Picked up new to me Chinook

[68camaro]

Saturday morning picked up 2001 Concourse XL, club seating, Lux package, 74k miles in NW Ark and drove 1200 miles back in 26 hrs to Richmond. Over past several months looked at and tried to purchase several but either I walked or someone else got there first.

First, I will start by saying the V10 on the 1200 mile trip was great. Whether along the flats in Indiana or the hills of KY and WV, the V10 has all the power you need and more. I bought a Scan Guage II for the trip and it was cool to have. When all said and done, even flying, my Ave Mile per Gallon was 10.4, in flat part of country got as high as 11.5, hilly area under 10. Even while cruising uphill at 70, still had plenty power to pass trucks....UPHIlL....I average 68 mph for trip, people I bought from said they get 12 mpg driving slower though.....I was in a rush!

Flew out after putting deposit down. It was said to be in "excellent" condition and stored inside. Clearly it was stored inside as there was almost no peeling, a couple small parts thats it. However, "excellent" must be relative term.

After going over it, it was clear this rig was very well maintained, the inside was immaculate, especially given it's age. The dark greenishblue interior looks fresh and modern to this day. The owner was super nice picking me up and making sure fridge was cold & with water, they had pillows and some necessities for the long travel already there, plus they had filled the gas tank.....very thoughtful of them.

Both a/c were ice cold as was fridge, van had all fluids changed and checked out. I'll get rear diff done shortly.

A couple nice surprises were:
- very nice slide curtain installed between van seats and coach to give privacy and help control climate
- Water softener installed
- HWH Touch Panel Leveling System for RV, very cool when on uneven ground, I didn't think these were options, so maybe aftermarket
- Van console was swapped out for the bigger new 2008 version, which has much more room - saves me efoort of doing this.

A few negative surprise
- Fan in bath opens & closes and motor works but fans blades started disintegrating when fan turned on...LOL....clearly not used much but I figured easy fix, no biggie.....
- black/gray water hose container cap will not stay on, had to duck tape closed for trip, should be easy repair.
- Antenna crank broke, antenna looks good, just the crank in cabinet needs new part to work.
- Couple cabinet struts need replacing
- Passanger side curtain string on one side broke during travels, it was stiff and I forced to much so will look to restring or get new shades, opposite work great. It still works just doesn't open all the way to the top, stops few inches below.

Two issue I have fingers crossed on:
- water tank would not hold water when we tried to fill, it was leaking out of tube (vent tube?) which hangs down and stops just above axle springs behind wheel. Also when you turn pump on water comes "out" of city water fill tube. Before trip home, I had two local RV places look at and they said it was most likely a valve or two and both thought nothing serious....I hope its not serious since I already bought it knowing it would need to be fixed.
- Paint and clearcoat really nice shape except for a several hairline cracks which don't appear deep, a couple are 6" long but I am hoping this is clearcoat. Since I am pretty anal about this stuff I will want to get fixed, I hope this doesn't come back and bite me.....There was one area size of fist where it looks like someone did repair, it sheens more than areas around it, hard to see and need to be looking at right angle so pretty good repair.

All in all the positives out weighted the surprises so I was happy to seal the deal. On a 17 year old vehicle I didn't really expect perfection and no "nits", but this was in FAR better condition than several others I looked at for same amount.

One question though, when I left for my trip fridge/freezer was ice cold, but 10 hours later fridge/freezer was room temp almost. I had "coach batteries" turned on and I was driving the whole time so not sure why fridge shut itself down or stopped cooling? Did I do something wrong, I figured I missed something easy?

First order of business drop off for water tank repair tomorrow (hopefully not serious) with other small stuff.....then need to decide on lift kit ad tires, probably do Hellig front sway bar and steering stabilizer while waiting on lift decision.

[b6fischer]

I live in MIdlothian, Va so if you have questions about the Concourse let me know! b6fischer@yahoo.com

[Chinnin-about]

is this the one you bought?

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1149

[68camaro]

is this the one you bought?

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1149

No, I just saw this myself...looks nice. Mine was bought off RVTrader posted last week. Funny, both are out of NW Arkansas. Nine has 77k miles, this 27k - unbelievable low. Same price but mine needs some work so current one could be better deal if no issues.

[68camaro]

I live in MIdlothian, Va so if you have questions about the Concourse let me know! b6fischer@yahoo.com

Thanks I am in western chesterfield off Hull. I may look to catch up as the current owners really only used it sparingly and didn't know much about alot of features and I am scratching head on some things.

Chuck

[b6fischer]

Chuck,
Ive owned mine 5 years and put about 80,000 miles on it during that time. Have repowered it and rebuilt the transmission plus may upgrades/upfits.

Good luck and would be glad to meet up and answer what I can.

Bill

[Blue~Go]

First of all: Score! Your very own Concourse. Happy day

A few negative surprise
- Fan in bath opens & closes and motor works but fans blades started disintegrating when fan turned on...LOL....clearly not used much but I figured easy fix, no biggie.....

Presuming this is the stock vent (with the ~6" fan blade and built in light), I have seen fan blades for sale separately. They are cheap plastic and the UV kills them (I just snapped all the blades off mine the other day - once one broke I couldn't see having to look at the other ones!). Some people change it for a Fantastic vent and then use the wire to add a light separately nearby.

water tank would not hold water when we tried to fill, it was leaking out of tube (vent tube?) which hangs down and stops just above axle springs behind wheel.

That's actually the drain tube. So maybe the valve is just open (or needs replacing). Inside, this would likely be an "arrow shaped" white handle by the water pump. Maybe it's just turned the wrong way. I think the manual illustrates this, but also easy to just change handle position on the valve.

. Also when you turn pump on water comes "out" of city water fill tube. Before trip home, I had two local RV places look at and they said it was most likely a valve or two and both thought nothing serious....I hope its not serious since I already bought it knowing it would need to be fixed.

I think the city entry might have a check valve, but others likely know better.

One question though, when I left for my trip fridge/freezer was ice cold, but 10 hours later fridge/freezer was room temp almost. I had "coach batteries" turned on and I was driving the whole time so not sure why fridge shut itself down or stopped cooling? Did I do something wrong, I figured I missed something easy?

Did you have it running on propane? If not, and you had it on electric, that might be the issue. If on AC, then obviously there would be no AC power (presuming not running generator). If on DC, that might not work because absorption refrigerators draw an ENORMOUS amount on DC (like 30 amps or something). It's possible your DC system just couldn't support that for hours (in fact newer absorption refrigerators are often only 2-way -- AC electric or propane).

Again, others may know more specifically (I changed to a compressor refrigerator so not an expert on the original one).

Let the fun begin!

[68camaro]

Did you have it running on propane? If not, and you had it on electric, that might be the issue. If on AC, then obviously there would be no AC power (presuming not running generator). If on DC, that might not work because absorption refrigerators draw an ENORMOUS amount on DC (like 30 amps or something). It's possible your DC system just couldn't support that for hours (in fact newer absorption refrigerators are often only 2-way -- AC electric or propane).

Thanks for reply, I had refrig on auto I believe. My propane level was same on return as when I left. Vehicle was running for about 17 hours straight, plus the day owner had plugged into shore power. Generator not on.

So when driving should I have fridge on Propane to keep cold?

[kdarling]

First, congrats!

Second, all the negatives are pretty common, especially the disintegrating bath fan blades. If it doesn't have them already, I recommend vent covers to protect from sun, rain and wind.

Re: fridge. Auto mode only flips between AC and propane. To use DC, the DC switch must be explicitly turned on. That's because DC uses about 15 amps to heat the absorption fridge boiler, so using it for more than a few hours without the engine running will deplete your house batteries.

A fully cold fridge should stay cold for at least several hours with no power. (Perhaps not in Texas!) When needed, I personally use DC mode while driving, which your alternator should be able to easily support (unless maybe it's totally loaded down powering lights wipers fans stereo and heated seats).

Note that if your fridge falls to room temperature, it can take hours to get back to cold again. Propane is usually the quickest way to accomplish that, as it can heat the boiler quicker than electric.

[kdarling]

P.S.

HWH leveling system was indeed a Chinook option.