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Old 05-17-2009, 12:41 AM   #1
prestadude
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Default Getting My Newell Home

I picked up my new-to-me Newell (2000, 45', one slide) this Thursday in Phoenix. This is my first motorhome.


I also picked up my son from the dorms at Arizona State University, loaded up his stuff, and then headed up to Sacramento.

We spent the first night at a KOA in Blythe, California. The next morning, I couldn't get the coach to go into gear. Punching D, all I got was a flashing 6. Fortunately, the coach had the original manuals (one 1" binder with Newell prepared text plus three 2" binders containg manuals for all the equipment that is in the Newell). The Allison manual stated that the problem was due to an interlock violation (something was not right with the coach, so I could not go). A quick call to Newell (one of the reasons I purchased a Newell is the fact that they are still in business and have a reputation of offering excellent tech support to owners of used coaches). Turns out that a sensor in the slideout is probably not reading properly. I checked that the slideout was fully retracted and that the locking pins were in place (yes) and then flipped the override toggle switch in the left front compartment. Off we went.

We took a short side trip through Joshua Tree National Park. Stopped at the ranger station in Cottonwood to purchase a day pass. The parking lot was not made for 45' rigs. At the very tight parking lot exit, the left tag went off the pavement and I must of hit something pointy because about seven miles into the park I had a flat. I learned that it is difficult to even detect that a tire is going flat (at least for a tag). No noise, no driving effect. I caught a faint odor of hot rubber, thought to myself I wonder what that is, looked out the driver side mirror and saw chunks of rubber flying off the tag axle. There was not a good place to stop so I ended up half in the road, half off with my flashers on. Beautiful places are in the middle of no where so our cells phones didn't work. I flagged down a passing motorist who promised to stop at the park headquarters and let the rangers know.

My son and I fired up the generator, turned on the air and started watching a movie (Hot Fuzz, really funny British humor). About 45 minutes later, the ranger knocks on the door offers to relay my request for service to Coach-Net (he radios park dischatch, dispatch calls Coach-Net). About 2 hours ater that the tire repair truck shows up. My heart dropped. The truck was a small pickup with a small compressor mounted in the back. The truck was driven by a mechanic who was at least 60 year and was accompanied by a small white poodle. I was expecting an enormous vehicle bristling with equipment. My concerns were unfounded. This fellow knew his stuff and with only hand tools, a few bottle jacks and a big impact wrench, he showed me how it is done. I won't go into all the details, but I was fascinated when he got the new tire on the rim and I thought, "how is he going to seat that bead without a much larger compressed air source?" He pulled out a bucket of tire mounting compound, a thick, paste like soap. He slapped in a thick bead of this material to seal the gap between the tire and the rim, hooked up his little compressor and I watched in amazement as the tire slowly inflated, displacing the tire mounting compound until the bead seated. I gave the guy a $40 tip just as much for the lesson in tire repair as for helping me out. FYI, the rear tires were 5 years old, the fronts 4 years old. I was planning on replacing all this summer. Maybe I should have acted sooner!

The remainder of the trip was uneventful (sort of) although I do have a few issues and would appreciate advice from forum members.

1. Oil stain on right tag rim - once back to Sacramento, I noticed what appears to be evidence of oil seepage from the hub.



There used to be a nice chrome cover over the hub, but that is now somewhere between Joshua Tree and Sacramento. The hub appears to have a sufficient amount of oil (the level is even with the full line).



I assume that this condition is abnormal and I should take this in for repair ASAP. True?

2. At our last fuel stop, I heard a hissing sound after shutting down the coach. I traced it to a compressed air tank in the right front compartment.



The hose that is venting air is the black vertical one, coming off the bottom of the oil/water separator. It looks like there is some sort of solenoid actuated valve on the O/W separator bowl and the valve is not closing. When the engine is running , I hear a 12 volt compressor running constantly. My plan is to temporarilly plug the end of the vent hose with a compression fitting to keep the compressor from constantly running, and then have the mechanic fix the solenoid along with the tag bearing. Sound like a plan or is the little solenoid valve servicable and something that I can fix? Or maybe the problem with with the signal to the valve, not the valve itself.

Thanks for the help.
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Old 05-17-2009, 07:08 AM   #2
Wally Arntzen
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Welcom Tim,
I have an 88 coach and had the same oil staining on both rear drive wheels and it was the rear seals were blown because a guy put to much oil in the differential.
When you have the seals make sure that they know how hight to fill the differential so it don't happen again.
Nice looking coach and I wish you well with it.

Wally Arntzen
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Old 05-17-2009, 06:46 PM   #3
fulltiming
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Congratulations on your new coach Tim and Laura.

It appears that the device you are referring to is the air/water separator for the 120 volt air compressor. Mine has a manual drain versus the electric solenoid to blow off the water when it is full. The only problem with plugging the hose is that when the bowl is full of water, it will be unable to relieve itself and addition moisture will continue on to the auxiliary air tank, not a good thing. If you can force it to open the valve with the 120 volt air compressor running, you should be able to empty the water from the bowl then plug the line until you get it fixed. There should be a check valve in line to keep the air pressure in the system from back flowing into the air compressor when the compressor is off (switch to turn the 120 v compressor off and on is typically on the dash and marked Air Comp). If the hissing is occurring long after the 120 volt air compressor is shut off, the check valve needs to be replaced also. Your coach has a 12 volt air compressor that will maintain a lower level of pressure (typically 60 psi) to allow operation of the air pocket doors and air toilet (you likely have one or both). If the check valve is bad the 12 volt compressor will run most of the time. The 120 volt compressor will typically turn on at 70-75 psi and shut off at 90-95 psi while the 12 volt will turn try to keep the pressure at 50-60 psi when the 120 volt unit is turned off. If you haven't been running the 120 volt unit when you are on AC power and the engine is not running (the engine driven air compressor will cycle on at about 110-115 and shut off about 125 psi) you might want to try that to see if the pressure from the 120 v compressor will cause the water separator to cycle and reseal.

I have seen a few Newells without the air dryer/water separator on the 120 volt air compressor. That is a bad deal and a water separator should be added to those units.
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Old 05-17-2009, 10:57 PM   #4
Richard and Rhonda
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Hard to tell on the oil leak if it is coming from where the red rubber plug that goes into the reservoir, or from where the reservoir mounts to the hub. I know that if I park my rig on a side slope for long I get the same exact pattern on the rim. Did that happen to be the side that was down slope during your tire adventure? I don't see a stain originating from the juncture of the hub and reservoir. Nice pics BTW, they really help with explaining what you are talking about.

Michael had a good explanation of the air dryer. An alternate solution is to remove the solenoid valve from the line and just drain it manually until you get it fixed.

It is typical that you will find all kinds of ankle biter problems like that. They are either a function of the previous owners just putting up with it, or a coach that sits for a while.

You will get very familiar with a spray bottle of soapy water as you chase air leaks.

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your new baby. It's a nice looking ride.

We look forward to tinkering on it with you. These guys have helped me a ton.
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