Fleetwood A/C thermistor manufacturers wiring defect
Let me lead with saying "thanks for nothing Fleetwood"
My theory:
I got a hold of schematics which said front thermistor wire should be yellow and yellow/black. Wire is exactly as it should be and is terminated at the roof A/C unit. Yellow wires are run to the first place of termination which is at the sliding galley. Here is where the problem started. Apparently, at the assembly plant, the guy who wired the galley used green wires when he should have used yellow. When the RV made its way down the assembly line to the guy that is supposed to terminate all the wires (his job description says connect yellow to yellow), there were no yellow wires in the galley to connect to, just green ones, so he did nothing. Then previous to that step the guy who is supposed to mount the thermistor in the galley and connect it to the yellow wires saw green wires instead, so he did nothing as well. There was also one more location where yellow was supposed to connect to yellow, but the wires were green so that guy also did nothing.
Good thing is all the wires were run. Bad thing was I had to pull a number of panels and spent countless hours of head scratching chasing un-terminated wires. In one location taped up un-terminated wires in order to figure all this out!
I am the third owner of a Pace Arrow 38P. Previous owners were apparently oblivious or the areas they RV’ed were much more mild than where we RV.
My front A/C and heating system were never responding correctly. Thermostat temperature reading was always way off from actual inside temperature. For example, if hot and sunny outside, i.e.90, the front thermostat would say is was 126 inside when it might actually be about 78 inside.
Obvious thought – sensor must be faulty. Unfortunately not the case
Real reason – Fleetwood never installed the front sensor (thermistor)
They ran all the wire in the proper location, but did not terminate the wiring in two locations and never drilled the hole and mounted the actual thermistor itself!!!
My theory:
I got a hold of schematics which said front thermistor wire should be yellow and yellow/black from the roof A/C all the way to the thermistor. Wire is exactly as it should be and is terminated at the roof A/C unit. Yellow wires are run to the first place of termination which is at the sliding galley. Here is where the problem started. Apparently, at the assembly plant, the guy who wired the galley used green wires when he should have used yellow. When the RV made its way down the assembly line to the guy that is supposed to terminate all the wires (his job description says connect yellow to yellow), there were no yellow wires in the galley to connect to, just green ones, so he did nothing. Then previous to that step the guy who is supposed to mount the thermistor in the galley and connect it to the yellow wires saw green wires instead, so he did nothing as well. There was also one more location where yellow was supposed to connect to yellow, but the wires were green so that guy also did nothing.
Good thing is all the wires were run. Bad thing was I had to pull a number of panels to find that.
So, okay not a huge deal. Very obvious manufacturers defect. So, I called Fleetwood and told them the story and said “no problem, I will fix it since I have it all apart (and photo documented). Just please send me that $12 thermistor free of charge). The “customer service” woman said “you are not the first owner, how do you know the previous owner did not change it?” After I picked myself off the floor I asked what school of logic she may have attended to surmise that someone would have somehow removed the slide, disassembled the galley, unglued the wall from the Styrofoam and magically made the mounting hole for the thermistor disappear, all for the purpose of making the front A/C not function properly. I then asked for a supervisor and explained that all I wanted was a $13 part (plus shipping) to cover up and fix their massive blunder. He dug his heals in ever after I explained how I was on my 3rd Fleetwood and this sort of service would ensure that my next coach would not be a Fleetwood (which it certainly will not be). His answer was that my Pace Arrow is 2009 model and they bought Fleetwood out of bankruptcy in 2010 so it's not their fault. Needless to say I cross referenced the part and got one at a local dealer, which was $1.00 cheaper even after tax. Problem is now fixed.
My theory:
I got a hold of schematics which said front thermistor wire should be yellow and yellow/black. Wire is exactly as it should be and is terminated at the roof A/C unit. Yellow wires are run to the first place of termination which is at the sliding galley. Here is where the problem started. Apparently, at the assembly plant, the guy who wired the galley used green wires when he should have used yellow. When the RV made its way down the assembly line to the guy that is supposed to terminate all the wires (his job description says connect yellow to yellow), there were no yellow wires in the galley to connect to, just green ones, so he did nothing. Then previous to that step the guy who is supposed to mount the thermistor in the galley and connect it to the yellow wires saw green wires instead, so he did nothing as well. There was also one more location where yellow was supposed to connect to yellow, but the wires were green so that guy also did nothing.
Good thing is all the wires were run. Bad thing was I had to pull a number of panels and spent countless hours of head scratching chasing un-terminated wires. In one location taped up un-terminated wires in order to figure all this out!
I am the third owner of a Pace Arrow 38P. Previous owners were apparently oblivious or the areas they RV’ed were much more mild than where we RV.
My front A/C and heating system were never responding correctly. Thermostat temperature reading was always way off from actual inside temperature. For example, if hot and sunny outside, i.e.90, the front thermostat would say is was 126 inside when it might actually be about 78 inside.
Obvious thought – sensor must be faulty. Unfortunately not the case
Real reason – Fleetwood never installed the front sensor (thermistor)
They ran all the wire in the proper location, but did not terminate the wiring in two locations and never drilled the hole and mounted the actual thermistor itself!!!
My theory:
I got a hold of schematics which said front thermistor wire should be yellow and yellow/black from the roof A/C all the way to the thermistor. Wire is exactly as it should be and is terminated at the roof A/C unit. Yellow wires are run to the first place of termination which is at the sliding galley. Here is where the problem started. Apparently, at the assembly plant, the guy who wired the galley used green wires when he should have used yellow. When the RV made its way down the assembly line to the guy that is supposed to terminate all the wires (his job description says connect yellow to yellow), there were no yellow wires in the galley to connect to, just green ones, so he did nothing. Then previous to that step the guy who is supposed to mount the thermistor in the galley and connect it to the yellow wires saw green wires instead, so he did nothing as well. There was also one more location where yellow was supposed to connect to yellow, but the wires were green so that guy also did nothing.
Good thing is all the wires were run. Bad thing was I had to pull a number of panels to find that.
So, okay not a huge deal. Very obvious manufacturers defect. So, I called Fleetwood and told them the story and said “no problem, I will fix it since I have it all apart (and photo documented). Just please send me that $12 thermistor free of charge). The “customer service” woman said “you are not the first owner, how do you know the previous owner did not change it?” After I picked myself off the floor I asked what school of logic she may have attended to surmise that someone would have somehow removed the slide, disassembled the galley, unglued the wall from the Styrofoam and magically made the mounting hole for the thermistor disappear, all for the purpose of making the front A/C not function properly. I then asked for a supervisor and explained that all I wanted was a $13 part (plus shipping) to cover up and fix their massive blunder. He dug his heals in ever after I explained how I was on my 3rd Fleetwood and this sort of service would ensure that my next coach would not be a Fleetwood (which it certainly will not be). His answer was that my Pace Arrow is 2009 model and they bought Fleetwood out of bankruptcy in 2010 so it's not their fault. Needless to say I cross referenced the part and got one at a local dealer, which was $1.00 cheaper even after tax. Problem is now fixed.
