Motorhome 01/15/2018

My family mechanic friend installed the new cab battery and did some electrical diagnostics on the motorhome today.  Everything checked out.  The strategy now is to cut a hole under the bed in the floor to reach the top of the gas tank to replace the fuel pump.  It's on order.

As expected, it was difficult to get an in-tank fuel pump for a 1988 Ford Econoline cut-a-way.  The fuel sending unit that sends a reading to the fuel gauge in the cab might need to be replaced.  We ended up just getting the fuel pump because from what I was told at the auto parts store, it Ford might not make them anymore.  And that coincides with all the searches that I've done for it?  But the employee at the auto parts store said that the sender might just be temporarily ceased?  He said that I could be like buildup on a toilet flush handle and that my family mechanic friend might be able to manually move it once the unit is out?

When the motorhome was built, Itasca installed a theft alarm.  And it's speaker is over where a second battery could be mounted.  It doesn't work anymore and my mechanic friend recommend that this be removed and a second cab battery be installed to improve startup.  I concur as I've always believed that the starter could use some improvement.

Over the last year and a half, the chassis has taken on more water damage.  One of the first things that I need to do when it warms up is seal the roof and windows, then gut the interior one compartment at a time.  But I'm going to use a task list on my smartphone to make a schedule of improvements.  He recommends that I go with a natural wood ceiling and I want to go with heavy duty rubber truck cab matting on the floor.

For right now, we might go with the old 23 gallons in the gas that's in the tank.  He says that it will depend on a test that he'll do to it.  If the test comes back positive for too much water condensation, then we'll evacuate and replace it with something fresh.  The strategy might be to to use a fuel cleaner and octane booster?  And then we'll fill up the rest of the tank with high octane gasoline.

If he can't get the sender working, I'll just keep taking records every time I fill up the tank, writing down the odometer reading and what the pump reports in gallons, then get an average gas mileage from that.  Then set two apps on my tablet, one to use the GPS to track my average speed and the other to use as a fuel tank estimator.  It's what I've already been doing.

Log 2013071501

2008 Chevy HHR LS had both rear struts replaced at 124,144 miles on the odometer.  Brake shoes, pads, discs and drums were replaced sometime around 124,115 miles.  I still have yet to change the driver's side front ball bearing, engine oil and bolts to the plastic air filter manifold that were lost after a professional oil change.  It still remains uncertain as to whether the new struts lifted the back end enough to keep the hitch from scraping the ground when the car and trailer go over a raised curb, or back down from one.

This past week, gear was obtained from storage, which includes:

4L Water Bladder and drink tube
8GB Flash Drive
Two empty plastic containers
A small bottle of Febreze
A small bottle of water with approximately 8% Clorox Bleach
Sleeping bag compactor, size M
Blue jacketed speaker wire
Powered 7 port USB hub
Bluetooth wireless keyboard and trackball combination unit
75ft of outdoor extension cord

This week, the roof rack bag, music, cookware and laptop bags were all weatherproofed.  The 40lb weight vest was also used this past week.  So far, the repairs had little positive effect on the unit's performance and running with it is out of the question. 

Months ago, I requested an offline PDF copy of the Haynes repair manual for my HHR.  And from the reply email I received, I was under the impression that they have no desire to either make such a product, or even consider it.  They have a web version, but its no good to me if I'm somewhere remote.  I bring this up because the manual was stored in the laptop bag on the roof rack prior to the weatherproofing.  This past week, I was able to use a blow dryer to dry out its pages and save it.  The manual belongs in a pouch behind the driver's seat and I can place it there from now on.  But what if I use it in the car, but my wet, sopping hands have to turn the pages when it's raining outside?  I once considered taking a razor to its binding, then placing it's pages through an Automatic Document Feeder and making my PDF copy of it.  But, I'm not sure that the wheels in scanner's ADF will handle it's newsprint pages without tearing it up?  And now that it's damaged, I'd have to purchase a new manual to get it done.