tzimmermn

We have 2007 Winnebago 40FD diesel pusher that gets around 7.5 mpg (6.5mpg if running generator). It has the optional 400hp turbo Cummins Diesel engine. We are pulling a 1997 Toyota Camry (approx weight 3,000lb). RV has not been weighed but expect it to be around 29,000 lbs. I normally drive 65 mph. I have gotten as low as 6 mpg an as high as 10mpg (with 60mph tailwind).

This may be OBE. I just purchased several LED lights for RV from a place in California called M4 LEDs Very good replacements that met expectations. They may have what you may be looking for. They have excellent dimensional info.

Just got through adjusting the leveling system on our 2007 Winnebago Tour 40FD after having to replace control panel. We have HWH system with auto level. Just leveled the coach manually and then adjusted screws/nuts on level adjustment until leveling lights went out. I adjusted the screws to both sides of on & off and then centered between wrench positions. My system has LEDs both on control panel and leveling panel. Pretty easy. Get a copy of your owners manual for your unit to get familiar with leveling process. Yours may be different. The pump relay on the control board became unreliable and had to change whole control panel (no replaceable parts). On last trip to Florida. Pretty easy change out... Two screws and a bunch of connectors. Took about 1 hour in an rv park. Solved my problem though.

Sorry to hear that Herman about your brother in law. Appreciate all the input. Hope I can get it sealed. Rich if you give Murphy a call, I will try to get this done before he knows what has happened and comes to visit me. (Grin)

Thanks brett and Rich for quick response. I failed to mention that the connection is a flare fitting. I was planning on using golf tees to temporarily restrict fluid loss to allow time to inspect flares for cracks/damage and allow time to clean surfaces and apply a compatible hydraulic line sealant to flare surface before remaking connection. Don't know if this will fix problem but will be last ditch attempt to resolve leak before resorting to replacement. I am mostly a DIY but have had Murphy visit me on occasion when I do things that push my experience and confidence limit. One of my biggest fears is getting air in system and causing problems with a possible imbalance in slide cylinders if air is not self purging from cylinder. I am assuming the systems have some capacity to effectively purge a small amount of air from cylinders, but without being able to see where these lines go it is hard to know all details of system configuration. If this does not fix problem I will follow Brett's suggestion and call HWH for help. Removing line and replacing may be more than I want tackle if I cannot trace both ends of line. I really appreciate both responses and this forum. I am truly amazed at the experience and technical expertise this forum brings to bear on problems.

Needing advice. I have a hydraulic line going to one the bedroom slides that leaks at a union when under pressure. It is on a 2007 Winnebago 40FD Tour. The line is part HWH hydraulic system that controls both slides and jacks. This line is operates small slide only. I don't know how common leaks are on these connections. I have tried tightening a little more but still leaks a little when slide is moved. I was planning on taking connection apart to inspect for cracks or damage and then assuming I do not find anything I was planning on applying some Loctite 545?, which I believe is designed for use in sealing hydraulic joints. Don't know if this will solve problem or not. I am open to suggestions based on other peoples experiences who may have "been there and done that". My main question is what do I need to be aware of or what precautions do I need to take so I do not create an issue with slide operation. Thanks in advance for any help. Terry Zimmerman Amarillo, TX

No correct answer. We have owned new and used. I am 60 also. I would recommend going into retirement as debt free if possible. The extra money that would be going to a mortgage payment can be banked and used to enjoy life. We purchased a used diesel 3 years ago and have been enjoying ever since. We purchased at 50% of retail. It was 2 years old and had 11,000 miles on it. Interior look brand new and exterior was well maintained. We purchased from a couple in bankruptcy. We looked for a year before finding our coach. Looked at a lot of lemons before finding lemonade. Looking forward to retirement in 2 years.

Will do Brett. Thanks Terry

Thanks for all the good advice. I have not checked our CAT dealership for the OAT but will check there now that I know they make one. I went to our Cummins dealer and they had a 60/40 or a 50/50 in the fleetguard brand. Both would have to be ordered in. I went to our Freightliner 24/7 truck repair center and they carried only the 50/50 OAT and SCA fully formulated anti-freeze. They could get in the Alliance Brand SCA coolant in 100% concentrate but would have to order 250 gallons. I finally found Peak brand SCA based 100% concentrate at the Tractor Supply Store. I was a little surprised at the limited availability of the 100% concentrate OAT or SCA based coolants. I will have to do a little more research to locate sources here in Amarillo, TX before next change. I am planning on going to the OAT the next time around. I was a little nervous in tackling this maintenance procedure, but glad I took the plunge and DIY. Again appreciate the help this forum provided. Terry

Well I got the coolant changed out. I used the lower radiator hose to drain coolant. I used a small clear plastic hose to siphon out remaining anti-freeze in transmission cooler. I also reached into transmission housing with finger to see if there was any pitting, sludge, or film of any sort. It was spotless clean. I had a hot water heater flushing nozzle that worked quite well in flushing plastic overflow tank. Drained anti-freeze was clean and looked good. Since everything looked good, I just filled back up with distilled water, flushed heater circuit, redrained and filled with concentrate. I then flushed the distilled water from heater circuit until coolant was seen discharging from drain valve. I topped up with distilled water. This was my first time in do this procedure. I was not hard but took a little time due to learning curve. Cummins did confirm that block will self vent which it did. I never did find low point drain on block and Cummins could not tell where one was located on block. Engine and radiator held 10.5 gallons. Heater circuit held around 2.5 gallons. Because of a lack of a block drain, 4 gallons of coolant remained in block that I had to flush out of system using procedures noted in forum. Because of 4 gallons trapped in block, one must use concentrate coolant (not diluted 50/50) to achieve the 50/50 concentration and top up with distilled water as noted in forum. Because this was first time I went back with SCA based coolant. Now that I know my system and limitations I plan on migrating to the newer extended life OAT on the next change. One of my challenges for next change is to locate an OAT that comes in a concentrate when I plan for next change. This forum gave me the confidence to take on this challenge and I am very appreciative of the assistance I received on it. Hope my feedback helps others. Terry 2007 Winnebago Tour 40FD with 400 HP ISL Cummins

We have a 2007 Winnebago Tour 40FD (4 slides) with 400 HP Cummins ISL engine with 25,000 miles on unit. We get about 7.5mpg on average @ 65mph on Interstate driving with full load of water and propane. We got 10 mpg once with a 60 mph tailwind from Amarillo, TX to Albuquerque, NM. This is my experience only over the last 15,000 miles since owning coach. Brett Wolfe is right on regarding all things that can affect mileage. Terry

Thanks Brett for the info. I will pull lower hose to drain and see what I get. I liked the idea of using the rubbermaid storage containers. I was wondering what I might use as I know how messy things can get with anti-freeze. It was a very good suggestion and I plan on going up and getting a couple tomorrow and planning for the change this weekend. I like the idea of the low maintenance OAT. I will go down Friday and see what the Cummins folks say about what I need to do for the high point vent or if the block will self vent when you fill it up. Thanks for all your assistance. Terry Zimmerman

Appreciate the kind words Mr Butler and hope the solution helps someone else. Owning an RV is like owning a house and vehicle all in one. Lots of opportunities for issues to crop up. Half the battle is figuring out how the systems are put together. I have been forunate in having a managable amount of issues to deal with thus far. Each time I solve a problem, I learn a little more about my coach. Hope to spend more time with our coach when I finally retire and can enjoy more. Again Thanks. Terry Zimmerman

Great infomation Brett Wolfe. I am fixing to change the anti-freeze in our 2007 Winnebago Tour with the 400 HP Cummins ISL CM850. This is first change and unit came filled with the Alliance Brand fully formulated coolant with SCA's. We purhased this unit in Sept of 2009 and book indicated a 5 year replacement. After the last trip, I have noticed a very small amount of white residue settled in the overflow tank. We bought the RV with about 11,000mi on it and now have 25,000 mi on it. I agree with your assessment, that it is probably wise to replace at the 3 to 4 year interval. I am a DIY, but I think I goofed up a little bit on the coolant. Because it was a Cummins, I assumed that it was filled with fleetguard antifreeze and got there strips and DCA-4 which they stated would work as a DAC-2. Although I could read the SCA's, the freeze protection was hard to read, but was thought to be OK. After putting the DCA-4 in the radiator, I relized later that I may have been using wrong SCA and/or test strips. I went and got the Penray test strips and checked the coolant. It has read to be adequate on nitrates. Strips were much easier to read. I am not sure of the compatablility of the DCA-4 with the Alliance Brand anti-freeze and question the readings on the test strips, especially if I used an incompatible SCA. It all may be mute, as I plan on changing immediately. I have crawled around underneath looking for a low point drain, but have found none, All I see is the 2 block valves that are used to block the heater and the one drain valve on the return heater line to flush the line out from the heater. We have a rear radiator. I could not see or identify a drain valve for the radiator and it would appear the only way to flush the system is to dump the radiator hoses. I also see a drain c***k on the driver's side on the bottom of a casting that appears to be bolted onto the side of the engine block just below the turbocharger. I suspect this may be a coolant drain for the casting but not a low point drain for the engine block. Regarding flushing, I have both softened (using salt) water or hard water available and have purchased distilled water to use for the final flush which I may need to get more to flush more than once to purge the system. Given the above history, would you recommend using the the fleetguard restore or just flush the system with water? Would you use only the distilled water to flush system, or the hard water or soft water that I have available at my outside faucet? Regarding refilling, the Cummins fill instruction on the back of the coach, do not talk to opening any high point bleed to expell air and only talk to filling through overflow tank at a rate not to exceed 3.5 gpm. It then talks to opening the inlet valve on the heater hose and to open the drain valve on the return heater hose to force coolant through the heater lines and finally to the drain on the return heater line. Not sure if this is how Cummins vents the air from the system, or if I need to access from the top and try to vent air from an appropriate high point coolant line. I am a little new at this and as you can probably tell from the mistakes made above.

For what it is worth, Camping World appears to be carrying a fiberglass white paint. I had called manufacture to find out what the cool roof spec qualities were regarding reflectivity and emisitivity value over the visible and ir light spectrum. I did not get much info on the paint. However, it appears to be a white white pigmented paint. Cool roof properties are unknown. Bus kote may still be best bet.