Alternator replaced

I found my battery was dead this morning when I went to leave Wal-Mart. (Oh, and I stayed parked under a "no overnight RV parking sign" for 2 nights without even noticing it.. but luckily no one bothered me). I managed to get it to charge enough via slight solar charging to get it running. I went over to O'Reilly auto and had them charge the battery then test the charging system with their hand hand portable testing device.

Do NOT always trust those devices! They can be mistaken!

(Before that, I had tried a diagnostic method of my own from the Haynes manual involving bypassing the voltage regulator to see if the alternator would output high volts without the regulator present.. and it didn't. That's a sign of a bad alternator. But I wasn't 100% sure.)

The tester said that it was a problem with my voltage regulator's diodes or some such. Being a $20 part, I figured it might be the problem since the diagnostic said it was.. plus it's a lot easier to change out than the alternator.

However, before I paid for it, I asked the guy if I would be able to return it promptly if it doesn't fix the problem. He hesitated a bit... then said he would do that for me as a warranty exchange.  So I install it.. no dice. He tried again testing the system with the handheld tester (they test at the battery) and it said the same problem, bad voltage regulator and that the alternator was fine. He was scratching his head at that point.

So I removed the new voltage regulator, replaced the old and had him check for a new (rebuilt) alternator. He only had the 1yr warranty one in stock. It would be Monday before they could have anything else. Rather than limp for 2 days more on a bad alternator, I decided to nip it in the bud now.

So, I set out removing the old alternator. They have a BETTER test machine inside the store that cannot be moved, and requires the part to be out of the vehicle. After removal but prior to purchase of the replacement, I had him test the old one. It came up FAILED on that better machine.

So, I went ahead and did the return on the voltage regulator and bought the new alternator. I got it put on and all is well now.

If you are in Benson, AZ and need auto parts, I recommend O'Reilly Auto for sure. They were most helpful and patient. They also lent me a hammer to pound in the roll pin for mounting on the new one where it wasn't put in all the way like it was supposed to be.

A tip to someone who may be doing this: Remove the air cleaner housing and get the alternator out via the area on the right side. Your transmission dipstick tube might be in the way a little and the oil filler cap on the valve cover may be slightly in the way, but I didn't have to remove the cap. It's a tight fit but I got the old out and the new in that way.

Also, double check your belts!! I had them on wrong around the crankshaft at first. I double checked due to one being tight and one being floppy. One was outside of the grove, one was in the wrong groove and the other grove was empty. Thankfully it didn't hurt the belts as it was only run for a minute or less that way. It only took a couple minutes to loosen the alternator again, fix the belts back on the pulley right then tighten back the alternator.

The "new" alternator:

Cheap shower head replacement

I finally got sick of the near worthless original shower head my van had. It didn't really spray, so much as just dribbled out. You could turn it face up and it wouldn't spray up into the air.

I was about to go buy the $6 Peerless shower head from Wal-Mart like I installed in the house I had with low water pressure, but I stopped off at Goodwill next door first. I found the exact shower head in an open package, but it appeared to be never used... for $1. Heck yeah!

So I stopped off at Ace Hardware and bought a plastic threaded nipple for connecting the shower head to the existing hose. Now I have a shower that actually SPRAYS instead of dribbling.

Its not real pretty but it has a water saving cutoff switch (it brings it down to a trickle, it doesn't totally shut it of) and I like it MUCH better than the old shower head. It cost me the sum total of around $1.85.

I'll keep the old shower head as a spare. There's no sense in throwing it out. It hangs on the wall there in the bathroom out of the way. if the other one gets broken somehow, at least I'd have something to use.

Before and after photos..

Battery cables replaced

A week and a half ago, I found that I needed to replace my negative battery cable as it was giving 'dead battery' symptoms on my brand new battery. It turned out to be god awful shape down below where I couldn't see.

Today I ended up replacing the positive cable too since the repair terminal decided to break when I was putting the battery back in, after adjusting the steering gear box (which will hopefully fix the loose steering problem I have still had).

The positive cable was in a LOT better shape than the negative for sure. Negative had major cracks and holes in the insulation.

I'm not to happy with the new black insulation 'positive' cable that AutoZone had, but that's all I could find in this small town (Brownfield, TX). At least it came with labels so you could mark which cable it was. I had to do some minor wiring for the extra cables that feed from the hot terminal. The splice is soldered, taped over and has heat shrink tubing over it.

Now I should be good to go for a long time on battery cables.

Roof vent cover

We had heavy rain last which informed me of the new roof vent installed last year leaks badly around the seal where it closes. I also have bad leaking by one window at the rear bed, so I think i will have to fill in the gutter with caulk like I did on the other side that used to leak badly. It still leaks a little but not nearly like it did.

Anyhow back to the roof vent - Basically, the foam seal they use on the 9x9 roof vent absorbs the water that splashes against it when it's closed and partly compressed. The water then manages to work it's way inside through the seal, causing drips inside the roof vent. If they had used a rubber seal instead of foam, it might not have this problem.

I had reservations about having to install a 14x14 roof vent over a 9x9 vent but that was cheaper, easier and less risky than having to cut a 14x14 hole and install a 14x14 vent into it. I had to drill into the roof to install it, but I used butyl tape and Dicor self leveling caulk to seal over/around the holes so hopefully that'll do the trick. The edges are raised up due to the butyl tape around the screws holding it down, so excess water that gets inside somehow can drain out with ease.

In a way, I had been wanting a cover over it but I wasn't going to put one if I could help it. But I couldn't. So now I have one and I like it fine. I know this will stop the leaking since I had to throw an empty plastic tote over the roof vent at 4am when it was raining badly and water was dripping in. The box used as a cover stopped the leaking. So a roof vent cover will do the same.

New fresh water pump installed

My new Shurflow water pump came in the mail yesterday evening so I spend the day installing it. It took almost all day simply because of how much hassle it is to get at. I had to remove my stored stuff from the bed area, remove the 4" memory foam mattress and move the original mattress to get at the pump. Then I had to go across town to get one fitting (1/2" barb to 1/2" MIP) for the strainer. I got some new clamps while I was at it. I only grabbed 3 when I should have gotten 4. I reused an old one that still works fine. It's just a bit rusty.

Then I had to refill the tank a couple times to cleanse the bleach water. I let it gravity drain out mostly instead of running the pump to empty the tank. Plus I checked for leaks several times before I put the bed and stuff back in.

All seems well... except for one slight problem. I had gotten a 0.5gpm aerator for my galley sink thinking it would be a good thing to have. I was wrong. At least with the setup as it is now. It causes the pump to cycle on and off constantly every other second due to the excessive back pressure caused by the water saving aerator.

If I remove it and run the facuet at a high enough rate, it doesn't do it. If I were to install an accumulator tank, it would prevent this. Much like the way the well was set up at the house I had. It prevented the well pump from kicking on and off or running constantly.

However, I don't hardly have room for an accumulator tank in the compartment with the pump. I suppose I could make one fit somehow though over the PEX fresh water line. I may go back and install one later if I find I'm consuming my water too quickly without my 0.5gpm aerator. I may also try a 1gpm to 1.5gpm aerator for now instead since it spits out about 3-4gpm as it is now with no aerator at all. I know it came with one but I can't seem to find it now. The pumps they make now are slightly adjustable. I tried adjusting it for my 0.5gpm aerator but no soap.

But aside from that issue, everything is dandy now. No leaks, the pump cuts on and off like it should when the flow is high enough out of the taps to prevent cycling.

I did go back and screw the pump down to the piece of wood after I took the photo, so it's not going to get jarred around or vibrate excessively. 

Rear 12v outlets

I finally got around to putting in 12v outlets in the bed area like I have been wanting to for months.

I picked up a double outlet fixture with 12 gauge wires (15amp max it says) at Wal-Mart for about $7.50 with tax. They also sell one that has a single 12v outlet and a USB port or two, but I have plug in USB chargers already so I opted for the double outlet one. The USB one costs a few dollars more anyway.

I got a 12 gauge wire fuse holder from O'Reilly Auto, a package of 1/2" flexible sheath from Harbor Freight and used some good 10 gauge wire I had left over from the solar panel installation. It's on a shared circuit with a single 12V outlet up front that I currently use for a plug-in 3-outlet bar.

The reason I ran the cable far down the way I did is there is space inside the wall around the bathroom sink to drill a hole in the wall without damaging the fiberglass wall inside the bathrooom. Some 1/2" nylon holders with washers work nicely to hold the flexible wire tubing to the wall. I used the existing screws that hold the trim to the wall.

It's not the fanciest setup but I like it fine. It cost about $15 in parts plus the wire I already had.

Updated photo - Before & after

Here is before and after photos of the curb side of my van. First picture is before I bought it. Second one was taken a day or two ago.

In the new photo, it has an exterior windshield cover to help keep the 100+ heat out and it works pretty well. It's theft resistant since the edges at the ends go over the doors, so you have to open the doors, or cut it up, to get it off.

After this summer, I won't be staying in 100+ heat if I can help it though. But even so, it's good for added privacy when at RV parks and campgrounds.

Xplorer 288 cutway advertisment

This is an ad for an Xplorer 228 from about 1979-1983. The interior layout is identical to my 1978 one.

Yucky AC condensor

I never bothered to look up into my roof AC before today when I went to clean the foam filter (meant for window ACs) that I made for it a while ago since it didn't have one. Yuck!!! It was caked badly with dust. I cleaned it as best I could and it looks a lot better now. Here is what it looked like before being cleaned.

Take note of the top and right edges. You can't even see the fins it was so covered in dust. I think it got run for a few months (or years?) without any filter at all by the past owner(s).

Closet shelves

I quickly came to realize that I needed to use every inch of the closet. Hanging clothes in it was not practical. A clothes bar made for cars works fine for that purpose. So I put in shelves for other storage purposes.

First I did the right side with some plywood scrap I had... then I ended up chopping up a cheap old particle board bookshelf that fell apart when I was moving it to my mom's house since she said she wanted it. I told her I could put it back together but 2 weeks later she said she didn't want it, so I use part of it for my shelving. That's why one side has white shelves and the other has plain wood.

It has been a HUGE help.

Post about the divider inside here: http://cubey7800.blogspot.com/2013/06/closet-divider.html

Closet divider

I decided to add a divider into the tiny closet to make better use of the space. Now it's half for hanging clothes, half for food and other items. I can stack up the food items without them falling all over the place into the rest of the closet when driving.

The board I used for the divider was the old built in sofa drawer's bottom surface. That's why it matches on one side. I put the smooth side toward clothes so the rough side wouldn't rick catching on my clothes when putting them in and taking them out.

I am tempted to further modify the left side and build in a couple of shelves so I can sort and organize the food better. It wouldn't cost much or be much more work. Perhaps also remove the old clothes bar that wastes space.

Update here: http://cubey7800.blogspot.com/2013/07/closet-shelves.html

Tailpipe fix

Due to extending the sewer drains further out and having the tailpipe slightly at an angle, it ended up melting the new grey water cap and bayonet fitting I just installed. A muffler shop installed a new tip that extends it out a bit past the drain pipes. Cost? $30! Heck I figured the tip was going to cost that much!

Once that was done, I went back and replaced the drain outlet and cap with new ones. After about 150 miles of driving since the new drain was put on, no melting. :)

PEX installation

I decided to sink the money into replacing the PolyB plumbing with PEX since one short section was missing and had a crappy rubber hose put on instead. The only glitches in the installation were accidentally cutting a wire harness for the rear lights (thank goodness for color coded wire insulation!) and having to use one plastic fitting at the water heater.

After I did all that, I found the galley faucet to be damaged and leaking so I also replaced that. I need a new water pump since this one won't cycle off like it should when there's no demand for water but I can install that in 10 minutes at any time later.

I left out some winterizing drains it once had but I did put one in for the water heater which was most important. The fresh water tank has it's own separate drain from the fresh water lines.

30A hookup modification

The original design of the 30A electrical hookup left something to be desired. It had a hard wired 25ft(?) cable that had to be pulled out through the floor of the storage compartment. This made for a hard time trying to handle the cord when hooking and unhooking from power.

My solution is as follows. I cut the cable so that enough was left between the male 30A plug and the end so that it could be hard wired into the gang box. I used a ratcheting tubing cutter and it worked awesome on the very thick cable, giving a very clean cut. It's now just long enough to plug into the generator's outlet right next to it. I removed the original cable out of the gang box and fed in the "new" shorter cable and wired it up.

Using a female end extension cable, it can be plugged into the short mail pigtail I created without having to wrangle the entire length of a 25ft cable through the hole in the compartment floor as was the design.

An advantage to this is I can now get a non-hard wired surge protector and plug it in between the 30A extension cord and the short cable that is hard wired to the van, and it'll be protected from the elements, and out of sight from thieves.

I went on Amazon and bought an Arcon 18206 30-Amp Replacement Generator Power Receptacle and a Camco 55245 RV 30 AMP PowerGrip Replacement Plug so I can reuse the original cable.

It's comes out considerably cheaper than buying the special lock box for the surge protectors ($40) and a 25ft prefrab 30A extension cable ($55+) and makes everything easier, so I am happy with the mod.

Outside electrical outfit repair

The plastic (or is it particle board?!) gang boxes on the Xplorers tend to dry rot over the years, especially the outside one. A past owner attempted to "fix" it with a larger screw which only broke the box more. The box itself is pop riveted in and there's no way to get at it from behind, short of tearing into the wall from behind the sink!

I went down the road to a garage sale that is usually open every weekend and got a package of adapter plates meant for sheetrock and low voltage installation, such as phone lines. However, the way I have installed it, it is perfectly safe. You do need to drill through the adapter plate and into the body of the van so you can drive in sheet metal screws to hold the plate on. The plate has threaded holes that accepts standard outlet screws, so it repairs the outlet mounting situation that happens from the gang box threaded holes breaking.

I need to go back and replace the two wood screws I put in since I didn't have anymore sheet metal screws to fit. Also, I am going to replace the outlet itself and put in a new foam gasket, or two, if I can't find a single one that is extra thick like the original. I am also going to put a bit of silicone caulking around the edge of the adapter plate for extra protection against water seeping inside since it sits back from the body of the van a little due to the rivets holding the box in.


A: Damaged gang box
B: Holes drilled and sheet metal screws driven in
C: Threaded holes for standard electrical outlet screws



Needs caulking and new thick foam seal for outdoor outlets.



Reinstalled for demonstration purposes. A new outlet will be installed in the near future along with a new foam seal.



Old foam seal.



Caddy Fasteners Cat. No. MPLSBP adapter plates. I broke off the fold out mounting wings from the one I installed since they are not needed for this application.

New holding tank installed!

I got the new holding tank installed! The only thing I need to keep an eye on is the mounts and the outlet pipe. Installation went pretty smoothly. I had to make several trips to Lowe's to get ABS pipe fittings and a 2ft piece of 3" ABS pipe. Plus one trip each to two different RV shops for the Valterra parts (fittings, drain valve, caps). Tank, parts and all... set me back about $325-350. Not too bad really since I saved about $250+ in labor doing it myself.

For your viewing pleasure.. lots of photos from start to finish.


I drove one side of the van up onto Lynx Levelers to raise it up high enough to get the tank under the running boards. Worked like a charm.



Fresh new tank! (upside down)



2-1/4" hole cut in the tank and grommet installed. The way I figured out how to cut the hole was I installed the tank and marked the opening area through the floor on the tank with a sharpie, then took it back off and marked it with the grommet for a perfect circle, then marked a spot in the center of the perfect circle, drilled a small hole in the dot, then used the hole saw. It worked perfectly! Then I cleaned up the cut with sandpaper and installed the grommet. It took using a heat gun lightly on the grommet (a hair dryer would have also worked) to soften it and make it pliable enough to get the last 1/5 down in the tank since it's pretty rigid rubber when it's cold.



Closer photo of the grommet. As per the instructions, I sealed around it with 100% Silicone sealant. Regular silicone caulking might also work but this stuff is a little thicker.



Tank installed (with pipe grommet and inlet pipe on top going up through the floor).



Pipe coming from the bathroom sink and going to the new rubber 90 degree elbow (Fernco PQL150) then down to the pipe going into the tank grommet. Yes, you do see PVC between the elbow and tank grommet but at that time, I didn't think I needed to buy any 1-1/2" ABS, but I did. By then, I already had the tank installed. In order to change it, I would have to drop the tank to get at the clamp on the grommet sealing the pipe. It doesn't matter since it has the rubber grommet on the tank and the rubber elbow up top. You may also notice the coupler along the ABS pipe before the rubber elbow. I cut it back too far so rather than using another rubber coupler, I put a regular cemented ABS coupler and short piece of pipe. This setup allows the tank to be removed easily in the future and is superior to the original pipe that had a short reinforced coupler between the tank inlet pipe and an ABS 90 degree elbow.



New tank drain/outlet parts partly assembled and laid out. All the ABS was already assembled, just waiting to be permanently installed at this point.



Due to the design, the combined drain pipe from the galley sink and shower drain must tie in through a tree after the tank but before the drain valve, so that's what you see here. Even with the drain valve close, the tanks will empty into the tank.. from the bottom. They are higher than the water level in the tank (unless it gets so full it overflows..) so gravity and vacuum will do it's thing and fill the tank.



All assembled and ready to go! I drilled a couple of holes and used some "plumbers tape" (metal strapping to suspend pipes and duct work) to help secure the long drain pipe (10.5 inches) so it doesn't bounce around and break something. It's not visible, but I also and put in a piece of wood between the running board and pipe end fitting so it can't move as much. It's held in place by a couple of screws that were run through the running board and then into the piece of wood.



The two drain outlets: Grey water tank on the left and recirculating toilet on the right.. with tail pipe in the middle. I may add a tail pipe extension tip to put it out a bit further so it doesn't expel the exhaust on the toilet drain pipe as badly.



Further away view of the two drain outlets.

New holding tank ordered

I finally took the plunge and ordered the new replacement grey water holding tank I need.

The Tank Depot had the best deal on the Ronco R-28H tank with freight with full online ordering. The total was $249 and some change.

Plastic-Mart was going to be $269.58 and lacks online ordering for the tanks since it doesn't calculate freight costs.

The Tank Source was actually a bit cheaper than Tank Depot but completely lacks online ordering and tracking. Their listed price is $165.25. I had to email them for a freight quote. They responded the next day stating $68.68. The total would have been $233.93, but I would have had to a phone order which I dislike.

It's probably going to be two weeks before it arrives since the tanks are manufactured at the time of ordering. Processing is about a week, plus freight time of another week. I'm in no big hurry in terms of needing it right now though, so I'll just have to be patient.

Wall carpet installed

I finally got around to getting the tan automotive carpet I bought some time ago cut and installed on the wall. I used craft aerosol adhesive I got a few years ago at a yard sale or someplace and it works great.

I tried to make it one piece not screwed it up around the window so I had to end up making it two pieces with a seam that doesn't look perfect but it could be worse. Overall I think it looks pretty good. It certainly looks better with the seam than it did with too much cut off around the window. I had enough slack at the left edge I was able to fix it and make it look good.

Most important of all, it looks MUCH better than it did with the messed up old wallpaper it had when I got it.

I am probably going to get some new curtain tracks since the old ones are broken into several pieces being 34 year old plastic. They are still usable.. but I may as well just get new ones since they aren't too awfully expensive.

Heater exhaust wind deflector

The van has an Empire T-10 model 10,000 BTU (input) / 7,000 BTU (output) furnace. About 10 months ago, I was able to get it working by blowing compressed air through it to clear out dirt or whatever it had in it that was causing the pilot not to stay lit when released (per lighting protocol). Too bad I already bought an extra, rare pilot thermocoupler for it. But at least I have a spare now since they are really scarce.

It must not have been windy at all that day, it worked beautifully. It turned on and off as it should automatically depending how the thermostat was set. I tested it for about 10 minutes then shut it off.

Today, it was around 32 out with light but semi-constant wind.. and it was blowing into the furnace and blowing out the flames completely. Even when the heater is actually on and running, not just the pilot.. so wasn't a pilot light issue. I watched through the little window as it was burning fine.. then being beaten with wind and then being blown out as the wind picked up. When I opened the window, I could feel a strong breeze blowing straight through the burner.

I saw a webpage talking about a wind deflector they bought for their water heater: WH Wind Guard

I looked around and found an old desktop PC's side cover from a PC I scrapped about a year ago.I bent it down the middle, drilled a hole, ran down to the hardware store and got about $5 worth of items and came up with what you see attached.

It's not something that can be left when driving but that's ok. The van's factory dash heater works for when I'm driving. With gloved hands it can be removed even when hot and tossed into my utility trailer, so the big bulky metal plate isn't something I have to worry about taking up valuable space. The plate has a hook on it and so does the grill on the van. So I only have to keep from losing the tensioner in the center. If I do, they're about $3 to replace. I may keep a spare in the glove box just in case, or even get a closed hook for the plate instead of an open one like it has now so the tensioner will be tethered to the plate.

The pilot/gas supply has an electrical-type thermocouple (generates power from heat or something, doesn't use 12V) and so it has 2 wires running from the pilot's thermocoupler to another component (gas supply switch) and I think it's getting a bad connection. I bumped one of the wires and it cut off instantly. I had to pull the wire connections off and put them back before the pilot would stay lit again. Then I had it working, I exited the van to get my camera for the following photos, took them,gotent back in the van and the flame was totally off, pilot too.

Thankfully it *does* stop the gas from blowing if the flames go out totally despite being in the "on" position. By the 70's they already had that kind of safety feature. I had to wiggle the wires again before I could get the pilot to stay lit. Then it stayed lit and the heater came on fine.

I think shutting the van door made the bad wire connection vibrate enough to disconnect before. It just uses 2 short wires with female blade connects on each end, so it's very easy to make new ones if the old ones are a bit worn out on the blame connectors. Sometimes you can squish them with pliers to fix them as well, then put them back on the blades.

 Anyhow.. now it's lit again and running and seems to be staying lit now despite repeated door closings.

I am testing how well it heats the van at around 32-33 degrees outside.

I set the thermostat to 5 and it heated the van up about 15 degrees in an hour. That's much faster than the electric heater did at 900w running constantly. The gas heater turned on and off at least once or twice in that time when it felt it was warm enough based on the thermostat setting.

Since then, I have bumped it up to 7 and I'll check back an hour later to see how warm it is. A heater set to 1500w would put out at best 5000 BTU or so.. which would be ok for the most part. The propane heater will be a supplemental heater when I have electric to plug in to.. or use exclusively when I'm stopping someplace without hookups.