Brake Failure 3400RL

[keham]

Seems as I noted late 05 early 06. Keystone bean counters taking over. Service since Jeff moved on has been hit miss and more on the miss side. And I see that Mr Couch (or name close to that sound) Is still the Hard anti customer type. I am sorry But Keystone seems to me to be on the slop down hill. (take brake issue. everyone knows or should know the only real way to check electric brakes is to pull the hubs and inspect.) I am sorry I feel this way but just read all the posts from 04 05 that got fixed easy and the same issues now that seems to be like pulling teeth to get Keystone to call back or get approval for a issue that they know keeps showing its head. (Apollo) brakes and such.. Keystone if you are still reading this forum How about treat everyone the same on customer service, not just a few. That happen to also been able to attend a rally. You are more and more becoming like your competitors. sell sell and delay delay repairing (poor service).

[robb]

I agree that Keystone is playing games with repairing these units.
Talked to "Susan?' today about our unit, she asked for our list of problems (now up to 33 items) and said she would call back right after her lunch. No call, now they are not answering the phone because of Good Friday, Didn't she know that at 11:30am?
Now playing me against the dealer by telling me one thing and the dealer another. Told me the dealer was not doing his job.
Robb

[richfaa]

With all due respect I do not believe that being a member of this forum or attending a rally has anything to do with the service we get from keystone.Even if every single member of this forum was active (just a very small % are) that would be a insignificant % of Montana owners. I think it has more to do with the folks you talk to at keystone (perhaps new or inexperienced) and the way we talk to them. As critical as I am I see no difference in the way Keystone/Montana is doing business and we had been to the factory and interacted with Montana folks long before we became forum members.Some of you may note that we are not real happy Montana owners right now but we have had no problem..thus far..in any of our interactions with anyone at Keystone/Montana.. I will be the first to report any change..

[Cat320]

Somebody has probably already checked this, but are the correct electrical signals getting to both brakes (left and right) through the seven pin connector?

[sreigle]

Bert may be correct.

The biggest problems with brakes seem to be electrical. In some cases it's a bad connection where two wires are joined. Some problems have been caused by breaks or partial breaks in an electrical wire. Most problems have been because of chafing of the wiring insulation within the hub itself, often close to the magnet. Maybe they checked all that but if not, it might be worth checking into.

The other problem we've heard about is when someone puts too much grease into the grease zerks in the hubs. Anything more than a squirt or two once per year is too much. But I would think grease getting onto the linings would already have been discovered.

[Dean A Van Peursem]

An Update:

We are now in Elma, WA bout 6 hours futher North from Bend, OR. Due to the seriousness of the issues and legal liability involved here I'm not going to go into any detail as to what allowed us to travel this far w/o further 3400RL brake failures we were facing in Bend, OR. But I can assure you Montana and the Bend, OR Montana dealer were not part of the solution.

In fact the only offering of help from Montana was a complete underestimation of the complexity of proper diagnostic procedures to find what the real issue was. Montana would only do a continuity check and a short test on the wiring. W/o indication of incorrect readings they would not authorize further work and therefore would have no further obligation or liability. Their position on this is totally niave when pursuing a partial or intermittent failure or short due to road conditions. But does allow them to wash their hands of any further involvment to locate the problem or be held responsible. Which, I presently beleive was their real objective to begin with, rather than SOLVE THE PROBLEM. It is very clear to me that anything Montana was saying was carefully orchestrated based on their internal legal advice.

I will communicate more on this later when and if I can present legally sound data and results which will stand the test of our legal system. Further documentation, investigation and evidence gathering is in work.

[richfaa]

Dean... I love it when you talk that way..

[Dean A Van Peursem]

We are back home in cold and wet WA state. No further recurrence of brake failures. However, this morning had a puddle of water on kitchen floor around furnace air return vent. Can't figure out what that is all about. Cleaned it up and didn't return. No leaking water pipes that I could find. Did rain most of Friday night and Saturday but why would it pool there if it came from a slide seal leak or something? Vely weird!. Surely it can't be a residue from when we had our major leak over a month ago? Garage floor completely dry. Very puzzling. The problems never seem to end.

[jrgwdenner]

Dean, if you drove through heavy rain, we've had rain that was hitting the underneath part of the slide gather on the kitchen floor. Maybe a possibility.

[richfaa]

By the same token we have the very same camper less than 2 months older than Dean's and we have driven through monsoon rains for long periods of time and we have never had a leak anywhere. If there is water on the kitchen floor or anywhere else..there is a problem....

[robb]

We found water in the same place in our 3400RL. found water pump was leaking under the steps.
Robb

[jrjones]

I live in Bend OR. and have my Montana work done at all-seasons. They replaced my remote thermostat and fixed my slide wiring problems. I did not buy my trailer there. I bought in Gresham Or.(much better price) I have not had any problems with my Montana that were dangerous but I know the turn over at all seasons is big. No one that I have worked with is still there. as a matter of fact almost each time it is a new person. There is another Keystone dealer in town named Big Country RV. If I ever have a problem like this I will take it to Big Country or over to Gresham RV.

[Dean A Van Peursem]

Apparently all three Customer Service advisors at All Season's are recent new hires. The tech that was trying to do the work seemed to be a longer term employee but was being pulled from job to job by various dealership employees. There was a behind the scenes "warranty coordinator" who I think was pulling the strings but I was not allowed to meet her, I think it was a her. A mystery person. There seemed to be a real distinction, in our service advisor's mind, about "warranty" vs regular paid service which is not all that surprising.

[sreigle]

We also had water coming from under the kitchen pantry, two or three times, when the rig was still pretty new. There were several loose water connections behind the access panel on the convenience center in the basement. One was at the water pump connection. We also had water in the same location that came from loose connections on the lines attaching to the shower faucet. Once we got everything tightened down, no more leaks from that area.

We did once have water on the kitchen floor while stationary in a heavy storm when the outside seal along the vertical side of the slide was turned under partway down the side. I used the awning rod to properly position the seal and the problem was solved.

On our 3295RK we sometimes got water during a rainstorm while towing. The problem was a seal had fallen off or was never on there. Once that was remedied the problem was fixed.

I don't know if any of these will help your situation.

[Dean A Van Peursem]

Steve:

I think you might be on to the problem. We have had so many water leaks behind the convenience panel that most if not all connections have been checked, rechecked, tightened and retightened. The water pump connections may be a source but we were not using the water pump those days. I'll have to check those connections again. But... your comment about the slide seals may have hit home. When buttoning up Sunday after we detected the water puddle, I notices that the rubber seals on the open kitchen slide were partially deployed on the sides. I usually check for that on setup but I missed it this time. This slide was adjusted recently as well and maybe the rubber seals haven't yet adjusted to the new slide position either. I too use the awning rod to dress up slide rubber seals when needed on setup. But I missed it this time for some reason. This may be the source. I'll keep monitoring for more water puddles. Thanks.