Mystery Vibration when Parked

[Gizerd]

Ok...so we've been to two dealers and have become massive detectives trying to figure out where this vibration is coming from and come up short. Hoping you folks can help us out because I am beyond frustrated (it's waking us up at night) and we're close to selling our RV.

We are full time travelers in a 2018 Winnebago Vista LX, 35F model. 8 weeks ago we started having a mystery vibration WHILE CAMPING. (not driving, just to be clear). Periodically, and for a length of 15-20 minutes at a time, we get a light, yet irritating coach-wide vibration that seems to originate from under our bed.

This is happening when we are parked, jacks down, slide-outs out.

It happens whether we are on shore-power or dry camping off the batteries/inverter. It happens on 30Amp and 50Amp equally.

We have turned off or checked that all of our appliances are off: refrigerator, water heater, furnace, ACs, water pumps, macerator, even our damned TV. We've unplugged the microwave we're so desperate. It is clearly NOT a compressor issue for the fridge or the AC unit running OR the furnace. These units are not vibrating nor running when it happens.

We've crawled under the coach while it's happening to see if we can feel it from outside and underneath and cannot seem to locate the source at all.

We CAN get it to stop by turning off the coach batteries. When we turn the batteries back on it sometimes stops permanently, sometimes it starts up again after 5 minutes.

Two dealers have checked our inverter and our electrical system and say it looks fine...but they also said the loud whistling noise in my water heater was "normal" until I pulled it out the heating element and descaled it. They obviously never even looked inside my water heater, so I'm guessing they didn't even bother checking my inverter--since I'm just a crazy lady hearing things

Since we cannot replicate the issue (it seems to happen randomly) we cannot get them to investigate deeper.


We have no clue where to go from here but since it kicks on at 2am sometimes and wakes us up in bed, we're about ready to burn our new RV.

Help!

Giz

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Gizerd

This is happening when we are parked, jacks down, slide-outs out.Giz

Have you tried eliminating the hydraulic system? After driving and with everything retracted so you're sure everything is at rest. If it doesn't come back it could be the hydraulic system. You could then try to isolate it by trying the same with one slide in jacks up one slide out, etc. Another approach would be to wait until it's happening and cycle the hydraulics one by one (separating front and back jacks, and left and right jacks)

Another thought is the water system. "Water hammers" in a house can be quite dramatic.

[Campering]

Try turning the water pump off at night, and just turn it on only to flush the toilet. If that works you can then chase down the "leak", faulty check valve, or another plumbing issue.

If not the water pump, have you checked that you have turned off your 120 volt inverter? We only turn ours on when we need 120 volts and are not plugged or running genny.

[Sue46]

Have you contacted Winnebago? Their Customer Service is very good.

[Gizerd]

BobC--so to eliminate the hydraulic system we would stay parked for a period of time but without the jacks down and slideouts out. I didn't even THINK that the hydraulic system could cause vibration like that, but we will try it!


I don't know what it means to "cycle" the hydraulics. can you put just one down? Will it hurt the coach if we put the slideouts out but no jacks?




Campering--I will make sure we turn off our inverter and check that.


Sue46--Honestly, it slipped my mind which is crazy since we've called them for other issues and they're fabulous. The only thing I wish is that they had service centers that THEY ran everywhere. We have considered going back to the factory even though it's quite a distance now.


Thank you for the advice everyone, I'll get back to you with updates.


-e

[Sue46]

Winnegabo now has a service center in Oregon(??) or Washington(??)

[Gizerd]

Omg really? I'm calling today... that's right in our path this summer.

[aauummm]

Originally Posted by Gizerd

Omg really? I'm calling today... that's right in our path this summer.

Yep, Winnebago-Country Coach Factory Service Center in Junction City, Oregon. From their website: "Call the Winnebago – Country Coach Service Center at 541-234-2167 or visit us at 135 East First Avenue, Junction City, Oregon 97448".

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Gizerd

BobC--so to eliminate the hydraulic system we would stay parked for a period of time but without the jacks down and slideouts out. I didn't even THINK that the hydraulic system could cause vibration like that, but we will try it!


I don't know what it means to "cycle" the hydraulics. can you put just one down? Will it hurt the coach if we put the slideouts out but no jacks?

First, I'm not a hydraulic expert but water and hydraulic systems are very similar. Have you ever shut of a faucet in a building and heard the pipes vibrate? A similar thing could be happening in either your hydraulic system or water system.

If your hydraulics have all been retracted for a while, the system won't be under pressure and things will have equalized. If your vibration never happens when this is the case, it likely relates to the hydraulic system. You can then try to isolate it by doing the same test with only one thing extended at a time.

The difficulty with this is, since the problem is intermittent, it may take a number of trials to be sure. It may be more productive to go ahead and extend everything and, when the vibrations start, try retracting your slides and jacks one at a time. If the hydraulics are at fault, changing the pressure in the lines should stop, or at least change the nature of the vibrations. I'd suggest starting with the bedroom slide and then the rear jacks since you say the sound is coming from under the bed.

My guess is that it's either this or the water system.

[Rogh]

Do you by chance have an air adjustable mattress? Ours does that shortly after we hook up. You can feel it through out the coach. Our air pump is under the bed. I have a totally different type and much older Winnebago but thought I would through it out there.

[Gizerd]

Just a quick reply as we have not had a chance to sit with customer service yet:

We do not have an air mattress, Rogh, but I do appreciate any ideas.

We've been trying to test the jacks and slideouts but since we have to start the engine for these to work, the vibration isn't perceptible over the engine vibration. We have tested a bunch of combinations and then turned off the engine and ALL of them make the vibration stop. However, simply turning on the engine also makes the vibration stop, lol. So we have an issue of Schrodinger's cat, unfortunately.

We ARE calling Winnebago, just trying to fit it into our schedule to make an appointment and I'll keep updating if we find anything new!

Thanks for at least listening and offering suggestions, which helped to alleviate all of our frustration (at least temporarily) as we have things we can test! It feels good to try anything rather than just be stumped.

Elizabeth

[BobC]

Too bad it didn't turn out to be the bed. It probably would have been the simplest.