Another new View

[eweb101]

Hello!


We just purchased a 2020 View 20V. Our intent is to live in it for about 8 months a year and live on our sailboat for the other 4 months. We've been living on the boat the past three years so this will be a nice change for us.




The purchase process was pretty painful, and we already have a check engine light we need to fix and a couple of Winnebago warranty issues to take care of. We're hoping once we get past these, things will smooth out and we'll be able to enjoy the new RV.

[lenore]

Congratulations on your purchase, Hope your issues are taken care of soon.

[Dmarcian]

Be curious to hear about the check engine light. Have you checked DEF fluid level?

[DavidM]

Sorry to hear about your painful new RV buying experience.

I am a long time cruising boater who finally sold his last one and hopes to buy a newish View or Via. I have purchased 4-5 new boats in my lifetime, all of which were equivalent or more $ than a new View.

I can still remember the words of the dealer for my second boat, a low production French builder. To paraphrase his words: "You are buying a new boat and our job is to make it a totally pleasant and rewarding experience." And it was. All of my subsequent purchases were good experiences but not as good as that one.

Don't you wish that all new (or used) dealers subscribed to that philosophy. Life would be so much better.

David

[eweb101]

Originally Posted by Dmarcian

Be curious to hear about the check engine light. Have you checked DEF fluid level?

The warning says "Auxiliary Battery Malfunction"


Apparently there's a small battery under the passenger seat that ensures some of the safety functions, still work even if the starter battery dies. Mercedes calls this the auxiliary battery.


The dealer disconnected the starter battery so it wouldn't discharge while the RV was sitting on the lot, but didn't realize that on the newer model sprinters you also have to pull fuse 32 or the auxiliary battery discharges. Both of the new Views we looked at had this problem.


The dealer told us we need to go to Mercedes and get the battery checked/replaced as warranty work.

[eweb101]

We were planning to sail up to Nova Scotia this summer, but don't think Canada will let US citizens into their country any time soon. Between that and all the closures along the East Coast of the US, we think buying an RV and living in it a while will be a nice change while we wait out the virus.


So far the transition between sailing and RV'ing has been relatively easy.

[eweb101]

Originally Posted by eweb101

The warning says "Auxiliary Battery Malfunction"


Apparently there's a small battery under the passenger seat that ensures some of the safety functions, still work even if the starter battery dies. Mercedes calls this the auxiliary battery.


The dealer disconnected the starter battery so it wouldn't discharge while the RV was sitting on the lot, but didn't realize that on the newer model sprinters you also have to pull fuse 32 or the auxiliary battery discharges. Both of the new Views we looked at had this problem.


The dealer told us we need to go to Mercedes and get the battery checked/replaced as warranty work.

Just to follow up on my own post, I bought a replacement battery at batteries plus for $22. It was identical to the Mercedes battery except it said Duracell on it instead of Mercedes.


It took about 10 minutes to pull the Mercedes battery out from under the driver's seat and replace it with the Duracell battery. There was just enough room that I could stick my hand in and replace it without having to remove the driver's seat.


I've run about 10 hours with the new battery so far and there hasn't been a warning light. I wish the dealer would have fixed this before I bought the RV, but $22 was well worth skipping a trip to the Mercedes dealer.