Archive of responses to: Welcome to the new Winnebago board! Please read

[John Canfield]

Hey Steve!!  Not wanting to cause any problems or create any animosity, I just faded away like the proverbial old soldier.  We have a dandy home over here with a great bunch of active posters, both refugees and long-time rvforum.net members.  You will find this forum is like the good old days of Bill/Bob running the show at the other place.

Have a good look around the forum and let any of the staff know if you have questions about the board operation.

Hope to see you around here frequently!

 

[TeeJay]

Hi all,
I am new to the forum as well as RVing itself. I have some questions that maybe some of you can help me with. I have a 2005 Winnebago Adventurer 37B which I purchased new and I have had quite a few things go wrong with it in this short time. I have replaced part of the transmission and the auto parking brake assembly. It has had numerous leaks ie, front passenger compartment, bedroom window, living room vent, 2 lower compartments, ( I did find the fixes for that on this forum, thank you) and now the latest a leak somewhere behind the refrigerator. I have had a ghost of sorts. While I am driving down the road, all of the sudden, all of the warning alarms and lights go off and the gauges just die for a brief time then they just as suddenly come on again. I have asked a couple of dealer's about my ghost and none have any idea what that is all about. Once this same phenomenon occurred, the engine died on the NJ Turnpike while raining!! Managed to pull over, shut the key off, then started up again went on my way with a few more grey hairs. Here are my latest problems, I just went on a trip (No trip complete without SOMETHING happening), and the windshield wipers went on and stayed on even when I shut them off. I figured that the connector was getting soaked but my goodness isn't that what they are designed for?? I asked the dealer about that and they said that yes, this is the problem, a design flaw. This brings me to what happened the day I returned home from my latest trip. I was driving and the serpentine belt shredded off at which time I had no power steering or brakes. That was fun! I limped it about 2 miles to the dealership once again to be greeted by Bob, the Service Manager, with, "Weren't you just in here?" I said that I was and that now I think I have a really big problem. We went out to the coach and there we found a huge puddle of antifreeze as well. He said that it might be the heater core and that the belt might have pierced the radiator. 
I am pretty sure this is not a cheap fix and have now put a sizeable chunk of change into this motorcoach since it is out of warranty. My question is, is this normal? Have I made a mistake in choosing RVing? Is this just a Winnebago thing? Is this a lemon? Or should I just leave it on the dealer's lot and trade it in for a Fleetwood?? I really love RVIng so I don't want to give up but I'm just not sure my wallet can handle the overload. Please Please Please stop the bleeding!! Did I mention that the coach only has 22000 miles on it??? This really is only a portion of the problems encountered with this WInnebago.
Thank you all in advance and desperately looking for answers.
Tracey

 

[John Canfield]

Hi Tracey,

First - we're really glad to have you join our little group - welcome!

Sounds like you have mostly chassis problems than need to be addressed by Ford or Workhorse.  I'm thinking there is a whole lot more to the story than what we have here in your post.  We ordered our Horizon in February of 2005 and we had the usual this an' that problems, but we can depend on our Horizon to get us from point "A" to point "B" with no drama (at least that's the way it is after 44,000 miles.)  Maybe the Freightliner chassis vs. the others is a difference - don't know, but we're a happy camper.

I have no answer for your problems - it is a shame you have had such an 'interesting' owner experience.  My only advice is to have the best people work through your problems - I am thinking about Winnebago factory service for the house part.  Maybe somebody else has some pearls about chassis service.

Before you think about trading for a Fleetwood, you better check their viability as a business - last I heard, they were in dire straights.

 

[TeeJay]

Thank you John,
I have consulted with a very reputable mechanic and he will be assisting me in the Workhorse problems.
Oh and I was just kidding about the Fleetwood........
I will continue to check out this site for more valuable insights into my other RV issues too.
Thanks again,
Tracey

 

[Indy Itasca]

Hi All,

    Well I took the winter off from the forms and I guess I'm a little slow on getting back in. Glad I found you all. I see some very familiar names here and know I will get some great advice from some very knowledgeable folks.