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Old 06-20-2008, 08:13 PM   #1
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We started our long planned and long awaited trip to Calgary on Tuesday June 17. Spent the night in Reno Wednesday and left Reno at 10:30 yesterday morning.

70 miles east of Reno on I80 the power steering quit, the battery red light came on and temperature gauge buried the needle. We pulled off the road as far as possible and called Workhorse. They dispatched a tow truck and there we sat for 2 1/2 hours. He finally arrived and hooked us up and off we went to Reno. We arrived at the repair shop just as they were closing up. We spent the night in the parking lot.

The water pump had frozen and it broke the fan belt. At 11:30 they called and said we could pick it up at 2:00. At 1:30 they called back and told us the new water pump had a catastrophic failure on the test drive. This time it took out the radiator.

We loaded as much as we could in our toad and gave all of our food to the workers at the shop.

Just got back home with a very disappointed 13 year old Grandson who helped plan this trip.

The shop now tells me it will be 1 to 3 weeks before we get the Coach back. They also told me that Workhorse has known of this water pump problem for the past year. A Workhorse rep is supposed to be at the shop on Tuesday to look at the damage.
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Old 06-20-2008, 08:13 PM   #2
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We started our long planned and long awaited trip to Calgary on Tuesday June 17. Spent the night in Reno Wednesday and left Reno at 10:30 yesterday morning.

70 miles east of Reno on I80 the power steering quit, the battery red light came on and temperature gauge buried the needle. We pulled off the road as far as possible and called Workhorse. They dispatched a tow truck and there we sat for 2 1/2 hours. He finally arrived and hooked us up and off we went to Reno. We arrived at the repair shop just as they were closing up. We spent the night in the parking lot.

The water pump had frozen and it broke the fan belt. At 11:30 they called and said we could pick it up at 2:00. At 1:30 they called back and told us the new water pump had a catastrophic failure on the test drive. This time it took out the radiator.

We loaded as much as we could in our toad and gave all of our food to the workers at the shop.

Just got back home with a very disappointed 13 year old Grandson who helped plan this trip.

The shop now tells me it will be 1 to 3 weeks before we get the Coach back. They also told me that Workhorse has known of this water pump problem for the past year. A Workhorse rep is supposed to be at the shop on Tuesday to look at the damage.
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Old 06-21-2008, 02:51 AM   #3
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Sorry to hear about that. Why does it seem these types of things happen at those most in opportune times.

That's the second issue I've read about with the water pump. The first one sheared off the shaft and tore up the radiator.

Hopefully everything will work out for you.
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Old 06-21-2008, 03:08 AM   #4
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Wayne? How about posting this over on the Workhorse chassis forum as well. I am close to buying a UFO coach next week. I sure would like to see a comment or two about this from someone from Workhorse. I am curious..how many miles on the coach?
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Old 06-21-2008, 03:18 AM   #5
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Wow, that shortcut sure came up fast. The owner of the the Holiday Rambler who also had a water pump problem pmed me last night and told me they have had no other issues since the pump problem was repaired. They now have 12000 miles on the coach. My goal is to try to avoid the problem in the first place. The coach I am looking at has been at the dealers for at least three months, has been driven to a number of shows so has a bit more miles on it than the typical new coach. That maybe a good thing for me.
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Old 06-21-2008, 03:30 AM   #6
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I requested that the Moderator move this to the Workhorse Forum.
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Old 06-21-2008, 03:38 AM   #7
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A shortcut has already been created, which will display the thread in both forums.
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Old 06-21-2008, 03:53 AM   #8
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by FrontRangeRVer:
I requested that the Moderator move this to the Workhorse Forum. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

As this post involves a "Winnebago" product built on a "Workhorse" Chassis it's best that it reside in both forum topics to allow the best exposure.

That's the whole point of the "shortcutting" process, to allow topics which may pertain to more than one "target viewing group" the ability to read the topic.

Thank you all for your continued support of iRV2.

Now back to the issue at hand.....
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Old 06-21-2008, 03:57 AM   #9
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Does the UFO use a unique water pump? You might assume all 8.1s use the same pump. Maybe the UFO has a unique accessory drive which required a unique water pump? (I'd ask around work [GM dyno] - but there hasn't been an 8.1 here in quite a long time.)
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Old 06-21-2008, 04:02 AM   #10
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I known that the one water pump failed at 8500 miles if that means anything.
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Old 06-21-2008, 06:31 AM   #11
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The Coach has appx 6800 miles on it. The shop told me they just repaired another UFO where the water pump went thru the radiator. He showed me the first one off my Coach, the bearing had come out of the housing and that is where it froze up. The replacement one came completely out of the housing. I am concerned that the next one may fail at any time.

I don't know if the UFO uses a different water pump or if the engine facing the rear creates unique forces on it.
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Old 06-21-2008, 07:06 AM   #12
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The "unique force" on the UFO may be that the water pump fan blades are turned backwards to push air rather than pull air. That would be like a constant pulling at the pump bearing.
Just a thought, as I have not had my hands on a UFO, yet.
I have seen this in Industrial Lift Trucks with rear facing engines.

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Old 06-21-2008, 07:11 AM   #13
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I think I might want to talk to a Workhorse tech about this before I sign on the dotted line for a UFO. Just as a precaution.
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Old 06-21-2008, 07:27 AM   #14
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I would still buy a UFO if a floor plan was offered that I liked...still waiting. The HR is close.

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Old 06-21-2008, 07:50 AM   #15
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Richard,

I have a link to two HR 38plts. One of them is a pending sale to me, but the other one is also a nice rig, just dosn't have the same interior colors and no bedroom skylight (a very neat thing that adds a lot to the room) The coach is in New York but they will deliver to you. I can PM the link to you if you are interested.
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Old 06-21-2008, 08:32 AM   #16
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Avalondanes

I thought the same thing but one of the techs thought the fan blade was "neutral" as it didn't push or pull air. That didn't sound correct to me, but he said they have replaced the water pump on a few of the 8.1 Vortec motors in pick up trucks.

The original failed at appx 6800 miles, the replacement lasted about 1 mile! Something is causing the bearing to pull out of the housing.

I will keep you all posted as things develop.
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Old 06-21-2008, 09:12 AM   #17
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by -Gramps-:
Richard,

just dosn't have the same interior colors and no bedroom skylight (a very neat thing that adds a lot to the room). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Unless you can close off that skylight, you may be sorry you got it. Imagine parking right under the BIG campground street light.
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Old 06-21-2008, 10:01 AM   #18
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Full-Timers (something I want to be some day soon) the skylight has a day night shade over it that looks really nice and is easy to use. I am wondering how much heat it would lose on a cold day.
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Old 06-21-2008, 10:09 AM   #19
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Gramps-C.W. sells foam inserts for the skylights. You can leave them in to conserve heat or cold. They also keep the light out of course. I have them in my MH, they don't need much space to put away.

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Old 06-21-2008, 11:02 AM   #20
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Fakrwee:
Gramps-C.W. sells foam inserts for the skylights. You can leave them in to conserve heat or cold. They also keep the light out of course. I have them in my MH, they don't need much space to put away.

Tom </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Tom. Great Idea.
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