Community Forums

fixslide · 09-12-2010, 05:13 PM

We have just purchased a 2000 tradewinds 7330 (front door) it seems to have excessive wind noise in the front cab area while driving, especially above 50mph, has anybody else experienced this problem and found a solution to it?

Good man · 09-12-2010, 08:16 PM

fixslide,
Two suggestions, one while on the road and the other is a driveway diagnosis:

1. Get a helper to ride along with you and have them get down in the floor, listening for where the sound is the loudest and feeling for rushing air when you reach the sound threshold.

Pay particular attention to the area around the AC/Heater shroud and cycle the controls through the different settings. The "fresh air" feature is frequently noisier than the re-cycle setting.

Obviously, a smaller and more flexible helper will have an easier time of this ...perhaps a son or grandson?

To avoid getting in the driver's way, a length of semi-rigid tubing can be used (like a stethescope) to poke around up under the dash in front of the driver while holding the other end up to an ear. Grasp the end of the hose in the palm and hold the thumb/forefinger "circle" as a pad against the ear to avoid hurting the ear with with the end of the hard tubing.

2. Seal off the cockpit area with a temporary polyethylene "wall" to create as small an area as possible. Create an opening and introduce pressurized air, by placing a high-volume fan, or electric leaf-blower on the floor of the motorhome and sealing the poly around the air discharge with duct tape.

With the blower running, walk around the entire front end the coach, feeling/looking for air movement. A cigar could be used to gently waft smoke across the outside firewall while looking for the draft. Surprisingly, this will be easier to visualize at night with a flashlight focused on the smoke, as oposed to daylight.

One possibility with this method is that agiven "leak" may not manifest itself with the pressure coming from inside, while it does so at speed. Think of it as a "flapper valve" effect. Again, don't forget to "cycle" the AC/Heater fresh air function.

Hope this helps...
Take care,
Jim

sgtjoe · 09-12-2010, 08:55 PM

Also have them check around the door while going down the road. Another place to check is where the stair slide moves in and out. I just got through putting laminate in my 2001 Tradewinds 7390 and noticed that there are plenty of places for air to flow between the door frame and body from the floor down the sides. All National did to plug the areas was to use chunks of carpet shoved in there. I'm going to use the foam that expands to fill those areas, but won't be able to see if that is the cause until at least Oct.
A shot in the dark, put your stair slider out and then look under it, you will see a lot of open area for wind to come in depending on which way it is blowing, unless your slide motor is totally encased with no holes to the underbelly.

sgtjoe · 09-12-2010, 08:58 PM

One more area to check is your windshield seal. Someone with a 37" Tradewinds recently traced his windnoise to the seal.

Texun1 · 09-14-2010, 02:13 PM

There are 2 catches on the door. One in the middle and another at the top. Close the door from the inside as you normally do. Now push on the area where the top latch is located. Can you move the door and see daylight around the seal? On mine the answer was yes.

I did 2 things to correct it. First open the door while standing outside. Step back about 20 ft and look at the edge of the door. Mine had a slight bow outward at the top of the door. I suspect that this was caused by the door having been slammed back by the wind over a period of time during the years.

To correct this I enlisted the help of my son. I basically tweaked the door from the center point (door handle) to the top where the radius is. I held it at the center and had my helper push the top part of the door on that top corner.

We did this several times and applied more pressure until you could look at the door edge and tell it was straight or at least straighter than it was.

The second thing to adjust is the latch/striker plate at the top. Much like a car door and easy to do.

I then did this mod for the wind problem. http://www.irv2.com/forums/f84/door-...pics-8912.html

Mine is much better now and I can push on the door and tell it is secure at the top lock. Hope this helps.

Vegasdan · 09-16-2010, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgtjoe

One more area to check is your windshield seal. Someone with a 37" Tradewinds recently traced his windnoise to the seal.

That was us. The seal around our windsheild was causing a high pitched whistling sound. We had a glass company check the seal and they found that the glass had been sealed correctly, but where the seal sits on the fiberglass it had aged and was not doing it's job. It would vibrate much like a claronet reed when going down the road and that was what caused the noise. He sealed it in with black sealant and we have enjoyed a quiet ride again.

Texun1 · 09-16-2010, 01:54 PM

My neighbor is a V.P. of warranty & repair training for Ford. He told me how they check new cars for wind noise around windshield gaskets. They use black painters tape. Same masking tape as the blue stuff only in black. Just tape off different sections at the time until you locate the leak. The black color allows you to leave it on for a week or 2 without really drawing attention to what you are doing.

I have a wind noise on the drivers side of mine that sounds like it is coming fro the bottom/middle left side of the drivers windshield. I have taped it off but still makes the noise. If I open the small window to my left an inch or so it goes away. I am starting to think that it is related to the air flow around the mirror. Anyone have any ideas?

Vegasdan · 09-16-2010, 02:43 PM

Texun, I'd tape off the entire gasket from where the rubber meets the fiberglass. Then go out and drive and see if the noise goes away. Then you will know that it is the gasket and not a side window or mirror. Remove bits of tape until the noise comes back and then seal.

Texun1 · 09-16-2010, 03:20 PM

I never really thought about the outside edge. I taped and then siliconed the entire inner edge.

I have done several other sound proofing projects using dynamat type materials and it has helped get rid of a lot of different noises. Doing the enging compartment area was a huge noise reduction. There is no comparison between the amount of road/wind noise my coach has now as to when we bought it. My next noise/squeak area to attack will be the plastic dash. It seems to settle down after a few miles but still it has a lot of squeaking going on.

Bill

bigdog · 09-18-2010, 09:54 AM

We were having problems with a door rattle and wind noise on our rig and I discovered one day that you can close the door and that you can CLOSE the door. It seems as if mine would latch when I was closing it very easily and then would rattle.One day I stopped the coach,went over and pulled hard on the handle and "wow" the problem went away. I think that there is a two stage closing on some of these doors.
I also had a wind noise from the W/S when we first got it and then discovered that the right side W/S had slipped down in the gasket and the left side was starting to pop out, I understand these are common problems and we needed a new gasket also.They pulled them both out,replaced the gasket and did not seal it. No appreciable wind noise and no leaks and no sign of the w/s moving around.