Towing a Motorhome

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DennyKH

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Joined
Jun 15, 2019
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6
We got a Service Engine Soon icon on our 2021 Jayco Alannte 27A gas with a 7.3 F53 chassis with 2800 miles, towing a Ford Ranger. We limped into Laramie, Wy from Omaha, Ne suburb Bellevue, Ne. The only Ford Dealer near us is in Lincoln, Ne (60 miles from home). We called Ford road side assistance and the nearest dealer able to take a look at it is in Vernal, UT 286 miles south of Laramie in a few days, so they would tow it there. So far all they say it is on us to pay for additional lodging while the unit is being looked at, pay for it and submit a claim to Ford. We are 490 miles from the Lincoln dealership and they are saying if we don't accept the UT tow destination that they will pay for 69 miles to the closest dealer, even though that dealer can't look at it until the end of September.
I finally found Little Guys Truck repair in Laramie that said it is a misfire on cylinder 3. He thought we could limp home. The dealer in Lincoln said that it could mess up the catalytic converter and not drive.
We have cancelled the remainder of our vacation and are ready to head home.
Any ideas?
 
A misfire can damage the catalytic converter but it depends on how bad the misfire is. You are 500 miles from home? That is a long way to drive a misfire which could spread to other cylinders on the way. If the truck repair place in Laramie can repair it at a reasonable cost I would let them fix it. Then try to file a claim with Ford. Otherwise you don't have any good alternatives.
 
Sounds like it is most likely a bad coil (assume it is coil on plug ignition) or possibly a bad fuel injector, my money is on a coil. Either that or something much worse. Either of these should be a straight forward repair that should take less than an hour.


p.s. google suggest bad spark plug wires and bad coils are a very common problem with the new 7.3 gas engine
 
Wow. Towing to Vernal from Laramie? That's quite a trip, in itself.
But, yeah, I would avoid doing anything that could screw the warranty. Driving it back across Nebraska would likely do exactly that.
There is some cool stuff to check out around Vernal, if you like Fossils, or Fishing. Maybe you can salvage a bit of that vacation.
 
darsben said:
Taking it anywhere else will void the warranty. Use your ranger to get you home. Have vehicle towed to Utah and wait for it to be fixed.
Click to expand...
Not necessarily. Ford paid an independent garage for a repair on my first motorhome. Call and ask.
 
Why take the chance?
He has a home and a vehicle, GET IT DONE RIGHT. If he was full-timing I might have a different take on this but, as it is not critical, he is near home right now I feel he is best situated by going to a dealer who will take care of the problem.
 
You have a lot more confidence in dealers than I do. On the other hand, I prefer the corner mechanic.
 
I prefer the corner mechanic it is just that a new vehicle has a warranty which may be voided by unauthorized repairs and that could be disastrous.
For the fun of it let us assume he takes it to an independent repair shop and Ford offers to pay for the repair. The local guy completely screws up the repair and it is not discovered until after the rig is picked up and driven some miles. The engine is then ruined, who would you expect to go after for the repair now. The corner mechanic or Ford. Do you want to put yourself in that position?
 
If you bought this RV and one intention was the vacation you are on now, I certainly would have a corner mechanic investigate it. What's a couple hundred, in the realm of expenses. Good luck,
 
DennyKH said:
We got a Service Engine Soon icon on our 2021 Jayco Alannte 27A gas with a 7.3 F53 chassis with 2800 miles, towing a Ford Ranger. We limped into Laramie, Wy from Omaha, Ne suburb Bellevue, Ne. The only Ford Dealer near us is in Lincoln, Ne (60 miles from home). We called Ford road side assistance and the nearest dealer able to take a look at it is in Vernal, UT 286 miles south of Laramie in a few days, so they would tow it there. So far all they say it is on us to pay for additional lodging while the unit is being looked at, pay for it and submit a claim to Ford. We are 490 miles from the Lincoln dealership and they are saying if we don't accept the UT tow destination that they will pay for 69 miles to the closest dealer, even though that dealer can't look at it until the end of September.
I finally found Little Guys Truck repair in Laramie that said it is a misfire on cylinder 3. He thought we could limp home. The dealer in Lincoln said that it could mess up the catalytic converter and not drive.
We have cancelled the remainder of our vacation and are ready to head home.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
I had that same problem on the V10 Tryton I have. The misfire was because one of the cylinder coils went bad. Fairly simple to replace if you can get your hands on one. Did they give you the code #?
 
Isaac-1 said:
Isaac-1 said:
The manufacturer can not void the warranty just because repairs were not made by the dealer, in the US they must PROVE that the repair CAUSED the failure. See Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act - Wikipedia

This is the same part where manufacturers can't void warranties because you changed your own oil, or used a 3rd party oil filter.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
IMO you are wrong. The warranty he has on his vehicle is a limited warranty; it states;
WHAT IS COVERED?
Your NEW VEHICLE LIMITED WARRANTY gives you specific legal
rights. You may have other rights that vary from state to state. Under
your New Vehicle Limited Warranty if:
- your Ford vehicle is properly operated and maintained, and
8

- was taken to a Ford dealership for a warranted repair during the
warranty period,
then authorized Ford Motor Company dealers will, without charge,
repair, replace, or adjust all parts on your vehicle that malfunction or fail
during normal use during the applicable coverage period due to a
manufacturing defect in factory-supplied materials or factory workmanship

 
The two issues are not mutually exclusive, in this case he can have an independent shop swap out the updated coil and spark plug wire set for circa $400 and be on his way on his vacation if it fixes the problem. If it does not fix the problem no harm done, he can still have it towed to the Ford dealer, and they can't deny the warranty unless they can prove the work done by the other shop caused it, and since the available improved plug wire and coil set is a Ford branded product, there is not much of a leg for them to stand on there either.

So it comes down to being out of pocket for the repair cost and getting back to the vacation, or have it towed hundreds of miles to get the repair done for free.
 
7.3 coils have been a problem Ford has had them on back order I would call Ford first just for the hell of it and ask what have you got to lose? If you hear they have none call a parts house and see if you get lucky I would.
 
The guy who checked thought it was a coil. i suggest you get a good mechanic with a good OBD scanner who can diagnose exactly what it is wrong.
 
Do they offer the same motorhome with a GM motor?

At this point if it was me even though I do not care that much for dealerships and prefer a mom and pop shop so to speak I would get it fixed at a dealership. You said you were towing a Ford Ranger so is it possible to finish or at least do part of your vacation in hotels. Another possibility is renting a small enough camper for the Ranger to tow and finish it that way. It sucks because you bought a brand new motorhome and can't finish with that.

You listed quite a few things so not sure which one is a quicker option for you. If you can get it towed and fixed in 3 days maybe extending your vacation is a good option as well.
 
Thank you all for your replies and suggestions. A Laramie shop squeezed me in to read the code and it was P0303, cylinder 3 misfire. The dealership I have used in the past on an A/C issue a month earlier said it was possible that the catalytic converter could be damaged and not drive it. So Ford assist got it towed to Heritage Ford Vernal. They got it in and did the repairs under warranty. Because we didn't get it back until 4 PM they let us plug in to a 110V outlet near the street and that allowed us to transfer our ice packed cooler goods back to the refrigerator, we had already rented a room for a second night.
But wait there's more: We cancelled the remainder of our reservations and headed back to Omaha, the coach ran and towed fine back to Laramie for an overnight's stay. The next morning however, the A/C on the F53 chassis was not working (for the second time, it's the wiring harness by Jayco) and we had to run the Jayco generator for A/C. About 1/2 way across Nebraska the driver's side window started whistling like an air raid siren and kept it up all the way home.
 
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