Flew 800 miles to check out a 2012 Itasca Sunstar 30T; identical to Winnebago Vista 30T. 22,000 miles, 6 (yes, 6) hours on the generator.I've had numerous issues pop up ever since I looked at this thing since yesterday. Condition is excellent; little things just keep going wrong. Not sure if I"m losing confidence in it or not.My two questions:1. Even though the coach has a transfer switch (Parallax ATS301), apparently it didn't do its job, and when the coach had the gen running while plugged into shore power, an excess of power was sent to the coach, and blew the inverter. As a result, when the gen runs now (which it does well), there is no power sent to the coach. In fact, one mechanic said that when he tested it, half the inside coach outlets get power, half got none, and there was no 12v at all. Different mechanic says the inverter must be operational for any power to get from the generator into the coach itself. Does this sound right?2. We've flushed the water system a few times to clear out the winterizing that the previous owner did. Then filled the water tank, disconnected the water hose, turned on the pump, and ran the water to clear out the air. I then turned on both gas and electric water heaters and left it alone for an hour. When I turn on the hot water, at either of two sinks, I get hot water for a few moments, then cold, then hot, then cold, then hot, then cold.....and it just keeps cycling. The water is running continuously, there's no break in the water stream. Never seen that before. Any thoughts?And, if anyone has any experience with the Winnebago/Vista line, or Itasca/Sunstar line, I'd be interested in that as well. Trying to decide whether to keep giving this guy another chance...it's gorgeous interior and all-around excellent-appearing condition....or to call it a day and walk.Thoughts? Advice?Thanks-dave

If you like the motor home, go for it. You will find that there are ALWAYS going to be things wrong with it that need your attention. IMO, you should negotiate very aggressively with current owner and discount the price (from wholesale book value) accordingly unless the owner is willing to fix the issues to your satisfaction. I see your situation as an opportunity rather than a problem. (as long as the RV is what you want and you are willing to deal with it) If not, move on.Unless its been at the bottom of a lake or burnt to the ground, pretty much anything can be fixed. Just don't pay too much.Chum lee

On the hot water issue check your outside shower faucet. The valves maybe on and the shower head itself off. With the valves on the hot and cold are mixing causing your issue.Don't despair you appear very green(new) things will get better don't give up yet!Back to the genset. When I first bought my rig the tech advised me to simply disconnect the electric if I were running the genset. I agree the transfer switch should take care of this issue,but the tech advised me to unplug and eliminate any potential damage/conflicts.

water heater sounds like you don,t have the right valves turned on or off. buy at a good price? go for it. even brand new of the lot will have problems.

Well....actually....we full-timed for five years in a 40-foot diesel. So I do pretty well know my way around. But I've never encountered the problems I've seen with this coach. With just 6 hours on the gen, and 22,000 miles total, I wonder if some of the problems are just from sitting too long, and that some things need to be exercised, some things replaced, and some things I just need to read the manual and figure out how to use! I did check the outside shower. With the valves open and water spraying, the swivel-thing on the back of the shower head seems to do nothing at all, so I can't tell if it's "on" or "Off". But, the hot and cold water valves are definitely off.

dshinnick wrote:Flew 800 miles to check out a 2012 Itasca Sunstar 30T; identical to Winnebago Vista 30T. 22,000 miles, 6 (yes, 6) hours on the generator.I've had numerous issues pop up ever since I looked at this thing since yesterday. Condition is excellent; little things just keep going wrong. Not sure if I"m losing confidence in it or not.My two questions:1. Even though the coach has a transfer switch (Parallax ATS301), apparently it didn't do its job, and when the coach had the gen running while plugged into shore power, an excess of power was sent to the coach, and blew the inverter.First the gen should not be run when plug into shore, but that is where the transfer switch works. When the gen is running most transfer switches make the gen the primary power. So if the mechanic is saying that both shore and gen power got into the coach, you might have some big $$$$$ to repair. First the gen could have also been damage. The transfer switch also and the inverter. No 12v means no battery voltage. You will have to check them to be sure. Anything that runs on 110v could have been damage. But first you have to check out thing and figure it out. As a result, when the gen runs now (which it does well), there is no power sent to the coach. In fact, one mechanic said that when he tested it, half the inside coach outlets get power, half got none, and there was no 12v at all. Different mechanic says the inverter must be operational for any power to get from the generator into the coach itself. Does this sound right? NO2. We've flushed the water system a few times to clear out the winterizing that the previous owner did. Then filled the water tank, disconnected the water hose, turned on the pump, and ran the water to clear out the air. I then turned on both gas and electric water heaters and left it alone for an hour. When I turn on the hot water, at either of two sinks, I get hot water for a few moments, then cold, then hot, then cold, then hot, then cold.....and it just keeps cycling. The water is running continuously, there's no break in the water stream. Never seen that before. Any thoughts? Check the bypass on the hot water heater and also the outside shower if you have one.And, if anyone has any experience with the Winnebago/Vista line, or Itasca/Sunstar line, I'd be interested in that as well. Trying to decide whether to keep giving this guy another chance...it's gorgeous interior and all-around excellent-appearing condition....or to call it a day and walk.Thoughts? Advice?Thanks-dave

Need opinions, please. | Good Sam Community

Chum_lee
Explorer
Jul 25, 2018
If you like the motor home, go for it. You will find that there are ALWAYS going to be things wrong with it that need your attention.

IMO, you should negotiate very aggressively with current owner and discount the price (from wholesale book value) accordingly unless the owner is willing to fix the issues to your satisfaction. I see your situation as an opportunity rather than a problem. (as long as the RV is what you want and you are willing to deal with it) If not, move on.

Unless its been at the bottom of a lake or burnt to the ground, pretty much anything can be fixed. Just don't pay too much.

Chum lee
Lantley
Nomad
Jul 25, 2018
On the hot water issue check your outside shower faucet. The valves maybe on and the shower head itself off. With the valves on the hot and cold are mixing causing your issue.
Don't despair you appear very green(new) things will get better don't give up yet!
Back to the genset. When I first bought my rig the tech advised me to simply disconnect the electric if I were running the genset. I agree the transfer switch should take care of this issue,but the tech advised me to unplug and eliminate any potential damage/conflicts.
midnightsadie
Explorer II
Jul 25, 2018
water heater sounds like you don,t have the right valves turned on or off. buy at a good price? go for it. even brand new of the lot will have problems.
dshinnick
Explorer
Jul 25, 2018
Well....actually....we full-timed for five years in a 40-foot diesel. So I do pretty well know my way around. But I've never encountered the problems I've seen with this coach. With just 6 hours on the gen, and 22,000 miles total, I wonder if some of the problems are just from sitting too long, and that some things need to be exercised, some things replaced, and some things I just need to read the manual and figure out how to use!

I did check the outside shower. With the valves open and water spraying, the swivel-thing on the back of the shower head seems to do nothing at all, so I can't tell if it's "on" or "Off". But, the hot and cold water valves are definitely off.
MountainAir05
Explorer II
Jul 25, 2018
dshinnick wrote:
Flew 800 miles to check out a 2012 Itasca Sunstar 30T; identical to Winnebago Vista 30T. 22,000 miles, 6 (yes, 6) hours on the generator.

I've had numerous issues pop up ever since I looked at this thing since yesterday. Condition is excellent; little things just keep going wrong. Not sure if I"m losing confidence in it or not.

My two questions:

1. Even though the coach has a transfer switch (Parallax ATS301), apparently it didn't do its job, and when the coach had the gen running while plugged into shore power, an excess of power was sent to the coach, and blew the inverter.

First the gen should not be run when plug into shore, but that is where the transfer switch works. When the gen is running most transfer switches make the gen the primary power. So if the mechanic is saying that both shore and gen power got into the coach, you might have some big $$$$$ to repair. First the gen could have also been damage. The transfer switch also and the inverter. No 12v means no battery voltage. You will have to check them to be sure. Anything that runs on 110v could have been damage. But first you have to check out thing and figure it out.

As a result, when the gen runs now (which it does well), there is no power sent to the coach. In fact, one mechanic said that when he tested it, half the inside coach outlets get power, half got none, and there was no 12v at all. Different mechanic says the inverter must be operational for any power to get from the generator into the coach itself. Does this sound right? NO

2. We've flushed the water system a few times to clear out the winterizing that the previous owner did. Then filled the water tank, disconnected the water hose, turned on the pump, and ran the water to clear out the air. I then turned on both gas and electric water heaters and left it alone for an hour. When I turn on the hot water, at either of two sinks, I get hot water for a few moments, then cold, then hot, then cold, then hot, then cold.....and it just keeps cycling. The water is running continuously, there's no break in the water stream. Never seen that before. Any thoughts? Check the bypass on the hot water heater and also the outside shower if you have one.

And, if anyone has any experience with the Winnebago/Vista line, or Itasca/Sunstar line, I'd be interested in that as well. Trying to decide whether to keep giving this guy another chance...it's gorgeous interior and all-around excellent-appearing condition....or to call it a day and walk.

Thoughts? Advice?

Thanks-

dave
dshinnick
Explorer
Jul 25, 2018
Ok....I got that valve-thing on the back of the "wand" of the outside shower to work. I see it turns on and off the flow of water. It is shut off now, as are the two valves outside. Upon checking the inside valves, I see that the shutoff on the back of the wand in the shower is NOT working; with water flowing, the wand shutoff does NOT turn off the water. I turned off the two wall valves. Could that broken shutoff on the wand allow the hot/cold to mix? Seems unlikely if the wall valves are off.
OLYLEN
Explorer
Jul 25, 2018
Gen first, check the breaker on the Gen, turn it off and on. Then check the GFI right by the door near the house battery switch. If you do have an inverter and not just a converter there are circuit breakers there also. Then on the back of the water tank there are two valves for winterizing, sometimes hard to get too.

LEN
Farmboy666
Explorer
Jul 25, 2018
dshinnick wrote:
Ok....I got that valve-thing on the back of the "wand" of the outside shower to work. I see it turns on and off the flow of water. It is shut off now, as are the two valves outside. Upon checking the inside valves, I see that the shutoff on the back of the wand in the shower is NOT working; with water flowing, the wand shutoff does NOT turn off the water. I turned off the two wall valves. Could that broken shutoff on the wand allow the hot/cold to mix? Seems unlikely if the wall valves are off.

Not unlikely,impossible
mmccray100
Explorer
Jul 25, 2018
I just replaced the Transfer switch on my 1999 Winnebago Cheiftain. Plugged it into a mis-wired 30amp pedestal (don't ask). !2v seemed to work ok, but 2 days later I lost all 12v, so no AC outlets, no refer, Air Con, hot water etc.
Seems the inverter was damaged, just took 2 days to fail completely. Once both items were replaced, everything come back to life except the microwave. That will have to be replace, too.
In my coach, all 12v goes through the inverter, so it it goes bad, that power is not output to all the circuits.
Artum_Snowbird
Explorer
Jul 25, 2018
With my 2012 Winnebago Itasca you must plug in the power cord into the plug in the electrical cord box in order to get power from the generator into the rig. Yours might be like that. It's designed that way so you either are plugged in to shore power or generator power. There is a large receptacle inside the power cord container in the motorhome.

With the generator running and the cord not plugged in, there is no power available from the generator.

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