Long term Seneca

[tgifri007]

Interested in hearing from Seneca owner on any issues/ praises found after having one for awhile.

[triple602]

Having come from a Bigfoot, the spousal unit and I were disappointed with the quality 2008 Seneca. Norcold door problem not Seneca's fault but wife hated the blinds, furniture seemed poor quality (end of dinette seating broke), battery wiring was haphazard, storage door hinge broke, needed $1000 radiator at 33k (Chevy's fault) etc. I did my research and many love their Seneca's. Maybe we got a Friday build?

[kbaum]

New Seneca Owner here. 2014 37TS hope all is good like my Jayco 5th wheels have been!

[enf]

When my husband and I met I had a 31' Gulfstream Yellowstone Country Club Class C and he had a 34' Montana Big Sky fifthwheel with 3 slides. I liked the room in his 5er and he liked the manuverabilty of my motorhome. After some research we decided on a Super C.

We have owned our 2005 Seneca GS35 for more than two years. When we bought it with 21,000 miles on it, a new engine had just been installed. We have put 14,000 miles on it during this time. We are currently on a 4 month tour across and around the US, having left on June 4th and have driven 4,402 miles on this trip so far.

We've had an engine overheating problem since the get-go. We added electric fans, with limited success. On this trip the overheating got serious as we were in the mountains in the western US. We diagnosed the problem, and had it confirmed, that the fan clutch was not working property. After having it replaced, we've had no more overheating problems.

The kitchen slide motor/relay is weak and sometimes need physical assistance in closing. We'll address this issue when we return from this trip. We don't put out the kitchen slide unless we're going to be parked in one place for more than a couple of days. There is plenty of room inside with the slide closed.

We haven't had any other serious problems and like the towing and storage capacity. We travel with a cat and installed a pet door accessing the area under the bed for litter box, food and water, as well as room for laundry basket and paper goods storage.

I haven't noticed any diesel fumes unless I'm outside near the exhaust when the generator is running. Just don't open windows near the generator exhaust and there shouldn't be an issue.

[klebs]

Thanks! I'm going to generalize that across other diesel manufacturers too, like the Thor Super C's. Good to know. We chose this size because (1) we're new and a Class C, however large, seemed less intimidating to drive and maintain, and (2) we'd like to keep enough money from the sale of our house to stake another brick and mortar place later if the road starts to wear thin. A larger Class A would be nice but not doable in our view.

[G7ARYM]

Klebs, fear not, there is no issue with diesel fumes or smell. I too cannot stand the smell of diesel oil on my hands or clothes so I use disposable gloves when filling and maybe booties as the fueling area can be a mess. Do that and everything will be good. Then as to the full time issue. We have not used all of the storage space in the rig either inside or out even after all of this time. Under the bed is good for 6 cases of wine and more. Our desire has never been to go on the road full time but if we did it would be in something larger. We have done 4 weeks at a time and never felt cramped. But for something to live in my lottery pick would be a 45ft class 8 truck based rig with many slides on both sides. Full time is a whole different ball game from having something to travel in over shorter periods of time. Happy hunting for the right answer to your questions.

[GrumpyandGrandm]

Our 08 has also been almost flawless. 50,000 miles fridge door (NORCOLD problem since it also happened on other brands) slide topper fabric seam pulled loose and a radiator.

[ronfisherman]

klebs wrote:
The wife and I are a couple years out from retiring, selling our house and going fulltime. The Seneca is at the top of my list of prospective rides due to its towing capacity, which we're going to need, but the wife is worried. Diesel fumes make her physically sick, mostly associated with buses and trains she's ridden on, and it gets worse the longer she's exposed.

I'm not expecting a straight answer from a salesperson on this topic so I thought I'd ask: does anybody have any thoughts on how apparent the diesel fumes are when a Seneca is rolling down the road? Is there a cab air filter that deals with this?

There will be no fumes from the Seneca because the exhaust is 20' or more back of the cab when traveling. But you will need to fuel at places where there are diesel fumes.

[klebs]

The wife and I are a couple years out from retiring, selling our house and going fulltime. The Seneca is at the top of my list of prospective rides due to its towing capacity, which we're going to need, but the wife is worried. Diesel fumes make her physically sick, mostly associated with buses and trains she's ridden on, and it gets worse the longer she's exposed.

I'm not expecting a straight answer from a salesperson on this topic so I thought I'd ask: does anybody have any thoughts on how apparent the diesel fumes are when a Seneca is rolling down the road? Is there a cab air filter that deals with this?

[G7ARYM]

The truck part is a medium duty commercial vehicle designed to be driven hard by employees who don’t care. Treat it like your private car and it should run a long time. Our ’06 34SS shed a fan blade and tore up the fan shroud 5 years ago but no other damage. It rarely needs oil between changes and I wired up the exhaust pipe hanger strap at the rear myself after the dealer’s fix broke 3 times. New tires last winter after small cracks started to appear. No other mechanical problems beyond regular fluids and filters. I cruise at 62-64 towing in CA, a little faster in other states and average 8.5mpg over 50K miles. The tank holds 80 gal and I spend them frivolously. The house part quality is standard for the industry so if you have any experience in RV’s you know what to expect. Yes the bottom fridge hinge broke twice under warranty but I have a fix. Got rid of the heavy solid wood panel on the outside and replaced it with a light weight black acrylic panel from Norcold. Then, never let the door open all the way and hit the cabinet. The momentum of the door swinging open will twist the bottom hinge. No problems since. All other systems still work but did have a propane leak in the line going to the water heater next to the bedroom. Last fall a metal hose clamp on a water line rubbed through the copper gas line but was a quick fix once found. This is our first RV after much searching and 8 years later I would not make another choice. I get the motor, she gets the home and we are both happy. It looks like over the years the Kodiak based models have found owners who like them and keep them and the people who did not like them have gotten rid of them. In the end it is a truck and about as complicated as an anvil. It goes a long way, it stops and it cools with all of the radiators in cool air in front of the hot stuff. As a sample of one we like the Seneca.

[BEVAR]

We now have 93,000 miles on our '06 35GS. (Got it Sept 2007)

Fridge door broke.

Step motor.

One glow plug on drive motor.

Short in instrument cluster that drove me crazy for 2 years.

Engine A/C compressor just got replaced.

Just installed 3rd set of tires.

That's pretty much it!

Beave

[ronfisherman]

Some of the early Senecas go back to 2005. I personally know a couple of those owners. Theirs are holding up well. You will find them on the forum linked in my signature.