Five caravan problems you can avoid

There are some situations you don’t want to be in as a caravan owner. Like being stranded on the side of the road with a van that won’t go any further unless it’s on the back of a flat-bed tow truck, for starters.

Just as bad is noticing water stains on the ceiling and a mouldy smell inside the van, or hitting the brakes, only to realise the van’s brakes aren't working.

However, there are some simple checks you can do that will help keep major trouble at bay – or at least give you time to do something about it before it becomes an expensive fix.

Here are five easy caravan checks that’ll help avoid big, pricey problems down the road.

Check wheel or bearing cap for excessive heat

Next time you pull up off the highway, brush the back of your hand over the wheel bearing cap (or over the face of the wheel if you’ve got alloy wheels fitted with plastic centre caps. If you’re running an old-school van with wheel covers, they’ll obviously have to come off to do this check.

If the metal surface feels too hot to touch, you may have wheel bearing or brake problems – either the bearings are tensioned too tight or are failing, or the brakes are binding.

If you do this regularly, you’ll get a sense for what the normal temperature feels like. If one wheel feels much hotter than the others, that’s a sure sign something’s up.

Using the back of your hand allows more skin surface area to contact the wheel and therefore it’s easier to gauge how hot it is. It’s also easier to pull back your hand if the wheel is really hot.

Check tyres for under-inflation

For a quick check for tyre under-inflation on the roadside, nothing beats putting your hand on the tyre to see if it’s running too hot. If the tyres feel hotter than normal, it’s time to whip out the tyre pressure gauge to see what’s going on.

Like checking for excessive wheel heat, it’s better if you do this check regularly so you know what ‘too hot’ feels like.

Check wheel nut tension

Nothing makes a holiday more exciting than a caravan wheel falling off as you drive down the road!

It’s up to you how often you check wheel nut tension, but AL-KO for example recommends a check every 100km for the first 400km after wheel removal or refitting, then every 5000km or six months after that.

Investing in a quality calibrated torque wrench is a good idea. The web is full of conflicting advice about how to torque the wheel nuts, but you can’t go wrong if you loosen the nuts slightly before torquing them up to the specified tension.

Check what your wheel manufacturer recommends, but as an example AL-KO 9/16 UNF studs require 140Nm of torque.

Check trailer plug pins

Trailer plug pins have a habit of closing up after being used for a while. When that happens, electrical contact between the trailer and vehicle can be lost, meaning that not only can you lose caravan lights but also the electric brakes.

Checking the pins every time you hook up to the tow vehicle is a bit excessive, but every month or so should cover it. If the pins are closing up, then get a knife or flat-blade screw driver and gently prise them apart. You don’t need to create much of a gap and the pins are made of brittle, die-cast metal so be gentle when opening them up.

Also, pull open the plug case and check for corrosion – rusted connections are a failure waiting to happen.

Check external sealant

Silastic (or the old-school mastic) sealant doesn’t last forever and when it lets go all that timber and ply inside gets wet. If it gets wet often enough, it’ll rot.

You’ll get the not-so-pleasant mould and the associated aroma pervading the van’s interior. Meranti timber frames don’t do so well after regular soaking either.

Check the sealant around the J-moulds and windows, as well as roof aerials and hatches. If the sealant is lifting or feels loose, you’ve found a source of water leaks – either now, or in the very near future.

If the sealant has peeled back a lot or is loose (and you can’t keep the area dry until you can attend to it) cover the affected area with cloth tape (but don’t leave it on for long, as it’ll leave a sticky residue that’ll take ages to clean up).

The affected section of sealant will need to be removed, the area cleaned thoroughly and new (non-acidic) sealant applied.