cricard04

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I've continued to talk to Winnebago, specifically the Service manager. He was no more helpful than the CEO of Winnebago; in fact he suggested that I wasn't taking care of my Winnebago Vectra as I should to protect my investment. I informed him that I would put my Vectra up against any other Vectra out there of the same age; its had a lot of improvements and upgrades made to it and the maintenance cost has never been spared to keep the RV in good operating condition or up to date since I purchased it new. I get a lot of comments on how nice my coach looks and the condition its in, except for the windshield problem. It's truly sad that a company the size of Winnebago won't stand behind their product when the problem is their design. I have had more RV windshield repair people look at the windshield since I posted the original message. One company indicated that they could repair the problem but I should suspect to see the problem return in 4-5 years. Frankly, I'm not interested in the problem returning ever; each time I talk to one of these companies I like to discuss exactly how they plan to clean and treat the rust problem and what they are going to do to prevent it from happening in the future. "RV Glass solutions", looked at my windshields, they say I have a few stone chips that should qualify them for free replacement in Florida; if so all I need to do is find out how they would clean the rust out and prevent it from happening again. They could do that here in Florida; I need to follow up on their solution. If that doesn't work out, I think what I'm going to do, (unless I hear from a company that really has a good plan for fixing the problem), when I get back to my northern home is to remove the black seal and trim plates, the interior trim etc. Then I'm going to see if I can seal the metal around the rusted area so that I can sand blast all the rust out. After that I will treat the metal with a rust killer like Naval Jelly or something similar; I'll also check and make sure I don't have one of the roof marker lights leaking. It was also suggested that I look into a paint called POR-15, which can be bought on Amazon, that is supposed to also neutralize rust and keep it from returning; that paint looked promising based on what I read. If I can accomplish that I have a couple options: I can have the windshields removed and finish treating the metal that windshield was attached to or if the thickness of the seal between the glass and metal is thick enough I may be able to clean out the sealant that is there, clean the metal and reseal the windshields. The bottomline is that Winnebago has an extremely poor attitude regarding this problem. Guardian provides the windshields and will charge $650 per windshield to replace them. Winnebago wanted $750 to remove each the existing windshields, clean the metal and reinstall the windshields. If they broke one, I would have to pay for the new windshields. Some simple math shows how rediculous this is: Winnebago $1500 plus windshield cost if they break one (50% chance). Do it my self: break windshields with hammer and have Guardian put in new ones $1300 plus cost of cleaning the metal < $100. If I ever purchase a new coach, it won't be a Winnebago!

I have a 2004 Vectra which was a pain to fill; I could never hold the fill nozzle wide open when filling the fuel tank. I complained to Freightliner and it appears there was a fuel tank design that had a problem; they offered me a replacement tank that fixed the problem for free. Check on the installation cost of removing and replacing the tank if you go this route; the Freightliner service center in Londonderry NH I went too said it took 17 hours to change the tank ($1800). Personally I think they were dishonest, the tank is held in with two metal straps; the vent lines, fuel lines for the engine and generator and the fuel gauge electrical connections were all that had to be disconnected to remove the tank. The tank is in plain view under the coach and there's nothing in the way to remove it. I delivered the coach to the service center with almost no fuel in it to make it easy for them and when questioned about the cost they claimed the tank was full and it took a long time to drain and filter the fuel. The coach was originally brought to them because of fuel system blockage to the engine which caused the engine to buck (cut out) for lack of fuel. Initially when I called and talked to them, the service manager suggested changing the extra fuel filter I had them install prior to the engine lift pump a year before. The lift pump had suffered from contamination and blockage several times in preceding years causing us to limp home. The large fuel filter provided originally was installed between the lift pump and the fuel injection pump; it didn't do any filtering of the fuel to the lift pump. I hadn't changed the filter because it rained every day prior to taking the coach in for service and tank replacement. When I did deliver the coach for service I told the service person I hadn't change the filter and suggested they change it before wasting a lot of time. They didn't listen and went through a trouble shooting process that cost over $300 to find out the filter I told them to replace (on their recommendation) was clogged with some hard substance (not identifiable). Needless to say, when I complained I got no satisfaction. However, since this incident I have heard that if the welding slag inside the fuel tank that is created when the fuel tank baffles are welded in place is not removed, it can deteriorate in a moist environment (water vapor in the tank) and come loose and clog fuel filters This is the most probable answer as I purchase all my fuel at large truck stops where the fuel doesn't sit for months at a time accumulating moisture.

Based on the fact you said you turned off the Main Power switch I might assume that your engine batteries are going dead and not the coach batteries. If so, I had a similar problem with my Winnebago Vectra; the engine batteries would be dead in about two weeks with the coach power turned off. There are parasitic loads on the engine batteries that eventually drain them unless you have a source to keep them charged. In my case, I added a little charging module that charges the engine batteries from the coach batteries. It seems Winnebago didn't think that was too important to install one in 2004; however, the newer coaches have this module I believe. The mini charger has a Winnebago part number and can be purchased on the web for about $50. With this mini charger installed my engine batteries never run down and the solar panel keeps the coach batteries charged. When I'm in Florida for the winter the coach sometimes sits for a couple months without being used and the batteries stay charged all that time.

When you're at a rally, traveling from RV park to park and it's cold outside the central heat with the heat pump (powered by electricity you paid for at a park) is the cheapest way to keep warm. Mine works when the temperature is down to 25 degrees or so. When it's 25 degrees outside and you're burning propane at $4 a gallon and the insulation of the RV isn't great, the furnace(s) will burn a lot of propane. The only problem with the thermopane windows is the seal leaks sometimes and you'll have to get a pane resealed; considering all the windows in my RV, I have only two that fog up with moisture occasionally.