[Archived]

Welcome Lee, I’m sure some of the vintage guys will jump in here.

[Archived]

My first coach had no documentation relating to the converter’s wiring or systems. Back then (1990) we had no internet as we do today and I did not even know anyone else with a conversion.

So I sat in a cold barn each night after dinner in a snowmobile suit and a trouble light studying the coach. I wasn’t going anywhere for about 6 weeks after we bought the coach so until we were able to get on the road and get to a dealer who was going to provide some training I sat in the cold trying to figure out each system, how it was plumbed, how it was wired, and why it was built the way it was.

I made sketches and drawings. I went from the bays up into the house and opened panels upstairs so I could follow a wire or pipe or hose from where I could see it in the bays to where it went upstairs in the house. But I was lucky. The coach was almost new and it had only very limited owner made modifications so I was looking at things the way Liberty manufactured them. The few owner made modifications ended up being confusing and in the end I took them out because they were poorly done and caused a lot of grief. One example was the heater in the Racor fuel filter / water separator was wired direct to the house battery circuit #1. I could never figure why those batteries kept being depleted even with the master switches off. I also never figured out why the heater was to be on all the time.

My point however is on a coach lacking documentation start by looking at what you have and if there is any identifying marks like a manufacturer’s name or model number use Google to find out what it is and to print out any documentation such as an owner’s manual. But also chase the wires or hoses or whatever else might be hooked to the device to figure out what it does. On an older coach just be aware the older the coach the more likely some systems may have had owner made modifications (that make no sense) or some systems have been abandoned and the pieces are just sitting in the coach.

That vintage coach used electro-mechanical devices almost exclusively so unlike today’s coaches which have magic electrons running around doing things with no visible means, your coach very likely used parts from WW Grainger or the marine industry. You may have to take access panels out or you may have to play with switches to see what does what, but in the absence of documentation I don’t see much choice.

If it is any consolation at the time Executive coaches were highly regarded.