jleamont

Great recommendation for a DIY person. At the very least carry the filters, should you need a filter change you can always pay a road side mechanic to install your filters. 95% of the battle would be locating the proper filters on the side of the road. I had to replace our secondary filter at a rest stop on the way home from Tennessee in Virginia. I noticed the fuel pressure gauge dropping dramatically when pulling a hill.

Puff, glad to hear! I am sure that took a load off of your shoulders. Running the wire, I know on our construction it wouldn't be a simple task. Perhaps a small wire fish tape and see if it will go down the inside of wall to the basement ceiling, might take a helper to see if they can hear it knocking on the basement ceiling.

On your coach do you have full access to the fuel tank? Our our HR I can remove our fuel tank with little effort (after its emptied). It pulls right out of the compartment it resides in after removing 4 bolts, a few fuel lines and unplug the sending unit. That would give you an opportunity to clean it or take it somewhere for a good cleaning. I'd even consider pressure washing the inside with it turned up on its end if its the same design as we have. You can see inside of ours easily through one of the fills, a small camera and it would be even easier. Just let it dry out for a few days on end, blow it out with compressed air and reinstall it.

I doubt there has been any damage created by this so soon. If it were being operated in a cold climate I would let it be, if operated in a warm/hot climate I would correct it. I had the same year V10 in our old coach. I ran full synthetic 5W30 and a Motorcraft oil filter (you can get them at Walmart).

That is the correct dip stick for an F53. Are you certain that the oil isn't so clean you just cannot see it? You could be seeing where its touching the tube. It might be best to let it sit overnight and pull the stick in the morning, that will give you the easiest reading and use the reading on the first pull. Make sure to rotate the stick over and see if the side without the writing reads, sometimes it can make it easier to actually see the level. Your engine is a 6 quart system with the filter per Ford; Super Premium SAE 5W-30 Motor Oil XO-5W30-QSP Later years went to 5W20 weight oil and 7 quarts.

Can you photo the handle and the lower portion of the stick and attach them? When there is nothing on the stick it doesn't mean there is no oil in the engine, it just means there is not enough to register on the stick. How many quarts were put in the engine when the oil was changed? On a large diesel engine there were many instances where the coach builder altered the dip stick on the engine and the readings were never verified. On a F53 its highly unlikely, or shall I say all of the coaches I worked on (more than I can count over a 20 year period) over the years it they were always straight from Ford as the F53 came with the dip stick in the perfect location.

Well, I am sure there is something for more performance but probably a lot more money than the original. In my experience with engines of this era, turbo chargers don't normally fail, they become damaged from operator error. Those filters look terrible. It begs the question on what the remaining fluids look like in the engine? How old is the coolant and transmission fluid?

If you saw oil on the stock after shutdown it’s safe to say there is oil in the pan. I and also assuming you had oil pressure on the gauge? It sounds to me it’s just that low on oil or the stick is t fully seated. I personally would verify the stick is fully seated and if so add another 1/2 quart and check the dip stick. If there is oil present keep adding until close to full. Don’t start the engine during all of this. It will just confuse the situation with the oil splashing around and really only proves there is some oil in the oil pan. There is no way to check it without draining the pan and measuring it out.

The reason for an inspection of both sides, when the exhaust side fails often the bearings will fail from being out of balance and the compressor turbine will make contact with the housing. This will send metal down into the engine intake. I have seen many engine failures from this and equally scratched my head wondering on others than had no symptoms of engine failure and ran many years and miles afterwards. I’d say the ratio has been 50/50.

I would remove the air intake and exhaust pipe and take a look to see if you can identify where that shrapnel came from. With those open you should be able to see the compressor turbine on one side and exhaust turbine on the other. If possible take some pictures and post them on here. Did the engine smoke? I wouldn’t start it at this point until after you verify where those pieces of metal came from. Replacing the turbocharger doesn’t usually require special tools, just some patience as bolts might not be cooperative.

Tim, made this trip last summer. Wasn't to bad, coach A/C (both roof tops) kept us comfortable. We stopped in Santa Rosa NM for two days, it was really hot there. Back in 08 we went from PA to CA I-81 to I-40 and all the way to CA. It wasn't terrible until the Mohave desert. We stopped for lunch and it was 118, that was hot! When I opened the door on the coach it felt like I opened to oven door at home, but without the good smell of something cooking.

Foreveryoung, Welcome to the FMCA forums! There is some good information on this discussion;

rockey987, Welcome to the FMCA forums! Do you have any time constraints?

I MUST change all 8 next year, mine look horrible!

For the age, it looks more modern than any RV from that era.

Any interior photos?

Tim, should you want to save yourself some money and take a shot at it read this post, there is a lot of great information.

I believe this topic has run its course and it’s time to close it.

Were you able to count the flash’s on the switch light?

Same here. Had the issue on our 14 JKU. I decided to lift it and drove it directly to the shop and got a FULL alignment not just “set the toe and let it go” alignment. No issues afterwards. That has been the same situation on 6 Jeeps over 25 years. All were lifted but my daughters current 2005. When I bought my daughters I drove it home from the dealership and made an appointment for an alignment immediately. It didn’t wobble but I knew it was only a matter of time. And the caster was out on it, go figure. The problem is Caster, if it’s not perfectly dialed in it will wobble and of course if steering or suspension parts are worn out it will wobble. I am confident this occurs when the suspension settles. They leave the factory set, springs settle, caster goes out. The new Cherokee is a different story.

The on/off switch will blink a code as soon as the generator stalls out. Count the flashes and there should be a pause between the sequences.

Nan, welcome back! I have owned a few enclosed trailers over the years. The last two were made by Pace American http://www.paceamerican.com/. They were price pointed well and the quality was great. One of them I used commercially and never had an issue with it and I ran that trailer for 11 years. Should you order it I would upgrade to torque flex axles, they require less maintenance. Here is a video on those axles; One issue I experienced that I will share was the wind drag off of the RV. At the time our gas coach really had a hard time with wind resistance on the front wall of the trailer and I even special ordered it with a shorter tongue to tuck it closer to the RV. With the trailer behind us we would see a minimum of a 2 MPG decrease, and it felt like the brakes were dragging if there was any head wind, the trailer with the cargo was only 2300 lbs. With that being said if at all possible look for one with a V nose, it will pay you back on gas. I would seek out a used one first to save a few $$.

Jim, I felt they all go hand and hand with overall quality and real world experiences with all of their products could be beneficial to someone shopping and considering any one of their products. Customer service experiences, if bad are no good on any of their products. If I had seen or heard of good I would have passed it along. I looked last night, my coiled cord is a BO product it is at least 10 years old, while its faded still works good and the coating is not cracked. They probably switched suppliers which created the problem alv has experienced. That is common practice amongst most industries.

I will send you a PM

alv, I have a fiend with a BO tow bar. He loves it but it had to be rebuilt 2 or 3 times in the 8 years he has owned it. Keep in mind we are NOT full time, so it doesn't have that much use to warrant it IMHO which raised a red flag too me. I thought that was a sign of poor quality myself as I have a Demco tow bar that is the same age and has no signs of fatigue and works like it did on day 1. I will admit I am not easy on our tow bar, if there was a poster child on what not to do I've done it, while he is just the opposite! Over the years and reading forums I have seen many failures of their products. I wasn't sure if it was a quality issue or operator error and its hard to really tell but htere are so many problems you have to wonder. One post that made me look elsewhere had the bar snap and when the safety chains came into use the hooks snapped off, thank goodness the emergency breakaway on the toad saved it and the traffic behind the toad. I can understand your frustration. We all spend our hard earned money for this lifestyle and you expect a certain level of support when you shed out that much money.