I am getting ready to replace gray , black valves and cables. I here it is difficult to get the bottom bolts out on the valves. any tricks or information would be appreciated.
I did this over summer and it depends on the type of 320 you have and its layout.
I have a 99 320 with no slide and the toilet and shower on the passenger side. The wet bay with the pulls is a two-piece fiberglass panel. First time I attempted to change them was a pain in the butt because I only removed the top panel. I ended up with a leak on the black tank valve as the rubber seal was not seated properly. The next day I took the bottom panel off (so, both were now removed). This made it much easier to reach the bottom bolts and I was able to ensure that the seal was placed correctly.
What I also found that made it easier was understanding how the plastic pieces come together and come apart. In this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxHZZ2hfw9Q you can see at 4 minutes how to put on the new valve part. once that is installed, you can add the plastic cover seen at 5:30. I didn't do this the first time and struggled like crazy.
I should also add that I had to disassemble the faucet and take off the waterlines to remove both panels. The top panel was kept together and pushed over the the cord reel side and I may have used a bungee or something to keep it out of the way. The aquahot heat exchanger was also removed and pushed to the reel side of the bay. With everything moved out of the waste tank side, you should have easy access to all of the bolts.
It's been awhile that I replaced the seals in my valves. I believed I used a 1/4 in. drive socket and
a extension to get at the bottom bolts.
I just had to replace my electric valve. The valve came with some detail instructions. Do not over tighten the bolts, and install the gaskets to the adapters and not the valve. I was worried about getting to my lower bolts but it turned into being almost as easy as the top ones.
Before starting I tilted the coach towards the drivers side and made sure the tanks were empty. When I started to replace the valve I tilted the coach to the passenger side.
Hardest part about doing the job was wanting to get started.
How often is this necessary. Just wondering if full timers need to do it more often.
We're in our coach about 8 to 10 months of the year.
Probably LESS often, as the valves are "exercised" with less chance of seizing up.
Ok then.
The practice of putting veg oil down the tanks for lubricant is a good thing. Unless there's a better product to use.
Wow, cooking oil has gone way up.
I did mine because it broke on the last 1 month trip I was on. Good thing is it broke open instead of closed.
Knowing the year and model number would help. 2001 with a slide is a pain. The following handle mods makes removal possible .
Water leak (https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=45046.0)
If you add a third valve and find that there is liquid on the other side of it when opening it, you likely need to change your valve seals. I did mine because I was draining my gray and noticed the water was yellow in color.. you don't generally see yellow in gray water BUT you do in black.
I switched out my gray and black tank valves with electric valves two years ago and have been very disappointed with them since. I bought some manual valves to replace them but haven't gotten around to doing it yet because it really is hard to get that job started. No one wants to work with that stuff. I'm pretty sure I over tightened the nuts and that's why I have difficulty with the electric valves open and closing properly. But I did put in a manual third valve and I have a valve on the end of my hose so that gives me a fourth option as well. One of these days I'm going to replace them all with manual I think unless I can get the electric ones to work properly after removing them, cleaning it up and reinstalling it.
As old guy said in one of the above posts one quarter inch drive ratchet with a long extension and then another short one behind it or a ratcheting wrench I think is what I used for the back side. But you do have to remove both panels and in order to do that you'll have to remove a bunch of other stuff like faucet and switches and electrical outlet. When I put everything back together again I only put the top panel on and left the bottom panel off that gives me additional storage space for my black hose. And it allows me to get in to mess with the valves when they don't want to open. If you want your coach looking like it just came from the factory that won't work but me I just want it to be easy to maintain.
There is different packing that are needed . Mine ended up being the newer ones. They are also the same as the third valve. I personally really am glad I added the third valve because I back flow the black tank with the gray tank every time I dump. Really seems to stay cleaner or possibly I should say it never stinks.
Here is what I did when experiencing the same issues with electric valves . They worked great for 6 months then stared acting up as you see. The small bolts cannot be tightened too much, but mine were as required. The alignment of the pipes was the issue creating a bit of "twisting"on the valve body. So, I cut the pipes right thru about 4" away from the valve on both sides of it then put in the rubber pipe connectors that have the clamps on each side and that solved the fractionally out the alignment issue.
Valves worked good after that.
Johnh
Thanks John I'm going to have to look into that. Not sure I have the space now though since I adapted it for the rhino hose system. But I would like to keep the electric valves I like being able to press the button and it's very helpful I'm back flushing and things like that.
Putting those rubber connections on does not make it really any longer, just about 1"on each pipe. You can actually cut about that amount off one of the separated pipes and then install the flexible rubber connectors so it restores the original length size . They do not need a gap between cut solid pipes of more than mentioned to take out any mis alignment of pipes.
Johnh
Bob; to answer your question, we are full timers and about every other time I dump, I spray some silicone spray into the valves and it works great! However, I went and cut out the cable valves and straightened out the black pipe to a straight one and installed two valves out side of the panel. No more issues and also while at it, I installed a flusher on each tank. I also found out that the black tank flusher that came with the coach was plugged and not working. Everyone should pull that flusher and see if it is working or not and replace! Flushers are your friend! I also use Happy Camper in the grey and black tanks and have now switched to using 12 oz of Pinesol and 2 oz of Calgon water softener! Have not had an issue since doing this for the black tank only. With one cup of Happy Camper in grey, it keeps the walls of the tank clean and no issues with bad readings from our SeeLevel system, per Garnet Industries who sells the SeeLevel systems. We also use regular toilet paper and only dump when tanks reach 60 to 75 %.