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Old 08-26-2012, 01:22 PM   #1
richfaa
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Propane regulator

In the 2013 3402 Big sky. I am trying to be nice but it is getting harder and harder..

We can find NO book or manual of any kind on the propane regulator. Can't even tell what brand it is but I think it begins with a F.
we see a little red strip that appeared in our green field.
Question is this a auto changover" how do I know what tank we are on. No matter which way we throw that switch we still see the little red strip in the green field.

This best you can buy, top of the line , Montana product is starting to look like a piece of crap.

Oh none of the drawers will stay closed...None of them. The so called latches are pitiful . That storage drawer along side the fridge.Open the slide and the drawer comes out.

Open the cabinet under the main sink and we can see the ground where the plumbing goes down...Excellent design and workmanship.

Could not get cable in the bedroom TV...The cable on the rear of the Tv.....was..not connected.

keystone may not Want me at the rally as they are gonna have to rebuild this thing.We do have a service center appontment the 17th of Sept and the list is growing.
 
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Old 08-26-2012, 01:52 PM   #2
PapaBeav
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Rich, our 2012 had way more problems than our 06 but I think I have finally worked all the bugs out. They look pretty but the quality has gone to hell. I will say that this is the LAST Montana that we will ever buy.
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Old 08-26-2012, 02:59 PM   #3
richfaa
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by PapaBeav

Rich, our 2012 had way more problems than our 06 but I think I have finally worked all the bugs out. They look pretty but the quality has gone to hell. I will say that this is the LAST Montana that we will ever buy.
We could not see anything better out there in the price range so we are gonna have to hold keystones feet to the fire.I have got a lot of red tape to mark defects and we can stay at the service center as long as it takes.
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Old 08-26-2012, 03:06 PM   #4
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Rich, The way they explained it to me was...Yes it is auto change over. No matter which way you have the valve turned it will switch over too the other tank IF... it is turned on. If it wasn't storming so bad I would go out and get the name off the reg. I tried to light my W/H on gas yesterday and it don't fire off. Gas is on, stove lights, it works on electric but I get no spark. Gas to the valve. Yeaa Add to list.
For everyones info, I was on a SOB forum R**W**d, just checking it out and they have just as many things wrong as Montana. We almost went that way. The fit and trim is alot better but the issues are the same.
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Old 08-26-2012, 03:25 PM   #5
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Rich, It sounds like my 2002 3295RK is looking better all the time. I do have some drawers I need to close before I run out the slides but this is caused from me rebuilding the drawers and installing roller bearing slides. It looks like to me they need to hire some new people in the QC dept. or hire a QC dept. Since this is the largest group of owners on the internet I would think Keystone would have a QC person following this site helping out new owners! That would be the first thing I would do if I was running the Montana fabrication facility.
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Old 08-26-2012, 05:36 PM   #6
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We looked at most of the other similar brands when we got ours. Unless we wanted to drop well over 100 grand for a Heartland the quality was the same or worse on everything we looked at. What Keystone and the rest aren't thinking about is that once we get everything fixed on the rig they just sold us we won't be looking to start again on a new one no matter how pretty it looks.
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Old 08-26-2012, 06:51 PM   #7
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WOW! I'm reading all this stuff and feeling pretty fortunate. I think I've had a single dealer fix that I can attribute to workmanship. There have been a couple of minor things that I fixed myself but overall, I am very happy with the quality of the Montana. Now if you want to talk crap right from the getgo, let me tell you about my former SOB read Grand Junction. On second thought, you don't wanna know. It's sad.
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Old 08-27-2012, 02:59 AM   #8
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I had a Keystone Raptor prior to this Montana and I called Keystone with a list of 17 or 18 items that I mostly fixed myself. Many were things that were so simple, could have been done the right way at the factory with little to no effort. Couple of examples, tv antenna crank shaft at least 3" too long. Took handle off and cut to length so crank was flush at ceiling. Water pump has 4 mounting holes with rubber grommets, only had screw in one. Worst item was wheel bearings were all but totally dry from factory.
On our 2011 Montana, it has only been to the dealer once for intermittent furnace problem. I ended up fixing furnace, turned out to be the gas valve.
We have owned trailers since 1983 including alumalite, wilderness, carrilite, raptor, and now montana.
I would rate the montana at the top after almost 2 years of use. Most problems on all of the trailers I've owned, except the raptor, were with the equipment made by other companies and not the trailer itself. ie. water heaters, refrigerators, furnaces, tires....
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Old 08-27-2012, 03:31 AM   #9
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I hear you Rich, but I'm really looking!
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Old 08-27-2012, 04:15 AM   #10
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After being on this forum and others for a while now, I'm convinced that the joke isn't really a joke. You don't want your rig made on Friday, particularly after lunch and probably not at the end of any day. At the Factory Tour last year they said that due to the recession they had the line slowed down to 15 units per day. Someone should have asked how fast they can run it, but maybe it's better if we don't know. Anyway, 15 complete rigs per day makes you wonder how any of them come out almost perfect, but some do. Mine wasn't one of them, we had only a couple of issues by all of them were major and one potentially life threatening.
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Old 08-27-2012, 04:41 AM   #11
richfaa
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We are not bad mouthing Keystone/Montana it is a industry wide issue and I think most of us know that.Our issues are small but they should never have come off the line.They are sloppy workmanship and lack of quality control issues. We should all hold Keystones feet to the fire and voice our concerns.
we are close enough to the service center to be there every week till they get it right.
The folks who should know at Keystone/Montana will know. We all need to do the same.
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Old 08-27-2012, 04:50 AM   #12
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Emmel

I hear you Rich, but I'm really looking!
We looked hard also Steve. You have the experience and know what to look for. We could not afford anything much over this price range and even then the sloppy workmanship issues are there.

We have a Rv friend here in Town who purchased a really nice R.W.Great looking coach and allegedly a step above the Big Sky. We were parked side by side at a local campout and he was just as unhappy as we were with the workmanship.

Now he does have a 12 inch frame and the weight to go with it.

IMO I would not have been any better off going with that brand.

However..Look and look hard. The heartland is a nice unit but we pulled a cabinet drawer off one in the show lot at Lazy days in Florida and got a staple in the shoe walking around the unit.
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Old 08-27-2012, 04:52 AM   #13
richfaa
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by DQDick

After being on this forum and others for a while now, I'm convinced that the joke isn't really a joke. You don't want your rig made on Friday, particularly after lunch and probably not at the end of any day. At the Factory Tour last year they said that due to the recession they had the line slowed down to 15 units per day. Someone should have asked how fast they can run it, but maybe it's better if we don't know. Anyway, 15 complete rigs per day makes you wonder how any of them come out almost perfect, but some do. Mine wasn't one of them, we had only a couple of issues by all of them were major and one potentially life threatening.
Some will recall that they were running 22/23 a day, Montana's only
before the economic downturn and had months of back orders..
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Old 08-27-2012, 05:04 AM   #14
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But, I think the 22/23 a day might have had better workmanship as they had to repeat themselves more often each day. Our other two Montanas were of great quality at that rate, where has the quality gone?
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Old 08-27-2012, 08:29 AM   #15
richfaa
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Called customer service and although they tried they were of no help in helping me determine if the regulator is good or bad or what brand it is. I can figure out what tank is empty or full and add that to my growing list of things to fix at the service center before the rally.

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Old 08-27-2012, 08:39 AM   #16
richfaa
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Emmel

But, I think the 22/23 a day might have had better workmanship as they had to repeat themselves more often each day. Our other two Montanas were of great quality at that rate, where has the quality gone?
You may be right. I said before about this 2013 that IMO it is a better unit than the 2006.There are many improvements and the vendor provided material is better..However..they need to assemble all that material into a quality unit and that is not happening. You do not remember the good things just that the toilet seat fell off and all the drawers will not close and the pocket door fell of the track, etc.
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Old 08-27-2012, 11:33 AM   #17
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The saga continues..We determined the brand name of the propane regulator is " fairview" propane regulator. We googled around and it is widely used in the Rv industry. It is also, by general consensus a piece of crap with a high failure rate. Mine is definatly defective and has not lasted 3 months.
Airstream even uses them...Keep a eye on yours if you have that brand.
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Old 08-28-2012, 09:04 AM   #18
richfaa
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Today. Service center tells me to take it to my dealer for regulator replacement.My dealer is 60 mile away. 120 miles round trip 50/55 $$$ in diesel fuel to replace a defective part that is not yet 3 months old (build date 5-3-2012) Said that was not gonna happen. The tank that was indicating in use was empty.The regulator indicated both tanks are empty..Filled the empty tank and selected it. now the regulator indicates both tanks are full ...Right....
We know we have a full tank, the stove works on gas, the fridge and hot water works on gas and we will leave it that way till we get to the service center. We do have a spare regulator but I do not work for Keystone and we will not install it.
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Old 08-29-2012, 09:11 AM   #19
richfaa
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Well today the regulator says both tanks are empty even tho I filled the empty tank and weighed the other tank to check for it being full. Ah the prestige of owning the best you can buy, top of the line, Montana product.
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Old 08-29-2012, 11:17 AM   #20
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Sorry to hijack the thread but I know a lot of the meaning in this thread is the workmanship.

My warranty ended one month ago. I stopped taking it into the dealer for several reasons. My list has been huge and like you Richfaa I live 60 miles away. I'm sure I might miss some of them but my kitchen faucet, microwave, ceiling fan, antenna, converter, thermostat have been replaced. Full metal replacement on curb side where metal separated from trim line. Many drawers don't latch. I now have a 6 inch tear in the vinyl floor between the island and the kitchen slide where the cabinet opened in travel. A pan fell out and rubbed or pinched or something ripping the floor open. There are staples sticking up out of the carpet all over the place. My toilet seat fell off on my last trip. The wall that the latch for the front closet mirror door pulled right off. One of the latches holding the TV drawer in the entertainment center was broken, loose and requiring the other one to secure the TV in place. TV could have easily slid right out and been a huge expense. I don't drive it like it's stolen either....just bumps and easy turns which I believe should be considered normal driving conditions. Then there was the flood of water from the under belly. The dealer service manager was angry that he has someone spend several hours checking for leaks. He told me there was no leak found and no sign of any water leakage. Thankfully I had taken a video of the water streaming out from under the rig. I was prepared and had my laptop with me. He didn't care to see the video but the tech who worked on it wanted to see it. He happened to walk up as I was offering. He was amazed at how much water was running out and said to keep an eye out for it to happen again. For those who hadn't seen the video in a post, the under belly actually was sagging several inches from the weight of the water. Rep was trying to say it was from sprinklers at RV park. Maybe but wow, what happens if you drive in a rainstorm, the underbelly fills with water enough to sag the bottom! These things have all been documented but I'm simply tired of driving the rig to get things repaired. I must also say some of the repairs were no better than before. I have the headboard issue, staples not in all the way but still covered by the leather. I elected to stop bringing it there because I was having to fix the fixes anyway and tired of the attitude there.

I'm my own warranty now. I actually feel better knowing that now I have to fix things but at least I know they will be right. Cost of ownership.

Rant over... well my regulator seems to still be working.

P.S. Richfaa that full body paint looks good even in the year 2025! LOL.
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