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.

I have finally got around to investigating this problem. In reviewing the HTH control circuit board that controls the leveling, I discovered that it has a multitude of fuses mounted on the board. One is identified as "travel mode". It is a 5 amp mini fuse. It was blown. I have replaced and have had no problem. This appears to be one of those mystery events where I could not find cause for blown fuse. The HTH control panel is visible through a plexiglass window and mounted to the front of the hydraulic solenoid compartment below the passenger side step on the chassis frame. With the front hood open the control panel is visible to the left of generator. This fuse and relay circuit resets the air bag fill shuttle valve back to normal travel mode. I appreciate all the replies as they provided great leads. The forum is very informative to do it yourself owners I learn something new each day. Again thanks everyone.

Thanks Rich. I will check those also. I have been pulling them regualarly (once every 6 mo.) to check for moisture, but they seem to only vent dry air. We live in a dry area with minimal humidity so I would not expect to see too much water collecting in the tanks. I have not noticed anything unusual in this area. Terry

Stuart, Your credential indicate you are have a a lot of experience in this area and I would rely on your experience as my guide regarding this discussion. My only point was that the differences are minimal at best and probably not something to get terribly excited about. I have no position on claimed results from vendors, although it stands to reason that the elimination of oxygen and moisture should provide some benefits in tires longivity.....how much, I don't know. We have only recently changed over to running the nitrogen in the tires in the fleet of trucks we service by an organization we support, and so the verdict is still out regarding realized benefits. This is not my primary area of expertise, so I am still waiting for some feedback on actual documented results that can be validated.

Thanks a bunch for the info. I will trace back and see if I can find what is not restoring the air to the air bags. Once in the travel mode it airs up each time after setting, but when I park and cycle the auto level and then the restore, it does not cycle the valve back to the travel mode and leaves bags deflated. There are 3 air lines down there that I recall. It could be a ground as postulated. It quit restoring after I was returning from a trip from California last December 23 and had to go through blizzard, driving rain, 50 mph cross-winds almost the whole trip through AZ, and NM. I am surprised anything works. I am still cleaning out sand and road cinder from the toad where they applied sand to the roads. I will crawl back under and see what I can find. I appreciate the response and let you know what I find out if anything as to cause.

Stuart, Interesting posts by everyone. BretT is correct, pressure is controlled by Boyles Law. The pressure change associated with a 40 degree F temperature change is calculated to be approximately 7.286 psi offset from a 100 psi baseline. Although I have not calculated the delta between 100% nitrogen vs 100% air, it is probably less than 1 psi different from the number calculated above. Not a significant change to get excited about. We have migrated our truck fleet where I work to running 100% nitrogen. Tires are claimed to run cooler, last longer, and get a 1-3% improvement in gas mileage (or at least that is the claims being made). One of the down sides is that the benefits disappear if you contaminate the tires with air, once filled with 100% nitrogen. Moisture and oxygen are both factors that are detrimental to tire life. Running 100% dry nitrogen may be the best choice in providing a marginal benefit, but one must weigh those benefits noted above with the headaches of always finding a source of 100% dry nitrogen to fill your tires with. The next best option that many have touched on is to use a reliable source of dry compressed air. If you are running close to the limits of the tires, may be an option worth considering. The benefits of running nitrogen are there, but are probably not significant in the having a noticeable impact on gas saving or decisions of when to change to the tires out due to age for most RV'ers. Happy RVing. Terry Zimmerman, P.E,

I have a 2007 Winnebago Tour 40FD on a Freighliner Chassis. I am experiencing a problem with the air bags not filling back up for travel mode after retracting the the jacks (store mode) and starting up the engine. The air pressure on the gauges is fine. It has done this the last 2 times out and I have to manually cycle the air valve on the front cross member by depressing one of the little pins on the block to fill the air backs per Freighliner instructions to get me going. The bags deflate normally when pushing the auto level button. However, they do not pressurize and restore to the travel mode when the engine is started and idled before travel. What are the logically things to check to trouble shoot this problem and determine whether it is the valve block, wiring, or the signal to shuttle the valve back to the travel mode. Also, where does this restore signal come from or is it a default condition. I am a Mechanical Engineer and have excellent troubleshooting skills, but usually need a starting point such as a schematic or a description that describes how the system is connected and what makes it work. I can speculate how the system is probably designed and built, but that does not always work when I do not have a starting point. I have tools and electrical test equipment to do trouble shooting as may be required. Any help is appreciated. Thank you in advance. Terry

I am a fairly new member also. It may be a ground connection with the camera or a loose connection with the cable. I had to remake up my ground connection at the camera to solve my problem. It may look OK, but it is best to disassemble and remake the connection and make sure the metal is shiney before re-assembly. To access the camera, you may need to remove the cover in the back cap. Has the roof been replaced?. If it has, it could be that they nicked the cable as some are routed under the roof, not the bottom. Anyway, a couple thoughts on what may be wrong for whatever they are worth. Terry

The Polyglow and Newglass2 are probably a thined down version of clear coat that takes the place of a wax. They come highly recommended in improving the shine based on the literature out there. They will not correct a painted surface that is severely oxidized where a new coating is needed. The bus kote is very interesting as it is toted as a "cool" roof coating that has a higher reflective index which may be a desirable feature if spending time in a sunny desert environment. May be something to consider when looking at the various products out there. I would definitly stay with an "enamel paint/gelcoat" like product for the fiberglass roof. The elastomer coatings are more for the rubber roofs membranes based on my limited understanding. Lots of good advise by others on the thread. Terry, Amarillo, TX 2007 Winnebago 40FD