Mimi & Poppi
10-20-2014, 08:53 AM
Just 15 min...that is what they will tell you (they lie)...We have a 2013 Cougar XLite 29RET that needed a Black Water Valve replacement. It was replaced one time by the dealer...still leaked.
We climbed under the coach, pulled back the already cut underbelly covering (the dealer cut it on the last valve replacement) and commenced the 15 min job. The valve is not in the easiest place to work. We loosened all 4 bolts, removed them and proceeded to 'yank' the valve out of the slot. The valve seals were in backwards and folded thus the problem with leakage from the black water tank. Once you remove the valve the 2 pipes on either side of the space where the valve is to be reinserted spring towards each other...thus creating a itty bitty living space for the new valve. It was like putting 2 ton of fertilizer in a 1 ton truck. We pulled and tugged for about an hour before finally crawling out from under the coach to 'rest and think' about the problem...There was NO WAY that valve was going to go into that slot between those 2 pipes...without the rubber gaskets crinkling or folding - which would be just the same as we had previously, and would not solve the leak!! So....after a trip to Home Depot we ended up cutting the tube on the longer side and removing about an 1" of tubing. We inserted the valve easily and bolted it in...with gaskets in place. Pretty darn proud of ourselves at this point....but alas we still have a 1 inch gap between the valve side of the tube and the tube heading to the disposal side....we inserted a thick rubber sleeve (found by the PVC piping) like a rubber band and snapped it over both ends of the cut tubing. We clamped each side down with tube clamps...and wah lah! We have a winner! Now if/when our blackwater valve fails (which they are prone to do I hear), we can back off the clamps, remove the rubber sleeve (buy a new one) and change the valve with some ease....3 hours later on our 15 min job....we have our potty back!!! Woo Hoo!!
We climbed under the coach, pulled back the already cut underbelly covering (the dealer cut it on the last valve replacement) and commenced the 15 min job. The valve is not in the easiest place to work. We loosened all 4 bolts, removed them and proceeded to 'yank' the valve out of the slot. The valve seals were in backwards and folded thus the problem with leakage from the black water tank. Once you remove the valve the 2 pipes on either side of the space where the valve is to be reinserted spring towards each other...thus creating a itty bitty living space for the new valve. It was like putting 2 ton of fertilizer in a 1 ton truck. We pulled and tugged for about an hour before finally crawling out from under the coach to 'rest and think' about the problem...There was NO WAY that valve was going to go into that slot between those 2 pipes...without the rubber gaskets crinkling or folding - which would be just the same as we had previously, and would not solve the leak!! So....after a trip to Home Depot we ended up cutting the tube on the longer side and removing about an 1" of tubing. We inserted the valve easily and bolted it in...with gaskets in place. Pretty darn proud of ourselves at this point....but alas we still have a 1 inch gap between the valve side of the tube and the tube heading to the disposal side....we inserted a thick rubber sleeve (found by the PVC piping) like a rubber band and snapped it over both ends of the cut tubing. We clamped each side down with tube clamps...and wah lah! We have a winner! Now if/when our blackwater valve fails (which they are prone to do I hear), we can back off the clamps, remove the rubber sleeve (buy a new one) and change the valve with some ease....3 hours later on our 15 min job....we have our potty back!!! Woo Hoo!!