Upgrades/Repairs Thread - Big Blue - 2001 Monaco Signature

[JJTL]

Originally Posted by Timaz

Looks great! I put a 32" in my bedroom also on an extension/adjustable mount. I'm not that good with wood work and I'm full time.

Thanks, Tim. 32" seems like the right trade off for size and "built-in" look for the bedroom. Could have gone smaller and integrated the TV into the cabinet for a really factory clean look, but then we would have been stuck with a 27" TV or so. Of course could have completely rebuilt the cabinet, but the wood working skills we posses are about at their limits for the work you see in the pics .

[JJTL]

We were back at it yesterday, working on the front TV upgrade. Already tidied up the compartments earlier, so started by installing the internal frame the door sits in, and the bottom latches.



After figuring out where the TV would mount on the door, we drilled the mounting holes and holes to pass cables through. The door was then installed on the cabinet, using a piano hinge at the top.



Took us a little bit to get the gaps equal and the latches to align properly. Turns out the door had a slight warp to it, always has to be a last minute plot twist .



We once again used a TCL TV we purchased from Amazon, same as the bedroom TV but larger at 40". Here is a link to the TV if anyone is interested: https://www.amazon.ca/TCL-40S325-CA-...7823073&sr=8-3

We've been really impressed with the TVs. Great picture, extremely fast software, great smart features and even the speakers sound pretty good. Still have some trim pieces to install around the front TV door to reduce the visible gaps. Also waiting on an optical audio to digital coax converter box to arrive, so we can hook up the existing Bose Lifestyles system to the front. Blu-ray players still in bound, and also a new digital TV antenna, so lot's still to do.

Happy Saturday!
Josh

[Timaz]

Nice job!

[JJTL]

With the weather finally being more Spring like here, started out yesterday hoping to start tracking down some air leaks. We can hear an obvious air leak from the front and the front tank exhausts noticeably quicker after shutting down. Thanks to some advice received here already, I think it's a good chance it could be the front "six pack" solenoid manifold. We've located it, and were hoping with the generator fully extended out we could access it that way, but no dice. Big Blue sits too low to crawl under, so it became obvious that building ramps from 2x12s to get some height was the next step. Once under, someone can sit up in the generator cavity and have quite a bit of room to work. Looks like we have to get some lumber then.

So then with no ramps yet, we turned our attention back to the front TV. Still waiting for the door struts to arrive for the front and bedroom TV doors we built. However, we wanted to reinstall some of the original trim for the front TV to hopefully make it look more "finished". We modified the original front TV frame and stained where we had made adjustments. We then installed the frame upside down, putting the "bump" out that was at the bottom, now at the top. The idea was for it to be a bit of a feature crown, and leaving a clean trim piece at the bottom.



Also installed a small pull tab at the bottom to open the door. Seems our door latches are working really well, so needed something to easily pull the door open.



Hoping everyone enjoys the remainder of their weekend.
Josh

[JJTL]

Need some help, friends.

Been working on our co-pilot chair today, the heat function has never worked since we purchased it. Some initial testing seemed to have indicated that it was a bad switch.



So ordered some switches on Amazon and gave it a try. Could it really be this simple I thought?? (Spoiler: No it cannot ). Unfortunately, no dice on the new switches. In fact it turns out I did not have a strong ground when I was initially checking the switch. I found a better ground and checked the old switch, all good. Here is the funny part, BOTH of the new switches we ordered were faulty . Wow, oh well what can you do.

So it is not the switch. The wiring is pretty straight forward, there is a power and ground wire that come from the chassis. The ground wire goes to a blue control box (more on that later), and the positive wire goes to the common terminal on the ON-OFF-ON switch. From the switch are 2 wires, an orange wire for the "high" setting and a white wire for the "low" setting. Both of these wires go to the blue control box, along with the ground. Out of this control box are 4 wires (blue, green, grey and yellow) that then head into the seat, I assume to the heating coils. Of these 4 output wires, I can only read voltage on one.



So my question to everyone, what does the blue box do? I hear a clicking sound from it when I turn the switch on. My testing would indicate the issue is either with this blue box, or the heating coils themselves. Does anyone know if it's possible to find a replacement for this box?



The chairs appear to be "Comfort Alert by Relaxor" chairs. If anyone knows anything about them, I would be most grateful to learn more!

Thanks,
Josh

[vito.a]

Villa International built the pilot and copilot seats for Monaco.
A great contact there is Mike, 562 404-8111.
If you have your coach build number, Mike can look up the original order sheet.
Hopefully he can tell you where to get replacement parts for the heat system.

[engine103]

Can you scan the bar code with your iPhone?

[JJTL]

Originally Posted by vito.a

Villa International built the pilot and copilot seats for Monaco.
A great contact there is Mike, 562 404-8111.
If you have your coach build number, Mike can look up the original order sheet.
Hopefully he can tell you where to get replacement parts for the heat system.

Thank you so much for the contact, Vito! Much appreciated.

Originally Posted by engine103

Can you scan the bar code with your iPhone?

Good thinking, Jim. Tried to scan using the app I have and didn't seem to be able to read it. Bar code is kind of blurry. There appears to be a name under the sticker, will try and search that out further. Looks like we have very similar coaches, love the big bathroom! How long have you owned yours?

[engine103]

Hi Josh, about 3 years now and will never need another coach. You might already know this, but a great Monaco help site. https://www.monacoers.org/register/

[JJTL]

Originally Posted by engine103

Hi Josh, about 3 years now and will never need another coach. You might already know this, but a great Monaco help site. https://www.monacoers.org/register/

Awesome, we feel the same way. Thanks for the link, Jim. Heard about it, but haven't taken the time to register yet. Will do.

[JJTL]

Been reading many threads in the forum about the joys of chasing down suspension air leaks, let the games begin!

We built some 6" ramps to be able to drive the front of MH up on too. If I haven't mentioned before, there is a clear audible air leak from the front axle area and the front air tank empties down in only a few hours. Hence, at the top of our current to do list.



From some feedback received already, our thought was the likely culprit was the front air manifold "6-pack". I've already ordered the necessary o-rings to rebuild them. However, until we got it up on ramps and crawled under, we won't know for sure. Now's the time!



Ramps worked good! Got the idea from some forum members who have already completed the 6-pack rebuild. Well found out pretty quick the leak we hear is not coming from the 6-pack. There are some fittings on the back of the front air tank. 2 are the same and my first thought is maybe they are purge valves? One of these valves (the one on the left), is shooting out air from the top and at a decent and extremely noticeable rate.



The red arrow shows the valve in question, and the blue arrow shows the direction of the air leak. So the hunt begins to find out what the valve is, and if maybe it can be rebuilt or has to be replaced. Looks to be 4 screws that can be removed to release the top cover. If anyone knows what the valve is, and perhaps what the part number is, we would be most grateful!

[Timaz]

Sorry I don't know what the valves does but I will be keeping and eye on this to find out. It's just me, but while your under there and have the o-rings you might as well re-seal them. When I completed re-sealing my six pack valves I rapped them up with a plastic bag to keep them clean. My back ones where really dirty with road grime from only 60,000 miles.

Stay Safe,

Tim

[JJTL]

Good advice, Tim.

In doing some research and searching the forum, it appears the valve may be a Haldex KN31000 "Pressure Protection Valve". From what I've read these valves close off air to accessories (horns, etc) when the pressure drops to a certain level. The idea being in an emergency the air is saved for the braking system.

https://www.haldex.com/en/eu/air-bra...valve/kn31000/

https://mpparts.com/part/midland-hal...-valve-kn31000

Does anyone have any experience with these valves and can confirm we are on the right track? I see 4 screws hold the top cap on, wonder if maybe it can be rebuilt or cleaned?

Josh

[Ken Thompson]

I feel your pains! I too bought a 2001 Monaco. Mine is a 36’ dynasty. I too am the 3rd owner, and bought from a retired pilot. I fortunately got a very detailed history of the coach and all of the receipts. I even got the original owners manual. Even though it was well taken care of, I’m a perfectionist, and want everything to work as it was new. I replaced 80 polished brass knobs on all of the cabinets. Installed oil rubbed bronze instead. Replaced all of the faucets, including the shower valve with oil rubbed bronze. Not from the big box store, but from a regular plumbing source. People don’t know it, but there’s a big difference between the home cheapo faucets, and ones you get at a plumbing supply house. They may look the same, but they’re not even close inside. I too had issues with the Bose surround sound system. I ended up reusing the Bose cube speakers in their original installed spot, and installed a new subwoofer under the sink, and new Sony receiver in the upper cabinet. The Sony one I found was the only one that would fit in the upper cabinet and not be too deep. I too replaced all exterior and interior lights with LED. I had to replace the headlight assemblies because the lenses were so fogged over. Currently I am waiting for a new tail light lenses to show up. The stock ones have been cracked at every screw hole. Fortunately the previous owner had just replaced the radiator and CAC charge unit, as well as a new turbo. The front couch also had to be replaced because the previous owner had a dog with a urinating problem. I definitely would like to fix the holding tank monitoring system. The stock one does not work worth a damn. I don’t know about your gauge cluster on the dash, but mine were for entertainment purposes only. I ended up getting the blue fire system, and hang my iPad in front of the entertainment gauges, using the blue fire system. One other thing I would like to do, would be to somehow monitor the fan speed on the side radiator. Since it’s Hydraulics, you would need a pressure gauge, and sending unit, and somehow run it to the front of the coach. The roof is another item that usually gets overlooked. I got up there and buffed and waxed the entire roof, as well as installed a new satellite dish. Another one of the things that had to be re-paired was the nor cold refrigerator cooling system. I’ve seen too many beautiful coaches, such as yours, up in flames because of the fridge. I honestly don’t know why or how nor cold is still in business. The previous owner had the so-called, update installed, but I wasn’t satisfied with that being the only thing that protected me from a fire. I replace the entire rear cooling unit with a different design, as well as adding more cooling fans in the top of the cavity. When I pulled the fridge out, there was charred wood around the chimney area. To keep that from happening again, I installed aluminum sheeting over the wood walls to help prevent that from ever happening again. I don’t know if a person ever gets to the end of the repair or upgrade list on an RV. Even though my coach is 19 years old, it is built so much better than any of the newer ones, I have no desire to have a new one other than the updated electronics. It was built in an era where there were still craftsman that cared about the finished product, unlike today were they just throw them together as fast as possible with unskilled labor to make as much money as they can. Good luck on all your repairs and upgrades. This is definitely one of the best forums to get information on damn near everything.