2012 Thor ACE 29.2

jemz said:

Haven't stopped in here for a while, so just stopping in to catch up and say "hi."

We sure enjoyed our ACE all summer with short trips and a 2 week trip around Lake Erie. 

Next trip is in February as long as the weather isn't too icy to get out of here.  We plan to drive to Atlanta and then Orlando to a couple of seminars I have that are 1 week apart. We do have a reservation for the campground in Walt Disney World.

Then I have a seminar in Minnesota in April so once again, we'll see how the weather is for camping there in mid April.  I'd like to contnue on to a couple of other states before returning home from that trip.

We have a new baby due early June.  That makes 7 of us squeezing into this ACE.  It should be okay for a couple more years before we upgrade to something larger.  I wish the drop down bunk in the Pallazo was as nice as the one in the ACE.  We will really need the bunk beds but I would also like something as swift as the over cab bunk like I have now.  And I would definately like a dinette that converts more easily.  And we'll need a full size refrigerator!

Not sure where we'll travel this summer with a newborn, but hopefully we'll feel like getting around while I have so much time off of work.

Where are the rest of you traveling?

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WOW, I can't believe that you fit so many in your ACE. I'm glad to hear that you have been enjoying it so far. We have taken monthly weekend trips, but our longest trip will be during Christmas.  We are going to travel through GA, SC and NC for 12 days.  It will be exciting!

You've had more luck with the usb connector than I have.  I can plug in a thumbdrive with music, but not the ipod/iphone.  Reading up on it I found that you have to puchase a special cable that plugs into the !back! That supposedly gives you full control of the ipod through the Jensen screen, but it will be a major hassle to implememnt.

You're right, I also had good luck with the aux in jack and it played the IPOD and Pandora just fine, so that is probably a better solution.  Thanks for the feedback!

Lesh said:

WOW, I can't believe that you fit so many in your ACE. I'm glad to hear that you have been enjoying it so far. We have taken monthly weekend trips, but our longest trip will be during Christmas.  We are going to travel through GA, SC and NC for 12 days.  It will be exciting!

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We fit a lot of us, but they are all little! My oldest child just turned 8.
Sounds like a great trip!  Have fun!

We survived our long trip!  It had many highs and lows but thankfully none of the lows were related to the RV.

I can tell you that for our weekend travels the 29.2 has a lot of space, but when we loaded up for a winter trip with a lot of clothes/food...not so much.  The closets are too short to hang anything in them.  When you hang shirts and jackets they bunch up in the bottom and you can't store anything else in the closet.  I was also VERY thankful for the storage space under the sofa.  Without that we would have been screwed.

We have also realized that constant temps in the low 20's prevent your heater from working very well.  At the beginning of the trip it was terrific, but as the days stayed cold it just couldn't keep up.  By the end of the trip we were sitting in our jackets and gloves with blankets.  They need to have more vents up front.  All of vents are towards the back so the bedroom is the only area that stays comfortable.  Also, with the heat running all the time and such cold temps, we had a lot of condensation inside the RV.  The water was freezing to the inside of the windshield and it was dripping from the roof vents.  There was a lot of water to clean up on some mornings.  Alas, those are just things to deal with while camping I guess.

**We have had one issue come up and I was wondering if anyone else has seen this or knows what could be the issue.  In the cargo space, we have stain like spots on the wall behind each tail light.  It almost seems as though the tail lights are leaking and it is staining the wall?  I don't have pictures right now, but we have these arch like stains on each side of the wall that are about 4-5 inches high and about 6-8 inches wide.  Also, our left reverse light has stopped working.  There is obviously some type of correlating issue going on there.  We had rain, snow and ice on our adventures so maybe there was some type of leakage.  We have to take the RV out of town this weekend, but we will be putting it in the shop when we return.

Are the holdings tanks or the area around them heated?  My wife and I are still thinking on the 29.2 for late this year so we're interested in hearing of the issues and if owners would buy it again if they had the chance.

Thanks

The holding tanks are not heated in my 30.1 the only heated area is the hot water reservoir which works great. We just completed a 2000 mile trip to Tennessee with temperatures going into the low 20's with no issues. Heating system works great. The ACE series is the best deal out there, we've owned other class A's paying 25-30 K more than we paid for our 30.1 and frankly there is no substantial difference for the dollars. We are very happy with our purchase. I highly recommend the ACE product.

We have no regrets about our ACE purchase and see ourselves owning it for a long time.  I think it is a great RV.  Since this was our first purchase, we are now aware of things that we would like different next time.  However, we are very pleased with our purchase and it works great for our needs.  Obviously the ACE isn't for everyone.  It doesn't have a lot of flash and is small for an A Class RV.  If you are looking for an RV this size then I think the ACE is a great purchase.  It has a lot of features that other models, such as the Hurricane, does not and the price is fantastic for an A Class.

I think it is very important for you to know how you are going to use your RV (long trips vs. short ones) and how much stuff you usually travel with.  People can tell you all day long that the ACE is a fantastic RV but you have to make sure that all of it's features will work best for your situation.

Greetings fellow ACE owners! What a treasure trove of info you have here! I am a first time RV'er and have owned my ACE for about a year now. I see lots of issues/fixes I haven't experienced yet, and a few that I have. Based on everyone's comments, it sounds like my wife and I chose well in purchasing our ACE. I shall return often, and chime in with any useful tips as I get them. We have made 5 short trips in ours, kind of "shake down" cruises while we learn the ropes. It's so cool!!! We love it! Here's the issues that brought me here:

The coach A/C unit is draining inside...we have to put a bucket under the main outlet during extended periods of operation.
I have the grating, metal-on-metal squeaking going on too, but usually only on rough roads. It does get pretty annoying and sounds like it is coming from just above the driver's head to the left. Slide issues?

A tip my dealer gave me:
For those of you having black water level sensor indications that are not correct, try filling your black tank 1/2 to 3/4 full of water then dumping 4 or 5 bags of ice down the toilet and driving around awhile, sloshing the ice around in the tank. The dealer says it works pretty good for knocking stubborn crud off of the sensor. I haven't tried this yet, but it's on my to-do list!

PacNWRVer said:

Greetings fellow ACE owners! What a treasure trove of info you have here! I am a first time RV'er and have owned my ACE for about a year now. I see lots of issues/fixes I haven't experienced yet, and a few that I have. Based on everyone's comments, it sounds like my wife and I chose well in purchasing our ACE. I shall return often, and chime in with any useful tips as I get them. We have made 5 short trips in ours, kind of "shake down" cruises while we learn the ropes. It's so cool!!! We love it! Here's the issues that brought me here:

The coach A/C unit is draining inside...we have to put a bucket under the main outlet during extended periods of operation.
I have the grating, metal-on-metal squeaking going on too, but usually only on rough roads. It does get pretty annoying and sounds like it is coming from just above the driver's head to the left. Slide issues?

A tip my dealer gave me:
For those of you having black water level sensor indications that are not correct, try filling your black tank 1/2 to 3/4 full of water then dumping 4 or 5 bags of ice down the toilet and driving around awhile, sloshing the ice around in the tank. The dealer says it works pretty good for knocking stubborn crud off of the sensor. I haven't tried this yet, but it's on my to-do list!

Click to expand...

See my write up a few posts back...... It will solve your squeaking. Glad you like yours as do we.

Erling

PacNWRVer said:

Greetings fellow ACE owners! What a treasure trove of info you have here! I am a first time RV'er and have owned my ACE for about a year now. I see lots of issues/fixes I haven't experienced yet, and a few that I have. Based on everyone's comments, it sounds like my wife and I chose well in purchasing our ACE. I shall return often, and chime in with any useful tips as I get them. We have made 5 short trips in ours, kind of "shake down" cruises while we learn the ropes. It's so cool!!! We love it! Here's the issues that brought me here:

The coach A/C unit is draining inside...we have to put a bucket under the main outlet during extended periods of operation.
I have the grating, metal-on-metal squeaking going on too, but usually only on rough roads. It does get pretty annoying and sounds like it is coming from just above the driver's head to the left. Slide issues?

A tip my dealer gave me:
For those of you having black water level sensor indications that are not correct, try filling your black tank 1/2 to 3/4 full of water then dumping 4 or 5 bags of ice down the toilet and driving around awhile, sloshing the ice around in the tank. The dealer says it works pretty good for knocking stubborn crud off of the sensor. I haven't tried this yet, but it's on my to-do list!

Click to expand...

Did you buy the ACE in the Pacific Northwest?  I plan on buying as close to BC as I can but also want to grab the same deal as others on a fully loaded unit (full body paint and levelers etc) for 75K.

Thanks Erling, I read your post concerning the squeaks, thanks for the great advice.
RB211, We purchased in the Portland, OR area at B.Young RV in Milwaukie, OR. Ours was slightly used, about 20K on it, but less than a year old. Seemed like a lot of miles for such a new unit but everything worked and it drove out nice. No paint or levelers but we did get the dealership to throw in a cover and top off all the fuel tanks when we picked it up! Their service dept. is very helpful and attentive, I would be comfortable sending a friend there to buy. We paid just under 70K for it.

Speaking of levelers...
When using automatic leveling, it always puts us way up in the air, usually with some wheels off of the ground...even on fairly level surfaces to start with!  I usually end up doing it manually.  Is there some way I can change this?  I vaguely remember reading about changing a setting somewhere.

We're gearing up for our winter trip from Chicago to Atlanta then onto Orlando.  Hopefully the weather cooperates.  I don't want to encounter icy conditions!  We've decided to take 2 days to get to Atlanta stopping at a hotel rather than trying to find an open campground and do all the set-up and take down.  We're staying at a hotel in Atlanta too since I have a 2 day seminar with LONG hours. Then we'll take off for Orlando and camp on WDW grounds.  I think we'll do hotels on the way back too and hopefully make it from Orlando to Chicago in 2 days on the way back.  That might not sound bad to some, but traveling with 4 young kids relly slows us down!  Looking forward to it though!

I just found this forum this morning and spent several hours reading all the posts.  It is an amazing place to share our experiences with others and to get advice.

I have had my 2012 A.C.E. 29.2 motorhome for a year now.  It seems it has been in the shop most of that time.  Since I've had so many things done to mine, I'll try to share each "issue" I've had and the fix or not fixed for each.

1.  The first week I had the coach I tree branch which hung high and over the curb into the street reached out and ripped the awning right off of the coach.  Had to replace awning and repaint most of that side of the motorhome.  Insurance covered at a cost of about $10K.
2.  On our 2nd weekend outting our dog discovered a small tear in the linoleum in front of the kitchen sink right at the edge of the counter with the slide in.  Took it to the dealership (after having to make an appointment a month out) and they documented and took pictures to send to Thor.  After a couple of weeks Thor approved replacing the linoleum throught the entire couch.  It seems that the floor is installed before any walls or furniture and is one piece with no seems all the way throughout the coach.  They had to remove the slide so that they could go all the way to the all underneath.  On the bathroom walls they had to cut the old flooring at the baseboard and then use trim to cover the patch job at the walls.  The only other way to have done it was to remove all the walls in the coach.  Coach Specialists in Mansfield, TX did a wonderful job replacing this floor and I've been very pleased with their workmanship.
3.  The hot water would come on at the kitchen sink.  I had the dealer look at it at the same time as #2 and they found a kink in the hose underneath the slide.  They fixed it with a ridgid piece that keeps the hose from kinking.  Evidently from the forum here, I'm not the only one that had this problem.
4.  The 110V plug in the kitchen had no power.  This turned out to be a tripped breaker in the breaker box under the bed.
5.  We had numerous problems with the macerator pump blowing fuses or not turning at all.  Finally on about the 3rd trip for repair the macerator manufacturer replaced the pump.  No more problems since.
6.  The awning quit working.  Turned out to be another blown fuse.  It should be noted that the awning and the overhead bunk are on the same fuse.
7.  We are having the usual issue with the holding tank indicators not being accurate.  We also have the problem of the gray water tank not emptying completely.  I have noticed that if you let the pump keep grinding away, it will eventually go to empty (about 15 minutes).  However, you can check it later and it might show 1/3 again.  BTW, it doesn't matter if the coach is level or not.  Neither tank registers correctly on the LED lights and it has nothing to do with having dirty sensors because this was true on first use of the motorhome.
8.  The mattress in the MBR was already sagging after only 15 nights use.  We replaced the mattress with a Sleep Number bed and now LOVE sleeping in the coach.  So much in fact that my wife was threatening to go sleep in the motorhome at night even when we were at home.  We ended up buying one for our bed at home as well.
9.  We also have had the problem with the levelers lifting the motorhome off its wheels even on a relatively level surface.  I plan to try the zero level adjustment someone posted here.  Sounds like that should fix it.
10.  We've notice that after leveling and setting up that the levelers pop sometimes when we're walking around inside the motorhome.  This might be related to the need for the zero level adjustment.  We'll see.
11.  Our current problem is with water leaking in from above the windshield.  We've discovered that this does not happen during even heavy rain storms.  Hosing down the top of the coach produces NO leak.  It seems to be a condensation problem and occurs after a cold night outside and using the heat inside.  The repair facility thinks it is because of a steel beam that runs side to side across the roof of the coach right near where the front cap (over the windshield) connects to the roof.  He says there is NO insulation on the steel beam and that he thinks the temperature difference is causing condensation to form and fill up the inside of the cap.  From there it drips down onto the dash.  I'm not talking about a little drip.  It's a steady flow and is twice as bad when you turn corners driving the next morning.  It is enough water to completely soak two bath towels and then some.  Thor tells us they don't cover this problem on any of their coaches.  It is an obvious manufacturer defect but they have no intention of covering it.  Their recommendation is to open a vent to reduce the condensation.  Are they out of their minds.  We've been using the coach in temperatures in the teens at night.  This might be a solution if it were a case of the windows fogging up.  This is like someone turned on a faucet.  I don't care how many vents you open, it's not going to help.  I'm not finished fighting them on this one.  May have to get an attorney involved before it's over with.
12.  The 13" Skyworth TV in the bedroom quit working.  Sound comes in but not picture.  Only the backlight is visible.  This started out to be an intermittent problem but now it doesn't work at all.  I just bought a 15" Jensen to replace it.  I think it will fit in the space.  Will try to install it tomorrow.

On the good side of the ACE.  We love it when everything is working.  The 29.2 was an easy decision over the 29.1.  I am a big man and on the 29.1 there is not much room to get through the bedroom door even with the slide out.  On the 29.2 you could drive a small car through the door when the slide is out.  The 29.2 is much roomier inside and we like having the dinette and couch across from each other.  The 30.1 is not an option (even though it didn't come out until after we bought ours).  The mega storage in the back was a BIG selling point as I travel in the motorhome doing gospel concerts and I need the large space for my sound equipment.

I've not experienced a lot of the problems reported here (thank God).  Have not had the noisy slide out issue or the bedroom door slamming closed.  My bedroom door latches quite securely.  We don't normally drive with the generator running but did see the shutdown problem last summer during the 106 degree temperatures.  We tried using both air conditioners on the way to our campground so the AC would have to play catch up.  After about 20 minutes the generator shutdown due to overheating and would not restart.  I never reported this as it didn't happen anymore.  Now I know that the reason it didn't is because I don't run it while driving as many of you do.

The manufacturer warranty ran out on my coach about 10 days ago so I'll bet they won't cover the cost of the generator fix.  We did purchase an extended warranty when we bought our coach.  We bought a 7 year bumper to bumper warranty but it is through a 3rd party.  Our repair facility says they've done business with the warranty company before and they are fairly easy to work with.  Who knows maybe they'll be better than Thor.  Can't be much worse.  Thor tries to pass the buck on everything, even if it's an obvious problem with their design or manufacturing.

Well I think I covered most of the issues we've had.  We are enjoying our ACE.  We went to a huge RV show in Fort Worth a couple of weeks ago and didn't see anything there that we felt would fit our needs better than what we got.  Of course some of those $750K coaches were nice.

I'll try to monitor this forum in the future.  Lots of good information.  If anyone else has had the condensation issue I've described, I'd love to hear about it.

Chuck Hogard
Dallas/Ft Worth area
2012 Thor A.C.E. 29.2

harlee put a solution to this problem in this forum back in July 2012.  I've had the same issue but haven't tried the fix yet.  Good luck on your winter trip.  Let us know how the rig does.

Chuck..

jemz said:

Speaking of levelers...
When using automatic leveling, it always puts us way up in the air, usually with some wheels off of the ground...even on fairly level surfaces to start with!  I usually end up doing it manually.  Is there some way I can change this?  I vaguely remember reading about changing a setting somewhere.

We're gearing up for our winter trip from Chicago to Atlanta then onto Orlando.  Hopefully the weather cooperates.  I don't want to encounter icy conditions!  We've decided to take 2 days to get to Atlanta stopping at a hotel rather than trying to find an open campground and do all the set-up and take down.  We're staying at a hotel in Atlanta too since I have a 2 day seminar with LONG hours. Then we'll take off for Orlando and camp on WDW grounds.  I think we'll do hotels on the way back too and hopefully make it from Orlando to Chicago in 2 days on the way back.  That might not sound bad to some, but traveling with 4 young kids relly slows us down!  Looking forward to it though!

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Thanks Chogard to inform us about the possible issues with Thor ACE 29.2. As I would like to buy one of these, I have some questions. I live in Rimouski near Gaspe peninsule. (If you pass near my home, you are welcome).

My questions:
1- Is it a serious problem about  the leaking on the window when temperature is low. As you know, it is not always a warm weather around here. But I will not use the RV durant the winter except to go in the South USA. However, let me know if the heating unit if efficient.
2- Do you advise me to buy the RV without automatic leverers?
3- What is the gas consumation?
4- Could you tell me that it is a good idea to buy the extended garanty? Do you think it is honored in Canada?
5- Is it a good idea to buy Thor ACE 29.2 itself.
6- As I have not realy preference with my puschase place to buy, do you know the best place to have the best price in the east of USA. I know about rvdirect (www.rvdirect.com) and a point of sale is Albany NY. It would be ok for me. But if you have more suggestions, please let me know.

If other points are to be considered, don't hesitate to let me know.

Sorry, I an not a english language writing expert.

Yvan Chouinard

Yvan, we used the RVDirect quote to negotiate with a local dealer (Camping World.)  We actually got a better deal than RVDirect because they gave us a quote without the delivery charge on it and the local dealer matched the price.

Chuck, Sorry you spent so much time in the shop.  I'm glad you still like your 29.2!  Sounds like a bad problem you've got now. Hope you get it resolved more easily than you anticipate.  Thanks for pointing me to the leveling fix. 

We just went to get our ACE out of storage a couple days ago to load it up for our trip.  It was parked in a big barn.  The battery was dead when we tried to move it.  Fortunately the battery is on the passenger side of the coach as it was pulled in so tightly in the front and driver's side that we couldn't have accessed it anywhere else. We charged the battery for a couple hours with a portable charger.
We moved it to the dead end street by our house to clean up and load.  Wouldn't you know it hasn't snowed all winter and once we parked the RV outside it has been snowing for two days (only a few inches but still more than we've had all winter.) It wouldn't start again yesterday or this morning, so DH checked and added water to the battery.  Much to my surprise, that did the trick. I thought it had more to do with the very cold temperatures, but I guess not.
We just packed 5 suitcases and some storage bins full of clothes for warm and cold weather, a double stroller, a bin of lighter jackets, and loaded up with toys, games, movies, etc. for the 6 of us for the 15 day trip.  The only thing we unloaded was our bin with beach towels and toys for the summer. You've got to love the storage in that ACE!!!

Yvan Chouinard

I presume once you buy your RV in USA you will want to bring it back home to Rimouski. If this is true they you will have to import it to Canada and pay your GST, PST, and have it inspected.  This does not appear to be a problem but requires you to follow all the rules exactly. More information can be found here:http://www.riv.ca/importingavehicle.aspx or here (en francais):http://www.riv.ca/fr-CA/importingavehicle.aspx

to yvan chouinard
what about the warantis in quebec will they honor it.
i did 7 to 9 miles a galon
i dint use the my 30.1 this winter so i dont no about leaking on the window.
i dont use they automatique leverers it to simple to do it manual.

magog quebec

And a big Bonjours to averybody on this blog. i dont write often because i'm french but i read it all.

ychouina said:

Thanks Chogard to inform us about the possible issues with Thor ACE 29.2. As I would like to buy one of these, I have some questions. I live in Rimouski near Gaspe peninsule. (If you pass near my home, you are welcome).

My questions:
1- Is it a serious problem about  the leaking on the window when temperature is low. As you know, it is not always a warm weather around here. But I will not use the RV durant the winter except to go in the South USA. However, let me know if the heating unit if efficient.
2- Do you advise me to buy the RV without automatic leverers?
3- What is the gas consumation?
4- Could you tell me that it is a good idea to buy the extended garanty? Do you think it is honored in Canada?
5- Is it a good idea to buy Thor ACE 29.2 itself.
6- As I have not realy preference with my puschase place to buy, do you know the best place to have the best price in the east of USA. I know about rvdirect (www.rvdirect.com) and a point of sale is Albany NY. It would be ok for me. But if you have more suggestions, please let me know.

If other points are to be considered, don't hesitate to let me know.

Sorry, I an not a english language writing expert.

Yvan Chouinard

Click to expand...

I'll see if I can answer your questions referring to your numbers.

1.  I feel it is a pretty serious problem.  Since the insulation in the cap over the windshield was insufficient, it causes condensation and collects in the cap until it gets enough water to run out where the overhead bunk actuators are.  Once the existing insulation gets saturated with this water, the drip gets rather severe.  You notice is mostly when you pull up from camping and drive.  Turning a corner causes the water to run to one side and pour out onto the dash.  If all the moisture doesn't get dried up, it will cause structural issues and even mold inside the cap.
2.  I highly advise getting the automatic levelers.  They make it a dream to set up and and when you're ready to pull out, you hit a button to retract them and off you go. 
3.  I get about 8.5mpg on the highway but I don't tow anything.  From what I've heard it lowers it about 1mpg when towing.
4.  I did buy a 7 year extended warranty but it is through a 3rd party, not Thor.  I'd make sure that all the warranties will be honored in Canada.  Otherwise, you'll be having to take it back across the border everytime you need service.
5.  I am not sorry I bought my 29.2.  I just wish Thor was better about honoring the warranty.  Most everything is a fight with them.
6.  We checked all over the internet before we bought and found that Motorhome Specialist in Alvarado, TX to have the best prices anywhere.  At the time we bought it was much cheaper to buy from them and drive it back to where ever you're from.

I would advise to keep reading these forums.  There are a lot of common problems with the ACE and this is a good place to find out what items to watch out for.

Good luck in your shopping!