Need some advise on air leaking from front vacuum regulator valve. Looked up part and it is a discontinued part. I know it needs a long term fix but I am looking for a quick short term fix for the holiday weekend, a short trip. I understand this is for the cruise or something. I only need to make sure the brakes and levelers work. The rest can be fixed after the holidays.

Always something when you have plans.

Any advise would be welcome.

Thanks!!
Joetoy2
1993 30'Breakaway

Hi Joe, to answer your question directly, the air leak you refer to at the front of your Breakaway can be caused by 2 things. A defective vacuum generator or a vacuum leak in your HVAC system. It is normal to hear a periodic hiss, but if it is constant then there is a problem with the above mentioned.

Either way it will NOT cause any other problem other than not being able to select heat defrost or cooling from the dash controls. It will have no effect on any other system in the RV.

You will notice that the air pump will be cycling often but again it will not effect the braking system at all.

You have 2 vacuum generators on the Breakaway. The one in front delivers vacuum to thee HVAC system and the one in back mounted just off the frame on the passenger's side by the engine provides vacuum for the cruise control. That is all.

Have a safe trip nothing to worry about and review what others have done and decide the route you will take.

HTH

Thanks Ed, I appreciate your advise and knowledge. I hope you have a chance to enjoy the long weekend also.

Joe
93 30'Breakaway

Thanks everyone! Had a great holiday weekend, hope everyone did also. My question is could my problem be the big black ball and not the vacuum regulator as they have been discontinued. Just looking for another explanation if there is one. Trying to eliminate the hard work if possible.

Joe
"93" 30' Breakaway

Great to hear you had FUN!

Not likely it is the "black ball" It very well could be the tubing from the vacuum generator to the "black ball" or the tubing from the "black Ball" to the dash HVAC unit.

Do not try to block the port where the air is coming out. if you do it will blow off the tube from the air supply. It is supposed to blow out there until the vacuum is built up in the system.

You can check easily if it is a vacuum leak by pinching off the vacuum line from the vacuum generator to the black ball. if it stops hissing, the the generator is probably OK and you do have a vacuum leak elsewhere. If it does not stop hissing, then the generator is defective.

If the hissing stops with the above test, then keep moving down the system from the black ball to the dash HVAC unit, pinching off the tubing as you go along. Try various settings on the dash HVAC unit to see if is some actuator in the dash HVAC that may have a leak.

Make sure you have FULL air pressure before you test and keep the air pressure as high as you can during any tests. if you let the air pressure drop, the vacuum can not reach its level and the generator will keep hissing until the air pressure reaches about 60 lbs. with low air pressure, it can not reach the regulated vacuum level so therefore the generator will keeping hissing and using air.

I have replaced my vacuum generators as you have found out they are NLA. I went with an electrical motor driven vacuum pump. I also replaced my cruise control unit so it does not use vacuum so no need for the air pressure driven vacuum generator.

If you would like to talk, send me a PM and we can exchange phone numbers, I would be happy to walk you thru it.

I think Ed and I used the same electric vacuum pump (for Volvo); IIRC, his failed and was replaced with a different one:

From SCSFrigette: Vacuum Pump 030-00043