"07" Itasca Ellipse (2 months in)

deucer · 09-14-2018, 08:28 AM

Purchased July of this year and have made one trip. Getting use to the handling and negotiating turns wasn't too tough, just stay focused. Unfortunately, I encountering a few issues that have me now wandering about my decision to purchase.

1) Discovered three hoses dripping hyd. fluid at the Hyd. manifold.

2) Basement A/C system periodically pops the circuit breaker under the bed. A/C system is not cooling effectively as it did during first road trip. Also, when the A/C breaker pops it stops the refrigerator from cooling. Logic indicates that the frig. is linked to the A/C for power.

3) Onboard batteries began losing charge even with shore power hooked up. Discovered that this correlates to the A/C breaker being popped. Reset the breaker and everything returns to norm, except the cooling effect.

I've been retired 8 years now, but I'm getting this weird feeling that I might have to put my gloves back on, but just not sure which one I need to tackle first. Hydraulic leaks I can see will be a lot of fun as those lines look like a bucket of spaghetti and if I'm going to change three then I going to replace all of them as the remaining are not far behind.

As for the A/C breaker and cooling issue: It is plausible that there is circuit issue and potential air flow interruption. Looking at the A/C location underneath the coach reminds me of an all day dentist appointment. Any ideas or tips before I embark are welcomed.
Thanks in advance,
Steve

ziaptrn · 09-14-2018, 07:41 PM

As another RV friend says "Welcome to the asylum" :-)
I can speak to #1 - hydraulic hoses.
I replaced all of them on the front 2 slides on our 04 Vectra. The issue was at the termination end of the hose where the hoses bent and the hoses bulged/bubbled/leaked hydraulic fluid. Ours weren't leaking at the manifold, but at the connection to the hydraulic rams that operate the slides. All 4 leaked at one end or the other but not both.
The jacks (same system) didn't have any leaks (yet) along the hoses.

The leakage at the terminations was an identified problem in some earlier rigs which supposedly was "fixed" but I beg to differ as far as being 'fixed' with improved hoses.

Consensus is that you cannot successfully cut off the old ends and re-swage new connectors, because the connectors will simply leak again. If you do a search, you'll find where many have tried, but the repair just doesn't hold.

I ordered replacement hoses direct from HWH, but have seen where some folks can have them made. Because we live in such a rural area, this just wasn't an option for us.

Replacing was not as bad as you might think. It's pretty dirty, but for all but one (which disappeared inside the frame and was zip-tied down in an inacessible space), I was able to tape the end of the new hose to the end of the old hose being removed and pull gently (removing the old hose) to replace with the new. For the one that I couldn't get to, I left it in place and pulled the new hose along a similar but accessible route.

I've had no problems since, and HWH was most helpful.

Hope this helps...and again, "Welcome"

deucer · 09-15-2018, 06:46 AM

Thank you John for the response. Yeah there is nothing like getting dirty! Did you remove the hoses first to get actual length for ordering hoses, or does HWH have a method of calculating via the year, make and model of the RV?

ziaptrn · 09-15-2018, 06:54 PM

HWH knew the part number and the length.
Just had to give them the VIN and they pulled up everything.
Winnebago also has the lengths if I recall correctly, but I do remember HWH knew exactly which hoses were installed initially.
For some hoses they don't make the exact same length any more, but using a replacement that was a touch longer wasn't a problem. The hoses do have to be the same length going to a given ram. So - if you replace one end with a different (new) length, then the opposing hose has to be replaced with the same length.
The hoses were not inexpensive, but did work exactly as described. I have the hose schematics from HWH for our 2004; I can send those if you are interested - though may not be exactly the same for a different year (2007)

deucer · 09-16-2018, 06:18 AM

John, thank you very much for your information, it is valuable. Let me go to HWH and see if I can retrieve schematics for an 07.

Steve

Cataska · 09-18-2018, 09:12 AM

Bought ours 2 years ago 2005 Itasca meridian been working on little things ever since seem like every time we use it need to fix something else, welcome to rving glad I do my own repairs and maintance

deucer · 09-18-2018, 10:33 AM

Thanks Cataska, plan on doing my own repairs also.

Steve

jerichorick · 09-22-2018, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deucer

Purchased July of this year and have made one trip. Getting use to the handling and negotiating turns wasn't too tough, just stay focused. Unfortunately, I encountering a few issues that have me now wandering about my decision to purchase.

1) Discovered three hoses dripping hyd. fluid at the Hyd. manifold.

2) Basement A/C system periodically pops the circuit breaker under the bed. A/C system is not cooling effectively as it did during first road trip. Also, when the A/C breaker pops it stops the refrigerator from cooling. Logic indicates that the frig. is linked to the A/C for power.

3) Onboard batteries began losing charge even with shore power hooked up. Discovered that this correlates to the A/C breaker being popped. Reset the breaker and everything returns to norm, except the cooling effect.

I've been retired 8 years now, but I'm getting this weird feeling that I might have to put my gloves back on, but just not sure which one I need to tackle first. Hydraulic leaks I can see will be a lot of fun as those lines look like a bucket of spaghetti and if I'm going to change three then I going to replace all of them as the remaining are not far behind.

As for the A/C breaker and cooling issue: It is plausible that there is circuit issue and potential air flow interruption. Looking at the A/C location underneath the coach reminds me of an all day dentist appointment. Any ideas or tips before I embark are welcomed.
Thanks in advance,
Steve

Contact your local, dependable reputation, residential HVAC guy. He will fix the problems with the basement A/C.
Rick

DryCreek · 09-23-2018, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziaptrn;3824444
I ordered replacement hoses direct from HWH, but have seen where some folks can have them made. [COLOR="Red"

Because we live in such a rural area, this just wasn't an option for us.[/COLOR]

That sounds odd. We live in a very rural area too. The tractor dealers all have the capability to make new hoses, as do almost all of the auto parts and small auto repair shops around me. You'd be surprised at how many hoses blow on the tractor front end loaders when it is hay gather time. Ask me how I know.....

beamisl · 09-24-2018, 10:32 AM

We bought our 4 yrs ago and love it!

We've had issues too but the comfort of camping in our rig has been worth it.

She's in the shop as we talk. Leaking coolant reservoir hose probably. Replaced the reservoir ourselves but the hose was beyond us.

Always something to fix but most of our have been small. I am repainting the decals and figure that is going to take me a while. Like the looks of the ones that are done. Doing a clear coat to protect them from the sun and climate.