Anyone here? (1 Viewer)

[johngee]

Well, we've done it and after much deliberation have bought an Avantgarde 115 (badge engineered Elddis Autoquest 115).

We have had a couple of teething troubles involving the electrics which will be sorted soon, but otherwise everything works & there are no more faults than I would have expected.

Are there any other owners out there with top tips or horror stories?

 

[tarmacsurfer2000]

Don't let the water tank overflow with the lid unscrewed whilst filling it!... oh::shout: :Angry:....

 

[nicklb]

Write the height and width on a sticker inside your drivers visor, stops the "WILL IT" or "WONT IT" discussion

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[johngee]

Don't let the water tank overflow with the lid unscrewed whilst filling it!... oh::shout: :Angry:....

A chance would be a fine thing! It has a Whale autofill system.

At the handover, the tank was filled, no problem. When I attempted a refill, no luck. Having eliminated the basic schoolboy errors I might have made, I booked it in to my dealers.

Turns out that the wires from the sensor which protrudes from the tank had been rubbing against a chassis crossmember and eventually shorted out, so no power to the solenoid which opens the valve to allow water in, or to the contacts on the filler to allow an external pump to be used.

The dealer has rigged up a temporary solution until the warranty claim is processed, and then they will drop the tank & relocate the sensor so it doesn't happen again.

Humph!!

 

[tarmacsurfer2000]

Write the height and width on a sticker inside your drivers visor, stops the "WILL IT" or "WONT IT" discussion

Always a good idea...I have my contact numbers and customer numbers for the breakdown recovery on the same piece of paper... Also do the height in feet and metres for here and abroad ;-) ;-)

 

[New Rover]

I must be really thick here!
What happens if you overfill with water then?
Do you mean the fresh water tank or the toilet flush water?

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[johngee]

With my fresh water tank, the solenoid stops it being overfilled - well, it will do when it's fixed. The likely outcome of overfilling under pressure from the mains is presumably a blown joint or similar.

I assume that some tanks are also fillable from a hatch above the tank, and if the top is left off some you have some sort of indoor fountain?

 

[Peter S]

I must be really thick here!
What happens if you overfill with water then?
?

I would assume a Charlie dimock-esq water feature - best to be avoided

 

[New Rover]

It's just that I have overfilled my fresh water tank lots of times (usually use a watering can) and have never seen any problem with any overflow. It just overflows onto the ground under the van.
So where is the problem?

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[johngee]

Mine is only fillable with this socket, pump or mains connection

 

[New Rover]

I understand now.
I have a 2007 Autoquest 130 so no probs with overfilling.

 

[tarmacsurfer2000]

With my fresh water tank, the solenoid stops it being overfilled - well, it will do when it's fixed. The likely outcome of overfilling under pressure from the mains is presumably a blown joint or similar.

I assume that some tanks are also fillable from a hatch above the tank, and if the top is left off some you have some sort of indoor fountain?

Ours you have to remove the lid under the seat when filling from the outside, well this is what we were told...yes indoor swimming pool oh:oh:oh: I won't be leaving the lid off again!!! There is no pressure build up so I don't know why the sales bod told me to do this. Not naming names but the day we turned up to get our new toy the salesman stood and stared at t'other half and me and just said, you're not supposed to be here until next week. He was utterly convinced we had got the wrong day to pick up the van! WRONG! He had written the date on the deal sheet but had not put it on the sales office board for all who worked there to see... So it hadn't been cleaned or prepared...it did have it's MOT and had been serviced but as it had not been checked it turned out that the charger/power unit was faulty and needed replacing!!! oh well

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[johngee]

With ours, everything was tested before we picked it up, but the few initial miles on the road must shake things up a bit, hence a couple of minor electrical faults - although the water thing is really down to the factory putting the sensor in a bonkers place where it is bound to fail.

If no other faults are revealed as we start to use the van in earnest, I'll be happy.

 

[Autoquest]

We bought our 115 in early 2007. We viewed it at the time as a sort of starter home to see if we liked motorhoming - turns out we love it.... Over the years we have looked at a variety of other vans, fixed beds, rear lounge, big Hymers etc but we keep coming back to our little van It seems to be perfect.

We usually swivel the seats when we make up the beds and lie with our feet on them which makes the bed ginormous and very very comfortable.

We have made a few mods - That double shelf thing above the lower cupboard (just inside the door) has been removed and made way for a TV on a swivel arm, all TV comes from an external fold up satellite.

Our next mod is to replace the silly waste tap with a wide bore job and block up the fresh water tank overflow as we lose 30 litres in transit

let me know if you want any pictures.

How is the scuttle sealed?

 

[Douglas]

Mine is only fillable with this socket, pump or mains connection

Heard about them, can you fill using a container? IE bucket, watering can ect, ect.

Doug...

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[derekfaeberwick]

Our next mod is to replace the silly waste tap with a wide bore job and block up the fresh water tank overflow as we lose 30 litres in transit

QUOTE]

Be careful, try to block it only when under way if you must at all.

 

[johngee]

We have made a few mods - That double shelf thing above the lower cupboard (just inside the door) has been removed and made way for a TV on a swivel arm, all TV comes from an external fold up satellite.

Our next mod is to replace the silly waste tap with a wide bore job and block up the fresh water tank overflow as we lose 30 litres in transit

let me know if you want any pictures.

How is the scuttle sealed?

I've been thinking about a dedicated TV, but have made do with my laptop & TV card so far. Yes please - post your pictures!!

I'm pleased to say that my faulty water fill system has now been fixed, along with a rattle from the fire which was driving me nuts.

The scuttle is sealed with a shaped strip of tape across the width of the bottom of the windscreen - no water ingress to date, so if it isn't broken I don't intend to fix it.

 

[johngee]

Heard about them, can you fill using a container? IE bucket, watering can ect, ect.

Doug...

Nope!!!

The only way to use a bucket is in conjunction with the supplied 12v pump immersed in the bucket & attached to the socket on the van. If a supply from one source or another is connected, then it will automatically keep the tank topped up - handy when you only have 45 litres.

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[Hopesy]

Had ours for 2 years now and still love the van. We've taken out the partition boards in the overcab store and keep all our bedding in there. We've also recently found a foam roll on the bed makes for a good nights sleep. great van!:thumb:

 

[johngee]

Ours does not have the partitions in the overcab locker - it's just one open space. They must have stopped including those in the last year or so. Maybe saves a couple of ££'s!

 

[pappajohn]

I must be really thick here!
What happens if you overfill with water then?
Do you mean the fresh water tank or the toilet flush water?

nothing happens.....providing the large access bunk on top of the fresh tank is screwed down.
this is usually 6" or 7" diameter and the overflow pipe is 1/2".

doesnt take any working out where the excess water will exit the tank if the bung is off.

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