Regular maintenance is crucial to keep your RV and motorhome in optimal shape and extend its vehicle life.
RV maintenance also ensures your safety on the road!
Keeping your motorhome functioning ideally is going to save you money, while avoiding costly parts replacement.
But there’s more to RV maintenance than your routine septic tank cleanup and tire pressure checks!
In this guide, we’ll cover the essential maintenance work you need to pay close attention to, such as testing your brakes, inspecting your fuel system, and replacing your filters.
Check Your Brakes
Perform a standard check on your brakes and make adjustments as needed. This ensures that your motorhome’s braking system works optimally.
Going on a trip with reduced braking efficiency can be dangerous. In addition, RV braking systems require routine cleanup and lubrication. Using a VOC-compliant Chlorinated Brake Parts Cleaner will come in handy!
Serpentine Belt Maintenance
If you tend to get a belt squeal when you start your engine, this could be because cold temperatures and dew have affected the grip and shape of your engine’s serpentine belt.
Belt squeals and similar problems often occur on older belts, which usually calls for an immediate replacement.
However, belt squeal isn’t always caused by an old, damaged, worn-out belt. Sometimes the issue is due to a loose tensioner. In other cases, it is belt slippage. Your mechanic can determine the underlying cause if replacing the belt doesn’t fix the problem.
If slippage is the issue, products like Tite-Grip Belt Dressing can eliminate the problem! In addition, belt dressings can reduce the operating tension on the belt to eliminate slippage.
Roof Seals and Seams
Another essential RV maintenance step is to check the roof and seams of your RV or motorhome. Sealing your roof prevents any potential leaks coming from the air conditioning unit, skylights, vents, and/or roof edges.
During your sealant inspection, you may want to grab your Berryman B-21 Professional All Surface Cleaner & Degreaser spray to quickly and safely clean the surfaces of your vehicle. Whether it’s to get a better look at seams that have collected debris, or simply to shine up your rig, this product is safe to use on painted, plastic, rubber, and metal!
Electrical Motor and Other Electrical Components
Your RV’s electric motor provides power to many parts of your vehicle — essential for hydrocarbon propellants, stators, brushes, windings and armatures. Maintaining these electrical parts improves the vehicle life of your motorhome.
Our Berryman Electric Motor Cleaner is designed to help remove oil, grease and dirt that usually builds up in a vehicle’s electrical components. It’s fast-drying, formulated to leave no residue behind!
Prevent Salt Erosion Through Routine Washing
If you often travel along interstate roads, it is best to regularly wash your RV, to prevent salt erosion. Interstate highways and other streets get treated with salt to help melt the snow and ice. The salt used on roads can build up in your motorhome exterior and undercarriage, which can cause rust and corrosion. Regular washes and parts cleaning will be exceptionally helpful if you plan on going on winter trips.
Change Your RV’s Oil
The American Automobile Association (AAA) recommends oil changes every 5,000 to 7,500 miles when using modern lubricants. However, your RV is probably different.
Because recreational vehicles tend to stay in one place a lot — unlike your daily driver — the oil change schedules won’t look the same. Many motorhomes only need an annual oil change, usually during springtime.
Oil additive products like Berryman Engine Oil Extender can extend the life of engine oils. (By 50 percent!) They may also improve lubricant and fuel performance.
Battery and Motorhome Storage
Many owners aren’t using their RVs during the average work week. And if your motorhome stays parked and/or stored for weeks at a time, we recommend keeping your batteries in a clean and dry place.
Standard motorhomes have two types of batteries: one for starting your engine and the other for powering various electrical devices. It would be best to keep both batteries charged and clean, acknowledging proper water levels.
Improve Fuel Performance
RVs can consume a lot of fuel when they’re not properly maintained. In this light, vehicle owners must perform regular maintenance checks to improve fuel efficiency.
For instance, maintaining the appropriate tire pressure can improve fuel efficiency by three percent.
Topping off your vehicle’s oil levels, as needed, also improves engine performance.
Boost your vehicle’s fuel economy by changing out filters regularly. Check the owner’s manual to determine how often you should change the oil and air conditioner filters. A simple swap-out can boost your RV’s fuel efficiency by 10 percent!
If you’ve not had regular fuel system maintenance in some time, add B-12 Chemtool® Part 2616 to dissolve carbon deposits throughout your fuel system. This will maximize a one-tank clean-up of intake valves, fuel injectors, carburetors, and combustion chamber.
Related Chemtool® Question:
Will Part 0116 have any negative effects on my engine, being so much fuel is used in such a short period of time?
I have a Ford V-10 gas engine in my 2012 motorhome. I have 37,000 miles on if and change oil regularly. I’m planning a cross country trip of over 3,000 miles in 45 days and want to use your product on this trip to clean injectors, spark plugs and upper cylinders valves and piston surface. My engine runs about 7-8 mpg of fuel and I have a 80 gallon tank. By using as high of a rate of fuel as I do, will this have bad effects on the engine ?
Our answer: No, it will not have any negative effects. Berryman B-12 Chemtool Fuel System Cleaner (part #0116) is fully compatible with all modern fuel systems and their materials of construction when used at the recommended concentration of 1 oz/gal.
Prepare Your RV and Motorhome for the Next Road Trip
RVs are long-term investments, which is why owners need to inspect and maintain each working element of their ride. Extend vehicle life and ensure you get to enjoy the motorhome for many years to come! If you follow our maintenance tips and best practices, as well as use quality products, you can safeguard your investment.
Find more maintenance solutions by browsing our products gallery today!