My girlfriend and I will be picking up a 2000 Lazy Daze this afternoon.
In our initial searches, we found ourselves going back and forth between some used, lesser quality units, since our main goal was to get our feet wet with something pretty basic and, well...cheap.
She laid her eyes on this "thing" and had to have it. I will admit that the styling of the Lazy Daze really threw me off BUT I had recalled reading somewhere that they were built well, so I gave it a chance.
This one has had a so-so life. Everything seems pretty solid but there are some exterior cosmetic issues that I will address as time goes on. It needs a real good wax and some doors don't close well and things like that. The interior is very nice. There is one very small water spot at the corner of one window. I can except that. No mildew or mold or smells at all. I climbed on the roof and at some point someone had taped the seams and it appeared to have maintained well. I found an article online that outlined the procedure for removing windows and resealing them so that will be the first order of business.
There were actually a few things that sold me besides the quality of the interior. Since I plan on towing my Jeep, I was pretty adamant about having an E-450 chassis and a V-10. Well, I pretty got everything I wanted, so the rest was kinda up to her.
Oh, and btw, I held her opinion in very high regard when making this purchase for a few reasons. The main one is that, since she wasn't quite as into it as me, I figured it would make my life easier if she got what she wanted, seeing as how I'd be happy in just about anything just so long as we were out and about.
The more I delved into it, the more I liked it. Here's a few things that really sold me:
1. Solar panels
2. Automatic leveling jack
3. Trailer brake already installed
4. Very plush, leather front seats
5. 4k Onan generator
6. 15,000btu AC
7. Big refrigerator
8. 4.56 gearing
There's other things; these are just the ones that really stand out.
Now, there were some issues. The "service engine" light was on. I brought along my diagnostic scanner and hooked it up. It threw a cylinder misfire code and a torque converter solenoid code.
I reset them and drove it on the highway for a bit. The only code that came back was the misfire code. Keep in mind that it ran very well and had plenty of power BUT with 10 cylinders in action, it would be very, very hard to determine if one was not firing, whether it be consistent or intermittent.
I did some quick research on my phone and called my buddy who is a Ford mechanic and he quickly deduced that it was very likely a coil, plug, wire, or combination of the three. Unbeknownst to me, that is a pretty normal maintenance item on the Ford Modular series, so I was good with that. The engine does have 100k so it is likely in need of a thorough tune up.
The torque converter code was likely a BS code, OR it could be a a loose connector. If that code was in fact accurate, the converter would lock up and the engine would stall at idle, in gear.
I'm a very do-it-yourself kind of guy, so whatever it needs will be done by me.
I'll update with pics once I receive it and will likely have a thread detailing all of the things I go through.
