Yesterday I finished a ~1,500 mile round trip to the Kisatchie Star Party (KSP), about 70 miles NW of Alexandria, LA, buried in a National Forest.

Before I left, the dash heater valve cable outer sheath had pulled loose from the base; a bit of J-B Weld brought it under control, but the heat stayed on...time for a new valve.

When I got to the KSP, the vacuum pump and air compressor (the former for the dash vent doors, the latter for the air horns) were dead. There being not much observing during the day, I decided to change the circuitry for both pumps by installing a relay and powering them on a shorter route directly to the engine battery instead of from the dash. That went smoothly.

However, I discovered, wallowing underneath StaRV II, that the muffler was a "goner". The intake collar had partially rusted out, and had come loose from the elbow. The discharge collar had separated entirely, and the tailpipe was a mere passenger. The heat from the exhaust had caused the rear (FRP) bumper to warp from expansion.

Being in the boonies, I elected to sacrifice a section of the quasi-genturi stack, each section being double-wall gas hot water heater metal duct. A piece was cut to insert into the hole in the muffler on one end and the elbow in the tailpipe on the other. Stupidly, I put the cut end into the muffler and the crimped end (which holds the inner tube) into the tailpipe. Some RTV blue and some aluminum tape completed the work.

I left Kisatchie Sunday morning 3/9 for a layover in Gulfport, MS. Inspection showed all was intact, but I used the half-tubes of J-B Weld I had on hand to seal the muffler ends of the aluminum tape wrap. On my way out of Gulfport, I stopped at Wal-Mart, and bought, among other things, more J-B Weld Quickset, some fiberglass cloth, safety wire, and vinyl gloves.

About 130 miles from Gulfport, I stopped for fuel, and discovered there were still some leaks around the joint, so I redid the joint with J-B Weld and fiberglass, using the gloves to squish the J-B into the fiberglass. Departing there after allowing the epoxy to cure, the turbo didn't want to got above 5 psi boost (full-throttle gets 15 psi, usually), and EGT wanted to climb farther than I expected.

About 150 miles later, I stopped at a rest stop, and discovered there was virtually NO flow from the tailpipe, and that part of the fiberglass collar had blown off, where now the exhaust exited. I still had the stub from the Genturi vent pipe; the inner tube was loose. Although I already suspected it, a magnet confirmed the inner tube was aluminum. These factors led me to remove the insert tube for inspection; sure enough, the aluminum inner tube had collapsed, nearly blocking the exhaust.

So I removed the the now-messy inner tube, and fashioned from the stub piece of aluminum a clamp to enclose the joint where the insert was. Still a bit of a leak from the collar, so a wadded-up piece of aluminum foil was wired over the leak area. Tight.

The remainder of the trip (150 miles) was uneventful. so here I is. Spartan shipped the new muffler today, ~$134 plus shipping. Be here Friday.

ive been lucky other then a dead battery on parris island picking my daughter up in oct. shes a fresh marine!fresh marine! mostly all my problems have been simple (generator).. other than the continue coach battery drain !!! but getting thier and back has always been my no.1 priority .. if anyone breaks down close to me in middle tennessee..call and ill do what i can tks.. robert,,

Rusty, I thought those DP's were supposed to just go down the road with no problems! Maybe I'll stick with the old gasser a little longer. Actually, I have no choice! Glad you made it home OK, hope you didn't use the crew for handy wipes!
Robert & Kimberly, If I understand correctly your daughter is now a MARINE! No matter the opinions of the current situation, I'll be the first to say to her; Our thoughts, our thanks, our best wishes, and of course our prayers, are with you and your fellow servicemen and women.

Thaks, Robert! Carl Flack saved the day last July(I was on the way to his place, anyway) when the roof A/C quit (the engine A/C had quit earlier in the trip). The cause was broken ribbon cables from the control board to the relay box, and with his soldering iron (much better than mine), I redid the joint and was on my way.

I put more-than-average miles on my motorhomes - never less than 10K/year, usually, around 12-13K. I've put 26K on StaRV II since I bought it January '06. So things need attention more often.

The heater control valve seems to be an adjustment issue, and I found the J-B Weld didn't hold the control cable's outer sheath, so this time I've tried cyanoacrylate glue ("super Glue") and a wire wrap to secure it to the yoke at the controls.

The only thing I didn't have with me at KSP was a hacksaw for trimming the tube, but one of my friends had one. One goes into StaRV II forthwith. Otherwise, I would have had to file a notch and use the tin snips.

Since I frequent out-of-the-way places, I tend to carry lots of spares and supplies.

I used paper towels for cleanup; Casey offered to help, but he couldn't get a good grip on the wrenches, not having an opposable thumb...

With the new muffler in hand and a mandrel-bent elbow, tomorrow the new muffler goes in, and StaRV II overcomes its VOR status.

OT: The elbow not having arrived until this afternoon, I spent the morning tracking down a tranny leak in my ancient Ford E350 diesel van. The culprit was the dipstick tube, and replacing the O-ring from my stock seems to have eliminated the issue (finally - there were two leaks, one of which I had fixed several months ago - shifter shaft - but ATF continued to populate the driveway.)

Have I mentioned: "It's always SOMETHING!" - Roseanna Roseanna Danna (Gilda Ratner, SNL)...

CHORUS: "It's always SOMETHING!"

StaRV II's transmission is now sitting on the rebuilder's workbench; coming back from the Mid South Star Gaze, about 100 miles from home, it wouldn't upshift into OD. Computer threw a "bad pressure switch" code, but when the tranny was drained, there were a few aluminum chips and metal fines in the oil. A one-word (when condensed) explanation is: Double A, Em, See, Oh...

At least the local rebuilder is very thorough (I've watched him in action) and uses only HD parts...the long-pickup tube filters arrived today (I have an extra-capacity Mag-Hytec pan), will take to the rebuilder tomorrow, and probably have the coach back NLT Friday.

Do you have the 4L80E? Or a version thereof? I'm sure your mechanic knows this but make sure that the mechanic checks the valve boy assembly where all the oil passages are for any walls that have been broken. I have had three 4L80E go bad this way, they were all early transmissions and there are a number of upgrades that can/should be done while rebuilding.