The middle of March I went to L.A. and bought the Barth that Jerry had on Ebay, the one that I had looked at when it was in Ohio. By the time we got the paperwork finished it was 4:30 Friday afternoon. I had drove it about a half of mile when I got on route I-605 and up to I-10. It started to rain about a hour later and rained all night . I came over to Quartzsite and parked at Loves fuel stop. Got up Saturday morning and was looking over the Barth when I heard a tap on the windshield. I .looked up and a man was wanting to know about the Barth. He was from up in Canada and just had to look it over..After looking around the famous Quartzsite I toured on across I 10 to Las Cruces N.M. and then up 70&54 to I-40 over to Tenn. Up I-65 to I-71 to I 70 to I-79 and home to Freedom Pa. The trip was almost 2900 miles and had no problems at all. The only thing I found was that the compartment doors leaked . I think it rained for 2400 of those miles so that didn’t help the situation. I have tightened the locks some and hope that helps.

Welcome back! Glad your trip was uneventfull!

From a guy whos engine blew 8 miles from the dealer I am dripping with envy and reliving YOUR your trip in my mind..

Ah yes, the famous or infamous first day. Picked it up in Prescott, AZ on a frosty morning. Heater worked great. Gassed up with a lot of fuel smell. Stink didn't disappear in 10 miles, as predicted by seller. Got into the warmer valley. Heater wouldn't shut off, and a/c didn't work. 7 miles from Yuma, speedo quit, & tach surged.

Hooked up to power, no sweat. Hooked up to water. It was running, but not out of the faucets. Frozen pipe ruptured under galley sink. If it happens again, I'll sell the rig.

That was the best day of the first month.

On my original post, I forgot to mention that I checked the holding tanks when I hooked up in Yuma. Both compartments were full to the brim with prickly husks from some kind of cactus fruit, maybe prickly pear, maybe something else. Also there were a lot of pits and dried up wild plums, or some such. The critters, fortunately, had evacuated, but those blasted husks had thorns that penetrated heavy leather gloves.

Continuing........Mine overheated on the way home from purchase. Big time. First hour was OK, then pegged the gage. I jury-rigged a fully locked up fan clutch, which sounded like a P47, and it still ran hot. Drained out antifreeze and put in Red Line Water Wetter. Still way hot. Stopped at the next auto parts store and bought their biggest tranny cooler. Still hot. Of course, there was no trans temp gage, but on a hunch, I eliminated the radiator trans heat exchanger, just using add-on cooler. Bingo, engine runs cool, but I was sure the trans was really hot. Stopped at next auto parts store and bought a trans temp gage and installation kit. Dropped pan and changed trans filter and fluid and installed temp bulb. Yup, tranny way hot. Stopped at next auto parts store and bought another tranny cooler with a fan on it. Tranny still hot, though, so bought a fan for the first cooler we bought.

We did a thorough search of the coach to see if Joe Btfsplk had stowed away and was traveling with us. Finally got home without a failure, checking over my shoulder for Joe's cloud. Pulled the stinky trans out and took it to my tranny guy, who was not there. I was only hoping that the case was not wiped, as the brake on back takes a different case from the common TH400. When he dropped it off, he said nothing. As I was writing the check, he said, "was the engine running a little hot?" I said yeah, and he told me the veeblefitzer (or something) had failed. I said, wisely, "Yeah, that'll do it." At the time, it made sense to me, but I have since forgotten exactly what it was. I have only rebuilt one TH400, so not too good a memory now.

You know those little maps people put on their RVs that show where they have been? I should have a map of our trip home with all the stops and purchases we made.

If there is anything to be learned here, it is A Trans Temp Gage is a GOOD THING.

Wow! You guys are making me feel very fortunate! I do have a lot to learn though. I didn't get much instruction from Jerry,he was sick and couldn't give me a walk through. He ended up in the hospital.I have talked to him since and he has told me a couple of things. One theng was a switch in some compartment to go from gen to shore power. Haven't found the switch yet. Guess I'll have to call him again.Another thing,on the controls above the door, the one turns on the water pump and the other one that says water ,I suppose that opens up the valve to fill the storage tank from city water hookup. Am I right?

Yes, on your control panel one switch powers the pump on your fresh water tank, and the other is an "auto fill" for topping your tank up.
Theoretically, the solenoid will shut off when the tank gets full. They ALL go bad.

You might want to save yourself the heartache and replace it now with a $8 manual valve and resign yourself to having manually fill and monitor your fresh tank..

On my Barth, the gen/shore switch is right adjacent to the circuit panel.

They are ALL different though.

If you ever get down into the Lancaster area, stop by and say hi.

I have never seen another Barth other than my own..

One switch on your panel is the water pump, usually marked "pump," one is the water tank gauge, usualy marked "water." The one to fill the tank from the city water hookup is called "autofill."

The autofill switches are unreliable. There are several threads about that here, and one is currently working in "Tech. Talk"

If you have a manual switch to go from gen. to shore power, it's usually in the generator compartment. On my '90 Regal, it switches automatically, & the unit that does it is under the couch with the rest of my 12v & ac circuit breakers. I don't trust it, however, so I never run the genny while hooked up to shore power.

My most recent SOB had an automatic switchover built into the converter. But it's best to read any manuals you have, & check out physically what you have. These are "custom" coaches, remember, & there are many differences between units.

Odd - my "autofill" works from the tank fill fitting (I haven't tried it from the service water connector).

Rusty, if I understand what you're saying, something's different, or not right in your rig. On the other hand, maybe I don't understand what you're saying.

The purpose of the autofill feature is to allow you to fill your water tank through the service water (city water) connection, without having to use a hose to fill the tank throught the manual filler outside. The way it's supposed to work is, when you're hooked up to city water, and turn on the autofill switch, the solenoid valve opens and water flows into your tank. When you turn the switch off, the valve closes and flow stops.

When the valve fails, it doesn't close when the power is switched off so water continues to flow into the tank.

If the autofill valve sticks open and your pump is switched on, the pump will run continuously pumping water out of the tank and right back in. If the valve merely leaks, the pump will burp until pressure builds up to shut it off, then burp again when the leak allows pressure to bleed off.

My autofill valve still works reasonably well. If I hear the pump running intermittently, I'll cycle the autofill switch several times to work the valve. Until now that has done the trick, & the valve seals. Some day that that will no longer work, & I'll replace the solenoid with a manual valve.

Every rig I ever had before the Barth, had a city water inlet to hook up to, and a separate fitting outside to fill the tank from a hose. The Barth is also set up that way, but it's the only one with the "autofill"feature, which is fine as long as the solenoid valve shuts off when when you turn the power off, & you don't forget to shut it off after you turn it on.

Interesting info not in the manuals, thanks! I never let the tank fill unattended. But the autofill LED flashes red (from green) as the tank gets nearly full, so I manually shut off the water.

A recalcitrant autofill valve can be tuned up by giving it a little vinegar while cycling it.


Mine sounded an alarm before it ran out the overflow.

How can you tell if the solenoid is turned off or on if you don't have water turned on? Should the rocker switch be in at the top or the bottom? Dumb question I no but i'd like to know.

All my rocker switches on the accessory panel turn on by pushing the top, and off by pushing the bottom. The light above them lights when they're on.

Another question, I know I read someplace about the problem with only getting 40 gal of fuel in a 60 gal tank. Can't seem to be able to find the fix now.My pickup holds almost as much as the Barth! Can't afford to fill either one anyway I guess.