Community Forums

Britcanuck · 03-26-2016, 09:59 PM

After 5 days of driving 5-6 hours a day we were nearly home. The coach was running smooth and steady no worries. On the 6th day we unhooked while she was warming up and away we went. Less than 2 miles down a flat two lane road at 50 mph a dash alarm sounded and the coolant temperature gauge was touching the red zone. I pulled over and left it running and checked the temperature of the coolant recovery tank and a lower radiator hose. Both were cool. I left it running for about 10 more minutes and there was no change on the coolant gauge-still almost red. Then I turned the motor off and waited about 5 minutes and started up again and the coolant gauge went back to normal so we proceeded with no further incidents that day. The next morning we left our overnight park and just like the previous day the same occurrence happened.
Has anyone else had a similar experience to me. Again, this has only happened twice in 5 years of owning the coach and both times within 10 minutes after starting driving.
Look forward to some good suggestions! Thanks

Jim Estes · 03-27-2016, 07:15 AM

That is really strange Brit. Assuming your coolant levels were full it sounds like a gauge or sensor problem. Sometimes an air bubble will occur when you are running your dash heat and this can happen. I had a coolant reservoir alarm...low level alarm...and it was low. I added coolant and it was fine. My leak was the hose clamps on both sides of the tranny cooler. They call them hot/cold leaks, anyway I tightened them up and experienced no more issues.

Alltooledup · 03-27-2016, 09:19 PM

If it does not open up then the engine is isolated from the radiator. There is a sticker that tells how to vent some part of the cooling system on the left side of my radiator when looking at it from the back. There is also a valve for venting. Hard to think you have an air bubble after years of use but consider the distance to the heater coil in the front of the coach. We were told to check a thermostat by taking it out and putting in a pan of boiling water. If it did not open it was bad. If we went to the trouble of taking it out we just put in a new one. It is a normally closed mechanical device that uses the coolant temperature to open it up. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in here but this is the best I can offer. Assuming you are using one of the non contact thermometers I would check the engine block and head and if not hot and you have a warning light then it would be sensor problem barring, a broken belt, loss of coolant, bad water pump, being air bound to the cabin heater. Hope this was helpful

Alltooledup · 03-27-2016, 09:43 PM

That would be a real bad condition as you would be short cycling air, instead of the cold air from the coach interior you are running the supply air that has already been heated back through the furnace. Likely no damage was done as the unit has high limit thermostat that will open to prevent damage.

I would check to see if the furnace had moved in relationship to the duct work. If not and the ductwork cannot be moved then the aluminum SMACNA tape might be helpful. It is for sealing fiberglass foil wrapped duct work and is very durable and permanent. Home centers sell aluminum tape but it might not be the same quality.

Our coach has its water pump in the same compartment so I am in there annually and its pretty clean. One thing that did not jive was the furnace manufacturers free air spec and the square inches of hole in our wood grill were a little low but it is a non standard size so I elect to live with it. I save all the screws that were dropped and cast off

feeling that they might be useful somewhere else

lucky so far I am running a surplus

Jim Estes · 03-30-2016, 06:49 AM

Thinking about putting a permanent mount sat antennae on the roof of our 2011 Astoria. Looking at the Wineguard Traveler. Currently we are Dish customers. Is there Anyone out there that has done it on their Astoria? One guy I talked with wanted to run the coaxial wires down the top or roof and drill through the roof to get to the bedroom TV and the saloN T V...which makes zero sense to me...I will use 2 receivers...1 for bedroom TV and the other will control the salon and exterior TV...

Alltooledup · 03-30-2016, 10:52 PM

My 2006 astoria had plumbing roof vents that just cracked when I touched them. I ordered out the new vents and when I removed one there was a notice that If I drilled an 1 1/2 inch hole there would be a cable for sattelite that could be fished out. The vent did not make any sense where it was located so I thought something was funny to have a plumbing vent that was not near a stack. These are above the bathroom/ laundry area.
So the interesting part of the story is my coach has a satellite dish mounted up front on the roof in the center and back a bit from the fiberglass cap/ TPO roof transition. Not sure where the best location is for locating a satellite or the most structurally sound place to mount that heavy dish. I dont use the service so I don't have an opinion other than there are two many roof protrusions already. Hope this saves some one from fishing wires. Dennis

SteveOGilroy · 03-30-2016, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Estes

Thinking about putting a permanent mount sat antennae on the roof of our 2011 Astoria. Looking at the Wineguard Traveler. Currently we are Dish customers. Is there Anyone out there that has done it on their Astoria? One guy I talked with wanted to run the coaxial wires down the top or roof and drill through the roof to get to the bedroom TV and the saloN T V...which makes zero sense to me...I will use 2 receivers...1 for bedroom TV and the other will control the salon and exterior TV...

On our roof we have a vent pipe cover without a vent pipe. When I replaced all the covers a few years ago I was surprised to find a sticker telling the installer to drill a hole to access the "sat" cable. See if you have three vents on your roof, if so one is likely a place holder for the cable access.

If yours is like ours the cables are already in place for front and rear.

DBenson · 03-31-2016, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Estes

Thinking about putting a permanent mount sat antennae on the roof of our 2011 Astoria. Looking at the Wineguard Traveler. Currently we are Dish customers. Is there Anyone out there that has done it on their Astoria? One guy I talked with wanted to run the coaxial wires down the top or roof and drill through the roof to get to the bedroom TV and the saloN T V...which makes zero sense to me...I will use 2 receivers...1 for bedroom TV and the other will control the salon and exterior TV...

We had a winegaurd installed 2 years ago (2008 Astoria) and installation went along side the bathroom vent which went straight down to salon tv / main tv control box. We use satellite for our main salon and rear main bed room with direct tv --- kids enjoy watching in motion satellite tv in rear bedroom while traveling on the road

dtb

Jim Estes · 03-31-2016, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveOGilroy

On our roof we have a vent pipe cover without a vent pipe. When I replaced all the covers a few years ago I was surprised to find a sticker telling the installer to drill a hole to access the "sat" cable. See if you have three vents on your roof, if so one is likely a place holder for the cable access.

If yours is like ours the cables are already in place for front and rear.

Our 2011 is the same...prewired for Sat install...I have not popped the vent cap off...but feel pretty sure the wires are there...I did not think about the rear cap though...that would require 1 wire ran down the roof aft for hookup..

dsbear · 03-31-2016, 10:00 PM

Ours on the 2011 is in the front and the wire was there from the start, as was the king dome before we replaced it with the travler

David, Heidi, M and Moose(the lab)
2011 Damon Astoria
Pulling an'09 Chevy CrewCab.

Baldtbird.06 · 04-13-2016, 04:10 PM

We have a 2006 Damon Astoria.Pacific
Would like opinions as to the Tripp Lite Inverter/Charge unit located above the passenger seat in the main control panel.
Ive read the Tripp Lite manual and understand "I THINK" that the unit is also able to measure improper wattage's and power defects acting also as a Surge Protector when connected to any RV Park Power Tower.
Have I read that correctly ?

Jim Estes · 04-14-2016, 04:23 AM

I believe your picture is the control head/operator interface for your inverter charger. That component is most likely in the rear of your coach...but as always I could be wrong:-). I doubt seriously it is a surge protector...especially if that is in deed its location...too far down stream. We use a surge protector that we bought at CW...its about $350 bucks...for the 50 amp one...plugs into the power pedestal at the camp ground...get the plastic lock box for it to keep honest people honest...

dsbear · 04-14-2016, 04:59 AM

I agree Jim. We use the permanently installed version of the same surge protector that Jim mentioned.

David, Heidi, M and Moose(the lab)
2011 Damon Astoria
Pulling an'09 Chevy CrewCab.

Ramairiii · 04-20-2016, 06:15 PM

Hi all- just joined today and we have owned our 2008 Astoria Pacific 3786 for about a year and a half. We love it and are glad to hear that others are enjoying theirs. Look forward to many fun times in our coach and on this site. Thanks, Ken Alloggia