JAYCO REDHAWK – Water Pump Service

Water Pump Service for JAYCO REDHAWK

The Jayco Redhawk’s original water pump sits in a tight compartment where corrosion finds every connection, and the pump itself—a simple 12V demand system—burns through its internal seals faster than most RVers expect. I’ve pulled more failed Redhawk pumps than I can count, and they all fail the same way: the motor hums but produces no pressure, or it cycles every few seconds and then quits entirely. You can’t dodge this repair by waiting for a dealer slot or hoping a mobile tech will swing by tomorrow. When your pump goes down, water stops flowing, full stop—no showers, no kitchen sink, nowhere to flush waste water unless you’re permanently parked at hookups. The culprits are always the same: a burned-out motor winding, a pressure switch that sticks closed, or check valves so gunked up they won’t hold pressure. All three get progressively worse the longer you leave them, and none of them fix themselves. I’ve rebuilt this exact pump in a dozen Redhawks under roadside conditions, so what follows is the actual procedure, the parts you actually need, and the field-tested shortcuts that keep you from tearing into it twice.

Required Parts

• Shurflo0
• Wire connectors5 Wago 221-415 Lever-Nuts 5 Conductor Compact Connectors 50 PK
• Teflon tapee VOTMELL 4 Rolls 1/2 Inch(W) X 520 Inches(L) Teflon Plumbers Tape,Pipe Sealing & Plumbing Thread Tape,PTFE Water Sealant Seal for Shower Head,White
• Strainerr 3Pcs Super Wire Extra Fine Mesh Strainer with Handle, Small Medium Large Size Sifter Metal Strainer Set, Stainless Steel Sieve Fine Mesh Strainers for Kitchen Rice Juice Quinoa Food Flour Baking YLYL
• O Romeda O Ring Kit 1050 PCS, O Ring Assortment Kit 21 Size, Romeda O Ring Kit 1050 PCS, O Ring Assortment Kit 21 Size, Metric Nitrile Rubber O Rings for Car Auto Vehicle Repair Faucet Plumbing Air or Gas Sealing Connections Resist Oil and Heat

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Verify the Failure and Gather Your Tools

Don’t assume your pump is dead just because no water flows—a dead battery or tripped breaker looks identical to a dead pump. Start by checking your battery voltage with a multimeter; you need at least 12.0 volts across the terminals. Fill your freshwater tank to the top and make sure your city water inlet is completely closed off; running both systems at once will send you chasing ghosts. Find your pump switch (usually mounted at the monitor panel near the entry or tucked beside the kitchen sink). Flip it on, crack open the nearest faucet, and listen. A working pump makes noise—a distinct hum or a rhythmic cycling sound—within 2-3 seconds, and water appears. If you hear nothing and nothing flows, move to your 12V fuse panel and check whether your pump fuse is blown before you start unscrewing anything.

Step 2: Track Down Your Pump’s Hiding Spot

In a Redhawk, the pump lives somewhere unglamorous: jammed into a pass-through cabinet, tucked under a cabinet interior, or wedged near the fresh tank in a compartment barely wide enough to work in. You’ll spot it by its plastic housing and the water lines running to it. The pump bolts down with rubber grommets to kill vibration noise. Before you disconnect anything, take photos from every angle you can manage—close-ups of how the wires hook up, where the water lines clip in, how the whole assembly sits. These photos are your roadmap for putting it back together. Grab some old towels or a plastic bucket and position them under the pump area because the lines will drip water the moment you crack them loose. Clear enough space around the pump so you can actually use a wrench without contorting yourself into an pretzel.

Step 3: Kill the Power Supply

Turn off your pump switch at the control panel and pull the pump fuse from the 12V distribution panel—this is not a step to skip or hurry through. No power means no accidental startup while your fingers are near moving parts. Two wires connect to the pump: a positive line (usually red) and a negative line (usually black, white, or brown). These almost always use bell connectors that twist on and off. Grip the connector body itself (not the wire) and twist counterclockwise until it releases. If corrosion has welded them in place, you can cut the wires about 2 inches from the pump body, leaving yourself enough slack to strip and reconnect to the new pump. Use a wire stripper to remove about 1/2 inch of insulation from each cut end—take your time so you don’t slice through the copper strands underneath.

Step 4: Disconnect the Water Lines

Now you’re ready to tackle the plumbing. Two water connections sit on the pump: one bringing fresh water in from the tank, one sending it out to your RV’s faucets and fixtures. These are typically 1/2 inch barbed or compression fittings made of plastic or brass. Pop open a faucet inside the rig first to bleed pressure from the lines. Position your towels and bucket where they’ll actually catch drips—this is not optional, water will spill. Grab each fitting by hand and turn it counterclockwise until it loosens, then hit it with an adjustable wrench if your hands aren’t strong enough to finish the job. Don’t yank or strip the plastic threads by forcing it. Once they’re off, look hard at the rubber O-rings seated in each connection. If they’re cracked, flattened, or visibly degraded, they don’t get reused—grab new ones.

Step 5: Unbolt and Remove the Old Pump

Four bolts—usually #10 or #12 sheet metal screws—anchor the pump to the floor through rubber isolation feet. These rubber pieces are what keep the pump’s vibration from turning your entire rig into a buzzing alarm. Remove all four screws and set them in a labeled cup or bag—you’re going to install the new pump with the same fasteners. Lift the old pump straight out of its spot. Water might dribble from it, so don’t hold it over your head. If your old pump has a strainer clipped to its inlet side (a white or translucent plastic screen that catches debris), remove it now; you’ll transplant it onto the new pump to keep dirt from clogging your system.

Step 6: Prep and Mount the Replacement Pump

Take the new pump out of the box and confirm everything’s included: mounting hardware, any inlet strainers, fresh O-rings. If the new pump didn’t come with a strainer and your old one had one, transfer the old strainer to the new pump. Smear a thin coat of silicone grease on all the O-rings—this makes them slide in easier and sit better once they’re in place. Orient the new pump so its inlet and outlet ports line up with your existing water lines without kinking or stretching anything. Slide it into position on the floor and feed the mounting bolts through the rubber feet, then thread them down snug—firm enough that the pump doesn’t wiggle, but not so tight that you compress the rubber completely flat. Those rubber feet are there to work, not to be destroyed.

Step 7: Reattach Everything and Run Your First Test

Screw your water lines back onto the inlet and outlet ports, being absolutely certain you don’t mix them up—inlet to inlet, outlet to outlet. Hand-tighten first, then use your wrench to snug each one an additional quarter-turn past finger-tight. Crushing the fitting or O-ring serves nobody. Before you restore electrical power, run a dry test: flip your city water inlet to low pressure and watch every single connection on the new pump for leaks over 2-3 minutes. Bone dry before you plug in the wires. Now reconnect your electrical wires, red to red and black to black, using fresh connectors. Slide the fuse back into your distribution panel and toggle the pump switch on. You’ll hear it kick to life and begin pressurizing. Open each faucet one at a time and let it run until the water runs clear and steady with no spitting or sputtering—that’s air leaving the lines.

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The O-Ring Kit That Stops the Jayco Redhawk Water Pump From Leaking Again

Jayco Redhawk water pumps fail at the shaft seal and internal fittings — replacing the pump means nothing if you don’t replace the o-rings that actually create the seal. Stock o-rings dry out, crack, and compress over years of freeze-thaw cycles and UV exposure, which is why the pump fails in the first place.

What works

• You’ll have the exact size o-rings on hand for shaft seals, inlet/outlet fittings, and pressure switch connections — no waiting for a single replacement to ship separately.
• Nitrile material handles the thermal stress of RV plumbing: freeze protection in winter, UV in desert storage, and the constant pressure cycling of a pump that runs 20+ times a day.
• When you button everything back up and pressurize the system, you get zero weeping at the connections — which is the difference between a repair that holds and one that leaves you troubleshooting phantom leaks for weeks.

What doesn’t

• You’ll have 1,046 o-rings you don’t need, which sounds wasteful until you realize you’re going to use them — every Redhawk owner eventually needs a second kit for the furnace, fridge vent, and grey tank valve seals.
• Metric sizing on the kit chart doesn’t always match what Jayco’s manual calls out; you’ll be measuring and cross-referencing the old o-ring against the chart, which adds 10 minutes to the job.

I ordered a replacement pump once without grabbing o-rings, got the new unit installed, pressurized the system, and watched a small drip form at the intake fitting within 24 hours — turned out the original Jayco seal was bonded to the old pump housing, and the new pump came dry. Romeda O Ring Kit 1050 PCS, O Ring Assortment Kit 21 Size, Metric Nitrile Rubber O Rings for Car Auto Vehicle Repair Faucet Plumbing Air or Gas Sealing Connections Resist Oil and Heat

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