New Yawker's New Buyer Checklist

[VanDownByTheRiver]

Hello!

I'm in the market for a B190 and thought I'd ask if there were any easy-to-spot common faults I ought to keep an eye out for.

I've spent quite a bit of time on this enormously helpful site, however, I have not yet found a concise enough list of potential problems to get through without tools in a ~30 minute test drive / walkaround. Any ideas or references to threads I overlooked would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[Wakeslayer]

I am not sure if there is an "easy" checklist. We got very lucky with ours as it was obvious that most of the stuff had never even been used. Oven, stove, shower, and furnace. I guessed the fridge was ok despite it not really cooling on the spot, just because the rest was pretty much pristine. There were also receipts for several items being replaced in the last 5-20k miles. Water heater heater and transmission, plus more. I could hear the converter running with shore power attached, and the voltage read ~13 volts. That seemingly worked fine. The AC was nice and strong as it was hot as sin out that day and very humid. There were a couple water stains around the bunk on the passenger side. There were not really any obvious stains on the carpet from water intrusion or leaks. With respect to the rest of the vehicle, it really is just a Ford E-350. Parts and service are available everywhere. The only catch is that a lot of shops cannot lift them, and quite a few do not have tall enough bay doors. Tires and shocks are a big one. Do a google search on how to read date codes on tires. Anything over 5-6 years is risky as RV tires go bad long before the tread ever gets worn out. A blowout in one of these things is a really bad problem to have. Shocks and replacing stabilizer bushings (or adding a stabilizer if there isn't one) will make it drive way WAY better. You should kind of be able to tell if the shocks have been replaced at any point. Tires and shocks set me back about $1500 IIRC. That is a good bargaining point.
While I spent a good hour or more going over everything, I also noted that the owner had no idea how anything worked. I definitely used that to my advantage. He was also in the process of moving cross country in a couple weeks. He had just purchased it a month prior for he and his wife to live in while moving. Let's just say that these vehicles would be harder to live in, the larger you are, and he and his wife were of considerable, umm, proportion, and were not going to be able to be comfortable.

Lastly, I had an envelope full of cash.

Bring a voltmeter, soapy water, and a few light tools if you want to root around in the vehicle. I would also fill up the water tank and run the pump, faucet(s), and flush the terlit. Hopefully, nothing leaks. The previous, previous owner had used the john and never drained the tank. That was one disgusting realization I had after getting home. Make that their problem, not yours. uuuggghhh......

Check EVERYTHING and take your time.

[VanDownByTheRiver]

Thanks, Mike & Barbara!

I am bringing a voltmeter, but I'm not going to test TSA with tools (I'm flying).

I'll definitely prioritize the pump / faucets / toilet / Furnace / Hot H20 / Generator+AC /

I've got my envelope..

[Wakeslayer]

Congrats on the new ride, btw !!! Must have checked out good !!

[VanDownByTheRiver]

Thank you! There were a couple issues, but the price was adjusted accordingly. Nonetheless, I got it and I'm going to try full timing in New York!

[Wakeslayer]

What sort of issues? What did you end up giving?

[VanDownByTheRiver]

Issues uncovered during ~20min inspection:
-No water heater ignition
-No heat (and interior gauge said 3/4 tank propane...)
~Rotted tires
-Transmission jerking / bucking / jittering

My efforts:
-Filled propane. The tank was actually EMPTY; this resolved the heat and water heat issues)
-4 brand new E-rated tires on craigslist for $400 (+install). Boom!
-After ~5hrs hands-on diagnostics and online research, I settled on this transmission additive and dumped it into my transmission. Although I can't remember the mechanics, I believe it literally makes the torque converter slip(?), thus preventing it from locking compulsively. As I understand it, Ford's first all-electronic transmission effort was the E4OD, which I had in a previous truck with similar symptoms. I was amazed how well the additive fixed the problem for ~6 bucks. Dr. Tranny, discussed here: http://b190.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=439

Standing issues:
-Always low coach battery voltage (w/o running generator or 460)
-Furnace is NOT measuring up to NY winter. Best it can do right now is ~65deg when it's ~35deg and snowing outside. Luckily, I have a little time to address heat loss (via insulation?) and furnace output b/c my apartment lease doesn't end until Nov. 30.

[Wakeslayer]

Love the empty propane tank resolving two major issues. Tires are almost a given, and that is a great price.
As far as the furnace, that does sound a bit weak. My wife and I went camping a couple weeks ago. While I knew our furnace was working properly, we kept the stat at around 70* overnight. It was 26* out and it ran a lot. Plus being across the van and up in the bed, we were pretty cold. We had no power so we were not comfortable letting the AC heat/fan run all night possibly creating a dead battery situation over night. Maybe pop the furnace out and see if you can clean the burner assembly a bit? I have not had to have mine apart so not sure what you can accomplish there. Do a load test on your batteries. While mine are tied together, we seem to have plenty of power. Are you going off the LED gauge? or actually putting a meter on it. The gauges are pretty poor reflections of what is actually going on as you may have noted with your propane reading.

[skater]

Yeah. When our furnace was working, it had no problem keeping the camper in the 70s even when outside temperatures were in the 30s.

But, after you get the furnace working, there are some things you can do to help - a towel in the step well and by the back doors, etc. Someone suggested hanging a blanket off the bed to block off the cab of the camper. Things like that.

[VanDownByTheRiver]

Thanks Skater and Wakeslayer. I was just going off the RV's volt gauge, but it does improve when I'm hooked up to power, running the generator, or running the engine. I think the old battery under my couch, which seems to run in parallel w/ the almost-new front-passenger-side battery under the hood might be the culprit. I'll see if I can get my big old under-the-couch battery load tested.

[JasonRain]

I am bringing a voltmeter

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