2003 Kiwi 18F wiring

[gerg]

Hi all - first post here. I have a 2003 Kiwi 18f hybrid that we had some floor repairs done on when we bought it 5 years ago. Trailer sat idle since we got it back and I have learned the hard way that I had the WRONG people work on it. I have since verified / repaired all appliances. All work as new thankfully.

First problem I found was none of the exterior lights worked when towing. We recently moved across town, and I had to run a temporary ground to the trailer to get it moved. Today while plumbing a new hot water heater gas line I found the white ground from the tow vehicle connector disconnected. I'm just not certain where it should go - didn't see a another wire it may have come from. It is stripped back like it belongs in a wire nut. Would any frame ground I find be fine? The front floor is what was repaired - and this is where the wire is sitting.

Was hoping to find a wiring diagram somewhere. No luck so far.

Thanks for any feedback!

Greg Blakeney
Monroe, LA

[gerg]

Finally located the pictures from 2012 and luckily I had a 'money shot'. I know where the wires go now and also see some of the water line routing / wiring attachments that my 'qualified' RV repair shop did wrong.

I am back on the path!

[gerg]

So I am continuing to fix what the poor repair shop left me. This is looking into the storage area from outside through the small hatch:



All the water lines and cables just hanging in space. I don't even want to try to describe what he seems to have done with my low water drains.

Does anyone happen to have an 18F Kiwi that may be able to share some pics with me? I am doing my level best to get this thing straight. Parents want to borrow it soon and I want it all back the way it goes.

All appliances are in tip top shape now. Its about 45* out today and the furnace is keeping it a pleasant 70* or so inside while I work

[gerg]

This is the mess left under the bench seat when I got it back (seat and frame removed to work). Just a mess. Water lines and AC / DC harness not suspended / attached.



Luckily I found a pic of how it looked when I removed the cabinetry for the repair shop to fix the floor. I was able to get it back to this, which is very close to what it looked like in 2012:

[gerg]

Wow - my Surface is acting up this evening. So, the repair person also told me the furnace was too far gone and jammed up with dirt dobbers etc. to run. Suggested a space heater. I did some digging (before finding this site) and ran every test I could on the furnace. Turns out I had a bad regulator on the trailer. The furnace looked like it had never fired before. Replaced the regulator and it fired off like new. Very happy with that. Kept me at a comfortable 70*-ish all day while working inside the trailer.

Then I could hear a very small amount of gas flowing at the regulator when all appliances were off. Tested all the fittings and found the gas line this knucklehead removed from the hot water heater was leaking at both ends. This is what I found:



No flare on either end! Talk about a hazard!!

I installed a new line for the water heater, double flared each end and all is leak free now





I also cleaned the fridge burner tip and it operates perfectly on gas or electric.

The Kiwi is coming along just fine now.

Just need to figure out how to route / organize the wiring and water lines inside the storage area.

[gerg]

So today I figured out why I have no slack in the large black loom DC wire harness . . . the loom went up to cabinet height in front of the right wheel (behind the stove) and instead of running beneath the counter, it ran right back down to floor level. Sooooo . . . . I pulled stove, then pulled the entire cabinet out about 3". This allowed me to push the loom (and AC romex cables) up beneath the counter where they belong.

Back at the storage access hatch I now have plenty of slack to raise the loom up above the door height and keep it out of sight. Clean storage area now. As it should be.

I scoured the internet for every picture and video I could find of this trailer and in one video I can see how that storage compartment 'should' be. I still cannot figure out where the liner panel goes that I found.

And, there is an AC outlet with ONE plug in on it, goes under the cabinet somewhere, but I cannot tell where. Regular size home outlet, but with one plug in instead of two.

Was there a convenience outlet in the storage area or maybe in the cabinets?

[gerg]

More progress

The large partition that I could not place is the divider under the rear kitchen bench. Walls off the demand pump / valves from the storage area.

Also, the AC outlet placement has been solved. Went up under the sink near the oven. There is a hole next to it for an optional microwave power cord to pass through and plug into the outlet. In the case where there is only a cook top and no gas oven.

I have 90% of the cable clean up done - and the picture I shared above of the storage area is MUCH cleaner. Very happy so far.

[Scott91370]

I know you're not getting any feedback but keep posting up what you find. It will definitely help someone along the way.
I did a full roof rebuild on mine (removing the frame and all associated wiring) and rebuilt the front half of the floor. I got some help but since they are projects that most people won't do, and for good reason, I was mostly on my own. I took quite a few pictures and have a thread for each. Hopefully if someone is every as adventurous as I was it will help them.

Keep on going and post up some more pics!!

[jaycojay]

contact Jayco.... they may have what you are looking for!

[DocBrown]

Originally Posted by gerg

All the water lines and cables just hanging in space. I don't even want to try to describe what he seems to have done with my low water drains.

Does anyone happen to have an 18F Kiwi that may be able to share some pics with me? I am doing my level best to get this thing straight.

Wow, that is really shoddy work. It's a storage area that can't be used as storage because they didn't take the time to run things properly.

The reality of trailers is that it doesn't have to be exactly like the factory did it. In fact you can probably do it even better than the factory did. So don't knock yourself out looking for photos.

You should be able to move all the wiring up and out of the way without re-wiring any of it. The plumbing, well you may need to learn how to use Push-and-Go type fittings, then cut and replumb all that to recover your storage space. They aren't all that hard to do once you understand how hard they have to be pushed together.

[gerg]

Thanks for the replies! I was able to pull the tails from the sink and get them up and over the cabinetry where they go. I’ll take a pictures in a little bit, but the storage area looks really good now. I just need to secure the harness and a 90° bends in the plumbing up to the height they’re supposed to be. Really pleased with the progress so far.

[gerg]

So all the work is starting to pay off. Really happy.

Here is a look inside the storage compartment now. I still have to clean up everything across the front (away from the door), but definitely usable now! All the work was done from inside. Time to squeeze in through the two ends and support the wires / plumbing. Need to get that AC cable untangled from the pipes too.



Here you an see how the plumbing (and wiring) pass above what I believe is a pocket made for them:



Got the new battery box installed, new battery. clean wire rings and fuse in place. The DC system works perfectly when no AC is present. Also had to make a bracket for the new regulator. Cover is on now.









I am going to replace the hose from the regulator with a longer one so I can mount the regulator directly to the bracket. I had drilled the holes but it has to mount higher (different body design on regulator) and the hose did not have enough slack to get there.

Closed up the front bed / tent and opened the rear. Happy to see that it also had NO water / moisture intrusion after sitting 6 years in Louisiana weather. Backed my truck up to test the exterior lighting and that ground I found (from first post) fixed the problem. All lights work now. Stoked!!!





Lastly, I moved the trailer today so I could test the awning. Unrolled perfectly. I hosed it off, dried it real well and stored it back.



I have felt like an RV forensic specialist lately. Just thinking though how wires and plumbing 'should' run allowed me to piece it all back together. I agree with the previous post that it doesn't need to be exactly like the factory. I plan to make it at least that good. Only thing that got passed me so far is how the ROMEX cables ran. I have lots of slack in them. I'll just dress them in and roll on . . . .

[gerg]

Here is how it all started. After we got a good look, this is what we found inside the storage compartment:



So I ripped out the cabinetry (to save some demo work at repair shop) and saw the damage in full. This is under the sink cabinetry:



Which led to this:





In hind sight, I should have known when I saw all the cabling tangled into a rat's nest and laying beneath the trailer there was no way this shop was going to get it back together like it should be.

Lesson learned.

[gerg]

Next up is another 'fix' the repair shop got wrong. The low point drains on this were not placed correctly in the new floor. The valves are off of ~3" of extension piping from the main lines. This knucklehead had the extensions aiming straight up and then sections of blue tubing kinked over and bent back to the holes they drilled in the floor.

Here you can see how the valves were aiming up, blue extension tubes removed:



Here they are turned down as they should be - based on several pics I have found on various RVs:



Going to seal off the holes they drilled and I got a 5/8" bit to drill new holes and run the lines where they land now.

[Scott91370]

Your what we found pictures are painfully familiar.
Great job!

[gerg]

Thanks Scott!! I only wish I had done this 6 years ago and had 6 years of camping adventures to post about!!!

So, my wonderful wife baked up some stuffed bell peppers for dinner and they were sooooooo geaud I was inspired to get back out there and work a little more.

I taped off the old holes from the inside with some ducting aluminum tape (from our recent home renovations) . . . and spray foamed them from the bottom side. Still have that goop on my fingers. "Re-usable" on the can is a bold statement.

I marked the center of the two lines:



Drilled them, passed the lines through, pushed them together and then rotated the valves to the floor:





I opened both valves, the cold side spit a little, but the hot line drained the hot water tank. Zero leaks inside. Yes!!!!!



Just need to trim the blue lines. You can almost see the sray foam I applied about 3" in front of the blue lines.

How low should they hang from the floor bottom? I have also seen valves on the outside too on some RVs - at the end of the drain lines. Is that an upgrade?

I love it. I can turn on the fridge, put it on gas and hear it ignite right away. The stove, cook top, furnace and hot water heater all work perfectly. This thing is really nice.

Fun times ahead . . . .

[gerg]

Question for you guys & gals. I am going to finish up the fresh water pump plumbing today. I understand there is a feed from the tank to the inlet of the pump, and also a siphon lead for adding anti-freeze.

Looking at the picture below, I 'think' the tank feed is the clear tube, and the siphon is the red hose. Clear tube goes into top of tank, but the red hose is passed into the floor. I need to go see where this actually goes when I get outside.

My suspicion is that in normal conditions the red hose should just sit coiled in this area, valve in the OFF position, waiting for its time to be used. The valve would be open for the clear tube so the pump can pick up water from the tank.

Any maybe it is the other way around. Thinking about where that red hose goes into the floor, it would come out just above the tank. I'd expect the tank connection to be accessible - as in that cut out area where the clear tube is going.

This sound right?
Does anything go on the end of the red hose or is it just open? Just stick it in the anti-freeze jug when needed?



Pump inlet is on the bottom in this picture obviously. Both the red hose and clear tube have a valve for shutting off / turning on.

I don't expect we will use the tank much but I want it put together correctly if need be,

As always - THANKS!

[gerg]

Quick follow up. The red hose is the feed off of the bottom of the tank. Clear tube is the siphon - just presses onto a nipple on top side of tank so (I presume) if the valve fails it will bleed back into the tank.

[gerg]

So the initial water test showed a leak at the cold water pipe to the faucet at the kitchen sink. This is interesting as the nastiest looking damage I saw was directly beneath the sink.

Looked like it was coming out of the base of the connector.

Is there a rubber o-ring or seal on the end of these plastic fittings? Looks to be none on these at the sink.

Also, when water is running (cold only I think) there is a buzzing like a faulty check valve near all the plumbing at the fresh water electric pump / low point drains. What could that be?

There is an odd looking white valve - unlike any others - round knob with a short tab used to rotate it. Says Off and On. Can’t really get it to move. What would this be? Diameter of the knob is just under a half dollar, white PVC material. I’ll get a pic shortly. This is in the area the noise is coming from.

[gerg]

This is the seal that I believe was missing from the faucet lines. I happened to find this one on the floor late last night.



This is the weird valve I was talking about previously: