1990 Hi Lo - new owner

[Slackkinhard]

Hi, I just bought a 1990 Hi Lo, not sure what model. It's 22' from rear bumper to ball hitch. 16' actual box. Beige color. I've never owned an RV but I'm relatively handy with 12V auto systems, just not converters, heaters, pumps, etc.

I'm running into problems the first day with it home.

First the good...
The box goes up and down, locks in place.
Towed home fine.
Spare holds air.
Water pump makes noise when I hit the button and seems to pump.
Former owner installed new black water tank, installation looks fine from below
Furnace turns on when I turn on the thermostat and eventually gets warm
Interior lights worked when I got it home.
Stove and range both work.
A/C when plugged into my house power, turns on, blows air. Was told it works
Previous owner had a small microwave he kept in the unit and worked when RV plugged into my house.

The bad...

Really noisy going up and down, but works fine.
Tire date codes of 2002, and a broken tail light assembly needs replaced
Deep cell battery went dead even when plugged into the house, but charged up on a trickle
Plugged in the garden hose and the pump seemed to pump water, but bathroom fixture leaked
The floor near the toilet over the newly installed tank is soft and previous owner said after installing new tank, he had not taken the time to fix the floor
Furnace turns on fine, it's a squealer for a while til it warms up...still not real quiet or powerful, but it eventually warms the space. Tried it when it was real cold >15F and it struggled, but at 35F it eventually got it up to about 60F
Interior lights all seemed to work, however I was thinking of replacing all the old 'shaded lights' and started checking all the outlets with a known good bulb and while I was doing that, all of the forward cabin lights went dead. The bathroom lights work, but all lights forward dead now
The fan above the range, is random...seems switch might be bad

Would like to fix the power situation. I think the converter is suspect, and I'm guessing some kind of ground or short killed the lights. I don't have any tripped breakers.
Would like to know where to get a new tail light assembly and maybe a more powerful furnace if something is available?

Took the trailer into a local RV place and to say the least, I learned nothing and I can't believe they charged me for what they had to say. Somewhat at a loss for direction other than guessing.

Hoping there are some folks with experience with these older models, because I don't think that group wanted to touch it.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated
Brett

 

[Usagi5678]

Welcome to the forum.

Most of what is going with your HiLo you can fix your self. I had a 25ft. Classic HiLo that I donated to a veteran. Spray the metal glides with silicone spray. Some have used clear parafin wax..used for canning. It will still groan some as it is very cold outside. Due to the age of your tires defenitely replace all tires including the spare. Go on the etrailer site and see if you can find a matching tail light. Good idea to pull cover off exterior lights clean and lubricate. Pull the toilet and fix the soft floor DH has had to do this repair. Something needs to be greased in your furnice. You don't need a new one. It probably only got up to 60* because it was so cold. Check your converter for 30amp fuses. If it is the original consider replacing the 45 elixer converter. I purchased mine from Best converter in California. Best Converter has great tech support. Check the roof and coat with appropiate material. In the better weather pull all the windows and reseal with new butyl caulk. On the exterior of the window use Lexel caulk. You can get this at ACE hardware or on line. You Tube has a video on the window removal. Part of our lights went out in our 1990. If the fuses in the converter are changed I will tell you how to fix. Could be a bad ground. I now own a 199626ft. Classic. We had to do quite a bit of work to it when we first got it. Check out the operational videos. All our forum members have had to do the repairs you have mentioned. Very friendly and helpful forum. Keep the questions coming.

 

[Angel-HILO]

I have a 1989 25RD Classic Voyager (2589) that when I purchased it I knew nothing about RVs, especially about Hi-Lo, a total rookie; not a good thing because the seller was not honest with us about how much work it needed, my fault for not being informed.
Anyway, one of the major repairs I had to do was replace the entire bathroom floor and rear wall, not an easy job...but I got 'er done!! This and a whole lot of other repairs we did was worth it!! We finally started camping with it and love every moment. Search for some of my posts for pictures of my bathroom floor repair. I didn't describe details on how I did it...I just showed pictures of damage. Good luck.
Angel.

 

[Slackkinhard]

Thank you all for advice. I've watched a lot of videos, and I got 4 new tires. I've yet to trace the lighting problem up front. Was thinking I'm going to convert to all LED interior lighting, so when decide which lamps to buy, I'll have to figure it out when I wire them up. Been a little wet and cold lately, so I haven't torn into it, but I need to look into the converter issue next.

 

[JackandJanet]

You can likely just replace the existing light bulbs with 12V LEDs that have the same base and are approximately the same size. That's what I did - did not replace any of the fixtures.

- Jack

 

[cva34]

All I will say is..Don't do a lot of minor repairs tell you get MAJOR stuff done..like floor repair that turns into wall replace too...Its a labor of love......And when there's slack time on major..like little things that dont cost or take much time. Like pull wheel bearings and check and repack etc...thats 4 little jobs...that I consider a must...If all thought of a once can be OVERWHELMING...GOOD LUCK......Thats where the old saying BUYER BEWARE comes from..

 

[kebideplin57]

LED bulbs

You can likely just replace the existing light bulbs with 12V LEDs that have the same base and are approximately the same size. That's what I did - did not replace any of the fixtures.

- Jack

Where did you find the bulbs? Need to replace ours also. Looking for the 18 in LED bulbs to replace the fluorescent's. We replaced all the others. We are also looking for a replacement cover for one of the smaller lights. Thanks

 

[JackandJanet]

My favorite source for interior LED bulbs is SuperBrightLEDs.com. They can be somewhat more expensive than some other sources, but they are very good at showing you the specs on all their lighting. You'll see the voltage, wattage, lumen output, color temperature, base style, overall size and light coverage on all their bulbs. I had one delivered from them that was defective and they replaced it at no charge to me.

I also replaced my rear tail/stop/turn lights and license plate light with LED fixtures, which I got from etrailer.com. I have been very happy with anything I've purchased from them too.

- Jack

 

[oldcarguy]

With regard to your noisy lifting - in addition to lubricating the guide rails & guides, you'll probably need to get under the trailer and lubricate the lifting cylinder's guide tube, the lift cables and their pulleys (someone on the board recommended Jet-Lube Wire Rope & Chain Lubricant for the cables - seems to work really well).

Not sure how your water system is set up, but if it's like our '07 Classic, you should only need to use the water pump when you're drawing water from the fresh water tank (should not need the pump when hooked up to a pressurized "shore" water supply), and it's a good idea not to run the pump without water in the tank. Same thing applies to the hot water heater - don't run it without water in the lines and heater. On our trailer, the shore water hookup and the fresh tank are not interconnected - filling the fresh tank is a separate operation using a separate fill point

If you go inside the furnace unit to lubricate the blower fan, check for debris in the burner - if the trailer was stored for any period of time, spiders may have spun webs inside. Years ago when I worked for a pool company we'd get calls toward the end of the season when people started using their pool heaters - spiders would get inside the burner housing and the first time the heater was fired up, the webs would burn up and little bits of ash would clog the burner orifices. The heater would light, but the flame would be weak and wouldn't generate much heat.

 

[Slackkinhard]

Got underneath and put some dry lube on the sliders and pulleys. Dramatically cut down noise. Need to figure out how to do a better job, but it's much better. Tires are installed. Still haven't resolved front interior lighting. Can't find the short yet. Nothing to any of them.

 

[JackandJanet]

When you say, "nothing to them", I'm guessing you mean no voltage?. If you have a short, it will have blown the fuse that protects that circuit. Have you checked the fuses in the fuse panel at the front of your converter?

If all the fuses are good, you probably have an open circuit, not a "short". If all of the lights in that circuit are not receiving power, it may indicate a faulty ground or negative side in the circuit. I think the positive feed to those lights is wired in parallel, rather than in series, so unless there is a break in the feed before the first light, it would not prevent current to all of them. You can check the negative side with the continuity function of a multimeter. You can also check the positive side's continuity with the same meter, but pull the fuse or disconnect the battery first.

- Jack

 

[Slackkinhard]

yes, no voltage to the lights. I followed a bunch of wires and everything looked ok. I now know where all the wires run though, so that's good. I need to find a new rear tail light fixture. The rectangular plastic case and lenses are broken, along with the plastic housing for the license plate light. Any suggestions for where to get one appreciated.

Wheel bearings got pulled apart and greased. They were well taken care of, lots of grease still in there. The brake shoes were all evenly worn for what little had worn, and one drum was obviously new. All the wiring looked good. Still not sure how to tell if they work? Guy told me they were recent and I can't find anything to tell me he wasn't truthful.

Need to see if this converter should be replaced

 

[JackandJanet]

To test if the brakes work, you can simply pull the Trailer Breakaway Switch Pin out and then see if the trailer wheel brakes are locked when you try to pull it forward with your tow vehicle. Put the pin back in right after you do this or you will quickly rundown the battery and you could burn out the brakes.

Etrailer.com is a good source for trailer light fixtures.

- Jack

 

[Slackkinhard]

To test if the brakes work, you can simply pull the Trailer Breakaway Switch Pin out and then see if the trailer wheel brakes are locked when you try to pull it forward with your tow vehicle. Put the pin back in right after you do this or you will quickly rundown the battery and you could burn out the brakes.

Etrailer.com is a good source for trailer light fixtures.

- Jack

so much thanks. Seem to work fine...after I fixed my own trailer wiring.

Climbed underneath and noticed the entire bottom is covered in a paper/foam like material. Hard to believe that is durable? Much of the paper is pealing, but everything is dry. Seems that should all be sealed up or something? Any thoughts?

 

[JackandJanet]

...<snip>...
Climbed underneath and noticed the entire bottom is covered in a paper/foam like material. Hard to believe that is durable? Much of the paper is pealing, but everything is dry. Seems that should all be sealed up or something? Any thoughts?

No, I don't have any thoughts about this. I don't think my trailer has anything like that on the underneath. I wonder if you could just remove the loose stuff and then spray it with some kind of undercoating?

Perhaps someone else will have a better idea.

- Jack

 

[Slackkinhard]

No, I don't have any thoughts about this. I don't think my trailer has anything like that on the underneath. I wonder if you could just remove the loose stuff and then spray it with some kind of undercoating?

Perhaps someone else will have a better idea.

- jACK

lots of OSB, and paper like material. Pretty sure I need to do something given I live in the PNWet. Figured out the lights. Bad fuse. It was 'new' but being an older style came from a pack I had in a drawer. Decided to replace all of them and tadaa lights came on. There was another I think may have been blown, so hoping it will charge the battery. In the inverter box there are 4 fuses next to each other, and a 5th separate from the others. Not sure what each does, but one of the 4 was the lights.

 

[JackandJanet]

The fuses that control charging to the battery are 30A fuses, and, in my old Elixir converter, they were hidden behind the visible fuse panel. I finally replaced my converter with one that has those fuses up front where they are easy to get to. Here's my thread on the replacement: https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f28/elixir-converter-replacement-7659/

This thread shows the charging fuses I was talking about in the Elixir converter: https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f28/converter-troubleshooting-and-repair-6454/

- Jack

 

[Slackkinhard]

The fuses that control charging to the battery are 30A fuses, and, in my old Elixir converter, they were hidden behind the visible fuse panel. I finally replaced my converter with one that has those fuses up front where they are easy to get to. Here's my thread on the replacement: https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f28/elixir-converter-replacement-7659/

This thread shows the charging fuses I was talking about in the Elixir converter: https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f28/converter-troubleshooting-and-repair-6454/

- Jack

I have a Magnatek model 3230. Found a manual online, but didn't mention any fuses. I may need to pull it apart or replace.

 

[Usagi5678]

Good Morning

You are getting there little by little. Never heard of paper foam on the underside of the HiLo. Perhaps a previous owner installed. DH took the HiLo to a friend of ours that is a mechanic and specializes in rustproofing. Given you are in a rainy climate this might be something to look into. Cost us $300.00. You don't want to rustproof parts that you have to lube on the exterior/bottom. DH has had to replace both converters in the HILOS we have owned. The lights would dim when the furnice kicked in. Got the boondocker model from Best converter. Fast delivery and great tech support.

 

[Slackkinhard]

You are getting there little by little. Never heard of paper foam on the underside of the HiLo. Perhaps a previous owner installed. DH took the HiLo to a friend of ours that is a mechanic and specializes in rustproofing. Given you are in a rainy climate this might be something to look into. Cost us $300.00. You don't want to rustproof parts that you have to lube on the exterior/bottom. DH has had to replace both converters in the HILOS we have owned. The lights would dim when the furnice kicked in. Got the boondocker model from Best converter. Fast delivery and great tech support.

Looks like I'm going need a new one. Is there anything I need to think about before attempting to replace it? Doesn't look too complicated physically removing the old.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated