Hi guys! I'm new to the site.

About 6 months ago I purchased, for $2,200, a 1978 Cobra Monte Carlo. It has 45,000 miles on it, 30-feet Class A motorhome. I've been living in it ever since. But man, trying to get parts info on this orphaned vehicle is tough! Especially trying to locate parts that will fit.

I know that it has a Dodge m500 chassis, with a 440-3 engine and A727 automatic transmission. Planning to do a lot of fix-up work, as I love this motorhome and want to keep it working well, even if I'm low income.  Most of the online parts stores don't even mention an "m500", and of course they've never heard of a "Cobra Monte Carlo", so what do I tell them? I'm not talking about "house" parts here, like appliances and such, but chassis and engine parts, such as taillights, wiring harnesses, brake parts, and the like. How do I ensure, that if I order a part online, that it's going to fit my vehicle? Lots of these parts don't seem to be available locally.

Right now I have a project of fixing the windshield wipers for this motorhome. The wipers actually work ok until I switch the wipers off--then the wipers will just stop anywhere on the windshield rather than stopping only after reaching the bottom of its arc. The passenger side wiper is ok, only the driver's side wiper has this problem. I figure it's a bad motor or bad relay or both, or possibly corroded wires.

I assume there's two seperate motors, one for each blade since they both work independently and there's two wiper knobs on the dashboard (one for each blade). I further assume there's a wiper motor relay or two, somewhere, but where? The owner's manual that came with the motorhome didn't include the chassis manual and has no info on wiring diagrams and such.

How do I troubleshoot this? Money is scarce for me, so I don't want to be replacing parts at random that may not need replacing.

More importantly, how do I locate a replacement motor or wiper motor relay for this? Anyone know?

Thanks to all in advance!

--Boumboum34

most of these older motor homes were, built around a chassie bought from Dodge, a few chev's and a few fords basicly when the motor home manufacture got them they had a frame a steering wheel and some times a basic gauge speedo set up every thing else was best price there buyers could find.

so to answer your question about your wiper motor I would try to find an older parts man with hevey truck experance some times the builders would even buy from ford or chev heavy truck parts divisions your motor is proble still avalible
or even try a older diesel mechanic.
it could even be a peterbuilt or KW motor
look for # on the motor and some NAPAs have cross overs and if you find the right partsman they may even have some old echln books with refferance to the repair parts listings
I still have a sometimes bad habit of rebuildind my own GM alternators but parts are getting harder to get I keep the part# in my own book for referance
GOOD luck be persistant and you will find your source
this is good place to start HAVE HAPPY REBUILD

Try an automotive electrical repair shop if you can find one in your area. Ask Napa or a garage if they know of one. They may be able to repair it or get you the part.
I think there is a control on the wiper moter that tells it when to park. Mine has quit on my 84 class B Dodge and I am going to take it to be repaired tomorrow' I'll let you know tomorrow what they say. My guy is first rate and never seems to be stuck for the right answer.
Tail lights are mostly available from R.V.suppliers,brake parts are dodge.Ask at an R.V. center also they always seem to be willing to help. Of course they like to sell you the parts too.

Thanks guys! Let me know what the mechanic says about that wiper motor control.

I located the wiper motor. It's 30 years old so it's in pretty bad shape. Hard to read the parts number off it. I will be pulling the motor and taking it to a local auto electric shop here in Seattle for them to check out.

Wonder how to test it for proper "parking"?

I have a lot of other small projects (and some not so small) for the motorhome--but those are topics for other threads, I think!

The motor definitely isn't a Peterbilt or KW. I have one of those Chilton manuals for Dodge full-size vans (makes no mention of the m500 chassis though--still looking for a manual on that). The engine code number on the engine isn't where the manual states. lol. So I'm still looking for where that code is on the engine. But it's definitely a 440-3 gasoline V-8 engine built by Chrysler/Dodge.

the parking i have been told is done with contacts on some motors and relays on others your Idea of taking It to a elec. motor wiring shop is your best bet

Funny How these things are put together I was A dodge partsmanin the 80's and 90's and sometimes the chasing down parts, Example
Wiper motors, were a real challange The reason being was the chasse would be made one year and the motorhome it self, the body, would be made the next year so you may have a 1980 fleetwood with a 1978 chass rare but I have seen it in the seventys dodge had a heavy truck line and a lot of time the motor homes would use these parts now the differance between dodge heavy truck peterbult and KW parts (in the seventys) in a lot of cases nothing but the part number so don't sell your self short.

find an old timer and pick his brain good luck

this thread may help http://oldrv.com/Forum/tabid/133/forumid/2/postid/3288/view/topic/Default.aspx
as well as this website http://www.amequipment.com/index.html

BoumBoum34 Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.Took a while to get the work done on the van.
You got the answer I got.Have to see the motor set up to know what it is.I think you will find that all the parts will be made by the chassie maker.That way every thing fit and matched the engine/trans ect.
Here is a web sight that may help for parts http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/rvsalva
Your book only covers up one ton vans.Motor homes will have at least a 5 ton frame under them.I think they were called heavy commercial.
I'm just north of you,20 min. north of Blaine W.A. in B.C..Getting ready to full time it myself.Waiting for Soc. Sec. to kick in.God Bless fixed income living ,it's better than none.Steve

Thanks all for your help! It, um, helped! lol
Yeah, I've been noticing the van stuff doesn't quite match the 15,000-pound motorhome chassis I have.

Need to correct that URL you gave. It's actually:
http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/rvsalvage.htm

There's two good RV salvage yards here in Washington state, Gundies (ww.gundies.com) and Singleton's RV (www.singletonrv.com). Great places to go if you are searching for used/salvage parts.

I also found a great source for dodge motorhome manuals:
http://www.moparmanuals.com/mopar/main/home.asp
Sometimes a search on eBay.com or amazon.com will turn up the manual you need. I'm ordering mine when I get my next paycheck in January.

Moms Ruin: Howdy, neighbor! :) I'm on social security disability myself. Saving up money for rural land to buy and move to. B.C. is a great place! I have fond memories of visits there! :) My grandparents are Canadian. :)

BoumBoum34 Sorry about the URL. I checked it 3 times which makes it worse.I lived in the U.S. for 24 years and my son is still in N.H.If I move back I'll lose a lot of what I get here or I would live in W.A. myself.Yes everone should visit this coast at least once.
Did you repair your wiper motor?Steve.

I have to confess I have not yet replaced that wiper motor. It's proving to be really tough to get at. I can't access it from outside the way I can the wiper blades. They're not accessible through the engine compartment--wrong side of the firewall. Apparently I have to remove the dashboard for access, which in my motorhome is practically a sealed box, with the bottom closed off. So I can't even access it by crawling under the dash, and it appears to be one piece. Argh!

Thinking seriously of cutting a big hole out of the bottom just for access. The headlight switch needs replacing too and I can't access the back of the switch for the same reason--the dashhboard is a sealed box. Can't find the bolts fastening the dashboard either. Probably covered up by the vinyl covering.

Then we in the Pacific Northwest got hit by the Deep Freeze. Too cold! Won't be doing any more work on the motorhome until next month after it warms back up to normal.

Howdy again Can you send some pic's of your problem a general view of the dash and insturment cluster from the inside. Also a view from the front out side if it has a hood one with hood open and closed.
there are some tricks if learned over the years installing car stereos, I picked up to access some problem areas.

Yes, I plan to post some pics within a few days. Sorry about the delay. I figured the biggest snowstorm Seattle has had in 16 years, complete with a foot of snow and black ice everywhere, wasn't the ideal time for windshield wiper repair. Especially as the wiper blades were "glued" to the windshield by ice. Been an interesting winter, for sure!

Now I gotta figure out how to post pics on this forum. Hmmm....

Take your time, get it right the first time. we had some good snow here to over the holidays,
A friend asked me to beat our local Yamaha stores price for a snow plow for his ATV (Yamaha bruin).
So far I've beat their price By half and then some.
Ive had fun designing it! I'll post it some time soon on my companies web site.
if it's OK with the moderator, I'll post a link.
I'm here to help and get help not advertise.

Hi, just a note on your dash problem. I have a 1978 Southwind on a Dodge chassis and the dash top pulls open to expose all wiring, fuses, etc. Makes it nice to repair things. I don't recall if you can get to the wiper motor from there or not. I also have a question. How do you determine the chassis type of your M/H. I have been told it is a M-500, but don't know how to prove it. Hope this helps.  Jerry 

Most of the time if it doesn't have a van front end then it's considered an M-500  in some cases the length & weight also moves it into the M-500 class, this I think came in in the mid to late 80's.
A good rule of thumb is to check the tags and Title.
The tags, manufacture of both the chassis and the motor home( two separate tags). it should have both. most often they are by the entry door my Titan has one by the door chassis and one by the drivers seat MH manufacture
if you know a cool  Policeman, they have special officers, at least in the states if lived in who specialize in this, some states charge for this service, but getting back to the cool policeman he may have a budy in that department who can tell you.
 also a good dealer Parts man can tell you by the chassis #'s but there getting rarer to find if it ain't in the computer there's no commission so the won't go into the paper books.

camperjer:
I'm beginning to think that's the way it's supposed to work on my motorhome too. I notice the dash top is a seperate piece from the rest of the dashboard. I'm pretty sure the wiper motors would definitely be accessible from there. I have not yet been able to get it to budge. I suspect it's being held down by a latch or screws somewhere. Haven't located those yet. But that's a good tip you have! Thanks!

reinovator:
It's definitely an m-500 chassis. I was able to find this out by 1) it's printed on the original 1978 sales reciept when the first owner bought it new, and 2) it's printed on a label that in my motorhome is located inside the closet door. The house electrical circuit breaker/fuse stuff is inside the closet, too. Lot of useful info on that label, from engine type to transmission type to tires and suspension (i.e. what springs were used and how much the motorhome weighs).

I still need to post those dashboard pics.

HELLO ALL -Saw this company as I was cruising the net and since we all need them I thought I'd put it on
They have M300-M600 Dodge brake parts as well as most others.Not sure what the prices are like.
Hope everyone is wintering well.
Steve.
Alretta Truck Parts Inc.
Framingham Mass.
[brakeparts@mac.com]

I am a contractor and have several service vehicles for my business, two of which are grumman olson step vans
parts to include all sorts of wiper options are still readily available at walkinvans.com
it is a site that every rv owner should know about, like a motorhome step vans are made on every chassis and the configurations are limitless, looking for brakes, cables, anything you will be amazed

Hay thanks for the Info They even Have electrical Pig tails.Hard to find in the middle of no where