What is a reasonable maintenance wait time

m188265 wrote:
Hello. I have recently purchased my first new RV, although I have had a 1999 Coachman Catalina for many years. It is a 2015 Thor Palazzo. I am well aware that there are always maintenance issues with new coaches, and I am ok with that. My problem is that I have two recurring issues, both of which have caused me to take the coach back to the dealer 3 times each. This latest time the dealer has had it for 2 1/2 months. My question is: what is a reasonable amount of time for a dealer to keep your coach for repair?

By now, you should have called Thor, to see what they had to say about, what they considered a reasonable amount of time, as anyone else would label it, ridiculous.

m188265 wrote:
Thanks for all of the advice. I heard from the dealer yesterday evening, my coach is now ready. They and to order and replace a relay to fix the charging problem. Not sure why they didn't check this before letting it sit waiting for a slide part. At any rate, I will soon pick it up. Someone mentioned asking to get the warranty extended. I had thought about that, what are the odds of that happening? The warranty comes from Thor, not the dealer, correct?

Actually all you may need to do is have an attorney remind the selling dealer of Illinois Lemon laws. Here is the link: Illinois new vehicle laws

Here are some excerpts from the law and who it applies to:
"New vehicle" means a passenger car, as defined in Section 1-157 of the Illinois Vehicle Code, a motor vehicle of the Second Division having a weight of under 8,000 pounds, as defined in Section 1-146 of that Code, a vehicle purchased by a fire department, a fire protection district, or a township fire department, and a recreational vehicle, except for a camping trailer or travel trailer that does not qualify under the definition of a used motor vehicle, as set forth in Section 1-216 of that Code.

(815 ILCS 380/3) (from Ch. 121 1/2, par. 1203)
Sec. 3. Failure of vehicle to conform; remedies; presumptions.
(a) If after a reasonable number of attempts the seller is unable to conform the new vehicle to any of its applicable express warranties, the manufacturer shall either provide the consumer with a new vehicle of like model line, if available, or otherwise a comparable motor vehicle as a replacement, or accept the return of the vehicle from the consumer and refund to the consumer the full purchase price or lease cost of the new vehicle, including all collateral charges, less a reasonable allowance for consumer use of the vehicle.

(2) the vehicle has been out of service by reason of
repair of nonconformities for a total of 30 or more business days during the statutory warranty period.


In any case, the next step is yours. Apparently you do have legal recourse according to Illinois law. At the vaery least you should be able to get a warranty extension. Every state has different lemon laws so what works in Illinois does not necessarily mean that it is the same in another state. In many states, recreational vehicles are not covered.

m188265 wrote:
Thanks for all of the advice. I heard from the dealer yesterday evening, my coach is now ready. They and to order and replace a relay to fix the charging problem. Not sure why they didn't check this before letting it sit waiting for a slide part. At any rate, I will soon pick it up. Someone mentioned asking to get the warranty extended. I had thought about that, what are the odds of that happening? The warranty comes from Thor, not the dealer, correct?

Correct. Your odds are somewhere between slim and none but no harm in asking.

Thanks for all of the advice. I heard from the dealer yesterday evening, my coach is now ready. They and to order and replace a relay to fix the charging problem. Not sure why they didn't check this before letting it sit waiting for a slide part. At any rate, I will soon pick it up. Someone mentioned asking to get the warranty extended. I had thought about that, what are the odds of that happening? The warranty comes from Thor, not the dealer, correct?

One thing overlooked is the OP's statement about his batteries. He said he found he had a BAD one and disconnected two and ran off the other two....:h. His issue may simply be bad batteries. I would start there before going off on a wild goose chase.....Dennis

It should be out at the end of the same day you take it in. In order to do this you should take it in for evaluation and the parts and material if any should be ordered if not in stock and an appointment time should be setup for the work to take place and you need to be there on time for the appointment and work should commence with the crew appropriately sized to get the work done that day.

Now! Realistically in most cases the above is not going to happen in the best of circumstances. A dealer or repair facility keeping an RV for 2 1/2 months is unacceptable. The reason they do it and get away with it is because the customers put up with it and instead of being down at the dealer/repair shop raising H@&l they are on this forum and others wasting their time complaining.
It's the same story over and over. Once they have your money they no longer know you.

The RV Business from builders to dealers and repair shops has a lot of growing up to do.

2bzy2c wrote:
Ask 93mastercraft. He knows.

LOL ;) Ever since Thor upgraded us to triple rails... So far, knock, knock on wood so good. I have, however, fixed some things that have broke, fallen down or fallen apart myself. :)

Thor has even sent me some parts, such as a switch panel, Dash A/C vacuum pump and fog lamps. All these items have failed and I have fixed/replaced myself. I do have to hand it to the Thor Customer service reps. If you have a good relationship with them, they will help u out on parts...

m188265 wrote:
Wolfe10, it is only while driving. Plugged into shore power or with the generator running it is fine. While driving, with only the refidgerator running the coach batteries run down. The biggest headache is, once the battery voltage goes below 9.5, the relays won't kick in to enable shore power, so you have to charge the batteries before you can get any power.

M188265,

First off, don't assume the dealer service dept knows how to fix your Palazzo. Second, since you now own a Palazzo, you must learn to troubleshoot and diagnose problems yourself. Third, Work with Thor and only Thor. With that said, Are you sure your 110volt hot water heater button is also NOT turned on? When you look at your Magnum control center display, what is your current draw amps when you are on nothing but inverter? Your fridge should only draw about 6 ~ 15 amps when it is running. I can effectively go 24 hours on nothing but the inverter/batteries with NOTHING but the fridge running/cycling normally as it should...

The slide out issue doesn't surprise me. Why it is breaking water pipe to washer is interesting. I have completely removed our washer and dryer because of weight concerns on the large slide out. :(. I capped off water lines and drain. But once washer and dryer are removed, it is very easy to see where something might be binding or getting caught around the washer/dryer closet.

I always keep my batteries charged by keeping 50amp shore power plugged in. Never let your batteries run down. This will kill them prematurely. When we go off and do dry camping I periodically run the generator to recharge batteries. Whilst it's been very hot in the summer, I also run the generator the entire time I am driving down the road. This is so I can run the dash air as well as one or both of the roof A/C's. I still average 12.5 MPG w/generator running. :)

Good luck and enjoy your new Palazzo!

icechip wrote:
It could be the charging solenoid isn't latching so the alternator is not sending a charge while driving. Easy enough for the shop to check. Connect a voltmeter to both sides of the solenoid and start the engine.
If the voltage is not the same on both side solenoid is not latching. Any competent tech should know this and it is the first thing to check. Could also be a fuse.

Same problem on mine. They can send that part out overnight. It is no big deal to fix. What it does is connect both battery banks together when the coach engine is running. It is very easy to see if it has failed. Start the coach motor and look at the RC50 display in the systems control center. If it shows much less than the volt meter on the dash then it isn't working. It is a bidirectional relay If the converter (ME2012) is powering the coach 12 V system it will close and charge the chassis batteries and if the engine is running it will charge the house batteries. Call Thor and tell them what the problem is and what you have done to diagnose it. They should send the part right out and it should take only a few hours to install. The AGS only comes into play if the coach engine isn't running and the voltage drops below a preset point. I do recommend setting the AGS type to "other" rather than RV to prevent the AGS from being disabled every time you manually shut down the generator. BTW in a pinch to get the house batteries up if they are dead you can perform the following procedure. Connect shore power and make sure you have power. Start the coach engine. Press the "aux start" button on the dash. This will force a relay closed to allow current from the engine to the house batteries enough to get the relay to close so the ME2012 will turn on and start powering the 12V part of the coach. I hope this helps!

It could be the charging solenoid isn't latching so the alternator is not sending a charge while driving. Easy enough for the shop to check. Connect a voltmeter to both sides of the solenoid and start the engine.
If the voltage is not the same on both side solenoid is not latching. Any competent tech should know this and it is the first thing to check. Could also be a fuse.