Arrived in Carlsbad yesterday. When extending the drivers side living room slide heard a loud noise. Apparently the slide bladder hadn't totally deflated or was stuck. The amber light was on steady. Now it's leaking. You can hear the leak inside the coach. When you turn the key on the HWH panel for that slide the amber light will not stop flashing. Assuming that's because of the leaking bladder it cannot make the vacuum to satisfy the switch. I closed the shutoff valve to keep the pump from continuously running. A couple of questions. Can I retract the slide while letting the pump run to create whatever vacuum it's able to?
And does anyone have experience with shops that are able to replace the bladder close to where I'm at or further west. I'm really not wanting to turn around for NAC. That place has become my "Hotel California". 😂
Last time there we were parked next to an 09' Nimbus getting a bladder replaced. Must have picked up some bad karma. 🤦🏻♂️
Thanks for any suggestions.
Robert
I know it sucks to back track, but probably better off returning to NAC. I know of a place in Eugene OR that does it if you want to go that far or it is close to home.
Oregon Motorcoach Center - Premium RV Service Center | Eugene, OR (https://oregonmotorcoachcenter.com/) They know Foretravels and did a bedroom slide bladder for me.
Slide seal repair near Desert Hot Springs (https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=19810.msg141448#msg141448)
Not a repair place, but advice for temp solution
Robert, if you can live with your living room slide in, just close the air valve to that slide at the manifold and put some round foam insulation in the gap of your slide then cover that with blue non-stick 2 in. painters tape. Then you can at least get it repaired at your leasure.
Temecula valley Rv
They are fixing my living room bladder right now..
You can do like I did. Still working 10 months later. . I know I am going to have to replace sometime but getting more time before I do.
Just Joined Need to replace Bladder Club (https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=46076.msg468509#msg468509)
I wished I had read this before scheduling MOT for the repair. Although I have no idea if I could one. Find the leak. Or two. Access it to glue it. It's coming from the top of the slide about midway.
FYI. $4500 estimate for the LR slide seal.
Part of my $4500 lesson is to not trust the @#$& amber light. Just because the vacuum switch is made doesn't necessarily mean the seal has released all the way around. I will be verifying this in the future before moving any slide-outs.
I have four slides. I'll keep the loctite fix in mind. I hope I don't need it.
What did they charge you for the labor? Was this a bedroom or living room slide? CA is sure closer than TX.
Let me get everything finished. Had some other things done so I can break out the Bladder. Livingroom was affected.
Also curious about costs and your experience. I live in Temecula, and will need a living room slide bladder someday when I decide it's important enough to fix.....
Any update here NevadaBornRvR?
Yes sir. Took it to MOT and 4.5 coach bucks later. Problem solved. I'm spraying a lot of 303 on them now.
So Temecula Valley RV couldn't do them after all? Bummer you had to make a special trip all the way to TX.
Keith, by his last post it looks like they did do his repair work.
Hmm, I read that as he took it to (MOT) Motorhomes of Texas to do the repair instead of Temecula Valley RV. Did I miss it?
I read it as rez777 took his to Texas and Nevada born RV took his to Temecula valley.
I see it now. My bad, I confused the two because it looks like I asked NBRvR the question and Res777 answered. Never got an answer from NBRvR yet.
I dont know if its karma or just luck....
I have been following this thread for insight and future reference. Well I think the future hit me today. Parked for 2 weeks in Ocala Florida, I fixed 2 big air leaks on vroom valves when we first got here. The Aux compressor was running maybe once ever other day. All good.
Today is supposed to be our last full day before heading back to Texas. We were gone most of the day but when got home couple hours ago the compressor was running every 2-4 minutes. While I was hunting with bubble juice, my wife walked by the driver side LV slide and heard a big leak coming from the front of the slide. Looks like its the bladder best I can tell. We pulled the slide in, I closed the valve and now compressor happy. Opened the valve and sprayed the seam of the slide and sure enough big bubbles about half way up.
We leave tomorrow so I will probably wait till we get back to Texas to see if I can try some Loctite magic but it didnt look promising.
Likely to head to FOT/MOT or Keith after getting to Texas. Mean time I have valve to that room shut down with the slide fully in.
Would there be any issues driving back to Tex from Florida if we never open valve or put that slide out till we get back?
Thanks
I would stop by some home improvement store and get a 2" wide roll of painters tape. Take this and tape over the gap between slide and sidewall. This will help out in case you run through a frog choker on the way here.
Mike
Some backer rod (closed cell foam insulation) stuffed in the gap before applying the painters tape helps as well. We used low tack duct tape (recommendation from James Stallings at Xtreme).
The good think about our bladders when then don't even have air in them is that the bladder presses against the slide. Still chance of water getting through but not as bad as older style of bladder.
Based on my experience and another the Locktite has a good chance fixing your leak if you can see it and get to the hole / tear. Going almost on a year with the locktite. Since I can live with leaving the slide in all the time I figured I would keep going until I can't fix it.
I tape my bedroom slide when driving longer distances, especially if I may run into rain. I use no-residue duct tape.
To replace a bladder, does the slide have to come out, or can it slide in?
It depends on the year of coach - there were changes to the slide mechanism.
2001 and earlier, slide has to come out.
2003 and newer - can slide in.
2002 - not sure given train system, but likely can be pushed in.
Are out able to provide and update and cost. We developed a leak in our 2002 today and Temecula Valley is a much closer than Nacogdoches? Were you happy with the work? Approx cost for the LR bladder?
Thanks!
If you are prepared to leave your coach there for a month or two they will do a good job.
To add to what I said yesterday, if you do decide to use Temecula Valley RV, ask them if you can bring your coach in the day they will start working on it. That way, it will only be one or two days if all goes well. That's what I did and it worked out fine.
Thanks, Richard.
We're full-timers, so that would be the only way we could make it work. Still weighing the options/timing. I'm going to call Keith R. on Monday and see what his availability is. We've been wanting to get the coach to him for a couple of other thins for a while. This might just be the impetus to make it happen, but its always good to have options.
Do you know the procedure for pushing the 2002 in? I want to try the patching a couple of members have used, bit the leak is in a very tight spot. (Bottom rear corner)
Joe, if you do call them, let them know that you full time and hopefully they will do the job.
Not sure, but think 2002 has to be removed.
2002 with the train slide mechanism, the room pushes into the coach to provide access to the seal. I don't know the exact procedure because the dealer did mine. I think you have to disconnect the slide train mechanism from the hydraulic cylinders and I know a lot of interior stuff was removed. I'll try to dig up some pictures.
We just had our living room bladder replaced by Keith's shop last week. Ours had about 4 feet of dry rot in the bottom center of bladder. I had repaired several times with Titebond 406 with success but the rot was extensive and it reached the inevitable that a 20 year old bladder had just worn out. The repair took 5 hours with 2-3 working on it. To push the slide in you will need 2. Here is the procedure:
With slide out, remove fan fold cover behind driver seat. Remove vertical wood pieces(just Velcro on) and set aside. Remove 2 fabric inserts from cornice piece(also Velcro on). This exposes the screws that hold the vertical wood and cornice. Remove and set aside. Remove drawer from couch and remove screws holding the arm at middle of slide. Lift up arm to expose the 3 screws holding the large aluminum slide stop block(need 2 people, one pounding on block from outside, one lifting block on inside). Block is about 18 inches.
Move slide in.
Remove the eight bolts from the upper and lower control arms on both sides. The slide is now ready to push in the 4 inches needed to expose the bladder. 2 people needed to push in. Easy to write about it but it is a bitch of a job, especially the first time. To replace the bladder add some real heartache. Reverse order to reassemble with special attention to alignment of slide while putting the 8 control arm bolts back in and getting the stop block in correct position. GOOD LUCK.
Jerre
Also have to remove the slide topper to push the slide in. Sorry pictures are not the best.
Yikes! Way outside my pay grade. :) I think I'm going to see if I can seal it, if not, will have to wait, I had the bubble stuff out today and the location is not as tight as I thought. Once I aired up. I could no longer hear a hiss, so maybe not as bad as it initially seemed. Will call Keith tomorrow and see about an appointment with him in a few months.
Thanks so much for the info!
Yup, sorry I forgot about the topper brackets. Keith said HWH is telling him the bladders are only good for 7 years. Yikes!
You will also need to replace the valve block ($950) to get any warranty out of HWH. We are on the road now, I'll post pictures next week. Keith now has help(Samson, Clyde and Oscar) so availability hopefully should increase. Virginia (SO) is manning the order desk and doing a great job.