Breakdown Information

[Badeye]

Moderators Note: This thread is intending to report a problem and its resolution. If you are seeking help or information to help you resolve a problem you would best be served by initiating a thread on the class A forum proper

After some conversation with Diesel-Lover and others on this forum I thought I would try to start a thread concerning breakdowns on the road. We try to prevent this by good maintenance and driving reasonably but it can still happen. As I observed in a previous post, on a roughly 350 mile northbound drive on I-75 I saw 4 class A MH broken down. All were southbound.

If we should have a breakdown and would post the following information on this thread it could be a resource and reminder for others.

RV particulars:
Driveline (Engine, Transmission):
Miles:
Year:
Break Down Description: (You can add any description of the problem here that you think would help others in understanding the situation and problem.)
Symptoms:
Effect:
Cause:
Outcome:

This is the type of information that is recorded in the aircraft industry and other maintenance activities to track failure trends. It will take a while before we see a lot of value in this. If it continues for a time and sufficient data is available, I will analyze the data and put it into a form that I can send by email to any interested parties. I would suspect that an initial report could be done in about three months or when we have about 100 to 150 cases.

What do you think?

[Ken-o]

mine was caused by a *%$* mechanic who didn't put the cotter keys back in the spindle nuts (His insurance paid for repairs in full)

[jas415]

2001 Monaco Diplomat
Driveline: Cummins 8.3L ISC 330HP
Miles: 22,540
Year: 2001
Break Down Description: No AC power to front TV, satelite systems and refrigerator (Norcold 1200 LRIM) All other AC powered systems were working
Effect: Had to run Regrigerator on DC or LP
Cause: Tripped GFI outlet in bathroom
Outcome: Reset GFI and everything worked perfectly, never happened again.

We had just set up the coach at a campground, Goliad St Park in Goliad, Tx. had AC on, radio was playing, Microwave worked, etc, when I started to try to get refrigerator to work on AC. Indicated 'No AC', then I noticed the Satelite system was not powered up and there was no front TV working. Caled the dealership after looking through the manual for 30 minutes, and checking all the breakers and fuses. Nothing tripped or blown.

The GFI was installed to protect the AC outlets and the people in the coach, however, it was also hooked to the outlet in the outside panel of the refrigerator where there is a 110V outlet to plug the refrigerator in for AC power. That would protect a person outside. Great Idea and great safety, they just should have covered it in the manual.

[Mr_Ron]

I have not had the misfortune to experience a major breakdown. But if I did I would want some protection from an extended warranty. I have a 1998 Bounder and have carried the extended warranty for coming up on 7 years. I have been considering the Good Sam extended warranty to the tune of $617.00 a year, that would not be much if I had a major breakdown. Can you or someone on the forumn give some of your thoughts on this and the subject of extended warranty in general.

Thank You

Mr. Ron
1998 Fleetwood Bounder
V-10, Ford F-53 chassis.

[Richmeister]

Badeye, Did you ever compile any of the break down info you were collecting?

[havin_fun]

we have a 1999 georgia boy 3515

drive line f53 ford

motor V-10

symptoms : won't come out of park

out come : replaced relay in steering column .to let it come out of park .ford said that their are 9 things that causes this . from blown fuses ,relay's , solenoid's ,cable , shift pin in transmission ,wiring.

[Rebounderman]

Trouble #1

RV particulars:37U Bounder
Driveline (Engine, Transmission):ISB300, Allison 6 Speed
Miles:5300
Year:2005
Break Down Description: (You can add any description of the problem here that you think would help others in understanding the situation and problem.)
Symptoms: Lost all electrical power while on the road
Effect: All dash instruments failed. Eventually chasis battery failed.
Cause:Bad Alternator
Outcome:Alternator replaced.
Excellent trouble shooting and repair by New Jersey Freightliner facility.

Trouble #2

RV particulars:37U Bounder
Driveline (Engine, Transmission):ISB 300, Allison 6 Speed
Miles:7200
Year:2005
Break Down Description: (You can add any description of the problem here that you think would help others in understanding the situation and problem.)
Symptoms: Check Engine light illuminated
Effect: No loss of power, smoking etc. just the light on
Cause: Bad exhaust temperature sensor
Outcome: Replaced sensor.

Lousy troubleshooting by Cummins center in Harrisonburg, Va. It took them 10 hours to correct and then they charged me $10 because they had to have the part taxied over from another shop in town.
Both repairs covered under warranty

[DoubleTap830]

RV particulars: Winnie Itasca 33V
Driveline (8.1 WH20 Allison 5 Speed)
Miles: 1930
Year: 2004.5
Break Down Description: Coming home 10 miles from the dealership on a 3% grade in brand new MH, check engine light came on and lost about 50% power
Symptoms: See above
Effect: Had to pull over and have it flatbed towed back to Range RV in Victorville, CA where it sat for 9 days and I was treated like a Leper the same day I plunked down $140,000 for this dog.
Cause: Bad mass air flow sensor, failed alternator, bad ABS module, shorted tail light and flasher harness in dash, bad central computer module,
Results: I am not a fan of workhorse chassis.

[ygohome]

Only wished I had had knowledge of this Forumn few years ago. Could literally write a book about our rig. Lemon from the first year, however, stupidly felt like we should fix everything & had a dealer that would listen but didn't help. Many parts had been recalled before assembly per different manufacturers contacted.
Have never had a trip without a problem. Each time feel now everything is right.
Last Sept.2003 had it checked out for a trip. Kept blowing fuses on trip. Back to shop. Had electrical wiring checked.
On way home from the shop lost all power. No power steering, no brakes, etc. Thank goodness emergency brakes worked. Towed to local garage, State Police ordered road service. Still haven't heard for the 3nd time from GS Rd Service (Unusual). Mechanic immediately said not getting gas. Replaced gas pump & filter. On way home from local garage planning to leave for Samboree, again the engine stopped. No fun losing control & rolling backwards on hill. Thankful again for emergency brakes. Tested and repaired??? (May mention even during times it was not used would continue to start it up weekly & few trips around the block.) This Spring, even though plugged into power source, had dead batteries. Mechanic claimed needed heavier duty batteries. Also found a spark causing it to short out.
Last week on way to have it inspected, lost power. Towed to original shop. Had to replace computer, still blew out. Than found a spark that was the cause & replaced the computer, coil that was damaged.
Arrived home & have tested it driving around the block.

It would be interesting to know the record of different manufacturers. Anyone thinking of buying a FLEETWOOD MH- buyer beware. 4th MH, outside of the 2nd MH- Jamboree Class C front end going out, other 2 had no problems. 1st MH, April 1970- lasted 11 yrs. & 131,000 mi.. Good old days!

[Todd_Barney]

Driveline: 1991 Chevrolet P30 454
1992 Fleetwood Southwind
~75k miles

Symptoms: Hard crank, acted flooded, caught with belch of black smoke, died upon putting it in gear.
Cause: Fault water temp sensor.
Outcome: Back to normal.

Details:
Evidence of rich running, based on soot at tailpipe, puff of black smoke on start up. But ran fine for 400+ miles from Atlanta down to Florida. Near end of trip, started sputtering and hesitating from a start. Idle high, around 2,000 rpm.

Rig would not re-start after backing into campsite. Acted flooded. Held down accelerator, engine would fire with huge clouds of black smoke, idle high, but as soon as I put it in gear, it would die.

Cooled off, next morning was able to start and drive to Wal-mart for supplies, but wouldn't re-start in the parking lot. Same acting flooded, black smoke, high idle, died in gear. Called mechanic.

Replaced distributor cap, rotor, and fuel filter. Battery was also very weak, and it was changed at this time. Same symptoms.

Ignition checked out okay, the computer was just dumping too much fuel. Mechanic hooked up a scanner. It gave no error codes, but he noticed the water temp sensor was reading 5 deg. F. (In Florida in August!) Apparently that was causing engine to run too rich.

Replaced sensor, fire right up, idle back in normal range, but "lumpy." Plugs were fouled from all of the rich running. Changed them, and pulled O2 sensor and wiped it clean (it was new) and idle smoothed out. Ran perfectly the 400+ miles back to Atlanta.

[retirednp]

The rig is on a spartan chassis.

[DAVE_COSTA]

Last year had a 1987 El Dorado 27 footer. Was for sale had bought another. Already had new tires on it one year old and 3k miles on them. Sitting around trying to sell her . Getting ready for a trip in the other MH and had to get this one off the street. Was going to put her in a used rv.s For Sale lot and let them sell it. It was 20 miles out of town. Jump in and took off. Did not check everything. Had two rear tires go flat on the freway going about 50 mph. Both on the same rear dual. Called for Sams Tow. Went to Big O with the two flats. Seems the inside was low on air and that caused the outside one to go down. Big O replaced the two at 50% off. I took it... The rig was sold the next day to private party. I down check the tire pressure every trip, have the rig weighted , and adjust the pressure about 5 psi above the ratings for weights. I actually have a better rated tires all around, do not need to go the max. pressure.---- max. load pressure is 90 psi I get to use 75 all around and that is above the weight carring load. I can half way drive in peace.....
dave costa
1996 Aerbus 37 ft. one slide
93 sidekick toad.

[Big_Katuna]

Got a tank of bad fuel at exit 2 in GA in July 2004. Went about 150 miles, genset started surging and engine wouldn't make power; less than 2000 rpm, backfiring, etc. Hobbled to next exit, thinking it was ignition , thought about the genset surging, guessed about the gas and filled it up with 93 octane. Started it up and it has been fine ever since, another 2000 miles so far. Bottom half of tank must have had water or something.

ALso have a weird thing going on with the front brakes. THey have performed fine the whole trip, down steep grades, etc but overheated in stop and go traffic and boiled out fluid, losing pedal. I had them bled with high temp (Castrol LMA) a year ago. Taking it in to a Commercial Ford Truck place this Wed. THey are turning freely. I measured them when the were hot with my IR temp gun; over 500 degrees. After cooling, now read nid 200's. Going to replace calipers and master cyl for starters.

[glasair]

Boy I hit the wrong key and have to start all over. My rig is a 1996 Allegro, chev. 454 P30 chassis with 70,000 miles. This is a long story, but it's hard to leave out details that I'm sure someone going to ask.

It happened on I15 between Las Vegas and St. George UT. I was going through the gorge, had just came down one hill, hit a flat area and bamb. Terrible noise coming from under the rig. I couldn't stop because I was over a gorge with NO shoulder. I went another 200 feet and seen a sandy pull over spot which I did. When I hit the sand I almost stopped dead, but had managed to be off the road by only 6". I tried to start the rig and move, but nothing moved. My cell phone was dead in the area and a HP came along about 12:30 and called Camping World RS. By 5 PM I got worried about the darkness etc. and gave a May Day to truckers going by. About 7 PM a wrecker camer from St. George 22 mi. away. After hooking up he started to disconnect the drive shaft and noticed that the rear whell was coming off the axle hub. So he had to go back and get a flatbed. About 8 pm he returned and winched the MH on the flatbed. Luckily the wheel screwed back into the axle instead of coming out any further and we got it on the trailer. Upon disassembly two days later, the axle had broken, bearing failed, broken brake line etc. which left no brakes, no emergency brake, nothing. If I'd of been going downhill, I probably would of lost control of the rig and hit the ravine. There was NO prior indication that anything was wrong, no bearing squeel etc. just bamb. Camping World had called a wrecker at MP 79 in Utah to go to MP 22 in Utah. I was at MP 22 in Nevada. The HP that called also identified himself as a NVHP at MP 22. I was told that a new axle was not available and a specialist cut the old axle housing off and welded a new one on, $1600. Both wheels were rebuilt. The scariest moment of my life when looking back on what could of happend to us. I could of been going down a step hill and finding out I had NO brakes, NO tranny to downshift, NO emergency break, and with the engine quit, very difficult sterring at 60 MPH!!!! It just wasn't our time to leave this earth.

[1_2_Canadian]

Retirednp-
You didn't say who built your chassis. Freightliner, Spartan...?

[Jim]

1994 Fleetwood Bounder 36.5'
190HP Cummins Diesel Engine
96,000 miles
Previous owner was a RV rental place in Alaska

Home has had many miles from Florida through states that use salt on the roads in winter or it tended to be near the coast (rusty chassis tho not to bad according to a coach technician).

Recent problem: After picking coach up at the consignment dealer, ran fine, restarted several times.
Got it home, parked it on a 3-5 degree slope, nose down.
Next day started fine.
3rd day would not start, strong batteries, just not getting fuel. Would not start for the next week.

Neighbor and #1 son worked on coach and gave up, but did notice that an air release banjo screw on the engine was striped, would not seal and allowed air into the fuel delivery system.

Hired diesel mechanic who did some magic involving removing the output hose from the water separator and dipping it in a can of diesel fuel, pumping the lift pump, cranking it for many seconds several times, etc. finally getting it to cough to life.

Mechanic decided that the banjo screw assembly needed replacement and that the in-the-tank fuel pump wasn't working or was weak.

Ordered and replaced banjo screw, two washers and the sealing screw, $39 worth of parts, $245 for labor (including trip charge) @ $60/Hr.

Since I had a backup out-of-tank in-line fuel pump ($55, cheap insurance) with a 5-9 GPM output, I went ahead and plumbed it in near the engine while we were waiting for the parts to be delivered, bolting it to the frame and rerouting the fuel hose. Additional parts needed were fuel hose ($3.60 per foot! needed 8') brass couplers and adapters to mate the 1/4" pump with the 1/2" system ($20 or so), clamps, and electrical connectors. Got lucky and found a nearby live wire for the pump that is live during 'run' and 'start'.

Starts great now! All I need do now is place a fuel filter for 1/2" hose in front of the pump and I'm good to go.