Good morning folks.
Got a slight leak in the main slide. Heavy rain here in Gillette and discovered this fresh water mark. It appears that the water, small seepage, is coming in from on top of the slide and dripping down onto the "valance"?. Since we have had this Ol' Girl we have not been exposed to much rain. Three questions: 1. how do I get that piece off so I can see the problem. 2. Shouldn't the air bladder seal so that water can not get in? 3. How do I repair? Thanks again for your input. Get one thing solved and another occurs. Ain't life grand. :)
As a start.
You need to know if the bladder air pressure regulator is set to 12psi. You can do this bu adding an air gauge on the manifold.
You need to know if the bladder has a leak. Spray soapy water around the bladder and look for air bubbles.
You need to know if there is an air leak going to the bladder. Add a ball valve in between the bladder hose and incoming air hose under the slide. Fill the bladder close the ball valve and see if bladder leaks to isolate if it is the bladder or incoming air hose.
Not sure if your slide built in this regard the same as an 01. But here is an option if so
On the top of the slide there is a block, a cube sort of thing, and at the bottom of it is a drain hose....I am told, I have not seen it....and when the slide is open the block or assembly with the drain hole is open to any water that is not diverted by the awning and of course the pin is not in the hole to keep water out when the slide is open. If that drain line gets plugged with debris, as they can, then water accumulates.
That all I can think of except one other peculiar option. When you close the slide after a rain, there is probably rain water on the top of the slide. If you do not squeegee that water off or try to tilt the coach to drain, the water comes in on the slide as the bladder at that time is deflated.
Hope this helps
Mike
The easiest thing to do is take off the header inside and run the slide out. You will seelight if the bladder is not sealing. Did this myself on my coach. If you see light then where is it. Then the fis is from there.
One source COULD be the holes for the locking pins. They must be caulked or whatever to make waterproof. Ours leaked and that was the cause.
Your's looks to be more bladder than locking pins. IS the water on the inside of the cabinet over the couch?
Barry - Where do I find the hoses and stuff you showed in pic 1 & 2?
John S - How do I take the header off?
Bill? - There is no water in the cabinets.
It appears that I will have to remove the awning from above the slide. Is there a recommended procedure to do this? In looking at the awning it appears that I will have to remove the whole thing from the coach. Is that correct?
Picture 1 is in the Utility Bay Drivers side 3
Picture 2 is inside the coach under the slide when the slide is in. Look under the accordion shade.
New Photo is L/R Slide Bladder Connection
Assuming yours is like mine.
I had buttons on the bottom of the header. You might have to go in from the side. It is the only real way to see the unit when you put it out.
Thanks Barry & John - We are on the road tomorrow, probably to the Bozeman area, not sure yet. Will stay for 3 to 4 nights. Will get into it then. I'm sure I'll have lots more questions when I get things opened up. Thanx again.
As a temporary fix I will acquire some 5/8" insulation and press into gap on the top of the slide, as was suggested by one of you grand folks, and tilt the coach a touch on the driver's side. I will attempt to address all of the thoughts listed above in the next day or two. On Monday I will contact FT and order the white rubber squeeges that attach to the channel above the slides. I am sure that replacing them will not eliminate the problem but the existing ones are old and cracking. It certainly can't hurt to replace them. Thanks again for your input.
Note: I removed the white squeegee and operated the slide. I could clearly see that the air bladder deflated and inflated. The top slide material is slightly wavy so the bladder contact points are not equal and maybe not touching the top of the slide in a couple of places at all. I must check air pressure in the bladder as Barry suggested. On my way to the hardware store to find some insulation that I can "stuff" in the opening for a temporary fix.
Barry - Is there a time that we might be able to connect via phone so I can better understand what you did and how you did it. Air pressure valves and gages.
Thanks in advance.
Is there a stainless steel grabber on the top of your slide. I added another one to my living room and it worked well. In the bedroom I shimmed up the rear corner a bit and the bladder made a better seal and no more water.
Scott I sent you an email awhile ago with my phone number.
Ordered the wiper material from FT this AM. $1.00/ft. Ordering enough to do both slides. The wiper/squeegee mater pulled out of the track with no problem. I presume it will go in the same way. UPS ground.
I deflated the main slide this AM to visually check to determine if there was debris between the bladder and the slide. I found a broken zip tie on top of the slide in the area where contact might be made. I do not know if this was my problem but am sure I will know when it rains again. I will still take off the header, retract the slide and inflate the bladder to verify/check seal. I will monitor and........
Had a nice chat with Barry this AM - sent him some digital images for his perusal and commentary.....Am interested HOW and WHERE he placed his pressure gages on his slides to verify proper air pressure to slides.
Thanx all.
Here is where you put the gauge
Thanks Barry - Have a great day.
Nice labeling Barry.
Keep up the great investigative work Scott.
I'm just as eager as you to find the problem, as the leak you describe is similar to the leak I have on my slide.
When you take the header off is there an angled piece of metal that runs the top of the slide on the motorhome. That is where my slide grabs and pulls it up. THey grabbers are adjustable too. I do not know if the 02 has them but I would think they would have something.
Well - It's starting to rain. I guess we shall know soon if the zip tie was the culprit.
John S. - I will take off the header tomorrow and we shall see. I will post a pic of what I find.
Very, VERY interesting!!! We had TWO zip ties that caused our slide leak! They found them in Nac when we were having our TV remodeled.
Wondered why they use zip ties on the bladder?
Thoughts as to the original source of the zip ties? Can you tell from the size? Around the wiring for the electrical in the slide (like for lighting)? Possibly around the window awning when it was originally installed?
Michelle
Hi Michelle - No clue as to what it was used for. The zip tie was black and the radius of the circle that the zip tie had was about 2.5". It was also cut so it was not a circle anymore. That slide was worked on prior to our ownership. A new bladder was replaced. Rained last nigh and no sign of leak or water stains.
They zip tie the wires to the lock blocks but i do not know if 2002 has lock blocks.
Our is an 02 and appears to have lock blocks in the bottom of the slide and probably on top too. At least I see 4 black 1/4" air hoses going to some sort of an aluminum assembly attached to the ceiling of the utility bay. Barry has identified them as locking slide pins. He doesn't have them on his 03. I haven't looked into the exact mechanism yet. Will do in the future. My DW wanted slides - we got slides and everything that goes along with them. It's all good.
Ok, i have that setup too. I know stuff changed at the end of the model year
Yes, you have locking pins on both top and bottom of the slide. Be sure to caulk around the pin receivers on top of the slide or your slide will leak during a rain. The awning must be removed for this I do believe.
Tom/Bill - to remove the awning slide do you remove the bolts from the awning arm attachment bracket on the slide and then set the awning on the roof?
Be very careful removing the awning arm, it is under enormous spring tension.
I believe the left end of the awing has at least thirty turns on the arm.
I repeat be very careful!
Scott, I am not sure as either FOT or MOT recaulked our locking pin holes. I wasn't around when they did this so I'm not exactly sure how they did it.
You can give James T a call at FOT and I'm sure he will give you some guidence. And yes, the awning is like a big garage door spring and it will throw you off a ladder! Same thing for the big patio awning, be very careful!
tom
Thanx Tom - After two rain showers we are still dry inside with no sign of water. Looks like I will not have to play with the awning over the slide afterall. Will slide the new wiper blade in and down the track when received - I hope.
Got the Header off - Left leg, Right leg and header are all one piece on my Ol' Girl. Removed 5 screws and left leg and 5 screws on right leg and screws under buttons on the header. It pulled off in one piece. The side curtains were held in place with Velcro. Pulled that off of the wall and kept with header assembly. Pics attached. Note: I found two more broken zip ties floating around on top of the slide. I did replace some zip ties where they seemed appropriate. I used a credit card to try to slide between the slide and the bladder and was not successful. I do wish that I could increase the pressure a tad? Will the regulator in the bay do this? I have two pics attached of Switches/contact points. I am wondering if anyone can identify them and what they do. I thank you in advance for your input.
Great photos! Much appreciated for those of us who aren't familiar with the train drive mechanism.
I'm going to guess the center one is "slide out" or "slide in" sensor for HWH (depends on when it's lined up) and the photo of the other two are for the puck lights over sofa and dinette - watch how lights go out when slide is in, even if you have the switch on. There would be 2 of these because one set of lights (couch) is on one switch and the other (dinette) is on a different switch.
But those are just guesses ;)
-M
The black steel pieces are your grabbers that lift the room. I have a different magnet set up but they should do the same thing.
Yes the pressure regulator on the slide manifold identified in the previous photo adjusts the slide pressure. Correct Slide pressure is 12 psi
Barry - I think that the problem was caused by broken zip ties resting between the bladder and slide skin contact point. Soooo - I am not moving forward and installing air pressure gages in the service bay today. Will keep that one up my sleeve to use at a later time. Squeegee/wiper material will be replaced when it arrives from FOT.
Thanks to every one who took the time and effort in assisting me with this minor but aggravating problem. If it recurs I will resurrect this thread. :D
Scott