My wife and I went to check our MPG 181 recently in storage and found that part of the ceiling panel near the rear window has separated. I am assuming that the glue used to keep it tight to the frame has failed. It could have been due to all the rain we had this month. Possibly moisture inside the cabin helped to cause the glue to fail. My warranty expired in September 2012, so I reckon I will have to repair this myself. It appears that I can remove the strip across the roof panels and reglue the bad panel. But I will wait until it warms up next month and see about repairing the panel.
Ceiling Separation
- Thread starter PapaMikey
- Start date
Ray LeTourneau
Senior Member - Past Moderator
PapaMikey, Do you know if your MPG has aluminum rafters? In our Bighorn, I've used a few small countersunk head screws to secure the ceiling panels back up to the rafters. I use a dab of white out to cover the screw heads. Barely noticable if you don't know they are there. I'm not sure if glue was originally used or staples. Either way, the screws are the easiest fix.
Ray LeTourneau
Senior Member - Past Moderator
Bob, the coaches that have rafters made of aluminum could have this problem but it's nothing huge. Ours only showed minimal sagging. Maybe a half inch. It was mainly in the upper level. The screws are holding fine and not noticeable. Heartland only used aluminum rafters for a short time in the Bighorns.
MountainTop
Active Member
Winter is damp here in Georgia so we store our unit with a big bucket of DampRid inside in hopes of keeping things dry and mold/mildew at bay.
We took our 181 out for its first outing of the new year and everything seemed fine with the roof panel now. Not sure if it was the cold or dampness inside the trailer that caused the roof panel to "bulge", but it is all better now. But on this last trip, we had a problem with the water pump. We were camping in Pinnacles National Park which only offers AC hookup, so we had to fill the water tank and use the DC water pump. The pump made such a racket when it operated that I thought the who campground would hear it. I am sure that there is air in the system and that is what is making the noise. I did locate the water pump behind a panel near the front door. I checked the pump and it was operating, but very noisy. I also noticed that there was a hose with a shutoff valve connected to the pump. Not sure what this hose is used for since it was only connected on one end (the pump). Is this hose used to bleed the air out of the water lines? I looked in the documentation for the pump and could not find any information on bleeding the system of air. Anyone have the information to do this task? Thanks.
JohnDar
Prolifically Gabby Member
It's probably the uptake line for pumping antifreeze into the plumbing to winterize. You stick the end into a jug of RV antifreeze and run the pump to draw it up. Check the water heater has bypass valves on it or you'll waste a lot of antifreeze and have to flush the tank out.
Tumblebug
Well-known member
Yes, the hose and cut off is to winterize with out puting antifreeze in the fresh water tank. On my MPG 183, the pump had a vibration, you might try tightening the screws to the floor. My pump had a some foam between the wall and the pump which came out causing the viberation. Replaced that and i run some what quiter but still a lot of noise. Sur flo make a quiter pump if you can't get it to run with less noise. I think where it is located is a sound chamber.LOL
