1998 Adventure Diesel 34 Plumbing Questions

[Pelledan]

Hello everyone, I'm trying to assist a friend who has purchased a '98 Adventure Diesel. I think it is a 34 WQ. The manuals came with the unit but are difficult to understand. It appears that the camp water inlet is in the dump station bay? Or is that port for black tank rinse? Also, where did Winnebago hide the 12v onboard water pump? We car hear it, but can't locate it. Lastly, we've located the area that has the 1/4 turn valves for winterizing, but can't locate the port that has the hose going into the gallon of RV antifreeze to pump through the system. Any help would be appreciated and accompanying pictures would also be an immense help.

Thanks in advance, Dan

[creativepart]

Section 7 of the 1998 Adventurer Operator's Manual is the plumbing section.

I looked in the Parts catalog and it doesn't show the location of the pump, but the photo for the Winterization valves looks like the pump is located adjacent to those valves, but it's not a complete photo.

It also shows there is a Gavity Fill to fill the Fresh Tank, and many models also have a combined City Water/Tank Fill in the Wet Bay as well. This allows you to connect a hose at the campground for city water directly through the hose OR by turning a diverter lever change it to fill the fresh tank from the same connection.

Here's the photo from the Winterization section and it looks like the water pump is in the far right hand side of the photo - though it's not completely in the photo. Seems like you'd see it if you've found the various valves.

Of course, this RV is 25 years old and been through previous owners so all bets are off if one of them has relocated it for some unknown reason.

[Morich]

Manual page 7-8 also gives location of the suction valve?
Not sure how we could make it much more clear or easy to read.

Click to get a better view of this snip from the manual.

[be happy]

Although not the same unit but may give you a start. On mine the hose connection in the sewer bay is for the black tank flush. I do not believe winnebago would put fresh water near black/gray water.

My fresh water hose connection is in the wet bay next to the outside shower, same bay as power but with dividing wall.

Water pump mine is on passengers side second bay. Once found you should find the hose connection for winterizing, as its connected to the pump in one way or another.

Good Luck
oh my rig 07 Meridian

[Pelledan]

I have the year earlier than yours in a Journey and our layouts are the same. However, that 1998 is a bit of a challenge. The manual instructions are at best vague. The 1/4 turn isolation valves are not in the place the manual states, and are in fact behind a panel next to the refrigerator, the city water inlet is yet to be found and is DEFINITELY not where the manual says it is, and even the fuel filler position is not where the manual states it is, although we readily found it.
We'll keep looking .....
Thanks, Dan

[Morich]

There seems to be lots of confusion on some of the simple things??
How to tell if a port is for filling the fresh water tank or rinsing the black, seems easy to figure if we hook up a hose!
When a hose is connected and turned on, where does the water go? It is likely it will go to the fresh water or rinse the black tank!
If the drains are open, which drain does it run out of, fresh or black tank?
But does this RV have a fresh water input fitting? Looking at the line drawings for the plumbing, it seems to show a gravity fill port, so is there a different one for filling the tank?
The drawings also show the pump to be inside and just kind of hung on a compartment wall under the gravity fill pipe? They are really lucky folks if the pump doesn't make enough noise to tell where it sets!

But the info we have is based on this being the correct model, so if it is not the 98 34WQ, all the info may not be correct. We have to assume you are correct when telling us what they have.

The build drawings for the plumbing on the 34 WQ model show this location for the pump.



Click to get a better view of what is shown but if it is not correct, check the label near the driver to be sure what RV they have as the year and model will change things!

[Pelledan]

Right now, I'm 200 miles from where this coach is, but here's what I know for sure. 1) It is an Adventurer (at least the exterior decals say that) 2) It has a Cummins 5.9 ISB diesel. If I'm not mistaken, in 1998 there was only one model of an Adventurer that was available diesel powered and that was the 34WQ. The original refrigerator was removed and a residential one was installed and appropriate wiring and equipment was installed to run that fridge either on campground AC or through a battery inverter when on the road or boon docking. Aside from the installation of a hard wired surge protector, those are the only two modifications I can see. I've emailed the owner to snap a picture of the identification plate and send it to me. That will clear up the basics of identification. Let me get that far before I ask for additional advice regarding winterizing and specific parts locations.
Thanks for helping me help a friend, Dan

[Morich]

I can fully see where you might be, now!

Sounds right but a really hard thing to do. We find lots of communications problems when we try to deal with one poster asking us direct questions. If that becomes you asking them and then asking us, the amount of confusion can spiral totally out of control or get so bogged down that it may take weeks to get down to what the real issue is.

We mostly find looking at the RV is a great deal easier than us reading about it, so you see how difficult it gets to just sort out which drawings to look at as they are all filed in year, make , model and floorplan with times when even small points like early or late year builds can change the RV equipment!

Reason I like to post the drawings as I see them so the person with the question can compare what the paper says with what his eyes tell him!

Kind of like telling a blind person how to milk a cow? First we need to make sure we have the cow turned the right side up!

But we all do the best we can and carry on! Good luck on passing along the help. The world needs more helpers if we can find them!

[Pelledan]

Hello again,
Here is a pic of the Identification wall plate in my friends RV. His RV is definitely a 1998 Adventure 34WQ Diesel. I'll be at his home in a few days and will look for a more logical location for the camp ground water inlet. During our compartment searches I did locate the outdoor shower location and that will be the first place I'll look for that inlet as that is where my freshwater inlet is located on my '06 Journey. I will also take a look at those isolation valves we found. One is probably the water heater bypass and the other is probably the winterizing valve for the 12v water pump.

Thanks, Dan

[Morich]

This looks like an older setup that many Rv had at that time. A gravity fill was used to fill the tank and then another connection to use pressure water.

I think I see how it goes at the tank, so lets clear that part first?
Click this snip to see better.


Spot the port on the outside first and then there should be a hose go in and to the top of the tank with the pump somewhere close under that hose.
When the pump runs, it draws water out of the lower part of the tank, past the valve where suction hose is located. Put the handle in the direction you want the water or antifreeze to come from.
It goes through the pump and on into the lines for all the RV. Most likely there is a connection at the wet bay where the pump water would meet the city water but not shown on this drawing. There is a check valve in the pump to keep the city water from going backwards through the pump and filling the tank. They can get leaky and overflow the tank at times. Just something to know if it happens?

The suction tube should be connected right at/near the pump and that is the valve to change to draw from a jug or the tank!

There should also be a drain as marked in orange to drain tank.

[Pelledan]

It took some doing, but the mysteries have been solved!. That water inlet port at the dump station that we thought might be the black tank rinse is indeed the camp ground water inlet. We pressurized that port with 25 psi regulated pressure and slowly opened the gray tank dump valve. No air came out. Did the same with the black tank, no air came out. Then we opened the cold water valve in the vanity and expelled water was followed by air releasing.

The isolation valve in the compartment next to the refrigerator is the water heater bypass. I thought there was another valve there, but there wasn't. In the first storage compartment ahead of the rear axle on the passenger side of the vehicle is a weather sealed steel plate that covers the length of the compartment and the upper third of it's storage space. It is in essence a compartment within a compartment. We removed a dozen screws to remove the plate and Wha-La ... there resides the water pump that we could hear but not see. It is bolted via a bracket secured the the right sidewall of that "sub" compartment. The rest of that compartment is consumed with electrical equipment for supplying 120v to the fridge while on the road.

Looking at the pump we saw prolific use of conventional white RV water hosing. The hose coming up from the onboard water tank goes directly to that pumps inlet port. So there is no 2-way valving preceding that port to choose the source for that pump. In other words there is no isolation valve that could choose between onboard water and an RV antifreeze bottle going into that pump.

We disconnected the onboard water tank hose from the pump and attached a short piece of hose into a gallon of RV antifreeze and winterized the system. Parts have been ordered to install a 2-way valve that we will install next spring allowing a much easier winterizing next time.

Dan

[Morich]

This is one of those cases where we have to admit that we have an RV that has been modified over the years, so much of the info we find is not going to be correct.

I might guess that a previous owner did not use antifreeze and seeing no need of the suction tube, simply removed it when they repaired or replaced the pump and lines.

[Pelledan]

Agree, and thanks for your help!

Dan