AnthonyNYC
West Islip, NY
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I need help. I'm about 4 hours away from home and at Old Mills Campground next to Dutch Wonderland and my black tank will not drain. I just bought the trailer used and all works well but I could not check the black tank before buying.
It's a 2004 Coleman micro lite. The entire of the bottom of the trailer is sealed. The valves do not seem smooth when I pull them, there is tension but I can't explain it but they don't feel smooth.
There is a threaded rod with a locking nut that holds the valve in place. In my old trailer I was able to visually see the valves. This trailer the valves are enclosed by a plastic housing that is screwed into the bottom of the trailer.
I need to drain this tank. I was thinking of dropping the plastic housing and try it figure out how the handles work. Does anyone have an idea if the handles connect to something else before pulling the valves?
From your experience do you think it's a bad linkage or the actual valve?
Thanks in advance!
Anthony
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Mafman
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Sounds like a crappy problem. You will definitely have to get the housing off those valves and see what's what. How is the grey water acting?
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fordsooperdooty
Southern California
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It will likely be something like this...
Possibly a crimp or bend in the pull/push cable. Or it may just need a spray of lube.
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RTrider
London, Ontario, Canada
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Instead of taking down a whole panel, why not cut an access hole.
Perhaps start with a small one so you can see in and locate the specific location, then a larger one at the proper location for access.
When I did mine, I cut a 'U' shaped hole and bent back the plastic. The bent side was forward so that it would put less stress from wind on the reseal when underway. I resealed the hole with eternabond.
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jjwms
Nampa, ID
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Are you sure the tank is not dumping? I assume you have a clear adapter between the trailer outlet and sewer hose that lets you see flow or you have some way to be sure there is nothing coming out when you pull the valve control. If so, there is a chance that the pull handle has come loose from the valve because so many guys yank hard on them thinking that will make it open faster and flow better. Not so! Instead it makes it possible for the connection to come loose. The only way to fix that is to take the shielding loose on the bottom of your trailer and reconnect or in worse case replace the valve. If the latter leave the shielding off the trailer and take it to a dump where you can manually open and dump it before you begin replacing a valve. Frankly, when this happened to me I took it to a RV repair shop, told them what was wrong and paid them to fix it. Cleaning up that kind of mess is worth paying someone else to do.
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BradinOhio
Akron, Ohio
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Are you sure the tank is full? Tank level gauges are notorious for not reading correctly. Have you looked down toilet to verify tank level is full? If so, then it sounds like it's time to make yourself an access hole, or drop the underbelly cover. Good luck!
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philhoey
Central MD
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Sounds like you had the same situation I had when I purchased my first TT, which was used. When I went to pick it up and did a walk through and asked "Did you drain the tanks?" Oh, yes sir, we drained and flushed all the tanks. On this model you could look directly into the black tank with the flapper open. Had a handy flash light - shown it down into the tank - it was 3/4 full!!! The 'stuff' was in there so long it had hardened. I gave the salesman 30 minutes to drain it or I walked.
Come to find out the pull rod (solid rod - not a cable) on the drain was bent and would not open.
The dealer maintenance crew was not too happy about fixing that issue.
Point of the long story - the pull rod may be bent just enough to prevent it from opening.
p.s. I never went to that dealer again. Later I found out that a weld on the frame was cracked. Had it for years with no obvious problems while towing
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JRS & B
Florida/Michigan
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There is almost a zero chance that this is your problem, but I offer it up only because it did, in fact, happen to someone camping right next door to me at night (really dark).
His black water tank would not drain, and a family of five or six people was using the facilities all week in his new/used trailer.
It turns out he was not told he had three valves, Gray (shower), Black and also Gray(Galley). And wouldn't you know, the black water valve was located further under the trailer than the gray water valves. So it was not easy to see in the dark at all.
So he kept opening and closing and back flushing the gray water system when he thought he was dumping the black water. He didn't notice the third valve until someone loaned him a really bright lantern and then it was like, holy $hit.
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AnthonyNYC
West Islip, NY
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Thanks for all the help. Tank is definitely full, I checked by looking down the toilet bowl and also the gauge. I did make some progress. I removed the t handles and with 4 screws removed the cover. That opened up more room but the valves are located at the center of the trailer and the entire bottom is covered by thick sheet metal, not the type you can cut with metal shears. I'm a little embarrassed so I'm working now while everyone is sleeping.
I also tried accessing the area from the bottom area of the bunk beds but no access there either. I'm gonna toy with it some more but it looks like I might have to cut this trip short or make sure no one eats lol.
Thanks again for all the help and if you have any more ideas let me know!
Anthony
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AnthonyNYC
West Islip, NY
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One last update, I have access to the valve but it looks completely sealed. I was hoping there was a way to pull the valve manually without the cable. Is that possible?
Thanks,
Anthony.
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