GMCforum
For enthusiast of the Classic GMC Motorhome built from 1973 to 1978. A web-based mirror of the GMCnet mailing list.

Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » First long trip completed but I have questions...... (Fuel, vent, skirts and electrical)
First long trip completed but I have questions...... [message #284310] Sat, 08 August 2015 17:30 Go to next message
cgkruger is currently offline  cgkruger   United States
Messages: 4
Registered: April 2015
Location: Clarksville, TN
Karma: 0
Junior Member

Having just bought my 74 Canyonland in April I spent a little time before the trip finding some of the issue she had that were not found before I bought it. After totally re-plumbing it with pex, adding an electric fuel pump a couple of new battery trays, roof rails and a tow brake system it was time to head from TN to TX for a week with family. Despite the new tow brake the tow'd was not allow to come since 4.5 inches of lift on 31" tires did not want to align well with the stock under bumper tow setup. That is on the list to be resolved. Day one showed a bad fuel pump for the GenSet making it a hot ride to TX. Day 2 show a fuel leak which brings up the first question. There is a canister on the front right corner of my coach. The canister portion developed a crack forcing me to bypass it to keep on keeping on. The question is, what is the purpose of this canister and is it necessary with the fuel system upgraded to an electronic fuel pump.

I arrived at camp and got setup and plugged in and immediately cranked on the 2 roof AC's and cooled it down for my dogs that had been traveling with me. Those 2 AC going at it cooled it down to colder than my refrigerator. The boys were once again happy and I was able to get some much needed sleep. No problems occurred at camp except for one incident of coming home to the beaker blow at the plug in to camp. I am not sure what happened but I am guessing that both compressors tried to come on at the same time and pulled more that 30a of current. That has added a 50a extension chord to the list of things to get for future trips.

I leave camp and all is good. Dump the black tank and hit the road. 8 miles down the road and filling up I notice a fuel leak. Good thing I am still local to my sister so I call for a ride to the part store for some 3/8 and 5/16 hose to fix what turns out to be two different leaks. One of the was from a block located on the drivers side between the rear tires. This brings me to the same question as before. What is this blocks purpose and is it necessary? Also in doing this I find the T covers for the airbags have been just screwed into the body. Are the T's supposed to be hinged? As I start down the road I am noticing that my coach is starting to smell like a 26' por-a-potty. On comes the Zippy at each stop to try to take the smell out. I have new caps for the vents but I want to know what each of the 3 vents are venting. The one on the drivers side I assume is the galley vent. I have two on the passengers side. Is one for grey and one for black? If so, which is which? Down the road a couple of hours and I had a blowout of one of the rear tires. Since they all look about the same I no longer have faith in the tires so 6 tires it is. This also shows me when they jack it up that I have a leaking black tank valve. Time for a maciator install. This also busted up on of my T's and left me with some fiber work to do to the back of the tire well coach body. Try to fire up the GenSet to cool it down and no go. Bad starter on the GenSet. It's another hot trip home but after the new tire no other issues arose.

Now for the final in my list of questions from my adventure. I noticed I am also having to occasionally recharge my GenSet battery. I want to combine the rear battery with the front house batteries and have the all chargeable when the coach is running. I know there was a service bulletin put out on how to do this in the 70's but I'd like to know the best way to do it now with the modern technology that is available I know there are many things we have all done to update some of the systems. I have already updated my 12v bus to a blade style setup with expansion ability. Now I need to get all of my 12v to play nice together. I look forward to everyone's input on these questions.

Thanks,


Chris 74 Canyonland 26'
Re: First long trip completed but I have questions...... [message #284311 is a reply to message #284310] Sat, 08 August 2015 17:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
JohnL455 is currently offline  JohnL455   United States
Messages: 4447
Registered: October 2006
Location: Woodstock, IL
Karma: 12
Senior Member
Last first ---you can add a combiner to the rear Onan battery and tie it to the house battery. If Onan battery is bad they are like 30 bucks at Farm and Fleet. Sounds like a bad fuel vapor separator sending fuel to the charcoal canister. You can get a new separator from Applied GMC. Replace all your fuel lines with new barrier type for safety with E10

John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II
Re: First long trip completed but I have questions...... [message #284314 is a reply to message #284310] Sat, 08 August 2015 18:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
A Hamilto is currently offline  A Hamilto   United States
Messages: 4508
Registered: April 2011
Karma: 39
Senior Member
cgkruger wrote on Sat, 08 August 2015 17:30
Having just bought my 74 Canyonland in April I spent a little time before the trip finding some of the issue she had that were not found before I bought it. After totally re-plumbing it with pex, adding an electric fuel pump a couple of new battery trays, roof rails and a tow brake system it was time to head from TN to TX for a week with family. Despite the new tow brake the tow'd was not allow to come since 4.5 inches of lift on 31" tires did not want to align well with the stock under bumper tow setup. That is on the list to be resolved. Day one showed a bad fuel pump for the GenSet making it a hot ride to TX. Day 2 show a fuel leak which brings up the first question. There is a canister on the front right corner of my coach. The canister portion developed a crack forcing me to bypass it to keep on keeping on. The question is, what is the purpose of this canister and is it necessary with the fuel system upgraded to an electronic fuel pump.

I arrived at camp and got setup and plugged in and immediately cranked on the 2 roof AC's and cooled it down for my dogs that had been traveling with me. Those 2 AC going at it cooled it down to colder than my refrigerator. The boys were once again happy and I was able to get some much needed sleep. No problems occurred at camp except for one incident of coming home to the beaker blow at the plug in to camp. I am not sure what happened but I am guessing that both compressors tried to come on at the same time and pulled more that 30a of current. That has added a 50a extension chord to the list of things to get for future trips.

I leave camp and all is good. Dump the black tank and hit the road. 8 miles down the road and filling up I notice a fuel leak. Good thing I am still local to my sister so I call for a ride to the part store for some 3/8 and 5/16 hose to fix what turns out to be two different leaks. One of the was from a block located on the drivers side between the rear tires. This brings me to the same question as before. What is this blocks purpose and is it necessary? Also in doing this I find the T covers for the airbags have been just screwed into the body. Are the T's supposed to be hinged? As I start down the road I am noticing that my coach is starting to smell like a 26' por-a-potty. On comes the Zippy at each stop to try to take the smell out. I have new caps for the vents but I want to know what each of the 3 vents are venting. The one on the drivers side I assume is the galley vent. I have two on the passengers side. Is one for grey and one for black? If so, which is which? Down the road a couple of hours and I had a blowout of one of the rear tires. Since they all look about the same I no longer have faith in the tires so 6 tires it is. This also shows me when they jack it up that I have a leaking black tank valve. Time for a maciator install. This also busted up on of my T's and left me with some fiber work to do to the back of the tire well coach body. Try to fire up the GenSet to cool it down and no go. Bad starter on the GenSet. It's another hot trip home but after the new tire no other issues arose.

Now for the final in my list of questions from my adventure. I noticed I am also having to occasionally recharge my GenSet battery. I want to combine the rear battery with the front house batteries and have the all chargeable when the coach is running. I know there was a service bulletin put out on how to do this in the 70's but I'd like to know the best way to do it now with the modern technology that is available I know there are many things we have all done to update some of the systems. I have already updated my 12v bus to a blade style setup with expansion ability. Now I need to get all of my 12v to play nice together. I look forward to everyone's input on these questions.

Thanks,
T-skirts did not come from the factory hinged, you have to do that yourself. You can buy a kit, http://www.appliedgmc.com/prod.itml/icOid/1029 or roll your own http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/hinged-t-skirts/p38366-the-finished-product.html

As far as the sewer smell, maybe a plumbing diagram will help. Reference Figure 1, page 24-L2, of your maintenance manual. The manual is here: http://www.bdub.net/manuals/X7425/index.html

Simple fix, since you have a wet bath, maybe you need water in the floor drain/trap. A lot of people replace the recirculating toilet with a non-circulating one.

[Updated on: Sat, 08 August 2015 18:32]

Report message to a moderator

Re: First long trip completed but I have questions...... [message #284316 is a reply to message #284310] Sat, 08 August 2015 18:24 Go to previous messageGo to next message
lqqkatjon is currently offline  lqqkatjon   United States
Messages: 2324
Registered: October 2010
Location: St. Cloud, MN
Karma: 5
Senior Member
Just a quick note on sewer smell.

If i do not open up far rear windows, and opened up front slide windows, it seemed to create a vacuum that sucked smell into living area.

So i always run with rear a window cracked a bit. Just what i have found.


Jon Roche 75 palm beach EBL EFI, manny headers, Micro Level, rebuilt most of coach now. St. Cloud, MN http://lqqkatjon.blogspot.com/
Re: First long trip completed but I have questions...... [message #284318 is a reply to message #284310] Sat, 08 August 2015 18:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
jhbridges is currently offline  jhbridges   United States
Messages: 8412
Registered: May 2011
Location: Braselton ga
Karma: -74
Senior Member
The canister is a vapor collector, it is fed from the vapor seperator between the rear wheels on the driver's side. Small plastic block which should rattle if unbolted and shaken. It is a float valve which keeps fuel from going to the canister, but allows fumes. The other pipe on the canister goes to the manifold and lets manifold vacuum purge the vapor in the canister. Have a look at your maintenance manual, the plumbing diagram for the fuel system is in there. Those of us with coaches initially sold in CA have two canisters in series. Go figure.

--johnny


Foolish Carriage, 76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons. Braselton, Ga. I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell
Re: First long trip completed but I have questions...... [message #284320 is a reply to message #284310] Sat, 08 August 2015 18:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
A Hamilto is currently offline  A Hamilto   United States
Messages: 4508
Registered: April 2011
Karma: 39
Senior Member
I forgot to ask in my last post. Does yours have dash air conditioning? The driver and shotgun can survive with it if you put a floor-to-ceiling curtain behind the cockpit seats. If no other people, that'll get you there and back. For dogs, put something on the engine hatch to insulate against the heat and keep them up front with you.

[Updated on: Sat, 08 August 2015 18:56]

Report message to a moderator

Re: First long trip completed but I have questions...... [message #284329 is a reply to message #284310] Sat, 08 August 2015 19:35 Go to previous message
cgkruger is currently offline  cgkruger   United States
Messages: 4
Registered: April 2015
Location: Clarksville, TN
Karma: 0
Junior Member

Thanks for the answers guys. They helped with all of the questions. The only thing I still have questions on is the combining of the front and rear batteries. I now understand a combiner would be needed to get the charging from the chassis battery to charge the house batteries in the front. If I am trying to use a front and rear batteries for a combined house battery system, rather that a house and generator battery system, do I need a combiner between the battery banks or would it be just a parallel battery connection by running a positive cable to the front house set?

Chris 74 Canyonland 26'
Previous Topic: [GMCnet] First long trip completed but I have questions.....
Next Topic: [GMCnet] You can't do Just One Thing
Goto Forum:
  


Current Time: Sun Sep 29 13:23:07 CDT 2024

Total time taken to generate the page: 0.00854 seconds