Service center visit - Page 2 - Montana Owners Club

bsmeaton · 04-18-2007, 07:30 AM

Rich - great reports. Everything I have heard about the service center is positive, and like you say, they are not afraid to tear into it. With all the materials and tools, they can totally rebuild it if necessary, plus they have the background on how it was constructed.

I have not found a Dealer yet willing to get that aggressive. No wonder they point thier finger towards Goshen if it's anything more than a burned out light bulb.

Dean A Van Peursem · 04-18-2007, 07:30 AM

It is encouraging to hear about these recent improvements. It appears that steps are being taken in an attempt to improve build quality. This is good. Hopefully it will show up as less problems for recent new owners. Meanwhile we year old owners have some troublesome issues to deal with. Such is life.

exav8tr · 04-18-2007, 02:32 PM

Is the only Keystone Service Center in Goshen? Nothing on West coast? So if I need major repairs I should plan on a trip to Goshen? OK I can do that, as a fulltimer with nothing but time on my hands maybe I should make my first trek toward Goshen in case of needing any repairs.....Planning on staying in WA for awhile and then make my way east on a northerly route, this shoud work out fine if I don't need major repairs along the way...

richfaa · 04-18-2007, 04:01 PM

Day three at the service center..and home..We are done.. a team of 3 service tech's worked on our 3400 for 8 hours a day for 3 days..That is a tidy investment in time and materials.There are a lot of things to think about there??? All 27 items were corrected..some of the major problems were..the rewire of the wiring harness (7 way plug) that melted down in Quartz site,Replaced the 12 volt Iota distribution panel and attached the Iota firmly to the wall.Dropped the under belly , cleaned up the Hydraulic mess from the melt down and replaced 8 feet of oil soaked astro foil. Checked all sensors for proper operation and re attached 2 sensor wires that had fell off the Galley tank.Replaced the Slide breakers, Replaced the regulator in the hot water tank, replaced the control board in the thermostat,New check valve in the galley tank waste system, removed the John, Replaced seals and corrected leaks. Removed bedroom slide, properly installed screws that were wearing a groove in the underbelly and replaced the underbelly also re enforced the bed where the wheels were not properly installed. Had to move the top mounting bolts @ 2 inches so the main awning would lock down as they were improperly installed. Replaced all the Ficia on the main slide and installed new facia backer board to correct main slide sag. Replaced the kitchen faucet and did something to the plumbing under the sink so water will come out of the facuet on both sides of the sink. Those are just the major items.They repaired all my issues and some that they found themselves.. The work order is 5 pages long. This is a well run operation and as of this moment we are happy campers.....we shall see??? Also got to tour the Montana plant..again..the Big Sky plant and the Couger plant..Had a good time

Ozzie · 04-18-2007, 04:13 PM

Not quite the vacation you were looking for I'm sure, but am hopeful they took care of you and you will enjoy your Rv experience as it was meant to be! I do appreciate you keeping us informed of the progress.

DONnANNIE · 04-18-2007, 08:32 PM

Rich & Helen, thanks for the running commentary of all of your woes and now of the satisfactory repairs. You have a NEW 3400RL. That's great.

rvfirefighter · 04-19-2007, 01:54 AM

Good luck Rich and Helen. Hope all your repairs will give you some time to enjoy your unit without breakdowns and a renewed sense of confidence in Montana.

I feel this medium of correspondence has given the manufacturers and owners of Montana's a platform to share ideas, problems and solutions to much more than quick fixes and dissatisfaction. Like some have stated, this might have put Montana back on track to slow the manufacturing process and put more quality control and alleviate problems with their units and will keep Montana on the top in customer satisfaction not just sales.

I hope that Montana is truly listening or reading this medium and puts the customer first and makes their units the product we all expected when we chose Montana over the rest.

richfaa · 04-19-2007, 02:54 AM

I can tell you this for sure.. There are folks at Keystone that read this forum. I have had some of them directly reference post that I have made. Therefore I suggest that comments be constructive in nature so as to help keystone to make a better product. It does no good to say..this *$@*(!!_## is a piece of junk..What happened to it, Why is it a piece of junk, what can be done to better the product so it is not a piece of junk.Someone who can make a difference may be listening..

Ozz · 04-19-2007, 03:45 AM

Rich, we appreciate all of your updates and good information. Good luck to you two scoundrels.

richfaa · 04-19-2007, 04:54 AM

We got in the driveway at 8:30Pm last night will be rolling out in a couple of hours. We are like a cruse ship.Into port, re provision, Take on passengers(the bird) and depart.

campbud · 04-19-2007, 05:06 AM

Rich, Great that Keystone fixed everything for you! We are patiently waiting for Mark K to call us...we left a message last week. We understand that he is a busy man and we hope that when he has the time he will check back with us..soon.
We need to take a tour of Keystone...maybe at the Fall Rally...Happy to hear your 3400RL is rolling like a new one!

Bob

richfaa · 04-19-2007, 05:30 AM

Mark Kroll is a district sales rep and a fine person but his position requires him to be on the road a lot. You might want to try team Montana. Tom Brandon is the assistant team lead for team Montana. He worked wonders for us and these folks are right at the service center.The folks at team Montana are the ones that "have the power " to get things done. We met many of them while at the service center and they are all there to help the consumer. The good old "Golden rule" applies here in inter-reacting with these folks.

We are starting with a clean slate with our 3400. It is right now better than new..all systems optimal.The previous slate of lack of confidence in the camper is reset to high..it is now up to the 3400 to perform.

Fool me once..shame on me.. fool me twice.. Talk to our attorney..

richfaa · 04-28-2007, 03:46 AM

Update on our service center visit since our last post April This is not a criticism. Just the facts.We are completely satisfied in that they did correct ALL of our issues.and we share in the responsibility in some of what follows. The did replace the comfort Control Center. However they apparently did not know it had a new design Ckt board that needed to be re programed the result being the furnace did not work and we froze our butts off till Susan (Team Montana) found out how to reprogram it.Service center fault for not making sure the CC worked...Our fault for not checking it before we left. They did re wire our melt down mess but we now have intermittent trailer dis connects. They were in the 7 way plug wiring. The static test was probably Ok but there is a problem on the road..they corrected one problem and induced another. We are now in Pa and on this trip @ 150 miles, We found the strip along the top of the bedroom slide on the inside hanging loose on one side.
They did have the bedroom slide out and corrected a serious problem and induced a minor one. We note a small amount of water leaking out of the under belly toward the front of the camper.. They did pull the Commode out of the camper to correct a leak in the piping in the front compartment(don't know why they pulled the commode as that is not where the leak was, The replaced the seals, the seals were not leaking I had temp corrected the leak with plumbers putty at the first joint of the black pipe. This is a accurate follow up of our visit . The lesson learned is DO NOT leave the service center till you do a complete system check. we are having a" serious"off the forum discussion with Keystone re these issues.. The brake dis connect problem is of great concern It occurred with great regularity on the trip here and I will be forced to look into it myself....That does not make me happy... Update..Helen sat in the truck and I dropped the junction box panel and wiggled every wire.. hard and bent the 7 way plug..hard and could not induce the dis connect??? Also went under the camper and played with all the brake wires..no success..It is rainy and muddy..I am not a happy camper.

JH Sechelt · 04-28-2007, 08:13 AM

Hi Rich,

If you disconnect error is intermittent, it sounds like a wire to one of the brake magnets has been rubbed through.
Our did that a couple of days after we bought the trailer. We live too far away from the service center, so after reading this forum I was lucky enough to go right to the right wheel and find the problem. It was rubbed through where the wheel studs go through the brake drum, that's what made it intermittent. Taped up the bare wire, reconnected the wire clips and put everything back together. Never had a problem since.

J&D

richfaa · 04-28-2007, 08:40 AM

Yes John I had considered that. However since we did not have that problem before we went to the service center and they did work in that area I figured..last place worked..first place to look for the trouble.It would be a amazing coincidence..but it could be just that.. I am not yet convinced..but getting there. Do you remember which was the "usual suspect" wheel for the problem,,,I forgot??? Helen will be really PO'ed when I tell her she has got to start pulling wheels so I had better be sure.

hazmic · 04-28-2007, 08:57 AM

Right Rear has been the culprit on most. Was on mine and a lot of others here on the forum.

richfaa · 04-28-2007, 09:05 AM

Thanks.. We will start there.

yvonnenid · 04-29-2007, 02:18 PM

Rich,
I can't believe all the problems you have had with your coach. We also have an 06, and we have not had problem 1. I can't imagine why 1 unit has these issues and other do not. I hope this is it for your problems!

kwolff7 · 05-01-2007, 09:26 AM

Hi Rich,

Haven't seen an update by you so you may have fixed your problem. We were in Las Vegas all weekend trying to win enough money to pay for that new Big Sky!!!!!!

John says if you have not fixed your problem, jack up one wheel at a time, spin the tire while Helen operates the brake controller, clicking it on and off, and hopefully the problem should show up by doing this before you pull the tire off. Can also wiggle the wires behind the brake drum and see if the problem occurs. If you have a new style break controller, if one of the magnet wires is going to ground, the new style break controller will show it going to ground on the LED readout. If you have not fixed yet, this may help.

richfaa · 05-01-2007, 03:23 PM

Spinning the wheel..what a good idea..we will try it..we have done everything else with no luck.The thing is it may show a disconnect 5 times in 10 miles then none for the next 100.I have checked all the wiring the service center did and can see no problem unless they did something I am not aware of. I mean when it is not broke I can not fix it??? We are having a "conversation" With the service center..It will work out...

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