2007 HR Scepter 40PDQ

[Scepter40]

Hi folks!

New member here (already hit the new member forum). We just got our hands on a 2007 HR Scepter 40PDQ with the 400 ISL and a TON of bells and whistles! Aquahot, fantastic fans, quad slide, 8K genny, 66,000 miles. Super nice interior and exterior with a few items that need some attention. One owner coach. I'll use this thread as a build/modification/maintenance thread.

Flew to Tampa from CVG to go get her and then used last weekend to get her back home. She needs a name, but "Fancy" has been floated as she's super fancy, but has a "Redneck Edition" badge on the road side. No major issues on the trip north except a rear speed sensor code at the first campground in Tifton GA from Tampa. Missed the CG and went to turn around and stuck in second gear. Pulled the code, shut it down, checked and reset the sensor connector, fired it up and no hiccups since. I'll probably buy a new sensor and keep it on board just in case. Spent the last two nights cleaning and moving supplies over from our TT so we can sell that down the road. We're about to head out to Estes Park, CO in a few weeks, so there's a short list of stuff to do between now and then:

1. Full chassis lube and check bearings
2. Oil change (engine and genny)
3. Fuel filter change
4. New hatch seals in the bedroom/closet area and sealing tape around all the corners on the outside. I'm getting some soot around the carpets.
5. Turbo blanket, manifold blanket, and exhaust wrap on the downpipe
6. Misc lightbulbs and other minor issues
7. My voyager system is on the fritz. Was disconnected so I plugged it back in and it finally came on but the turn signal cameras stick on and the Alladin readings are backwards. Not quite sure what to make of all that, but I'm going to try to fix it rather than a replacement at this point.

That's about what I can think of at this point, I'm sure there will be MUCH more on the list by the time it's over.

Also, how do I become a Monaco Owners Club member?

Cheers!

Keith

[Scepter40]

A few pictures of the new rig.

[96 Wideglide]

Congrats !

I would do some research before you put a turbo blanket on the VGT.

[photopilot]

Check your airbags- they are subject to road debris damage as the plastic ‘brushes’ that protect them deteriorate. I got a hole in one and decided to replace the other 7 as they showed signs of wear. Not the easiest job, but I managed to replace the 7 in one day. HR Scepter = Monaco Camelot. You might look into a Watts link suspension mod to help with tracking. Also, check the bottom side edges of your slides and insure they’re well sealed, otherwise you’ll need Guardian plates from Talin Mfg. Their sister company, Stone Vos, makes excellent replacement slide out toppers. Good luck with your new to you rig!

Walt

[Scepter40]

Originally Posted by 96 Wideglide

Congrats !

I would do some research before you put a turbo blanket on the VGT.

Thanks! Interesting on the VGT. I suppose that extra heat retained in the components might cause them to start to bind. I've been inside one before for a rebuild and they can be finicky for sure with the moving parts.

My intention is to keep as much heat as possible out of the closet and bedroom and don't need/want any performance enhancements as far as the blankets go. Strictly a heat issue. The insulation in the engine compartment is in pretty good shape, though there are gaps where the hatches are. Other methods form controlling that heat soak? I'll do some searching on the forum as well.

[Scepter40]

Originally Posted by photopilot

Check your airbags- they are subject to road debris damage as the plastic ‘brushes’ that protect them deteriorate. I got a hole in one and decided to replace the other 7 as they showed signs of wear. Not the easiest job, but I managed to replace the 7 in one day. HR Scepter = Monaco Camelot. You might look into a Watts link suspension mod to help with tracking. Also, check the bottom side edges of your slides and insure they’re well sealed, otherwise you’ll need Guardian plates from Talin Mfg. Their sister company, Stone Vos, makes excellent replacement slide out toppers. Good luck with your new to you rig!

Walt

Thanks! I'll check the airbags again and make sure the brooms are in good shape. Tracking is really good and the coach has 6 brand new Goodyear's on it and an alignment done recently. She tracks pretty good but I'll dig around on the Watts Link. Slide seem to be in pretty good working order as well and I have several receipts in the stack where they were removed and various seals replaced and other maintenance items competed. I'll also recheck the slide bottoms and make sure I don't have any roller cutting into the bottom or any other rot anywhere.

[96 Wideglide]

Originally Posted by Scepter40

My intention is to keep as much heat as possible out of the closet and bedroom and don't need/want any performance enhancements as far as the blankets go.

Yeah, I hear ya!

They made changes on the very next model year Scepter to the rear cap / engine door, that gives much better ventilation.
A few members with your model yr made modifications to their rear cap to exhaust some of the excess heat.

[Scepter40]

Got over to the coach this past weekend to get a few more things done before our trip this month and some maintenance items as well. My better half got some more cleaning done and some more stuff packed in that will stay with the coach. On the maintenance side, I pulled the panel on the generator to get the number off of the filter, but it was turned such that I couldn't get it. I've looked at both manuals I have and not one place has the number referenced that I can find. I'll look again this evening. I'll probably alos change the fuel filter as I don't know when that was serviced last and I have an air filter that came with the coach. This fall, the coolant systems on both the ISL and genny will get flushed and filled with new but for now I'll run it. I also got all the zerk fittings I could find lubed under the coach and smeared a bit of grease on the gear for the steps. I still need to get some silicone spray for all the rubber seals on everything, which I'll work on this weekend while I wait for the oil to drain. Received my filter set and the oil filter is HUGE!! Not sure why I thought it would be smaller, but I did. I guess with 20K intervals, it's to be expected. Got up on the roof and pulled the covers off the AC to check for blockage in the coils and didn't find any. The rear foam could use replacing, but that can wait until we get back. I did notice a hole in the rear cover which I don't remember seeing when I went to pick the coach up, but it's possible I scraped a tree on the way home. I'll replace that someday but for now it's gonna get gorilla tape most likely. Slide toppers are in pretty good shape but could use a cleaning. Tops of slides are also in pretty good shape it seems. From there, I got inside and pulled the hatches to see about getting the insulation tied back up in the interim of getting more material and possibly a blanket for the turbo and manifold. Speaking of which, something I didn't realize is that my turbo is cooled as well, which I've not dealt with but seems pretty straightforward. Anyway, I found some "high temperature" tape at a local home center (Menards) and got a roll of it. It's 2.5" wide and supposedly handles temps up to 350. So, I pulled the same stunt I have to when working on the boat. Stand on my head and work upside down. Got the tape in there and adhered fairly well but the more I thought about it after the fact, the more I decided I should have wiped the existing surfaces with brake clean or carb clean to get any dust or junk off for better adhesion. I'll let it sit for a week and go check it. If it's falling down, I'll rip it all off, wipe it real good, and then reapply. For now, I have the insulation back up where it should be, which should keep some more of the heat out of the closet and bedroom. I'll also get new seals on the hatches and where the hatches go so I can keep the soot out a bit better. Planning on using a self adhesive foam on the floor and then putting a piece of channel around the underside of the hatch such that the two seals get mashed together pretty well. While under the engine, I alos noticed that the hard pipe that runs from the bottom of the radiator is corroding. Well, the paint is coming off. And it's a bit rusty underneath. So, I'll run it and keep an eye on it. But, it's now on the list for a repair or change when I swap out the coolant in the fall. The pipe is not soft in any way that I can feel so I'm pretty confident that the corrosion is limited to the surface. Alos found a missing screw for a bracket up front and a loose screw on a bracket as well. Overall, a good half day of work and more to come!! On to the pics!

[RayAZ]

Conrats on the new rig and for the latest updates for us other new owners to take on your list . Time to stack miles

[Scepter40]

Almost forgot! I also fixed the passenger chair wiring as the wires had snapped off at the plug. So, grabbed a regular two wire connector from Autozone and put that in. I used solder shrink connectors and put heat shrink over top of that. These solder connectors work fairly well, but seems like they may have a shelf life as the solder ring did not want to melt with the heat gun. I got them on Amazon a few years ago when I was building my 12V Excursion. They work, but not well. Well enough for a seat though. Put the fancy cover back on and works like a charm! There is a bundle of wire nuts from the previous owner that I'll likely redo once I get past this trip. I can't stand wire nuts on stuff like that.

[Scepter40]

Also, apparently the reason my Aladdin system is reading backwards is that the AV input is mirrored. Unfortunately, the voyager system doesn't work well enough for me to be able to get to the AV section to change it. At least not til this point. I'll keep messing with it to try and fix the Aladdin display. The rest of it isn't worrisome enough to swap out the system for silverleaf just yet. The display sometimes doesn't change back from a side camera or just flickers. I might tear it apart and see if there's a loose resistor or something on the board that I can fix. Otherwise, I'll get a new system at some point.

[153stars]

Look over exhaust manifold for cracks if it's actually soot and not just road grime.
Some 3M spray glue seems to work fantastic with any type of lable , tape or weatherstrip adhesive to create much better bond to iffy surfaces on tape or as a primer. I'll spray in cap and use acid brush to small areas. We do this all the time at work. Even a slight mist on drum labels during the winter that will peel other wise.

[Scepter40]

Originally Posted by 153stars

Look over exhaust manifold for cracks if it's actually soot and not just road grime.
Some 3M spray glue seems to work fantastic with any type of lable , tape or weatherstrip adhesive to create much better bond to iffy surfaces on tape or as a primer. I'll spray in cap and use acid brush to small areas. We do this all the time at work. Even a slight mist on drum labels during the winter that will peel other wise.

Thanks for the info! I'll see if I can get some to make sure everything stays on. I'll have a FULL weekend of work on the coach. List for this weekend is:

Fuel filters (engine and generator)
Oil change (engine and generator)
Pull interior AC trim and make sure that all components are in place for airflow
Add 2000 degree heat shield over existing areas that get hot in the closet and bedroom (hatches)
Change out the engine hatch seals
Adjust tire pressure and mount an air compressor in the basement
Air filter change (generator only)
Air filter inspection (engine)

I'm sure there's other things I'll see when I'm in there. I do know that my water tank is getting low so I'll need to ferry some water over. And now I'll verify the exhaust leak possibility. I will say that going through the receipts I got with the coach, at some point Cummins did an inspection and said there was an exhaust leak on one cylinder. They wanted something like 25 hours to R&R the turbo and manifold to fix the leak provided no manifold bolts broke. I've been down that road and don't want to do that again. If I do in fact find a leak, I'll probably let it ride for a while and decide what to do in the fall/winter. It's not something I want to get into (broken exhaust bolts). Really would be sad to have to pull the head and take it to a shop to get them removed.
I don't think I can lift it by myself and if I could, not sure how I'd get it out of the coach without removing the motor all-together. Not sure I'd be able to get a drill in there and get enough force to drill it out.

[153stars]

25 hrs ......Owners here have claimed less than 8 hrs solo. replacing cracked exhaust manifolds. People that never did it before. But slides can change accessibility. My old beast is right under queen bed size hatch. I hope I don't need to remove ex.manifold to time myself.
Seem everyone posted got lucky and did some presoak work Kroil.
I think a few out there are letting it ride with tight cracks that don't leak too bad as well. "That didn't sound appropriate"...lol.