greybeard101
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Posts posted by greybeard101
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Sounds like a Lemon Law contender. You in the US have that sort of consumer protection. How effective it is I cannot say...but at least you have it. Have you looked into that? Here in Canada there is no such protection. My 2012 Holiday Rambler Vacationer was in the shop for the better part of the Spring/Summer and Fall season ( roughly 7 months ) of 2012 but I must say that the problems you are having sound absolutely disgraceful. After having the opportunity to speak with the regional sales manager at a local RV show and writing to the Navistar RV Division President they arranged for it to go to the Monaco Coburg service center and they did an admirable job at attempting to fix the problems we had been plagued with. There are still some issues that need addressing so it's going back in a couple of weeks. The manufacturer's response to your unacceptable issues makes me wonder how any future problems with our motorhome will be handled now that Holiday Rambler/ Monaco are owned by the same company that owns Fleetwood.
Seriously, no consumer should have to contend with the terrible quality you have described. I don't care if it's entry level or luxury coach. One thing I did note when at the Coburg center for 10 days is that it doesn't matter how much you paid for your coach, they all have similar problems to one degree or another. Ours was the only class A gas there for the most part, the rest being DP's many of which were in the half million dollar range when new. I do agree with DesertDeals69 though. If I had to do it again I would look at a good pre-owned higher end coach. My wife however didn't like the "country", frilly look of most of the interiors on the older coaches whereas our Vacationer has a timeless decor that I feel confident will remain up to date for a long time. ...... probably longer than the coach
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Mine is on a 242" wheelbase but is 36' 10" long. That rear tail swing is definitely something to keep in mind. Unfortunately a mechanic at a local Ford dealer didn't realize that and hit a concrete lamp standard on their lot....roughly $5,000 in damages that they, of course are paying for. 
Trying to maneuver through border crossings with all the blockades they have to prevent anyone blasting through is quite an ordeal...almost took out the US Border Agent's booth 2 weeks ago...with him in it.....
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Larry,
Sorry for your bad luck. However Monaco is still in business and have many parts available. If you contact their parts department and they do not have the door they can order one made.A friend of mine damaged two doors and was able to get them from Monaco. And yes you have a fine coach.
Bill,
I believe you are correct that Navistar has moved all but tech support back to Indiana.
Now, nobody asked but here is my thought on the matter. I feel that in a few years Navistar will find that they can build trucks but have no idea as to how to run a Motor Home company an will put it up for sale.
Just my idea (and Hope)
Herman
Herman, you're right on the money...they are looking to sell.......if the right buyer comes along. So far they have rejected some offers, so when I will happen is anyone's guess...but that's their intention.
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All F53 chassis' come with a DRL harness as standard equipment....per Ford's own specification sheet in PDF form.......all BUT MINE!
So they couldn't activate the DRL feature at all.
So whether it be from Ford or the selling dealer they have now been able to set it up. At least that's what they tell me..I haven't seen it for 6 weeks.
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Greybeard101, Your Magnadyne M3-LCD is your surround sound home theater system. The subwoofer is located under the dash in front of the passenger seat. The front three speakers as you know are mounted on the ceiling near the television and the two back speakers are mounted over driver and passenger seats. As far as I can tell, when you insert the DVD into the M3-LCD the DVD surround sound should play through the five speakers and subwoofer. You should have received the M3-LCD manual in the form of a CD/DVD in amongst all of your other manuals. It can also be found here: http://www.magnadynestore.com/modules/store/M3-LCD_P612231C25912.cfm
Thanks for everyone's input. Newbie I don't have the touch screen dash unit. I have a DVD player in the cabinet above the driver's seat and a dash radio. After taking it back to the dealer again and speaking to the General Manager ( who also thought it was strange to have a player without all the leads hooked up), they hired an independent audio company to go over it and what they told me earlier is indeed the correct procedure. The amplifier for the DVD player is in the dash unit ( which plays CD's) and to get surround sound one has to set the dash unit to "aux rear". The dash unit amplifier runs off the house batteries so my concern about draining the chassis battery is explained away.
To change the subject a little, the coach has been in the shop for half of January and all of February for various things to be fixed so I'll play with the DVD unit when I get it back tomorrow. I year anniversary of ownership comes up in March. Of that, it it has been in the shop for 230 days of 351 days we've owned it.
To top it all off the Ford dealer's mechanic who was working on giving it an oil change..trying to hook up the DRL ( my chassis was missing the standard wiring harness that all F53 chassis come standard with) and trying to figure out why the V10 stalled on every hard left turn ( misrouted wiring harness by Monaco causing the front wheel to make contact with it and damaged the wiring)....he creased the dr side rear compartment door, pushed back the rear cap joint moulding and generally scraped the whole left rear side of the cap.
Me pulling my hair out?......nahhhhhhh.........When we get it back I am going to wrap the entire coach in duct tape...that should help...maybe.
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Yes but I am not sure I accept their explanation.
They say that in order to to get sound through all the speakers I have to set the dashboard radio to "AUX REAR". None of that is mentioned anywhere in the vehicle handbook or the DVD manufacturer's handbook. Furthermore all that does is play sound through all the speakers....not "surround sound" The DVD home theatre unit has ports for L front....L rear...R front...R rear... center and subwoofer. There are no leads from any speakers for anything but "center" and "subwoofer" A true surround system would have them all hooked up just like at home and the handbook for the DVD player/home theatre system gives all the details of how to set that up. That's not possible if there are no leads to the correct speakers........and.........it seems a bit strange to have to employ the dash radio ...which I assume runs off the chassis battery, for a system that should run completely off the house batteries during a 2 hour movie. It's as if they forgot to wire the speakers to the Home Theatre system at bthe factory and the answer I am given at the dealership is a "good enough" solution as far as they are concerned.
So I just wondered if anyone out there has the same MH and how it's hooked up at the back of the DVD unit.
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If you have this setup, I have a question or two about the wiring off the back of the DVD unit and the procedure used to activate the surround sound feature.
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I just want to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone here. In the short time I have been a member I have learned a LOT from these forums and wanted to express my gratitude to all who have offeerd advice and shared their experiences.
Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
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Thanks everyone. I am aware that it is a legal requirement that any importer must install or activate DRL on motorhomes in Canada. My reason for asking the question is that when I brought it up with my service department they said they would have to look into it to see if it is a fix from Monaco or from Ford. I found this strange....I mean...all their units are imported from the States...including ones they build themselves on the E 350 or E 450 cutaway chassis....so why is it such a query as to how to fix it?.....almost as if they haven't bothered setting up DRL's on any other units they import. So I just wonderd if other members in Canada had MH's where the importer ( the dealership) had not bothered to set them up. I also believe it is a requirement that the instruments should have Km as the dominant numbers on the speedo but on mine they simply have a sticker below the gauges that says "miles"....which is OK by me as I never did like the switch to metric and most of my driving is done in the States.
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This a question for Canadian members.
Does your MH have daytime running lights?
What brand and year of RV do you have?
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I have a Monaco Camelot which has a balky roadside bedroom slide. I discovered that the gasket underneath was binding--it had come loose at a corner and was folded under the slide floor. Additionally, are you trying to operate the slide before or after getting the coach to "travel mode", meaning that you have raised the jacks? Every seminar I have attended says to always operate the slides at road level, which means to put them out before leveling the coach and bring them in after raising the jacks. This sets the coach "true" so the slides are not "torqued", which can cause binding and damage.
FYI .......Our 2012 Holiday Rambler Vacationer 36SBT user manual says "CAUTION......The motorhome must be supported by the suspension whether extending or retracting any slide room. Do not operate the slide out room when supported by the hydraulic jacks. Damage to the slide out room, mechanism or seals can occur."
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Agreed.......
I haven't looked in on this forum for a few weeks. I found out about the wheel manufacturer shortly after my last post. I was speaking to a rep for Alcoa ( a very pleasant and helpful lady ) and she confirmed that Alcoa hasn't supplied Ford with wheels for some time. On her suggestion I searched for the stamping on the wheels and found "Made in Taiwan" on the rear wheel. After that I kind of dropped the matter as the issue of whether an Alcoa "Dura Brite" warranty had been voided by dealership attempts to get the unusual coating off half of each wheel was no longer a concern. The Ford ad I had found on line mentioning the F53 chassis having dura brite wheels was a very old ad, so that corresponds to what the Alcoa rep was saying. A Ford rep suggested I take it to a Ford dealer and make a warranty claim. During this time the RV has been in the shop again and I let the matter slide. I was watching a video for the Rand McNally GPS and a split second frame showed a wheel in motion on a pusher that had the same milky appearance when it was in direct sunlight so I figured it is not an uncommon occurrence. I took some Meguires Scratch X and lightly applied some to a front wheel. It reduced the effect of the light scratches in the clearcoated wheel and when followed by an application of Turtle Wax ICE the reflection on the wheel deepened. It didn't eliminate that milky appearance in direct sunlight but has made a positive impact on the overall appearance of the wheel finish. So I feel a bit better about the issue and will leave it at that. Thanks for everyone's input.
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Yes I would also be interested in the year of your model. After 6 months in the shop for leaks and a host of other problems ( all Spring and Summer) our 2012 was released to us in early September. We had it home for 2 weeks...never drove it anywhere...... then drove it 4.6 miles to show it to relatives and the passenger side slide-out failed to retract fully...... slide out motor sensor failed. Dealer ordered a replacement and the factory sent the wrong one, note here that it takes at least 2 weeks to get anything shipped out here. So the unit sat at the dealership for another month, during which time I had them install a 145w solar panel and 1500w inverter as well as a 50 amp surge protector ( trying to keep a positive point of view ). We got the unit back on Tuesday October 23rd. It sat 2 days while we had other commitments on our time then Friday we went out to it to stock it up and since it was around 40 degrees inside I tried the furnaces. One worked the other does not. So now I am waiting for a return call from the Service Manager to get in back to them for that. I called him at 8am....it is now 9:15am.
This Navistar/Monaco/Holiday Rambler product is a piece of ****. I would never buy another product from this manufacturer. In over 7 months of ownership this product has not once served the purpose for which it was intended and for which we paid a considerable sum.
..................and, of course, The Canadian Government being what it is, I have no lemon law protection whatsoever.
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On CC mine once downshifted while going down a grade on the freeway here. It screamed. I just figured it was it's way of maintaining the selected speed instead of gaining momentum downhill. Alarming but logical if the whole idea is not to let a large mass of motorhome gain too much speed downhill. ASFAIK I didn't have it on tow/haul mode...but given that I had only driven it once before ...maybe I did.
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The phrase "Lemon Law" has been rattling around in my brain also...for a long time
...............except that here in Canada there is no such legislation. Automobile purchasers have an arbitration process available, but it excludes RV's for some reason.In my case the dealer's staff have saved Navistar/Monaco from finding this case blasted across YouTube or on the evening news. They have been stellar in their dedication to me as a customer.....so far.
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My dealership threw in a quick connect from the main tank to the curb side of the RV to which I will attach a 20ft gas hose. Like derh2o mentioned, just unscrew the BBQ regulator and connect the RV hose.
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Imagine buying a brand new HR and getting the same feeling. I see that Navistar have sold off their plant in Coburg and are just leasing a small part of it for service....that way Navistar gets back capital and can shut things down completely when the lease runs out.
FWIW my dealership here in Abbotsford BC remains a Navistar/Monaco/HR dealer and has it's own body shop.....not too much of a trip from Vancouver Washington.................
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I though it was a clear coat sprayed on. I may be wrong but thats what I was told.
Their website says the "Dura Brite production process penetrates the aluminum"....whatever that means.
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If worst comes to worst you can strip the wheels and buff to a shine just like the older wheels were done. I have the older wheels with the buff shine and they last a year or two before I have to polish them again.
I would be quite happy if they didn't have the dura brite finish on them and be able to take care of them myself. I have a '49 Chev pickup street rod with 20 year old aluminum wheels and polishing them before every show season is a pleasure not a chore. My understanding is that the dura brite finish is more than just a coating....I believe it is infused in the alloy like anodizing...but may be wrong.
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My relationship with the dealer has been very good. They have been placed in the unfortunate position of having to spend hundreds of man hours fixing problems that came with an extremely poorly constructed RV from Monaco. When Monaco refused warranty coverage for a slide out that was binding so badly while the coach was in motion that it was hard to carry on a conversation, the dealer's service department took a video of the completely unacceptable noise and sent it to Monaco and it was only then that the manufacturer decided to offer some advice........advice by the way that was worthless. Before that, Monaco's response was to the effect...hey slide outs creak...if the customer doesn't like it let him buy slide locks. The dealership supplied a slide lock out of courtesy. The tech went to Lippert to get support and was somewhat successful in minimizing the noise.
The coach went in originally because the passenger side slide leaked like no tomorrow ( along with a host of other problems that a coach new from the factory should not have ). After my coach was in the shop for 5 and a half months, Monaco's only offer of support was to advise me they would re-start the 1 yr warranty when I signed off on the repairs. I had the unit home for 14 days, during which time it went nowhere while we stocked it up. We took it 4.6 miles to meet relatives who were on the way through town to visit further down the road and after opening all 3 slides up, the passenger side slide stuck half way in when retracting it and I had to wait for a dealer tech to arrive on a Sunday to try and get it back in..which he did,...noting that one of the slide out motors had failed.......this after drivng only 4.6 miles since receiving it back from the dealer where it had been for almost 6 months. The unit has only a few hundred miles on it above the mileage incurred from driving it from Indiana. ( so all-in-all less than 3,000 miles) That few hundred miles has been the result of driving it back and forth to the dealer. We have not slept in it, cooked in it, used the facilities..or anything at this point. The dealer..not Monaco.... has supplied some compensation for our loss of use and depreciation...although not nearly enough. My sympathies are with the poor tech guys who have had to work on this Holiday Rambler from ****. It is still in the shop at this point...October 4th. We were left with no alternative other than either suing or accepting the offer of compensation so we concluded that given all the work they had done to it they have probably built one better than it would have come from the factory so at this point it is having the slide out motor replaced and solar panels and an inverter installed. We hope to get it back next week.
I hate like **** to blame the dealership for wheel damage when the damage was actually the spray that someone else negligently put on....I mean it was like paint..almost like rough clearcoat and even mildly applying a cleaner wax on a small spot didn't have any impact on the crud.
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Thank you sir for your warm welcome and advice.
I did speak to a very helpful young lady at Alcoa who has asked me to send her some pictures. Unfortunately I didn't photograph my wheels close up before they were worked on. If I had, the problem would have been very clearly shown. However I told her I would seek out the unit I saw at the RV show and see if I can find any others on rv lots in this area to photograph. I do have some pictures of mine but taken at a distance so the delineating effect of the dull coating is not demonstrated clearly.
The fact that they are Dura-Brite wheels and the very clear instructions Alcoa publish about using only mild detergent and water..and no polishes.... is the crux of my concern because without any corroborating accounts of similar examples of the same peculiar, half-wheel coating, I could be left without any recourse but to accept the wheels in their current condition or replace them at my cost.
So if anyone has encountered the same phenomenon on their wheels or on wheels they may have seen or worked on in the business, I would appreciate hearing from them.
While the detailing departments of various dealerships work hard to produce sparkling RV's for their customers I do think that without a published account of problems like this they are left to their own devices in these situations and unwittingly put warranty items at risk. Another point I have made with my dealership and one other dealer is that in the case of applying wheel dressing to blacken the tires for display on the lots, if they use a petroleum based tire dressing, it completely voids the tire warranty on all Michelin tires as per the Michelin info provided with the unit I have as well as on my private automobile......something no one I have talked to so far had any idea about.
Thanks again.
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First of all, hello.
I am a new member of the FMCA. I purchased a 2012 Holiday Rambler Vacationer 36SBT on March 17th. This is my first RV of any kind.
Aside from the incredible number of faults that this coach has had ( I have owned it for 201 days of which it has been in the shop under repair or waiting for warranty authorization for approximately 175 of those days....in other words most of the Spring and ALL of the Summer), I have a question about the wheels on the unit.
When I first got it home back in March, I washed it and in doing so I noticed that half of each of the 4 wheels had some sort of spray on them that was impossible to get off. It covered, not only the Alcoa portion of the wheels but also the center axle covers. I asked the dealership about it and they had no idea what it was. The unit had been in the body shop at some point so it was thought that perhaps it was overspray of clearcoat. The wheels were basically shiny on half and dull...like aluminum ingot,... on the other half. The dealership tried as best they could do get it off and most of it is gone, but the wheels are somewhat milky in appearance in direct sunlight.
I thought this was just another oddball defect of this coach that I was saddled with ( we don't have lemon laws in Canada) but last weekend I was at a local RV show and found another unit from a different RV manufacturer ( Fleetwood ) with exactly the same phenomenon. My coach was built in Nov. 2011 and the Fleetwood was Feb. 2012.
I am concerned now that the attempts that the dealership made to remove the errant coating may have voided the warranty from Alcoa.
My question here is whether anyone else has suffered the same experience on their class A gas with the Ford F53 Chassis? Given that the sprayed material covered the center caps it would appear that whatever happened to them, happened after the wheels were mounted on the F53 chassis at Ford and before they arrived at the various RV manufactures in the Midwest. Obviously the spray was applied while the wheels were stationary so it can't be from the delivery of the vehicles to the dealership by the factory contracted driver, ( in my case roughly 2,500 miles) nor can it be from any error on the part of the RV manufacturer, since it involves more than one RV company. ( except perhaps the fact that they should have rejected the wheels upon delivery from Ford) It is as if perhaps the chassis's were exposed to something while the basic chassis was covered except for the lower part of each wheel.......either on the Ford plant holding lot or on whatever they used to transport the chassis's to the various RV companies ( I'm guessing by train). or by ? ( any ideas?)
Noting that I have found 2 here in this neck of the woods I can confidently conclude that there must be many more out there in various corners of North America....perhaps all on one train load back in the winter.
I have contacted Alcoa and Ford and have been advised to take mine to a Ford dealer for warranty consideration, but I thought that first I would ask here if anyone else has had this on their Class A gas and what they did to resolve it. If the dealerships, in good faith, used an abrasive or solvent not authorized by Alcoa and have damaged the wheels trying to correct damage done by some other party, it would seem that the customer should not have to put up with that damage and the responsible party should replace the wheels.
I am hoping that FMCA, as an influential group with some commercial members could add some credibility to my quest that I, as a single individual, may not be able to garner.
Sorry for the long-winded first post to the forums, but I'd appreciate any help I can get from others who have noticed the same issue.
Thanks,
Holiday Rambler Repair
in Type A motorhomes
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I have had good service at the Coburg Oregon service facility. Just came back from there in fact and there were customers from Ohio, Illinois, Texas, South Dakota, California...basically all over, who regularly have their coaches serviced there because they do good work.