American Coach: 2004 American Eagle questions, needs fixed, and upgrades

[outbackfarm]

I just upgraded to a 2004 American Eagle 42R. I have been motor homing in a 2001 Discovery 37U for the last two years. It had several small things not working correctly and after a couple of trips my son and I were able to fix it all. The American is no different, it has some things not working and things we want to upgrade. This is a list of what I know so far. I haven't troubleshot any of this beyond checking the fuse/breakers.

Questions:
What does the "radio" button on the left side of the dash do?

What does the "radio/tv" switch in the overhead cabinet above drives area do?


Needs Fixed:
Right mirror will only move up and down, not side to side from dash controls.

Left mirror will not move at all from dash controls.

Mirrors seam hazy.

Drivers side electric visor will not move at all from dash control, passenger works fine.

No key fob for locking unlocking door, the system under the step is disconnected.

Left rear slide out makes a grinding/gear slipping noise from under bed when coming in. I can pull on the top of the slide while hitting the in button and it will come right in.

Top mounted flood/spot light not working

New wiper blades

Right fog light out.

Glass over gauges on dash hazed and hard to see in daylight.

Girard awning/shade on the passenger side slide out will not roll out. The other shades roll out with the remote. This shade will not even roll out correctly by hand. Not sure what best thing to do here is. We really enjoyed our big awning on the Discovery. This seems to be more of a window shade then an awning. Ideas?


Upgrades:
Started installing a new double din Android auto play bluetooth touch screen radio. Had a 6 disc ford type double din unit from factory. The install was straight forward, but have a problem. I can't get sound out of the new radio. It will turn on and seams to be operating like should, just no sound at all. It allowed my phone to bluetooth, auto play initiated when plugged in etc. But no mater what I tried not a peep of sound. Not even static on FM.
Could really use some advice on this.

Replace the tube tv in the basement.

Find a flat screen that better fits the opening in the master. Previous owner changed out the inside TV's but put a 32" in the master and it is awkward looking. The one in the front of the coach looks great.

Wonder how hard it would be to run a HDMI cable from the entertainment cabinet above the table to the front TV about the cockpit.

New receiver and surround sound speakers.

Take out table and chairs replace with dinette and custom trundle bed to increase sleeping space.

Would sure accept any and all advice or pointers on the above items.

[mxtnt]

Congrats on the new eagle,
The radio Switch gives the radio power when the ignition is turned off. So When your parked you can listen to the dash radio.

On your new radio, I installed a radio in an 02 Fleetwood diesel years ago and I had the same problem, after further examination I realized the oem Fleetwood harness had all of the speakers sharing a single ground on all of the speakers. That meant the wiring for the speakers were polarity sensitive when on any other car it wouldt have mattered. So I had to go back thru my wiring and check each and test each before making a final connection. Maybe thats your problem, dunno.

Not sure of your spot light brand but mine was a "golight" I was missing the hand remote and the bulb was burned out. Not the cheapest parts but it's all working now and for great driving in dark canyons spotting the side for deer

Good luck on the rest, those are great rigs

[Jake21]

You issue with the new radio might be related to your question about the TV/Radio button on the side of the TV cabinet. When that button is switched to radio, your dash radio plays through the surround system’s speakers.

[outbackfarm]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I have checked to make sure the wires are grounded properly and moved the tv/radio switch both ways and no change.
Any other ideals?

[Going360]

I am currently renovating a fire damaged 02 American Eagle and also have a similar radio issue.
I have installed a new Ken wood 2 din head unit but could not get continuity between any one of the speaker wires behind the head unit and the speakers, no matter which way the radio/tv switch on the overhead console was switched. I then found that the wires from the speakers actually ran behind the overhead tv to connectors and in my case ended there. I believe they were connected to some sort of speaker switch but in my haste to tear anything burned or smoke damaged out I think I tossed out the switch. No matter I thought, I’ll just run new speaker wires from the head unit to behind the tv and connect them to the wires that were plugged into the switch. This, in my mind should have bypassed any crossovers or amps.
Well that sort of worked however the sound was horrible like it was running through a crossover. To make matters worse I can only get sound for a minute or so before my head unit goes into some sort of safety mode and stops producing sound. After a reset it plays sound for less than a minute and goes back into safety mode.
Have you tried connecting speakers directly to the back of the head unit? I also believe there is an amp somewhere behind the dash and maybe it is not powering on?
After reading this thread I am going to go back and check polarity.

[steveschlott]

On the TV upgrade, I upgraded my 99 Eagle's front TV with a computer monitor because the space (it has a dash cabinet that raises up) was very tight and I could not find a flat TV that would fit perfectly, I found a computer monitor with the perfect dimensions. I then connected a Chromecast, DVD player, and separate TV tuner via HDMI. When trying fill a TV space perfectly, computer monitors can give you more options. I was able to find a perfect sized flat TV for the rear.

[Gary RVRoamer]

I had an '04 Tradition with a lot of factory upgrades, so almost the same coach.


The bedroom slide gear barely meshes with its track. The fix is to put a shim under the track, about 1/8" as I recall.


The mirrors are from Velvac and parts are available on their website. Mirrors, switches, motors, etc.


The windshield sunshades are Carefree but the model is obsolete and I don't know what motor is usable as replacement. I bought a whole new shade the last time mine got intermittent - never could diagnose exactly what was wrong.


Top flood light could be either the switch (left side of driver by the shifter) or the light itself. Just have to dig in and start diagnosing.



Running the HDMI is a real pain - I decided not to try. As I recall, you have to remove the cabinet to the right of the entertainment center to get at the wires, then route them out of the slide on the aft side and into the wall where they then go forward to the above-dash area. You can get access to that area by opening the cabinet above the driver seat, but the sidewall stuff would be real a pain.


The radio/tv switch routes the radio sound thru the surround sound system (aka tv) instead of the dash radio system.