Tank Odor

[jello_jeep]

Well I picked up the bus at Marathon on Friday. Smells great! You can smell the varnish & paint from the new bay enclosure, but I can sure live with that!

108 hours at Marathon all totaled. We settled for less than half of that. I came up more than I would have as I had them do other things along the way and was trying to be a good chap.

They ended pulling the bottom sheet out of the enclosure as well, and found that underneath it there was more crud & mold or whatever as previously discussed. I am REALLY happy to be done with this never ending chapter of things fixed that were on my list from purchase time.

When I left, didn't seem like the dash air was making cold, went to fire off the generator as I was rolling down the road, and it wouldn't fire either. Hit the auto gen switch and got no indicator light from it when depressed, so figured they must have flipped the service switch down in the gen bay. On my next stop I checked it and that was the problemo.

While out, stopped by a car audio place and got the head chingon out to take a look and discuss tearing out all the old in dash stuff and updating, and running a sat & nav antenna up to the roof etc.

Today I ran down to the storage place and tried to figure out the dash air. I turned it on, and noted that the clutch didn't appear to be engaging, just the pulley spinning away.

After consulting people smarter than I, I checked for power at the compressor and found none. Ran down the breaker and have power on both sides. Cycled it just to check and it works fine. Replaced the relay still no juice. Went up front & pulled the dash out and got the loom off the switch and shorted the two pins together just in case the switch was no bueno.. Still no juice. Checked for power on the line in/out of the switch, sure enough there is 24VDC present.

After consulting people smarter than I, (Truk, Jdub) I reckon that Marathon must have disrupted the wire from the switch on the dash, to the relay as that is all that is left that would make sense? Other people that are smarter than I are welcome to chime in!

I guess it is back to Beaumont next week. Us fat guys like dash air

[Larry W]

My dash air quit. I found the clutch would no engage. Of course i checked all the circuits. After several hours I found the problem was no freon. The low pressure switch has to have at least 5 PSI to close. Added freon and now it cools.

[garyde]

Hi Warren. Did you test the voltage at the compressor for the relay switch leg?

[jello_jeep]

Larry, would the lack of freon cause the voltage at the compressor relay to be zero?, or would the compressor just not come on if it was low??

Gary D,, Hi.. Voltage at compressor = 0

[flyu2there]

Jeep,

Think Larry is correct.....it sounds like you need some 134A, go look in the site glass if nothing else. Wonder if the lines run anywhere thru where your construction project may have been.

[rickdesilva]

Like Larry said you may need freon. A quick check is have someone throw a set of guages on the system but you need to know what gas you have in your system (R12 or 134a) you can tell by the size of the fittings if its not a retrofitted system. Or if possile I believe that you can jump the low pressure switch. If you don't need freon than you have an electrical problem. Its amazing what a little shot of freon will do. I've found that these systems have so much hose to travel from compressor to the dash that losing some of the charge over time is normal.

[Larry W]

Warren
The low pressure switch completes the circuit to ground so if there is no freon the clutch will not engage. I found that using a test light that was grounded and testing the A/C relay lug on the left side as you are looking at the relay the clutch engaged. The system must have at least five pounds of pressure even with the engine not running to complete the clutch circuit.

[jello_jeep]

I am testing voltage by removing the two conductor lead that couples about 10" away from the compressor.

I would assume that if all is working right, when the ignition key is on, and the AC switch is on, there should be voltage there, no?

The low pressure switch would be further downline in the compressor?

[Larry W]

Warren
It seems you are on the right path. The low pressure switch does complete the ground from the A/C relay. In the rear electric box there is a 15 second relay. I bypassed the relay to check the circuits. You can down load a wiring diagram from Prevost Car site. It is page #12. It seems the way all this works the power to the clutch comes from the CB in the rear electric box. (Don't remember the number). When the relay closes it completes the circuit to the clutch. The dash switch controls the relay. My problem was driving me nuts until I purchased a do-it-your-self freon kit that had a single pressure gauge. I found no pressure. In looking at the wiring diagram I decided to use my test light with the clip grounded and putting the probe into the left side plug of the A/C relay. I heard the clutch engage. With the clutch engaged I started the engine and added 5 cans of freon. Once there was pressure in the system I removed the test light and all worked as new. If this is not clear call me. My number is on Dale's map.

[mikedee]

Warren,
Glad to hear that you may have solved the problem.

We have been having a similar foul smell in our coach. It started after we dined at Casa del Holm on the Cuban beans that you spent all day cooking.

We are at Kerrville TX. tonight parked next to Kevin E. and his lovely family. What a nice place.