# Water Leak At Rear Of 300Bh...



## golfduke (Mar 6, 2010)

Story-

Family and I went camping for the Memorial Day weekend this past weekend. We were running on water from the water tank and filling up with the hose as needed. Everything seemed to be okay with the exception that I knew we were using an abnormally large amount of water. Between myself, my wife, and 17 month old son, I had to fill the freshwater tank 3x in 2.5 days. I thought nothing of it at the time, and just carried on.

Come Yesterday afternoon, I am getting ready to dump my grey water and I notice a small set of drips coming from the outside of the sewer pipes between the insulating barrier and the pipes themselves. When I got under the camper to investigate, I noticed that there was a HUGE "balloon" of water above the black undercarriage insulating sheet. I pushed up on it and surely there was more than 30 gallons of water in there. Not a small leak at all. I am 100% sure it is fresh water. I also cannot see anything out of the ordinary inside the camper and all of the plumbing seems to work OK.

The other wierd thing- I never noticed the water pump kicking on more than normal, only when used. Is it possible that there is a gravity leak on a fresh water line somewhere near the bathroom? I only have had the camper for 3 weeks, so it is obviously a warranty issue, but I am just more curious as to what the heck it could be. It had my entire family stumped.


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

It is very possible that the fill pipe is loose and with that being the case it would not be noticed with the pump.

It is a two minute repair (most likely a loose hose clamp)but it could take an hour start to finish as it can be difficult to pull down the belly. and then put it back up. The good news is you only need to pull enough loose to get to the fresh water tank.


----------



## golfduke (Mar 6, 2010)

CamperAndy said:


> It is very possible that the fill pipe is loose and with that being the case it would not be noticed with the pump.
> 
> It is a two minute repair (most likely a loose hose clamp)but it could take an hour start to finish as it can be difficult to pull down the belly. and then put it back up. The good news is you only need to pull enough loose to get to the fresh water tank.


But the fill pipe and storage tank is all the way to the front of the TT, while the water pooling was at the way back. Is it possible that it just traveled to the rear of the camper and pooled there because that was the lowest point? I thought I was level, but I could be wrong I suppose.

If that's the case, should I just open it up and take a look to see if that's the case by myself. I'd hate to have to take a 2 hour trek to the dealer for a POS hose clamp needing to be tightened.


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Take the time and look at it yourself. Just taking a few screws out to look will only take 15 minutes. It is getting in there to tighten the clamp that takes all the time.


----------



## hottubwilly (May 3, 2008)

golfduke - I doubt yours is the same problem I had - see my post in this forum from today. I am interested to see what it turns out to be. Good luck.


----------



## rsm7 (Aug 8, 2009)

golfduke said:


> It is very possible that the fill pipe is loose and with that being the case it would not be noticed with the pump.
> 
> It is a two minute repair (most likely a loose hose clamp)but it could take an hour start to finish as it can be difficult to pull down the belly. and then put it back up. The good news is you only need to pull enough loose to get to the fresh water tank.


But the fill pipe and storage tank is all the way to the front of the TT, while the water pooling was at the way back. Is it possible that it just traveled to the rear of the camper and pooled there because that was the lowest point? I thought I was level, but I could be wrong I suppose.

If that's the case, should I just open it up and take a look to see if that's the case by myself. I'd hate to have to take a 2 hour trek to the dealer for a POS hose clamp needing to be tightened.
[/quote]

Golfduke whether the leak was at the front or the back the water would still pool at the lowest point, right? Sounds like you'll have to keep removing screws till you find it. As fast as you were going thru water it also sounds like a pretty big leak. Good luck and let us know.

Randy


----------



## ED_RN (Jun 25, 2006)

Had exactly the same problem with mine when it was new. When I lowered the nose water would pour out where the sewer drain goes thru the under belly. Dealer found both the fill and vent hoses loose. Haven't had the problem since. That wouln't explain the high water use though. If you decide to check it out yourself look to see if one of the screws that secure the unbderbelly have punctured the fresh water tank, others have reported that before.The otherthing thing is that if you fill the tank to fast water will come out of the vent before the tank is really full. If you think this could be part of the problem slow down the fill rate or shut off the flow when the water comes from the vent for about 30 seconds then slowly top it off. I can usully get a lot of water into the tank by slowing the rate after water first spews form the vent.


----------



## golfduke (Mar 6, 2010)

also... Our first camping trip we went on, we were hooked to city water and I did not notice a leak... Again, I could have missed it, but I cannot remember anything similar for the life of me. Looks like I'm tearing into it tonight.


----------



## golfduke (Mar 6, 2010)

well, damnit.

I started with the front of the weather guard and peeled away. No leaks that I could see. I filled the tank to full just like I'd done this past weekend and turned the pump on. Pump went off like normal and there are no leaks on the inside that I can find. I moved to the back of the camper and after tearing off the rear portion of the underbelly insulation, I noticed that on the door side edge of the insulation there is a small trickle of water... It seems to be coming from inside the insulating barrer though, and I can't find it's origination... Tomorrow I'm going to completely remove the insulator from the camper, which is a complete royal pain in the backside. I should just put it back together and drive it to the dealer, but I'm too far past the point of no return and am now annoyed at what ir could be.


----------



## hottubwilly (May 3, 2008)

golf I would make a warranty claim at this point, before you go any further and risk doing something that might void it. Can you tow it there in it's current condition?


----------



## ember (Jan 17, 2008)

I have to agree with hottubwilly on this one if you've got wet insulation it should be replaced, or you're gonna have mold, mildew and yuck for a long time, and in my opinion the stink of mildew will take the "NEW" out of you Outback in a quick hurry! Not to mention the health issues that can arise from it. You just paid in the vicinity of $30,000.00 for your Outback part of that is to cover defects!! My 2cents... well maybe a nickel but....


----------



## golfduke (Mar 6, 2010)

FOUND IT!

After racking my brain for 2 weeks on what was causing it, I found it last night. It wasn't a fresh water leak. It was an epoxied fitting failure on my rear grey water tank. Specifically, it was the 'out' Y-fitting right at the junction of the grey and black tank where the sewer empties, about 40% up from the bottom of the tank (which is why I couldn't reproduce the problem until the grey tank was half full). I JB welded it and pressure tested it today with success. Re-spray foamed everything and buttoned it all up.

Success!


----------



## CdnOutback (Apr 16, 2010)

Always good to hear about problems solved! Great to hear it and now its time to camp!


----------

