I'll start the refresh trail here:
Anyway, since we bought the coach I have been very fortunate to have a friend (a fellow member here) willing to share his experience and his time to help me begin working out the kinks and figuring out how I "missed that" when I was checking it out before purchase.
Engine:
So far we have changed the oil and filters on the engine (8.3 325hp Cummins), drained, flushed and changed the coolant and changed both thermostats, gaskets and the water filter.
The thermostats are both under the main hose, under a block that is under the hose pipe - make sure you order both gaskets - 1 for under the pipe and the other for under the block. Don't ask me how I know that
Changed the tensioner on the serpentine belt. It was starting to sing pretty good.
Generator:
Changed everything on the genny - oil, oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, thermostat, and belt. We realized that somewhere during it's life someone had hit something with the genny's exhaust pipe and knocked the mufflers inside the housing out of their mounts. So we fixed that and rehung the exhaust pipe on a new hanger (was hung with wire) and it's nice and solid now. Should have seen the soot mess when I took out the spark arrester plug and started it. Don't think that was ever pulled. The genny has 2000 hours and runs real smooth - good for awhile now. I notice that the lights on the remote switches in the coach don't light up when it's running but they do allow start and stop. Have to look at that later.
General lubing:
I used up a brand new big can of spray lube the first day lubing anything that opened. Now things are getting nice and loose - some too loose, like the genny hood.
As seen in the pics above, the coach has a driver door and that needed lubing and the electric window barely moved up and down. I opened up the door to get to the innards and lubed everything including the tracks and now it goes down very smoothly but still has a stutter while coming up - still 100% better than before.
Basement:
I fixed any basement door that needed it and now they are smooth operating. The curb side open up (slide up the side of the coach) and the street side mostly open down (some open up). The street side doors had problems with the hinges that stopped how far they open and kept them up off the ground. Some had the screws ripped out and some of the hardware was bent and folded back into the bay. Have them all repaired/reworked and working now. Still have to figure out exactly how they are supposed to be closed - I read somewhere that the last inch is supposed to be electric. I have bigger things to work on before I worry about that. Maybe someone with an old London Aire will know?
I found that I need a couple lock actuator motors for not only a basement door but also the Genny's hood. Here's what they look like:
VPA Corp is a tough company to get ahold of. I have found a website for their wares (exact ones) but they don't answer email or phone calls. I have reached out to a bunch of surplus places without any luck.
Rooftop AC:
When inspecting the coach we turned on the roof air and it seemed to be fine. Me not knowing how to use a 4-button controller, didn't realize that the full extent of the controller was not working because we didn't switch to Zone 2. Later (this past weekend) found out how to switch (I didn't get manuals with this coach :-( ) and found out that the controller wouldn't change anyway. Mike, my friend, had an extra one that someone had given him when they upgraded to a 5-button so we swapped his in and it worked and we switched to Zone 2 and found that the zone was off. We turned the zone on and turned it to high/cool and the coach really started cooling then. I need to tweak the springs in the controller to see if it still works - all functions work 'cept the ability to change zones.
Mike changed the shrouds on the AC units with new heavy duty models. He also cleaned up/out the front one very well and briefly worked on the aft (removed about 5 huge dead wasp nests) - I will clean that one soon.
Steps: (Boy have I read some threads on this topic )
The electric steps stopped working on the first day - we worked on other things and got back to the steps this past weekend. Found a wire pulled out of a butt connector in the electrical bay. Must have been luck to be working at all recently, the wire was in the middle of a big bundle, with no reason to be disconnected like that. I re-butt connected it and "sticky" heat shrinked the wires. In the troubleshooting process we pulled out everything on the step and lubed it all up to include the motor. Steps work great now.
Power reel:
The shore power electric reel didn't work when we bought and I suspected something simple - it was a CB popped :-) Found the CB, reset it and all is well. Sure is a nice tool
Clearance lights:
I changed the yellow lights at the top of the cab out with new lights (they were still original and cracked, leaking) and while doing so cleaned all the old caulk off and sealed the new ones up well.
The spot light on the roof works and traverses nicely. Hard to know what you're doing in the daytime though. You can see the control on the right side of the helm area above the cassette tape holders.
Awnings:
We exercised and lubed all the awnings. The Slides window awning won't retract so I ordered and received the torsion springs for the slideout's window awning. Also got straps for every awning - all of the awnings are in great shape.
Mike - he's a great mentor
Still have a lot to do on her before she is ready for the dance but she's come a long way in the first month.