One more problem...

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mattcoker17

Active member
Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Posts
29
Location
Northern Ca
My oven in the 2015 Jayco White Hawk Ultralite (mentioned in the water heater post) will not light.  There is gas to the pilot and it will ignite as long as you hold the pilot button down.  Once the pilot button is released, the flame goes out.  It does not matter how long you hold the button.  I held it for several minutes last time hoping it just needed to heat up, but it did not stay lit.

Anyone have ideas on what I need to do to fix this one?

Matt
 
Suspect list
Pilot partially clogged
Thermocouple
Control valve

The thermocouple generates a low voltage (0.480 volt) power source. this is not so much important as teh CURRENT which flows through an electromagnet in the control valve... Or is supposed to.  THis magnet is not powerful enough to OPEN the valve. you do that when you press the button but it is strong enough to "Capture" the valve in the open position....

If it is not getting hot enough..  It won't hold
If the thermocouple is bad.. (Which by the way is next to but not quite impossible) it won't hold
if the magnet coil is open no current flows. and it won't hold.

I woudl start by inspecting the pilot flame and comparing it to a friend's who oven works.
 
Actually, the thermocouple is the most logical thing. I'm quite confused as to why John says it's next to impossible.
 
In my experience, the thermocouple is the most likely culprit. I've owned several gas water heaters and furnaces over the years and pilot thermocouple replacements were the only repairs any of them ever needed. Cheap and easy to DIY.
 
A thermocouple is two pieces of metal. 2 DIFFERENT metal. like copper and steel, bonded together. The only failure is if the bond fails.  And there are not many ways that can happen.

But as I also said. IT CAN happen.
 
The purpose of the Pilot button is to bypass the thermocouple, thereby allowing gas to flow and subsequent ignition.  The thermocouple is there to shut off the gas if the flame goes out for any reason (a safety feature).

As John says, thermocouples themselves rarely fail, but the wire connection to it is susceptible to corrosion or breakage.  The effect is the same so for most of us, the difference is academic. 
 
I would add two things.  Make sure the thermocouple is IN the pilot flame.  If it is off the the side it will not get hot enough to signal and hold the gas valve open.  Second, look at the thermocouple and see it is coated with carbon.  When I had this problem cleaning the thermocouple fixed the problem.  It wasn't easy..I used the smoother side of a nail file board taped the a butter knife to reach in.
 
Thank you for all the suggestions.  On a whim, I called the dealer where I bought the Jayco and found it is still under warranty.  I am taking it up of Friday so they can inspect and hopefully fix it.

I don't have a lot of confidence in this dealer, but I paid for the warranty so why not use it.

I will let you know what they come up with.
 
kdbgoat said:
Actually, the thermocouple is the most logical thing. I'm quite confused as to why John says it's next to impossible.
Click to expand...


Yes, I have had to replace the thermocouple in the unit heater in our garage more than once over the years. They can and do fail, whatever the reason.
 
mattcoker17 said:
I called the dealer where I bought the Jayco and found it is still under warranty.
Click to expand...

One more suggestion.. or two. Watch and ask questions.

Oh by the way. that is the best possible way to fix it.. UNDER WARRANTY.. A owner's favorite words. :)
 
John, I would love to watch; however, I was told it will take them 3-5 days to get the repairs done if it is only the issues I mentioned. 

This dealership is huge and appears to be having sever management and employee problems.  It took me six phone calls (never getting a call back) spanning three months to get any information from them.  And when I got hold of a manager, he admitted they are having problems returning calls and are having internal problems at the moment.  He went are far as to tell me "if you would have called 60 days ago, it was a lot worse."

It's sad that customers have to deal with corporations that act in that fashion.
 
mattcoker17 said:
John, I would love to watch; however, I was told it will take them 3-5 days to get the repairs done if it is only the issues I mentioned. 

This dealership is huge and appears to be having sever management and employee problems.  It took me six phone calls (never getting a call back) spanning three months to get any information from them.  And when I got hold of a manager, he admitted they are having problems returning calls and are having internal problems at the moment.  He went are far as to tell me "if you would have called 60 days ago, it was a lot worse."

It's sad that customers have to deal with corporations that act in that fashion.
Click to expand...
Which is why I don't buy new and I don't get a warranty. I would much rather pay to have a mobile mechanic come to me. That eliminates all the BS.
 
So for an update....

Dealer mechanic told me it would be a week and a half before they can even look at the problems and then another week to repair unless they have to order parts which will extend it out even further. 

SeilerBird, I am beginning to agree with your logic.  The next RV I get I will save the money of the extended warranty and avoid the headache of the dealership.
 
mattcoker17 said:
So for an update....

Dealer mechanic told me it would be a week and a half before they can even look at the problems and then another week to repair unless they have to order parts which will extend it out even further. 

SeilerBird, I am beginning to agree with your logic.  The next RV I get I will save the money of the extended warranty and avoid the headache of the dealership.
Click to expand...
One time I bought a DP with my GF and it was riddled with problems. Every trip to any dealership was massively painful.
 
mattcoker17 said:
and then another week to repair
Click to expand...

I can't imagine the job would even take an hour for someone who knew what they were doing
 
Sun2Retire said:
I can't imagine the job would even take an hour for someone who knew what they were doing
Click to expand...

I think they're just blowing him off. There's no reason it should take that long especially if you purchased if there.
 
I totally agree.  They act as though they are performing major surgery.  I don't have any travel plans this month or next, so I am going to let them do their thing.  Once they are done, I will take note of how long it took and bring it up to management at the dealer.  Probably won't do any good, but they're going to hear about it.

 
So an update:

It has been almost a month since I dropped my Jayco off and I have still heard nothing from the tech who checked it in.  I have made several calls to get an update and a return call is never made to me.  Today I called and again was told they are too busy to answer the phone.  I asked to talk to a manager/supervisor and was told they are also too busy to come to the phone.

I guess next step is BBB?  I'll be driving up to their facility on Friday (when I'm off work) (it's about 30 minutes away) to get info in person, but correct me if I am wrong....This is ridiculous!

 
I guess next step is BBB?

Or the manufacturer of the RV perhaps? The dealer is an outlet for the manufacturer. The manufacturer has a vested interest in making sure the dealer holds up the name of the RV manufacturer.

 
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