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Check your engine compartment latches

May 19, 2011, 02:49:02 pm

Today I did my usual check of the engine compartment for "varmints" and the latch failed to open when I pulled on the handle the first time.  With persistence I was able to get it open and thought the mechanism might just need a shot of lubricant.  But when I checked the latch (the part on the door) I found two of the four mounting screws were missing.  See the photo below.  Worse yet, three of the four were missing on the other corner latch.  I replaced all of them with larger SS screws and lock washers.  It looked like someone had replaced some of these screws in the past.... there were a variety of lengths and sizes present.  Too bad they didn't use SS and lock washers to fix the problem long term. 

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Re: Check your engine compartment latches

Reply #1 – May 19, 2011, 06:39:40 pm

My generator compartment door had a similar problem.  I filled the holes with a stiff epoxy and installed new screws after it hardened. 

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Re: Check your engine compartment latches

Reply #2 – May 19, 2011, 07:19:49 pm

I had the same problem with one of my bay door latches. On the 93 the bay door latches look just like George's engine cover photo.

On my coach the riveted brackets were loose. I drilled out the rivets and filled the old damaged holes with J B Weld reinforced with a little chopped fiberglass, then re-drilled the holes and riveted and epoxied the aluminum base back onto the door. I then through bolted the latches to the reattached bracket.

Now, readjusting the latch was something else. Three or four hours later, it works like new. The epoxy was the easy part.

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