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Old 03-04-2021, 08:47 PM   #1
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Hello From Frank and Alley

Thanks for the add. We have a 2010 Winne Journey 40L and we hope to learn a lot from you fine folks about repairs, and maintenance. Our first order of business is replacing the 4 coach batteries. The 2 Chassis batteries seem to be doing fine. Does anyone have a suggestion regarding battery selection/which ones to buy? I have read many suggestions from trying to stay with a good RC25 Group 31 set up to switching the entire system over to the 6V Golf Cart set up.
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Old 03-04-2021, 10:17 PM   #2
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Welcome. And I hope you find a number of time and money saving tips on this website. (And www.irv2.com)

Just curious: Do you have these items in your 2010?

* Onan 7500 or 8000 or 10000?
* Coleman Mach Basement AC or roof top ACs
* Dimensions 2000W inverter or ???
* Cummins ISB or ISC?
* Allison 3000MH
* Atwood 10gal water heater
* Gas Frig or residential?

You asked about changing to 4-6V-GC2-Golf Cart batteries and that's what I did. However, you also need to store your coach with a battery maintainer if you want to maximize your battery life... or just remove the battery positive terminals.

I elected to use Costco's Insterstate 6V batteries, because they ~$100 each. And you will need to order new battery cables all of the same length. Here's a link so some battery 2/0 cables on Amazon, and I would recommend you order 3-red and 1-black cable... all 5/16" lugs.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F4GHKP2...ing=UTF8&psc=1

Note: Looks like the price of cooper is going up!

Note: Since I like to hook all my positives on one post I had to add a 1.75" of cooper bar stock as shown in one of the pictures.

TIP: Put your negative terminals in back and your positive terminal facing forward. This will help prevent you from touching positive battery cables to the frame in the back... and creating lots of sparks (welds)!

* The Duracell 6V on the left I picked up at Sams and they only lasted 2 seasons. However, I am always driving and did 2 things that probably shorted the life of these batteries: 1) I never got a chance to use the "equalize" charger function since I was always driving and my alternator and/or solar panels were constantly pushing electrons into these house batteriese; and 2) I left my RV stored in Texas without a battery maintainer. So these Duracell's were exposed to a few weeks of freezing weather. ...But now I use a Victron 17A charger to maintain my newer Interstate batteries this last winter so I'm hopping for longer battery life this time around. ...And I do have a residential refrigerator that is always requiring a battery recharge cycle daily.

* One last point, that "white" wire in the photo is my Inverter's temperature probe that goes to the NEGATIVE TERMINAL and not the positive terminal. So you might want to keep track of your terminals and mark them with red tape and black tape for + and - accordingly so you don't mix them up.
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Old 03-05-2021, 09:01 PM   #3
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*Onan 8000
*Colman Basement AC
*Dimensions 3000 (I was told)
*Cummins 6.7 but Im not sure if its the dreaded #53b or not, I will have to check
*Allison Trans
*Atwood 10gal Water Heater
*Gas/Electric Fridge


Interesting set up. You got me thinking hard about converting to the 6V set up. I especially like your tip regarding the placement of the negative terminals. You have obviously given this entire config some thought. Thank you this was very helpful.
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Old 03-05-2021, 09:24 PM   #4
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I don't know anything about a 6.7 dreaded #53b. What's the issue with that series motor?

All your other accessories are built to last and have not got any better over the last 20 years! ...Just read up on each one and put the time in to service them and you will enjoy many years of reliable use.

OTHER TIPS

* You might want to check your roof seams for cracks and make it a priority to re-glue.

* Speaking of glue. Do NOT clean your foam roof. You will break down the glue and over the next 3 years you may see roof-bubbles start to appear. So resist any temptation you have to clean it... or lightly use a biodegradable cleaner. No solvents or UV cleaners that penetrate the vinyl.

* And if you don't have OAT coolant then this should also be one of your first upgrades to do. (FLUSH, FILTER, and convert from that green stuff to OAT.)

* Change your tranny filter and do a fluid change using only approve TES295 Dexron III fluid. (Easy if you watch a UT video...$250 vs. $500-$600 at an Allison shop.)

Last but not least, when you find an owner you want to follow, search for their user name and you will find all sorts of threads on the subject that may concern you the most.

Don't let sh*t happen! With just a little and preventative maintenance, you can fix most everything yourself... if you want to. Or learn to talk intelligently to an RV tech so you always pay a fair price.

For example, this month I learned a lot about how to service my ATS-5070 made by Parallax. But you will not have to worry about this until you get up to 100,000 miles or so. (Implying a lot more boondocking time on the generator.)

Enjoy your ride....
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Old 03-05-2021, 09:50 PM   #5
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Oh I was reading another forum on the ISB I think it was and they mentioned in a couple of different posts that apparently the cylinder walls where made thinner on the #53b engine and it was susceptible to cracking under a load towing or pulling hills. They were saying that if you go under and check the side of the block, #53 is embossed on the side somewhere. I attempted to look for this, but could not locate it.


I of course do not know much about either engine or which is better as most of my background is with gasoline engines, but I do want to do as much of my own repair and maintenance on this Coach as possible. I did get a chance to inspect the roof and I have not found any cracks yet. Thanks for the advise regarding care and cleaning. Sounds best to just avoid it all together. After you mentioned it, I did some reading on the OAT coolant in a Cummins forum, it does seem to be the coolant to go to. I will give it a shot.


Thanks for these helpful tips. I plan on doing just what you said and reading up on every piece of equipment we have on this coach.
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Old 03-05-2021, 11:22 PM   #6
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I know of another owner who liked the ISB over the ISC. However, I never understood why?

Maybe some other more knowledgeable person can explain why?

* Some will say you an replace an ISC cylinder, but I have never heard of any RV owner who benefited from this option since most RV never make it beyond 200K or 300K miles.

* There maybe some torque differences, but I have not looked into this.

* The real difference as I understand it has to do with the ISB using green coolant vs. OAT coolant and how that can affect the ISB cylinders vs. ISC if you let your coolant specs get out of range. ...But again, someone else need to pick up this subject and do a better job explaining the differences (pro and con).

* In 2005 Cummins stopped delivery of the CAPS system and came out with the CAPS-II system, which changed to a High Pressure Common Rail (HPCR) injection system for 2005 -2007. However, by 2008+ I think all Cummins when the High Pressure Common Rail (HPCR) system and that involved a different (more reliable) injector, which is less prone to injector issues.

QUESTION: Does your 2010 Journey with Cummins 6.7L require DEF? (Just curious.)

FYI, your 2010 was probably the last year basement ACs were offered, which is much better than roof top ACs in my opinion despite the bad rap some people have complained about. I.e., the basement AC is very well built, but Winnebago's duct system is problematic, because they did a lousy job of taping and insulating those ducts inside the rear cap. So a lot of cooling efficiency is lost do to leaks.

See pictures below and other threads on how to improve the insulation of your basement AC ducts in the rear cap.
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Old 03-06-2021, 08:25 PM   #7
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No DEF in this Coach. I believe you are right. 2010 was the last year. One thing I do wish they did better was seal the battery compartment. It amazes me how open it is inside to the bottom of the rig and how much is exposed. Got to the campground today and the batteries and compartment were covered with water from the street surface during the trip here. When I decide on my new battery config, I would hate to get it covered with road grime.
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Old 03-07-2021, 07:19 PM   #8
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I know what you mean about our batteries being exposed to the elements.

However, those lead acid batteries are prone to boiling over or outgassing, and when this happens you will will be glad you can clean the battery tray in the open air.

Note: Sometimes your bedroom fire alarm alarm will go off when your batteries out-gas... and that's really annoying. So this is one reason owners elect to buy AGMs which are sealed lead acid batteries.

Note: When you have your house batteries out, this is a good time to clean your 300A fuse... that is usually mounted to the top right-side battery compartment frame. And if you really get into preventative maintenance, then you might clean your chassis grounds and chassis battery connections to the starter solenoid too. (Assuming you have more than 80,000 miles.)
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Old 03-07-2021, 08:26 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by imnprsd View Post
I know what you mean about our batteries being exposed to the elements.

However, those lead acid batteries are prone to boiling over or outgassing, and when this happens you will will be glad you can clean the battery tray in the open air.

Note: Sometimes your bedroom fire alarm alarm will go off when your batteries out-gas... and that's really annoying. So this is one reason owners elect to buy AGMs which are sealed lead acid batteries.

Note: When you have your house batteries out, this is a good time to clean your 300A fuse... that is usually mounted to the top right-side battery compartment frame. And if you really get into preventative maintenance, then you might clean your chassis grounds and chassis battery connections to the starter solenoid too. (Assuming you have more than 80,000 miles.)
Good to know. We just broke 40k on mileage, but I think we will do all of this when we install the new battery config. Thanks for the tips, I am learning a bunch.


Frank
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Old 03-07-2021, 09:20 PM   #10
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That "clean" looking starter solenoid picture above came from another owner after he did a real number in that area and repainted. I just put together the diagram with numbers, and I think Morich circled the parts to explain to me what they were, but I could be wrong about that and credit goes to some other helpful forum member. I can't remember.

If you intend to go the full 9-yards, then you will need to remove the engine batteries too. So this is a bigger job than you might think. (TBD)

Some people prefer to go with the old adage: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it! ...And that might apply in this case since you only have 40K miles and very, very few people have trouble with the starter circuit.


However, checking and cleaning chassis grounds might be a good idea in all cases as the ground is sometime more important then the power source.

Below is a picture what the starter solenoid area used to look like before the cleaning; and note the access you get to the side of the engine after remove your basement AC... which maybe never in your case, but the picture does show you what your battery cage looks like.

Speaking of Coleman Mach Basement ACs, another good maintenance project for you is to check to make sure your Start and Run capacitors are in spec? This is not hard to do after you watch a YouTube video, and not expensive, and worthwhile since electrolytic capacitor leak over time, and you do NOT need to pull the basement AC off the rails to service your caps. (No need to replace 2 AC-relays. These last over 100,000 miles... implying a lot of AC use starting and stopping, but those AC Run, Start, and fan caps need to be checked every 7-10 years and replaced if you want to avoid trouble and potentially costly basement AC repairs down the line.)

Time also wreaks havoc with your Atwood "coin size" thermostats that press up against the tank and oxidize. So another tip is to clean these with Emory sandpaper and keep a spare set with you for the day they fail while camping or you will be taking cold showers.
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