have, a rebuild kit would probably do the trick.

The valves are Thetford manufacture, and Valvera parts will not work. Larger camping centers handle the parts. You have to disassemble the valve (not too difficult, once you get to it). There will be a compression or rubber sleeve fitting on one side of the valve, remove this, and the valve body will come apart with (I think) six or eight screws. The "downstream" half of the valve with the slide valve can now be removed. The rubber insert that the slide seals against is the most likely early failure point.

Inspect the body and the slide carefully for damage (gouges or cuts), you may have to go one step further and replace parts of the body or slide.

If it is the black tank you are working on.....be very careful that you have the black tank clean, washed, rinsed twice, and then rinse again.

Getting the tank clean and getting to it are the worst parts of the job.

Thanks Dennis!
I appreciate the instructions! There's a plastic shroud around that valves held on with rivets. I guess I'll drill out the rivets and have a closer look now that I have an idea of what to expect.