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Old 12-20-2015, 05:34 AM   #1621
Gunter
 
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1966 24' Tradewind
1984 34.5' Airstream 345
Greenville , Ohio
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On my 1984 the hole on the left of the ignition switch is for a light that turns on when the air compressor is running.
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Old 12-20-2015, 05:42 AM   #1622
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1974 20' Argosy 20
Richmond , Kentucky
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gunner View Post
On my 1984 the hole on the left of the ignition switch is for a light that turns on when the air compressor is running.
That's interesting. My 84 310 didn't have an indicator like that and the 1986 345 didn't have the indicator either. I wonder if it was added by a PO?

The only problem with indicators like that is it doesn't really tell you the compressor is running, it just indicates that there is power to the compressor. If you're not in the habit of watching the pressure gauge for the suspension then it could be a long time before you realize the pump isn't actually running.

I think the best indicator would be a low pressure warning light similar to an oil pressure warning light. If I end up putting an air suspension system on my Argosy I'll add the warning light.

Brad
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Old 12-20-2015, 09:39 AM   #1623
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I put 4 x 5 gallon cans of fresh gas in plus some Stabil in, so should be 20 gallons in there.
My new $22 sender unit is working but I noted that it is only reading about 1/8. Now it might be that my battery is low 11.9v after cranking for a while... Or it needs more ignition on time to stabilize... Or the rear airbags are not fully inflated, leaving a tail down stance... Or just simply my sender setup was off.
I am OK with the gauge under reading by an 1/8 if that's the case!
I had not primed the rear pump, and I know they are not good at pulling air, or initial priming. I disconnected the line at the rear of the pump and sucked... Did not have my Mityvac with me! After pulling nothing and noting the vacuum holding... Have to assume the feed line is pinched. It was dark and raining so time to call it a wrap.
Today will drop the tank a little with the mityvac connected and if I see a sudden fuel pull I will know!
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Old 12-20-2015, 09:41 AM   #1624
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gunner View Post
On my 1984 the hole on the left of the ignition switch is for a light that turns on when the air compressor is running.
Wow... That good info Gunner!
But I have that little red light next to the hole... I will have to see if that's a replacement.

I must be loosing my mind I thought we had a rear tank pressure gauge on the dash!
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Old 12-20-2015, 10:03 AM   #1625
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1966 24' Tradewind
1984 34.5' Airstream 345
Greenville , Ohio
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keyair View Post
Wow... That good info Gunner!
But I have that little red light next to the hole... I will have to see if that's a replacement.

I must be loosing my mind I thought we had a rear tank pressure gauge on the dash!
The red light to the right of the ignition switch on mine is a indicator for when one of the hydraulic jacks is not fully nested when they are in the up position. I have had that light come on when driving and I hit a hole in the road that jarred the motorhome enough that one of the jacks came down slightly. I stopped and shoved it back up. Springs maybe getting weak. I do not have a air gauge in mine. For those that have the air gauge is there an electric version with a sender at the compressor or is there a air line from the compressor to the gauge?
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Old 12-20-2015, 10:04 AM   #1626
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1974 20' Argosy 20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keyair View Post
I put 4 x 5 gallon cans of fresh gas in plus some Stabil in, so should be 20 gallons in there.
My new $22 sender unit is working but I noted that it is only reading about 1/8. Now it might be that my battery is low 11.9v after cranking for a while... Or it needs more ignition on time to stabilize... Or the rear airbags are not fully inflated, leaving a tail down stance... Or just simply my sender setup was off.
I am OK with the gauge under reading by an 1/8 if that's the case!
I had not primed the rear pump, and I know they are not good at pulling air, or initial priming. I disconnected the line at the rear of the pump and sucked... Did not have my Mityvac with me! After pulling nothing and noting the vacuum holding... Have to assume the feed line is pinched. It was dark and raining so time to call it a wrap.
Today will drop the tank a little with the mityvac connected and if I see a sudden fuel pull I will know!
Yeah it sure sounds like a pinched line

Hopefully you can resolve it by just dropping the tank enough to fiddle with the lines.

Good luck!!!
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Old 12-20-2015, 10:40 AM   #1627
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1989 34.5' Airstream 345
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It's really tight to get between the tank and the frame rail to get at the supply hose on the tank. At least on the 345.
I'm thinking that tapeing the hoses in place on the top of the tank while reinstalling is a good idea. As this pinched hose is starting to seem like a common problem. It happened to me too.

I mentioned earlier about putting a hinge on the straps on the side opposite the clamps. This really let's you get the straps out of the way while dropping and installing the tank.

I was pressed into doing this by a helper who has more experience with R V s
And felt it was a bit excessive at the time. But was very glad We had done so. When I had to drop the tank for the third time to get the sender sorted.

Once to start the repair, once to get the hose freed up, and then again to replace the sender. Each time with the hinge there, it was easy to pull the pin and get the straps out of the way.

Cheers Richard
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Old 12-20-2015, 11:47 AM   #1628
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gunner View Post
The red light to the right of the ignition switch on mine is a indicator for when one of the hydraulic jacks is not fully nested when they are in the up position. I have had that light come on when driving and I hit a hole in the road that jarred the motorhome enough that one of the jacks came down slightly. I stopped and shoved it back up. Springs maybe getting weak. I do not have a air gauge in mine. For those that have the air gauge is there an electric version with a sender at the compressor or is there a air line from the compressor to the gauge?
Awesome info... I have learned so much about my MH this week!
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Old 12-20-2015, 12:00 PM   #1629
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tevake View Post
It's really tight to get between the tank and the frame rail to get at the supply hose on the tank. At least on the 345.
I'm thinking that tapeing the hoses in place on the top of the tank while reinstalling is a good idea. As this pinched hose is starting to seem like a common problem. It happened to me too.

I mentioned earlier about putting a hinge on the straps on the side opposite the clamps. This really let's you get the straps out of the way while dropping and installing the tank.

I was pressed into doing this by a helper who has more experience with R V s
And felt it was a bit excessive at the time. But was very glad We had done so. When I had to drop the tank for the third time to get the sender sorted.

Once to start the repair, once to get the hose freed up, and then again to replace the sender. Each time with the hinge there, it was easy to pull the pin and get the straps out of the way.

Cheers Richard
Good info.
I too, had issues with the connection between the electric pump and pipes, so I bypassed that whole section.

My no fuel issue is between the tank and pump...
Off to find out now!
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Old 12-20-2015, 09:20 PM   #1630
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Exactly as I thought.
Attached my Mityvac to the suppy line, and pulled a vacuum.
This is the one I have...

http://www.mityvac.com/hq_images/07201.jpg

As soon as I dropped the tank, I saw fuel pull into the Mityvac tank, so I knew I was correct.
Dropped the tank, readjusted the lines and buttoned it up.
Few words for a 2 hour job!

After that was done, I tried to start the engine... but the Holley FPR threads leaked...
I guess they are NPT lines when they should be NPTF... seriously?
I will need to wrap each thread with PTFE tape now... Ugh.
Bypassed the FPR, and started the engine... needs so tuning, but its running!

On Peters suggestion, I tested the batteries with the motor running..
Chassis battery was a healthy 13.9v and charging.
House battery was a flat 12,2, and not.

Built a 10 gauge wire with alligator clips and bridged the drivers firewall solenoid, and so had both charging.

New 7 blade fan is slipping, cold at fast idle and noticeably quieter than the Flexfan, and as the engine warmed, it began to pull some serious air!
Much better, I feel.

With the engine running I went outside to check everything...
Then I see the Power Steering fluid dropping.

Stopped the engine, checked the tightness of everything. No joy, and regular drip every 2 sec when not running.
I knew I had a leak before, but this is not acceptable.

Seemed the be coming off the bottom of the pump...(Note my JASPER rebuilt engine sticker tho!).


No room for messing about, as this pump works PS and BRAKES!
20 min later, the pump was off, and I was seriously greasy!



This is the suspect area.


On my way home, I stopped at Autozone.
Ordered:
Re manufactured pump with Reservoir, $48.
New pressure line to Hydroboost... $20.
New pressure line to Power Steering... $20.
Return line, they have in stock.
Tuesday they say.

Done.
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Old 12-21-2015, 02:48 AM   #1631
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1992 35' Airstream 350
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don't forget the free pulley puller loaner tool at Autozone, unless you own one.
Don't be a fool, like I was and try to save time by using a gear puller. You will regret it, guaranteed!!!
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Old 12-21-2015, 04:46 AM   #1632
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Good progress Steve!

Just to be sure, in your post you mentioned pump "with" reservoir. On our rigs the reservoir is remote mounted and indeed your picture shows a pump without reservoir.

You might want to double check what you ordered.

Brad
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Old 12-21-2015, 07:17 AM   #1633
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Yes Peter, I checked, and they have the puller and will borrow it.
Brad, my pump has the remote reservoir up front.. With these pumps they sell them with and without the tinwork that surrounds the actual pump body. That tinwork is what they refer to as the reservoir. The pump without the tinwork was $40, with a $9 core, and they could have got that tomorrow, but the one I ordered was complete and $48, but a $60 core.
I think I could have fixed mine as it was working fine, just leaking at tinwork where the rear mounting bolt is... I bet just an O ring. My issue is time, safety and peace of mind.
I think I will pull out the one I took off my suburban, which was good, and carry as a spare.
The engine started and ran with the new carb, but sounds/feels a little unstable. I suspect a vacuum leak somewhere as I could not get the idle to drop below 1200.
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Old 12-21-2015, 08:51 AM   #1634
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keyair View Post
Brad, my pump has the remote reservoir up front.. With these pumps they sell them with and without the tinwork that surrounds the actual pump body. That tinwork is what they refer to as the reservoir. The pump without the tinwork was $40, with a $9 core, and they could have got that tomorrow, but the one I ordered was complete and $48, but a $60 core.
I guess I'm still confused by what you've ordered!

As long as it looks like the one in your picture all should be good
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Old 12-21-2015, 10:09 AM   #1635
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Brad,
yes, its confusing without pics!
Let me clarify.

The Saginaw Power Steering Pump(as it is known), is very common.
The pump itself is pretty much the same across many applications, but the assembly itself, and by "Assembly", I mean the pump AND its tinwork onboard reservoir.
There are 2 basic reservior shapes.
1/ Round, like ours, with a large hose nipple feed for the external additional reservoir.
2/ More pyramid shaped. This one has a screw top lid, and no external reservoir.
3/ They also vary by the number of return pipes. most have 1, but ours have 2... I assume because of the PS return andf the Hydroboost return.

To explain it best, look at this rebuild video... Particulaly from 3:15 where thy put the O rings on the "Pump" and then put then about 4:20 they put "reservoir" on. This is where mine was leaking.


The tinwork in this case is a tall style with no external reservoir.
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Old 12-21-2015, 10:24 AM   #1636
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Oh, a follow up on the tank refurb and level sender saga.
I put more rubber blocks between the top of the tank and the frame... there was 2 thick (3/8) spacers at 6 points, but I was having problems getting the tank strap bolts in, so I took 1 off each place.... This time I was able to get 2 back in, so allowing more space for pipes...

As I knew I was starting from an empty tank, I guess I can see how much fuel I am adding and how that corresponds to what the gauge reads.
I put 20 gallons in to a 80 gallon tank....
That would mean the gauge should be reading 1/4, but the gauge reads about 1/8th.
Now, I have the front of the MH on jack stands with the front wheels just raised off the ground. Maybe that is tipping the rear back enough to effect the reading...
More telling was to double check my pipe feeds, I also pulled a vacuum on the genset feed, and all I got was air. So, the genset pipe must still be above the fuel level... which if the gauge reading is close to the "read" tank level, makes sense, as it is uncovered at 1/4 of a tank the manual says.
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Old 12-21-2015, 12:37 PM   #1637
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keyair View Post
There are 2 basic reservior shapes.
1/ Round, like ours, with a large hose nipple feed for the external additional reservoir.
2/ More pyramid shaped. This one has a screw top lid, and no external reservoir.
3/ They also vary by the number of return pipes. most have 1, but ours have
I wasn't aware that the sheet metal surrounding the pump was a reservoir I thought it was just a shield of some sort. I had thought the only reservoir was the remote unit. Interesting approach.

Makes sense though.

Quote:
2... I assume because of the PS return andf the Hydroboost return.
Yep the hydroboost returns there as well as least it does on my Argosy.

I can sleep better tonight knowing you're ordered the correct pump
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Old 12-21-2015, 03:13 PM   #1638
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I can sleep better tonight knowing you're ordered the correct pump
Thanks Brad!
I won't, knowing I have to install it again!

However, that big hole I have where there should be a fan shroud is a help!
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Old 12-21-2015, 03:21 PM   #1639
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Thanks Brad!
I won't knowing I have to install it again!
It depends on who's perspective you're viewing it from...
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Old 12-22-2015, 07:16 AM   #1640
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1966 24' Tradewind
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Greenville , Ohio
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For those with the air compressor gauge located at the dash, is there an air line from the compressor to the gauge or is there a another method to transmit the air pressure to the gauge?
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