Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 07-19-2019, 04:53 PM   #1
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 3
DIY Horror Stories

What are the DIY projects you wish you didn't do?

YeetFeet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2019, 11:37 AM   #2
JWA
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Reynoldsburg, Ohio
Posts: 3,765
Send a message via Yahoo to JWA
Quote:
Originally Posted by YeetFeet View Post
What are the DIY projects you wish you didn't do?
Looks like no one's eager to jump into this---I'll go first!

Back in late September of 2017 I bought a new-to-me 2005 E350 Club Wagon that had been fitted with a Braun commercial-duty wheel chair lift. Paid all of $5,500 for it, 145K miles on the clock. Raised roof with extended height rear doors, barn doors on side, windows galore. Except for the windows this was a perfect van for converting into a replacement cargo/work van, pretty much daily driven with close to 2,000@# of tools, shelves and storage on-board. Ran great, suspension was tight---was thrilled. Found it near Bowling Green KY, about 360 miles south of me. Drove home incident free apart from a failed vacuum reservoir that feeds the A/C system. Arrived back home later Saturday night, spent the day Sunday making a list of what I'd be doing. First order of business was having it titled here in Ohio, an "inspection" required to verify the assigned title was indeed for the van I was seeking to have put into my name.

While backing out of my parking space the transmission basically failed but it was still driveable for the most part. Ended up having a friend rebuild the 4R75E---even with years experience he said he'd never seen one so clustered up. Oh well---at least it was home here with me, not along side the road multi-miles away.

So there was also the annoying ticking the 5.4 motors make--didn't think much of it, ran so well. There was an issue with the oil pressure gauge suddenly dropping to zero, the alarm for low oil pressure sounding. Just touching the throttle pedal and OP would come right back up---had to be a defective OP sending unit right? Nope............

In August of 2018 I connected an actual pressure gauge to the appropriate port---WOW what a shock that was. OP should be and hold at least 30 PSI at hot idle---mine was struggling to hold 8 as in eight PSI. Trusted advice said to run a mixture of 10W-40 Rotella motor oil and a quart of Lucas oil stablizer---new fangled STP to me.

That helped for a short while but within minutes it was right back to 8 PSI. Again just touching the throttle and the OP would jump to 60 PSI, off-throttle back to 8 PSI. Time for a reman'd Ford motor---need uber reliability, cost not the biggest issue.

Installed the new motor---within 1800 miles it needed warranty repair--something just wasn't right, a noticeable valve slapping sound that was present from start up and grew worse as the RPM's increased. Could NOT find a reputable Ford dealership to do anything---it was such an "old" van things would break off making it tough on the Nancy Boy mechanics apparently working for Ford these days. They failed to keep in mind there was a NEW FORD motor already replaced so any imagined breakage had already occurred---they didn't care to have me point that out but still didn't want to mess with their own warranty issues mostly because which ever dealership I called had not profited from the installation.

(FWIW Ford's Power Train Warranty service has been top notch to deal with, its those POS stealerships that are the weak link here.)

So its all under repair at a trusted shop Ford will gladly pay once things are finished. Needless to say I wish a few things relating to this particular van but its too late now to turn back.

Glad you asked now?
JWA is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2019, 11:43 AM   #3
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: San Clemente, CA
Posts: 1,377
Bought a class B to remodel. Thought it would be a fun project. Turns out everything was rotting because the windows were leaking ruining all the wood, couldn't get anyone to fix the windows, cabinets were a total pain to paint, flooring was impossible to get to lay right, etc. It ended up fine but took a ton of work to get right. And a ton of money. Ended up in it $25k and sold it for $17 and was so happy to be rid of it.
Grampswrx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2019, 11:48 AM   #4
JWA
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Reynoldsburg, Ohio
Posts: 3,765
Send a message via Yahoo to JWA
I'll have maybe $17K max into mine when finished---all in all not a huge amount for a work truck I can recoup those costs in about 6 months.

My main issue is all the mechanical stuff I could DIY but don't have the space.
JWA is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

» Sportsmobile Registry

Behemoth

Besags

The Yeti

TexGX
Add your Sportsmobile
» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sportsmobile SIP or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:12 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.