2010 Winnebago 40L. . .from Hell !

[jetartessales]

We just purchased a new (off showroom) 2010 Winnebago 40L from RV World in Nokomis, Florida. This purchase transferred to us on July 22, 2011.

Our shake down (understatement) trip of 3000 miles was a shocker. We turned the coach into RV. World service department with a total of 46 serious complaints. The pride of ownership fell from its graces almost at the snap of a finger. Here is the short list which includes the most serious.
1. Jacks will not work on manual. . .In "auto" the system raises the rear to the point of rear "4" being off the ground, then struggles to level front. . .without success. When raising jacks, the rear hang up until they cannot support the weight further, then "BANG" and the coach drops to the ground. In manual mode, the rear drop until they touch the ground then stop. Pushing front or left, only serves to run the pump
2. Both forward slides failed, the left during extension and the right during retraction.
3. Placing the AC blower on High, closes all the roof vents throughout!
4. MCD shades 3 failed . . .MCD says it is Winnebago install issue
5. We were locked inside our coach twice. Handing the keys through the window to a person outside to manually unlock the entry door freed us.
6. Every inch of the shoe molding at the base of the walls throughout came loose and worked away from the wall.
7. Foot rests (both) on Winnebago's mfg. pride and joy electric sofa BROKE and could not be used.
8. Shower surround (one piece shower enclosure) came loose from the coach bathroom walls and "oil cans" when you step into the shower. Shower floor is supported by a block of foam. . .you guessed it, the foam began colapsing as use progressed

A call to my dealer while enroute brought a call from "Steve" who is Winne's eastern Service manager. I offered to bring the coach to the factory at my expense. . .he said NO, due to the backlog of factory appointments thru the end of September. Steve set up a "bandaid" appointment with Tom Schaeffer's RV in Hamburg, PA. A call to the President remains unanswered.

I can go on and on with many other failures. I sit now, "coachless" while my dealer works through the list of problems.

Advice anyone ?

Thanks,
Eric & Anita Clapp
North Port, Florida

BTW, we just sold our 08 Fleetwood Discovery 40X which gave us 30K of virtually trouble free use. Our error !

[The_Texan]

Rodz wrote:
I think you got upset about some real issues and then started just picking it apart. The showers are hard to adjust in a MH because the pump will turn off and on. It works fine on an outside water source. And every inch of the base coming off? That didn't happen. If you try and run too much on your generator, it will pop the breaker. You should take the time to learn how to operate everything on your coach. It's a MH, not a five star hotel.

I find this post very interesting and IMO, completely wrong. I have had motorhomes since 1974 and back then yes the pump surged, but not any more. Today, when I set the temp, it stays the same and there is no noticeable surging. We run everything in the coach on our generator, days at a time on occasion and NEVER had the ckt breaker pop. I find my motorhome to be as nice as any 5 star hotel and never had anywhere near the problems this poster has had. I'm still trying to figure out why you called the OP a liar about every inch of the base coming off, were you there...:h..

[Rodz]

I think you got upset about some real issues and then started just picking it apart. The showers are hard to adjust in a MH because the pump will turn off and on. It works fine on an outside water source. And every inch of the base coming off? That didn't happen. If you try and run too much on your generator, it will pop the breaker. You should take the time to learn how to operate everything on your coach. It's a MH, not a five star hotel.

[rvrepairnut]

jetartessales wrote:
rvrepairnut:

The surging I refer to is that of the water pump which you can hear and feel through the shower floor, constantly in cadence, on-off, on-off, on-off. . . .as long as the water is on. I am told this is normal however, this was not the way the water system performed in our 08 Fleetwood Discovery. With each surge (on-off) you get alternating scalding hot, then chilling cold water from the shower head. It is all but impossible to adjust the two control knobs.

Any ideas ?

As for the leveling. . .are you ready for this. . .? The PowerGear system as installed will not let you switch from "auto" to manual. It is one or the other. You select "ON" and then must choose either "auto" or "manual." Once selected, the air exits the airbag ride system then commences to level the coach. If you start with "auto" you must remain with "auto." If I want to manually level the coach or make minor adjustments to the coach level, I must select "raise" all jacks and wait an estimated 3-4 minutes until jacks are completely up, stored and the jacks down alarm stops. Then, and only then, you can select "manual" for leveling. Can't have it both ways! My Fleetwood Discovery was just the opposite. . .use "Auto" then fine tune with "manual." Really frustrating is the well known fact, PowerGear will not entertain any calls from the consumer for assistance. . .
Perhaps this is an installation / set up issue from time of manufacture by Winnebago.

Thanks for your input. . .

Eric and Anita Clapp

Well I still say the water pump should pump constant pressure and not surge so there is something wrong there
As far as jacks go i see your point as mine work either way any time you want(like your old ones)
Maybe phone Dan at Valid manufacturing in Salmon Arm BC Canada as hes the guy that made the jack system and he may shed some lite on your problem.I have talked to him about my neighbours PowerGear air level system and hes a nice guy and willing to help if he can .

Dan North
> > Service Coordinator
> > Valid Manufacturing Ltd.<>
> > dann@validmanufacturing.com
> > Phone: (250) 832-6477 x 218
> > 24H Service: (250) 804-1247
> > Fax: (250) 832-7746

[RayChez]

jetartessales wrote:
rvrepairnut:

The surging I refer to is that of the water pump which you can hear and feel through the shower floor, constantly in cadence, on-off, on-off, on-off. . . .as long as the water is on. I am told this is normal however, this was not the way the water system performed in our 08 Fleetwood Discovery. With each surge (on-off) you get alternating scalding hot, then chilling cold water from the shower head. It is all but impossible to adjust the two control knobs.

Any ideas ?

As for the leveling. . .are you ready for this. . .? The PowerGear system as installed will not let you switch from "auto" to manual. It is one or the other. You select "ON" and then must choose either "auto" or "manual." Once selected, the air exits the airbag ride system then commences to level the coach. If you start with "auto" you must remain with "auto." If I want to manually level the coach or make minor adjustments to the coach level, I must select "raise" all jacks and wait an estimated 3-4 minutes until jacks are completely up, stored and the jacks down alarm stops. Then, and only then, you can select "manual" for leveling. Can't have it both ways! My Fleetwood Discovery was just the opposite. . .use "Auto" then fine tune with "manual." Really frustrating is the well known fact, PowerGear will not entertain any calls from the consumer for assistance. . .
Perhaps this is an installation / set up issue from time of manufacture by Winnebago.

Thanks for your input. . .

Eric and Anita Clapp

Sending you a private message.

[frankdamp]

To an ouside observer who's a retired engineer, it seems as though the engineering and detail design isn't paying enough attention to getting quality into the product.

I doesn't make much difference to the end product if your Quality Control mechanism only gets to it after it's built. To use an old autombile analogy "a perfectly built Pinto is still a Pinto".

[jetartessales]

rvrepairnut:

The surging I refer to is that of the water pump which you can hear and feel through the shower floor, constantly in cadence, on-off, on-off, on-off. . . .as long as the water is on. I am told this is normal however, this was not the way the water system performed in our 08 Fleetwood Discovery. With each surge (on-off) you get alternating scalding hot, then chilling cold water from the shower head. It is all but impossible to adjust the two control knobs.

Any ideas ?

As for the leveling. . .are you ready for this. . .? The PowerGear system as installed will not let you switch from "auto" to manual. It is one or the other. You select "ON" and then must choose either "auto" or "manual." Once selected, the air exits the airbag ride system then commences to level the coach. If you start with "auto" you must remain with "auto." If I want to manually level the coach or make minor adjustments to the coach level, I must select "raise" all jacks and wait an estimated 3-4 minutes until jacks are completely up, stored and the jacks down alarm stops. Then, and only then, you can select "manual" for leveling. Can't have it both ways! My Fleetwood Discovery was just the opposite. . .use "Auto" then fine tune with "manual." Really frustrating is the well known fact, PowerGear will not entertain any calls from the consumer for assistance. . .
Perhaps this is an installation / set up issue from time of manufacture by Winnebago.

Thanks for your input. . .

Eric and Anita Clapp

[artkt]

There is at least one of your issues that is easaly solved.

There is a procedure to calibrate the Power Gear Automatic Leveling System.

It can be found on Power Gear's website.

Follow this link and scroll down to #10 (number 9 might be of help as well)

[RayChez]

You get good coaches and you can get bad coaches. I guess I am like RFCB2 lucky to have gotten such a good trouble free coach since 4/03 when I bought it new. I feel for people that pay so much for a coach only to find out that it is a lemon.

[RFCN2]

Hmm, my 9 1/2 year old coach is beginning to look better and better. I do have things to fix, but the sort of things you expect to break.

[dcbrewer]

All of this makes me love my Pace Arrow, very few problems. Some fixed by me, some by dealer.

[rvrepairnut]

Ault wrote:
I had my Tiffen auto level repaired 2 times but the Tech said it will be some what close but never level. You have to finish the job manually. So it is. The level board in the box is 2 inches long. No wonder.

Yes my auto level nevers works right but really dont care as i like to custom set mine for tank drain,height and slant 1D or so for rain drain.so to me a none issue.(
Op says shower cold/hot mix hard to controll.changes as pump pulses?
WHY is the pump pulsing? should be steady pressure

[Ault]

I had my Tiffen auto level repaired 2 times but the Tech said it will be some what close but never level. You have to finish the job manually. So it is. The level board in the box is 2 inches long. No wonder.

[jetartessales]

jassrni. . .

Our 2010 journey 40 L purchased new off the showroom floor in July 2011 stickers @ $256,000 ! A depreciating asset for sure, but little did we expect the "journey" we would take with our "2010 Journey 40L."

I indeed agree something must be put in place to hold the manufacturer responsible for the product which rolls off their assembly line. A warranty is meaningless when they (mfg.) rely on UNTRAINED technicians at the selling facility. Realizing it is impossible to train each and every tech, at least one tech from each selling organization should be required to attend the manufacturing facility, review production, meet with counterparts with whom they can communicate when they run into issues or a problem coach. . .BUT this will never happen as it interferes with the "cash flow opportunities" between manufacturer, dealer and consumer.

If only I had been welcome to the factory last August when the failures of product surfaced. . . .who knows, maybe we would still be in the place where we are now.

Eric and Anita Clapp

[emiddleb]

jetartessales wrote:
BobR:

BTW, we have two grey 3" id hoses which terminate (one in the water service bay and the other in the RF forward compartment which blow cold air (A/C) and NO ONE has a clue why they are there and why they blow cold A/C.

Eric

Eric, I feel for your problems. While some are component problems and other manufacturer's fault, there is no way this unit should have left the factory, IMHO. There's an episode of "Ultimate Factories" out a while back that was devoted to Winnebago building a Vectra (think it was around a 2007 model) and they touted all the Quality control checks that the factory goes through. Think the economy took that out of the equation...

Might be able to help you with this one. What you might be seeing is the Winnebago version of a heated bay system. Not sure on your newer unit, but on the older ones like mine these only blow hot air when the propane furnace is used, not the electric heat pump. You might try switching your thermostat to "propane heat" and see if you get hot air out of the hoses.

Good luck with getting your issues resolved!

[jassrnj]

The US auto industry did not wake up until imported cars took over half of their customers. I support "Buy US" but until the RV industry has to compete with high quality imports, the quality of our new RVs will not improve. It is crazy to pay over $100,000 for a product and have it fall apart around you. I will not purchase a new MH until quality improves. I have less problems with my 2000 Fleetwood then owners with new RVs. It is a sad situation for the RV industry.