Drip from Broadway fresh water tank

The freshwater tank on my 2010 Broadway has started to drip. In the middle of the tank, underneath, is a large red "stopper" about 8" in diameter. It looks as if it might have loosened a little and started to drip. Does anyone know about this stopper? Is it threaded? Is it sealed? Can it just be taken off, cleaned up and re-tightened? ... or would that be too simple? Any advice welcome.

It's pretty-well a current model. Any 'bung' that size would certainly need to be threaded and have a gasket seal. AS will certainly know - give them a call just to make sure. It's in their own interests to get it right.

If its only about 2 years old, is it not still under warranty?

petern

Thanks for your replies. In my experience the warranty covers nothing useful, especially in the third year, and in any case it's a 90 mile round trip to the dealer, so I avoid this whenever possible. I just thought that if it is just something needing tightening I should be able to do it myself.

Hi China,
These caps are common on many models ours included, though ours is a black cap, they do screw off, normal right hand thread and are sealed with a plastic seal I would suggest you remove it and see what is causing the leak but do it at arms length as even with the tank empty via the tap you will find there is still quite a bit of water inside. Best way is to wind it down several turns until it reallly leaks and leave it untill it stops dripping then remove it at arms length. There may be one on the grey tank as well, and I always remove this one after every trip as the waste water retained therein will smell if you dont drain as much as possible. Motorhome drains do not have water traps to keep smells down like your home sink.

Brian2

Hi ChinaEx... Our Nuevo has the red cap on the base of our fresh water tank as well.... according to Mark at Auto-Sleepers these should be sealed with a special sealant, not sure what as he didn't say but I wonder if it's something like CT1? I suspect any water / food grade silicone could be used, otherwise if I were you I'd give him a call... We had a drip on ours and the service centre guys removed the cap, cleaned up the gunk that was around the seal and resealed it... we were instructed not to fill it with water for 2-3 days until the sealant had cured and it's been fine since.

CC

Thanks Guys. This is really helpful. I know what to do now.

The latest caps must be different to our older model, another step backwards by the look of it.

Brian2

I know its a long time since my original post in September, but I finally got round to having a go at sorting this out yesterday. Taking off the cap was easy. The cap was black plastic, about 8" across and it was held on by a red plastic ring which was threaded as described by Murph. It came off easily and there was no seal as far as I could see. I cleaned it all up and put it back and filled it with water.
Unfortunately it didn't sort out the problem! So today, it was back under the van to take another look. What I found was that it wasn't the cap that was leaking but the thing that the cap fits onto. As far as I could see there is a "structure" that is screwed onto the tank with eight or nine small screws. The big cap and its threaded collar screw onto this "structure". The "structure" appears to have a rubber seal (or could it be well fitted sealant?) around its edge (and between the "structure" and the tank?). The water is leaking from around this seal. At this point I decided not to do any more until I understand how it all fits together.
So, does anyone know how it all fits together or where I can find a diagram? Does anyone know who makes these tanks? As always, any help would be appreciated.

China Explorer

This is quite a common problem. As you say the "structure" (Threaded Boss) is held in place by the stainless steel screws that you can see although I have yet to see one with a rubber seal (Which due to the flexibility/thickness of the tank would'nt work anyway). The "Rubber Seal" is in actual fact a flexible adhesive sealant (Silicone won't hold for long)

If you remove the screws the boss will probably peel away from the tank after which thourougly clean both mating surfaces, reapply a thick coating of sealant all over the mating surface of the boss and screw back into place. When you tighten the screws do not allow them to squeeze all the sealant out: tighten only enough to leave a filler of sealant about 1/8 thick. Wipe the surplus sealant that squeezed out around the outside of the boss (In a similar way to sealing around a domestic bath) and do the same where it squeezes into the opening. Loosly fit the cap to ensure the boss isnt twisted and leave well alone for a couple of days after which tighten the cap and test - Simples

Thanks for your support and advice, I completed this job yesterday and so far it hasn't leaked a drop. Fat Albert's advice was good and the only thing I would add is that cleaning up the flange is not an easy job. The black rubber type gunge that was used is quite difficult to get off and it was so firmly stuck to the plastic that it was difficult to get off without cutting the plastic. I think that was probably why Marquis quoted for replacing the whole flange and cap. It took me the best part of an hour to get it into a usable state but otherwise everything was straight forward and I saved about £100!