First shakedown cruise

Sweet40FD · 06-28-2006, 09:42 AM

We are heading to Fort Hood Texas in the morning to welcome my Son coming in from Korea.
This is going to be the first shakedown cruise for our Coach. I just hope we don't have near the problem gremlins that Rebelsbeach has had with his new coach. I'm very nervous about this trip. I've owned several MH's in the past and have never been this apprehensive about traveling in one.
The trip is going to average around 3500 miles round trip.
Keep us in your prayers please.
Thanks in advance,
Cheryl

Sweet40FD · 06-28-2006, 09:42 AM

We are heading to Fort Hood Texas in the morning to welcome my Son coming in from Korea.
This is going to be the first shakedown cruise for our Coach. I just hope we don't have near the problem gremlins that Rebelsbeach has had with his new coach. I'm very nervous about this trip. I've owned several MH's in the past and have never been this apprehensive about traveling in one.
The trip is going to average around 3500 miles round trip.
Keep us in your prayers please.
Thanks in advance,
Cheryl

Kazoo Tom · 06-28-2006, 10:26 AM

Have a great trip, and may all you problems be minor!

rebelsbeach · 06-28-2006, 12:45 PM

Cheryl, the good news is that Winnebago makes HUNDREDS of these coaches....It is understood there will be issues with them,some more than others.
The ratio of "coaches with issues" compared to the "coaches without issues" is low...
Most of my issues of late have to do with an electrical gremlin,as I've reported the turn signal camera issue and now the driver's power seat has no power,while the passenger seat works fine.
The leaking windshield has been fixed,although I am not sure why the fix in Forest City didn't hold...They essentially did the same thing this time as last...

Get out and enjoy your coach, and know there are many fine folks in Forest City that can and WILL answer your call if need be....

Best of luck and keep in touch,
Bob

Sweet40FD · 06-28-2006, 01:29 PM

Thanks Tom and Barb.
Thank you too Bob, I know once we get some miles behind us I'll feel alot better. And that's what we bought the Coach for, Traveling and seeing the country in it. So once we get this trip done, we should know if there will be bugs that we haven't already came across.
Which mine have been minor except for the coolant leak we had when we drove the Coach home. Which a small rubber seal fixed it thanks to a small Freightliner service shop here local. All I had to do was explain what it was doing and he knew what I needed.
I'll keep you posted along the way. I have a Sprint card in my Laptop that we use all the time.
Thanks,
Cheryl

Sweet40FD · 06-29-2006, 07:36 PM

Ok. There have been some issues that I hope one of you can help me on:
1. Going up hills, and not really steep inclines; my temperature guage went to 225 and told me I went past my threshold. I shifted down and slowed down until my temp went down some. As long as I'm not going up any type of incline, the engine temp stays just under 200.
2. My dash air is only blowing hot air so we had to run the generator all day and you can sure tell by how fast the gas needle dropped.
Any suggestions from you would be a great help to me. We finally stopped west of Phoenix for the night.
Thank you all again,
Cheryl

Radarr · 06-30-2006, 01:13 AM

Your under warranty, call Winnebago Customer Service in the morning and ask for help.

When your back up and running, give your selling dealer a call and chew his @$%^&%$# out for not doing a very good PDI service on your coach. The air should have been working when you picked it up.

You have to look past all the glitz and glamor when your buying and picking up your new coaches. You have to test everything at least twice before you take possession. Now the wasted time and expense will be on you.

radarr

JJ Hamick · 06-30-2006, 04:56 AM

Good luck in your travels. Thank your son for protecting all of us while in the sevice of our contry. My son is presently at Ft Carson Co.

ichn2go · 06-30-2006, 04:59 AM

Hey Radarrrrrrrrrrrrr,,How ya been?
Don't want to be argumentive, but the MSRP on the Dynasty is right much more than any MSRP, that I know of on a Winnie product.
Glad you like your coach, knock on wood , mine has been doin fine.
I guess its a matter of you get what you pay for.
Safe Miles

Sweet40FD · 06-30-2006, 05:15 AM

jjhamick; thank you and I'll pass your thank you to my son. Sure can't wait to see him.

Radarr; we did the chewing the dealership we bought it from right after we got the Coach home. We had several water leaks under our kitchen sink along with the ice maker valve. We fixed it ourselves. There were several other issues we went through with them after the sale and delivery. It was cool when we picked the coach up so it felt like the dash air was fine.
My main concern is the temperature guage while going up hills. I will call Winnebago this morning and get guidence. I've drove several MH's on this same road and never had a problem with the temperature.
Thank you all again.
Cheryl

John_Canfield · 06-30-2006, 08:25 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Sweet40FD:
--snip--
1. Going up hills, and not really steep inclines; my temperature guage went to 225 and told me I went past my threshold. I shifted down and slowed down until my temp went down some. As long as I'm not going up any type of incline, the engine temp stays just under 200.
--snip
Thank you all again,
Cheryl </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Cheryl, your engine might be operating normally. Please read my thread about this exact experience of last month. If the temperature alarm you had did not set a "check engine" light, you are probably having the same experience I did. Read the thread I linked and see what you think.

Sweet40FD · 06-30-2006, 04:10 PM

Thanks John. I hope your right and everything on my Coach is normal. We are at a Cummings service dealer just outside of Phoenix. We've been here all day. Their supposed to hook the MH up to their computer to see what's going on just to be on the safe side. But I have wasted a day. I'll post when I hear something.
Thank you,
Cheryl

Sweet40FD · 07-03-2006, 03:19 AM

The computer stated that the MH was doing what it was supposed to do. Everything checked out ok on the temp. readings etc.

I have a new issue that I've noticed though. Whenever we put the jacks down; the motor to me sounds louder than it normally did. Once the jacks are down; then it's fine. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. And thanks again for helping me on the temp. issue.
Thanks
Cheryl

SargeW · 07-03-2006, 06:53 AM

Hi Cheryl,

Do you mean that the coach motor is idled up when you lower your jacks, or just the sound is louder with the coach lifted? A louder sound would be normal if it gets louder as the coach is lifted (distance from the ground is increased). I usually raise mine with the motor off.

Sarge

Gary CA · 07-03-2006, 09:10 AM

Cheryl: I know I hear the engine more when the coach is parked, engine on, door/windows open, jacks are coming down, parked in a campsite, noise echoing around. And your neighbors saying, "Wow those diesels are loud." Enjoy.......

jtharley · 07-03-2006, 02:15 PM

Keep a close eye on those "electrical" gremlins. For the past month I was getting a "stop engine, check engine" light on the dash and info center. After stopping and checking the engine more than a dozen times I found nothing. Temp normal, coolant level good, oil level good, trans fluid normal and the coach drove great!

Took it to the freightliner dealer and left it and the computer told the dealer that the code occured over 200 times in the last 8 months. Turns out the coach was fine to take camping that weekend but with all the computers they where worried that a computer malfunction could stop the trans from communicating with the engine ect.......may not shift sooooo I left it and they are going through the computer to locate and fix the problem. Said it could take 3 hours or 3 days because there are so many codes to check.....These computers may be convenient but they sure do scare me cause there is no way for us to do any diagnostics when it is a computer.

Sweet40FD · 07-03-2006, 03:02 PM

I think I found the problem. I read somewhere that the jacks coming down are louder if the air hasn't completely dumped. I waited until it was through to put the jacks down and it was alot better. Normal in fact.
But now another issue; my patio awning will not open up. I've tried with the remote control and the control by the door. And it does nothing. The awning over the door works fine. So just another minor issue.
Thanks again for your input.
Cheryl "Happy 4th everyone"

Sweet40FD · 07-04-2006, 05:53 AM

After trying again with the awning; it works fine again. Don't know whether it was a loose connection or what. We did go over some really rough roads to reach our destination. But everything is ok. The Coach did fine so far. I have no complaints at all. We'll see how she does on the way home in 10 days. It drove better than any coach I've owned in the past. I wouldn't trade it for another.
We sure got some looks when I drove into the campground here. We're the largest Coach here. A few wanted to look at it and they loved it.
We are staying in a campground in Georgetown Texas. Very humid but better than the 110 coming out of California!

Ed Gardiser · 07-04-2006, 06:40 AM

Well I live in North San Diego County and its not gotten over 95, which is hot but not 110.The deserts are well into that 110 range but unless you are at the Colorado River in the water why go there.If you were to travel to the coast the temperature drops as well as a nice on shore breeze.The humidity has been higher than normal because of the storms comming from the Gulf of Mexico.

Ed Gardiser
Escondido,Ca.
04 Vectra
87 Nissan PickUp
FMCA

Sweet40FD · 08-03-2006, 04:49 PM

Sorry it took so long for me to update everyone on the forum about what happened coming home. Our Motor threw a rod about 50 miles or so from home. No warning or anything. The engine compartment caught on fire but we were lucky enough to put it out before much damage could be done. There was damage to our tow from the huge pieces of motor coming out. This all happened on the 14th of July. We are still in shock.
There have been several cummins 400isl's with this problem. Some would just be idling and throw the rod.
We are having to stay in a hotel because we are fulltimers and still work. This is very hard.
Cummins said they would take care of our expenses but they are juggling us from one person to another and now can't get any return phone calls. They are saying the new engine should be in it within a few more weeks. But I've heard from other RVer's that had theirs within a couple of weeks.
Any suggestions? This has just made us sick. We only had 4800 miles on the coach.
Thank you