Chinook RV

Hello All!
Never owned a self contained and have never participated in a forum before so please bear with me.
Have been researching some travel vehicles and looking forward to the day of no more kids college payments and working multiple jobs, the time is here. Always been drawn to the Chinook and finally pulled the trigger! A 2002 Premier popped up locally “North East, just south of Boston”and I’m now the proud owner! What do I do now?! Seriously, it’s powered by the Triton V10 and I’m pretty Mechanically inclined but Some things are better left to the professionals, spark plug issues. The van has 57k and Im wondering should I have the mechanic just try and remove and replace plugs or should I just get it out of the way and have the aftermarket repair done regardless of weather there’s an issue getting the stock plugs out. I’ve heard both great things and horror stories about the triton motors. Any feedback at all will be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the rambling post,I’ll get better at this I promise. Thanks in advance!

Welcome Eleonard,

I have a 1998 Chinook Premier, with an earlier Triton V10. I saw reports on the spark plug concerns, and eliminated that concern, by preemptively having all 10 plug holes reinforced with threaded inserts by a trusted mechanic. I didn't want to be stranded with a blown out plug. He installed new plugs at that time, too. This was back in 2015, and cost me $700 then. Now I can worry about all things other than these spark plug holes.

Regards, Roly

Thanks Roly, appreciate the feedback. I believe that’s also the route I’ll take. One less thing to be concerned about I agree. Take care

Congratulations, your Chinook is a sweet RV and will give loads of fun. I was like you several years ago, but a tent camper only and in early 50's got sick of sleeping on ground and dealing with tents/tarps

My Chinook is a 2001 and had only 70k miles when purchased, however, I have done upgrades and repairs and all repairs really were worn type items or so old they should have been replaced. If I did by again I would look at replacing/upgrading some of the following items that failed at wrong time...all were inexpensive:

Propane regulator - inexpensive quick fix but mine cut off on trip.
Bathroom fan cover, broke on ride due to age, woke up to shower during rainstorm, good thing it was in wet bath. New cover $20 or so.
Dematic refrig recall plus added fan under rooftop vent- helped alot with cooling.
Tires - check date code, to repeat CHECK DATE CODE, I had blow out before doing this and was horrified at age, immediately replaced all 7.
Batteries - alot of electrical gremlins were tied to bad batteries, even though they worked bad cells caused issues. Replaced both house batteries
Now here is cheap improvement for me - I put on/off switch on negative cable to engine battery and another on house batteries to completely stop all parasitic draw when sitting for long. Parasitic draw from batteries was soooo annoying to deal with. Now not an issue.
Tire monitor for all tires gives big piece of mind.

Very important - Caulk and seal all areas on roof. I had a couple water leaks that could have been prevented if I only re-sealed roof when I got it.

Basic preventative maintenance on wear parts and other weak spots will prevents issues while traveling and bigger bills down the road.

BTW, if the Dometic fridge is on the recall list, the manufactor covers the parts and labor. You just need to bring it to the right shop, and they will do it for free.

Great advice! The dealer I purchased the vehicle from agreed to put 6 new tires on (11 years old)with an alignment and also is paying for a reputable local RV shop to fire up all the appliances and accessories for me and show me how it all works. If anything is not functional he will make necessary repairs. The battery isolation switch is a great idea, hadn’t considered that. Also resealing roof items! Any recommendations on a particular sealant? I can redirect these questions to another thread if need be, have been looking them all over, lots of great info!

Welcome to the club!

We were in a similar status and bought a similar unit. Can't over emphasize the importance of developing a relationship with a reputable RV shop. We had a great relationship with a automotive/tire shop but his expertise is primarily drive train and chassis related. So he fixed our exhaust manifold leak and services it, but the other dealer replaced the frig, installed the inverter, checked for leaks, etc.

Good luck and enjoy!

Eleonard,
I have used Dicor sealant successfully in the "easy" manner of simply cleaning an intended area and applying it. Elsewhere here Mr. Blue discusses the marine based method of removing stuff and bedding it in sealant, reinstalled. Lots of work, that, but effective. There are other brands of sealant googleable.

Roly