Tech Talk

Q: My motorhome has a 1997 Chevy 7400 Vortec V-8 engine with a Banks lifetime air filter. Can you explain how to connect the air-conditioner fan to a switch so I can turn it on and off when I want to (only the fan, that is)? The reason I’d like to do this is when I go up hills in the summer months with the dash air on, the engine starts to heat up, the engine loses horsepower, and the fan clutch makes a lot of noise.

Q: I am investigating the purchase of a new Silverado with the 5.3-liter V-8 engine and a four-speed automatic transmission with a rear-locking differential. Noting your 2005 towables guide, you only reference four-wheel-drive Silverados as being towable.

Q: I own a 1999 Monaco La Palma with the Ford Triton V-10 engine. For the last year or so the starter fails to engage right away when the ignition key is turned.

Q: I have read articles on supplemental brakes until I am blue. I find I just get confused.

I have a 1996 Georgie Boy on a Chevrolet P-30 chassis, and it’s like rolling along on rocks. Everything in the coach sounds like it’s going to vibrate apart.

Incorrect information was reported for NHTSA recall 05V362000 issued by Monaco Coach Corporation, which appeared in the October 2005 issue (page 22). It was stated that the recall affected 22 2004 Monaco coaches.

Q: I have a 1992 30-foot Newport motorhome from Cobra. Unfortunately, the coach is an orphan as Cobra went out of business around the mid-1990s, and one side of my windshield has a crack in it.

Q: I have a late 1990s type A chassis with a Chevy 454-cid engine. It has 46,000 miles on it and I’d like to make it ride better.

Q: Now that we are seeing light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in taillights and interior lights on service panels, when do you anticipate that LEDs will begin to overtake incandescent 12-volt lightbulbs on RVs? It seems that would be the natural progression, and we all would benefit from the lower power consumption.
Peter Jordan
Via e-mail
A: I don’t really foresee LEDs replacing either the incandescent or fluorescent lights found inside motorhomes in the near future, other than those that are already used as accent lighting on the ceilings and along floors. At present LEDs are very expensive, and a main concern for coach manufacturers is the bottom line.

Q: I recently had to have our motorhome, built on a Chevy P-32 chassis, towed. The ignition switch had failed and resulted in no power in any of the circuits, including the parking brake system, which requires 1,200 psi fluid pressure to release the spring-applied brake.

Q: In the “Engine Shuts Off” inquiry that appeared in the October 2004 issue of FMC magazine (page 30), Carl Kummer, F272373, indicated he was having fuel valve shutoff problems on an 8.3-liter, 300-horsepower Cummins engine. I had the same problem on my coach and found the following.
The fuel shutoff valve has two coils: one that activates with the starter circuit to pull the valve in, and a second “holding coil” to keep the fuel shutoff valve energized while the ignition is activated.

Q: I am trying to find a good product to deal with the problem of cleaning the black streaks that come down the exterior of the RV. Do you have a recommendation?
Adam Radzik, F335007
South Orange, New Jersey
A: There are numerous cleaning products available that will remove black streaks from the sides of motorhomes.