My repair saga: (ac, slide hoses, inverter)

[McDuff]

So, I thought I would give all y'all the saga rundown I've been on. The coach has been at dealers over 3 weeks now. As I've alluded to in other threads, I am getting a brand new ac unit, 2 hoses replaced on rear slide, and a new inverter. Below is a copy of a PM I sent to another member, saves me a lot of typing.

Man, we seem to be on the same repair ferris wheel. My 2 new hoses cost $540 just for the parts. Maybe I should just try using the rv as a boat, see what happens.

I picked up my coach on friday, got a whole new ac unit, a new inverter, and of course the HWH hose fix. I will never,never,never again leave the shop lot without testing everything!

I got home, put the rear slide out, let off the button after full extension, and the slide creeps back in 6-8 inches, enough to see daylight. @#$%^# Did this 4-5 times and got same results. @#$%^

Ran my BRAND NEW ac unit for 2 hours, did not drop the temperature 1 damn degree!!! I used an infrared gun and the delta temp was 4 degrees. @#$%^%$#@#$$%^

After a short cooling off period so I didn't use too many cuss words, I called and gave the service manager hell, did they even test anything?

Took it back today, they jumped right on it. Fixed the slideout issue, had an air bubble in the line. Then they slid it back in and there was some weird knocking noise afterwards, just a constant knock, silence, knock, etc, they were gonna have to look at that later as they had moved onto ac.

First they tried to tell me that there was a leak in the duct behind the cap and that was why it was blowing warm air. HUH? That might reduce airflow inside but it ain't gonna cause warm air, with back pressure from the inside ducting, air would only go OUT not IN. They finally pulled the unit and straight out of the source, it was warm air. Appeared that one compressor was working right, and the other was in heat pump mode, canceling each other out. They are going to call RVP in the morning, I want another new unit, not a "fix" to my "new" unit. @#$%^

Damn, just typing this is getting me pissed off again.

Ok, rant done. At least my inverter seems to work ok.

Monday I spent all afternoon watching over their shoulder.

Tuesday they faxed in the paperwork that RVP needed to assess the issue.

Wednesday they told me that RVP said they had no units in stock and they(RVP) were going to call Winne and see if they had any left in stock.

Thursday(today) I had a call from dealer early, they said Winne was shipping a new unit out today. At 3:30 I got another call from dealer, telling me that they had a new unit delivered on todays truck. HUH? That's what she said too, but she called back to RVP and it turns out they shipped me the last unit in stock on tuesday and it was rush shipped.

Friday - hope to get my coach back.

Obviously I am/was pretty upset that all this went down. But I got nothing but good to say about RVP customer service(other than the brain fart about shipping one ).

I will update when I get my coach. (taking my ir gun with me)

[cbeierl]

If you haven't already done so you should check with HWH to see whether the hoses you had to replace are from the bad batch they had--if so they will probably pick up the cost.

[McDuff]

Thanks but it was already checked and they weren't. These bubbled up in the line, rather than the problem around the connectors.

[Roadking52]

I was kinda curious about what was wrong with the A/C, but it sounds like it didn't get diagnosed. Better luck with the next one. What was the noise in the slide all about?

Dale

[McDuff]

Roadking - don't know yet, they haven't gotten back to it yet.

I am waiting on my 3rd new ac unit. Replacement number two is drawing too many amps on compressor #1 according to the tech.

As with any "new" item, sometimes it doesn't pay to be on the bleeding edge..

[ROMAD]

Mine has been in the shop now for 5 weeks. Started out with compressor #1 was not cooling, found leak in the evaporator coil. Leak fixed but compressor #1 would not run. Replaced compressor #1 and now compressor #2 will not start. Found short between AC input and ground, compressor #2 is on order. Sure glad I had an extended warranty! Charges are going to be close to the cost of a new unit..... Hope this is the end of the saga....

[McDuff]

Geez Romad, I feel for ya, I'm now going on a month, 3rd unit is due this friday.

My old unit had a bad comp #1 and a burnt control board. We have had gremlins for a year since a lightning strike, had the control board replaced back then under an insurance claim, now it is my nickel. I lost faith in my whole unit so opted for a new one, but my faith ain't too strong so far in the new ones.

Good luck, hope this is the end of the saga's for both of us.

[McDuff]

Romad, here I was feelin' sorry for ya, looked at drop off date,July 29, so I've been in for almost 8 weeks. Time flies when you're having fun...

My third ac unit arrived last thursday, I got mad when I called both friday and saturday, and nothing had been done. I told them it *better* be done today(monday) as we leave wednesday for a nieces wedding.

I just called and they said the ac is in but not buttoned up, they are testing it to see if this one passes muster. It better by god.

[McDuff]

Well we had a great time at my nieces wedding, unfortunately we didn't get to take the coach. It was not for lack of trying, and delivering, by my Winne dealer.

We got the coach back home about 8:30pm on monday 9/27. The third ac unit was cooling well, you can see my results in Thudman's thread.

I have to use front jacks to level while in my driveway, got a weird kinda side-to-side motion as it was going up. I thought, "ok, now what with the hydraulics?". Next morning we were going to close place to dump tanks and get propane. I was sitting there idling the engine when all of a sudden, BANG!!! The right side jack failed! The coach leaned right, scared the crap out of me and the wife, she was just about to come in the door. I immediately hit the "store" button to relieve any pressure on the system. The system still seemed to work right, the jacks came up and the travel light came on. My wife said it looked like the right jack looked bent or something, but was up high, but not like normal. Since when I am in the drivers seat, it takes a lot of time and effort to get back into my wheelchair and out and down on the w/c lift, we decided to go ahead and make the dump run. The whole time I'm thinking, "what the H* is wrong with my hydraulics, and am pissed".

We make it almost to the dump place. Just as I am making a right turn at an intersection, my pneumatic hand control system fails. Both the gas and brake regulators fail at the same time, I can hear them hissing in my throttle/brake control box. They failed "active", which meant I was WOT and full brake, never had a big ol' diesel in powerbrake mode before. Least I know my brakes are good. I turned the key off, and amidst a lot of car horns, my wife and I changed seats. Man, I just thought I was mad before, I hit a whole new level now. WTH is going on???

We make the rest of the run uneventfully my wife driving us there and home, even though she doesn't really like city driving. When we get home, I call the Winne shop and raise hell with them about the jacks. They send a guy out to my house to check them out. He found that the bolts holding the jack assembly to the frame had sheared off. "Now wait a minute, so you have my coach for 2 months, and the day I get it back, both my jacks and my hand controls fail independently of any work y'all have done???" He had no answer but swore they did not even use the jacks while it was there, much less my hand controls. He also found 2 sheared bolts on the LF jack, the only thing holding both my LF and RF were 2 bolts and the cross member between them. He spent about 3 hours replacing all the front bolts then ran them out and in a couple times, worked fine and no bend to them at all.

I recommend everybody take a look at their jacks and the mounting bolts, mine are only 7/16" bolts.

So, now except for my hand controls, the coach was ready to go, but no time to mess with them, plus, I had already fixed the system one time with new regulators and was not in the mood. So we went to the wedding in my van.

Last week was busy with other things. And I also made up my mind to replace my had controls with the plain old mechanical style like I have in my van, they're pretty bullet proof. Last time the pneumatics failed, I was on a Houston freeway, I don't need this aggravation and worry. Just got the coach to the Mobility shop today where they will do the changeover.

The saga continues... Man, it has to end sometime.

[RickO]

Man, I feel for you! That's an incredible string of &%$# happening to you guys. Here's hoping your luck changes.

Rick