It was 6:30 a.m and as I looked out the window, I seen smoke coming from my neighbors F150 pickup. I go out to see whats going on and the other neighbor is raising the hood and there are flames under the hood and inside the drivers compartment.
The truck had been parked in the drive for a few days, why would it all the sudden burst into flames?
There is a switch mounted on the front of the brake master cylinder that has power on it all the time. This switch has a history of shorting out internally. When it does, it melts the wiring and starts the fire that we noticed that early morning. Can you imagine this happening to your motor home?
Ford has issued a massive recall for almost every Ford product produced between 1994 and 2004 that has cruise control. Write your VIN # down and stop by any Ford dealer to see if your Ford product is part of this recall.
Its been 8 years since the recall and I never heard of it. I bought my Mirada used a year ago, so figured I’d better check to see what the recall was and if my F53 was part of it. I wrote the VIN number down and stopped by my Ford dealer one day at lunch time.
My F53 chassis was part of the recall.
My local Ford dealer, although they aren’t set up to work on motor homes, were kind enough to do the recall in the parking lot. It took the Service manager longer to fill out the warranty paperwork than it did for the technician to install the recall wire harness. They unplug the connector from the brake switch on the front of the master cylinder and plug it into a special wire harness that’s part of the recall. The other end of the harness then plugs into the switch. The special harness has a couple fuses in it. That way if the switch shorts out, it blows the fuse instead of starting a fire.
If the recall has been complied with, the wire harness will be real obvious, it will have a blue tag on it that tells you not to replace the fuse.
IMPORTANT REMINDER – If you have a Ford vehicle manufactured beteween 1994 and 2004 – stop by your local Ford dealer and have them run the VIN number for you. It could save you from a total destruction of your ford vehicle.
Just bought the same year and model as yours yesterday, already love it. Thanks for your site, very helpful already and I appreciate the recall info, I will get that checked out immediately.
2 questions:
1. Have you considered adding an additional deep cycle battery?
2. After driving the coach 430 miles home (1st coach) I was a bit surprised about the rougher than expected ride. Hitting some bumps in SC made me appreciate NCDOT diligence on road maintenance. It is a truck, so I guess it is “normal”. I know it is impossible for you to diagnose what is “normal” for our rig but is it fair to say that a truck ride is normal?
Thank you, Walt
1) My coach battery is under the hood on the drivers side. I need to re-locate it or do something if I’m going to add another battery or two.
2) Ride is a little rough. Do two things:
a) do the CHF if it hasn’t been done yet. This improves handling significantly.
b) Weigh you coach and reduce the air pressure in the tires accordingly. My sticker say 100psi, but when I weighed and looked up the pressure / tire table, I reduced all 6 tires to 75psi.
john
Thank you John, read the CHF article, great stuff, will do. Thanks for the tire pressure tip as well sir!
Hi, Kahoona from RV2. I found 2 decent sized pieces of angle iron and bolted them across the frame members in front of and below the radiator just far enough apart ti support a battery. I managed to fit three more golf cart batteries there which makes 4 when including the one in the original spot. I now have about 750AH of power. The original charger was made for a single battery so charging takes a while. I have solar panels and am adding more (total 400w) to improve the charging. That project is about to be added to IRV2 when I finish.
About that rough ride. The F 53 chassis is made for a wide variety of RV’s and since the Mirada is one of the lightest the front springs are too stiff for the weight. Not a lot to do about it except as mentioned use the right pressure for the tires and weight and store as much heavy stuff up front as you can. Those heavy batteries out in front of the radiator do help!.
The other thing that you can do is an old time trick made easier by technology. Get a can of spray grease and soak down those leaf springs particularly near front and rear and where the shackles are. They bind. If you don’t believe it try driving for a while then spraying. Old tech, old answer. Make sure that the suspension is properly greased too.
Get the softest type of shocks also. It all helps.
Great info Kahoona, sounds like a great setup, hope it works out well for you! I have found out quality angle iron can cost pretty good, but I know it’s necessary. If you ever take any pics I would love to see your setup.
I have come to realize that I should most likely change out ny single stage converter, looking at Progressive Dynamics (PD9245CV) 45 Amp Power Converter first then spend the money on new batteries. Thanks again Kahoona!