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Arizona Lizards · 07-16-2014, 07:52 PM

We discovered the front bolt securing the engine battery in its case corroding. The corrosion continued to the chassis pealing paint off and ate away a couple of wire protective casings. Luckily wires were fine. Ford Service said it was a THOR design flaw with the AC Evaporator dripping water down on the battery. The battery tested good.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Ford is fabricating a metal piece to protect the battery from the water drip. But I was wondering why the corrosion started a year and a half after owning the ACE?

We didn't think to get pictures before we took it in. We will take pictures of the metal piece Ford is fabricating and post when we get the rig back.

H3OHIO · 07-17-2014, 08:19 AM

Ours also drips on the battery, I thought about putting a hose where it drips out and running it down under the battery.

Arizona Lizards · 07-17-2014, 06:11 PM

We should be getting the RV back on Saturday. Will post a picture of the plate they are installing. The local ford dealership is replacing the battery and cables as warranted items. That was good to find out.

millwind · 07-19-2014, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H3OHIO

Ours also drips on the battery, I thought about putting a hose where it drips out and running it down under the battery.

OK, you guys made me go out & look at mine - it's a 27.1 so maybe dif. config. but our evap. drain looks to be just to the side of the batt. - very close but not directly over.

Don't quite see the need for fabricating a metal shield (on our unit anyway) as I see a molded-in nipple hanging down from the middle underside of A/C housing & it looks to be purposely made for a hose attachment so the evap. wtr. can be extended further down. Don't know why Thor didn't do it, but I certainly plan to.

Thanks for the post!

Arizona Lizards · 07-20-2014, 11:07 PM

So, it seems the drip onto the battery is coming from condensation on the AC hose, not from the end of the hose as we thought. The ford dealer fabricated a slanted cover that can be slid on and off the battery. It is held in place by 3 small screws, 2 on the right side (as you look at the battery area) and one on the front. We simply unscrew and pull the cover forward to service the battery. They rubberized the cover and slanted it so the condensation will run off without hitting any metal that could cause corrosion.

cptxguys · 08-09-2014, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisa W

We discovered the front bolt securing the engine battery in its case corroding. The corrosion continued to the chassis pealing paint off and ate away a couple of wire protective casings. Luckily wires were fine. Ford Service said it was a THOR design flaw with the AC Evaporator dripping water down on the battery. The battery tested good.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Ford is fabricating a metal piece to protect the battery from the water drip. But I was wondering why the corrosion started a year and a half after owning the ACE?

We didn't think to get pictures before we took it in. We will take pictures of the metal piece Ford is fabricating and post when we get the rig back.

I added a tube to our drain to prevent water from dripping on the battery and battery tray. It does however create a maintenance item though. It's necessary to check from time to time to ensure the tube does not get clogged.

More pics at https://www.flickr.com/photos/north4...7645897523828/

Arizona Lizards · 08-09-2014, 01:42 PM

That looks good, it would not have solved our problem. It wasn't the drain per se, but rather condensation leaking from around the AC hose that was causing our problem. The actual drain for the hose is far away from the problem area.