Montana up in smoke - Page 2 - Montana Owners Club

rvfirefighter · 12-18-2006, 01:27 AM

Problems like this are a major pain no matter how small the fix. Hope the downtime is not long with this time of the year. I can imagine how you feel with the first trip and having these problems. You feel you have done your homework with selection of a good brand.
Hope you will be on your way soon. It is good to have a source of information and help with the MOC'ers. Have a couple of cold ones today, it will get better. Good Luck.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 12-18-2006, 02:21 AM

Geesh, guys, this is NOT good news!

Glad Ozz was able to get you warm for the night.

Good luck with this.

noneck · 12-18-2006, 02:23 AM

Rich, we are all here hoping you endure and stay with this brand as your info has helped us and to loose you as a Keystone owner would be sad. I have been under and inside my 3255RL under belly and found the routing of the wiring and hydraulic lines to be substandard... Ended up adding tie wraps and monitoring with slide in/out for any hangups etc when I did my galley tank cable actuator install. I hope your wiring gets fixed pronto and the leak located so your stress level disappears! Keep us posted...maybe you should get a battery charger for temporary use till this is all sorted out?
Chuck

Illini Trekker · 12-18-2006, 02:34 AM

Also sorry to hear about the trouble you're having, what a pain in the arrss. You been in and out every hole on your trailer you'll come out of this, BEST of LUCK!

richfaa · 12-18-2006, 02:45 AM

Noneck we have the battery charger, Spare 40 amp fuse blocks, spare fuses, and a bunch of other spare parts..We anticipated major failures..Sad is it not.We also did the tie wrap re routing and clean up thing...It was not enough and I do not mean to bad mouth Keystone..it is a industry wide thing and something needs to be done about that.. UPDATE this AM..we are up early and called our good friend Mark Kroll at Keystone (2 hour time difference)..He is on the problem..He thinks Paul Everet Montana Dealer may be here at Quartzsite in any case the dealership is 25 miles up the road.We never had any doubt that Keystone /Montana would do the right thing. That is not the issue at all..the issue is that this camper should be able to travel down the road without self destructing. Our F-350 apparently is designed to travel down rough roads as it traveled the same roads pulling the Montana and nothing broke.We have a high degree of confidence in the F-350 doing the job and little confidence that the3400 can do the job..that has got to change...We are comfy and awaiting instructions from Mark.

Ozz · 12-18-2006, 02:46 AM

When I first got my Monte, the dealer delivered it to my side yard, I worked on it for two month's before I even hooked up to it.
On The line voltage electrical panel, every one of the White neutral wires were loose, I mean fingertip screwdriver loose. The 12 volt panel was just a little better, no final check on the line for them.
I dropped my Black bottom cover and routed cables, wires and video of my own, at that time, I wire tied all wires, secured wires and hydraulic cables that were rubbing on sharp edges. It was shameful, the way they left the mess under there.
I guess they figure, out of sight, out of mind. They sure as hell wouldn't have left a mess like that if it open to the public.....
Snfexpress, Michael, found the wires melted on the terminal block on his fireplace, just loose wires.
Quality control; Get with it, Keystone!
Ozz

richfaa · 12-18-2006, 03:31 AM

You are right on OZZ..not to mention the safety hazard..Found the hydraulic fluid leak(another thing that jolted loose) . I have a slide in and slide out mark on the reservoir and it was over 2 inches down. It is leaking in the under belly in the docking station area. Just happened to have a quart of Fluid with us for a fill(another thing that was anticipated) Steve the hole the wires ran through is insulated so nothing rubbed at that point.Ozz and a couple other Forum experts feel that the black wire is the Converter charge ckt(the converter breaker did trip)and possibly a loose connection at the fuse block caused a hi Resistance short. Thanks MOC'ers for the help, PM's and phone calls..this forum is a life saver.....We are still not happy campers..

rvfirefighter · 12-18-2006, 03:50 AM

Like Ozz said, all the loose wires he had to fix, some of us are not electrically inclined to fix these types of problems, and for any company, especially the number one company, to allow this types of problems to get by quality control is a industry shame. I am a second Montana owner and I can see a big difference in the quality of my 2000 model and my 2005 model. I see alot of the same problems surfacing from comments of the members of MOC. You can imagine the problems others are having that you never see listed on this website and non-MOC members.
It is not that easy to correct these problems on the road away from your dealer. I hope you get help and satisfaction with your problems.

refocused · 12-18-2006, 04:58 AM

Please reassure us - we have not even taken delivery of our rig yet and hate to see all the things that can go wrong - not too bad if things are minor, but when you have things that are potentially life-threatening, it's scary! When we had the Layton, took it in to get the axles lubed and found that the brakes were falling apart - only had a little more than 10,000 miles on them! Also suffered 3 blow-outs over 3 trips so bought 4 new tires 1700 miles before we traded -
hope this is the end of your problems, Rich and Helen, and that the rest of your trip will be what you expected!

SAndreasen · 12-18-2006, 05:48 AM

Sorry to hear about your problems! Go hit some golf balls in the desert! Things will be OK.

noneck · 12-18-2006, 06:21 AM

I agree Rich, these things need ALL RV Mfr's to heed as it reflects on reputation. I purchased a used 2002 Monty and still had concerns about routings when doing my own personal prep.
Chuck

exav8tr · 12-18-2006, 07:01 AM

Rich, You have me concerned now. I bought my '06 3400 in Sept and it is stored with dealer until Spring. Hauling out of Alaska is a BIG deal, with probably very little service on the Alaskan highway. I may have to revise my plans and do several "in-state" trips before I leave for good. What with your problems with elect and hydraulics, the Apollo oven deal, which I have and the Dometic Refrigerator recall, it kind of gives me the willeeeesss....Especially since I don't consider myself much of a handy man.

I am glad you are doing better and hope you gets things fixed to your satisfaction soon.

It would appear that Keystone needs to spend a little more time on QUALITY CONTROL. Hear that Keystone?

Phil P.

Cat320 · 12-18-2006, 07:11 AM

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Rich. All of us, especially those of us with 3400s, are anxious to hear of Keystones response, and what the specific problems are with the 3400s.

Things will get better.

campbud · 12-18-2006, 07:13 AM

Rich and Helen, I would be upset about this happening and I sure hope you get everything worked out. I sure hope Keystone will do all they can on there part too. We hope the rest of the trip go great for you and Helen!

kdeiss · 12-18-2006, 08:02 AM

It could have been just a loose connection at that terminal block.When I checked my DC connection they were all loose including the ground to the frame.It pays to check these.

Sunshine · 12-18-2006, 08:04 AM

Rich, Sorry to hear about this latest addition to the list of problems you've had. It's got to be good to have Ozz and some other MOC members in the area who are willing to help. Hope things get resolved soon so you can relax a bit and enjoy your winter in the sun.

Wifeofdano · 12-18-2006, 08:49 AM

Rich & Helen,
Sorry to hear of the problems you're having.
Hope all gets resolved soon and you have a wonderful Christmas.

Tom Gina 06 · 12-18-2006, 08:56 AM

Maybe Keystone needs to do another drug test...... Change their policy that these types of defects will come out of the old world craftsman pockets for every defect that is do to old craftsman workmanship! I bet a couple of missing paychecks could change these types of attitudes, or at least sort out the bad ones.

Rich, I feel your pain even though our problem was with water leaks, I now have a 3400 with minor water damage because they couldn't get the tape right on the slides. Built Oct. 19th soaked before it was 2 weeks old. I have been having problems with my landing gear blowing the fuse everytime I use it. I will sure start digging around to make sure all is tight and right. Good luck on getting to the bottom of the problem! Hope this doesn't screw your holiday to bad. Please keep us posted as to what the problem is, like to head off any potential problems.

Keystone HHHHHHHEEEEEELLLLLLLLOOOOO are you listening!!!!!

Good luck, relax, hope your trip will still have more happy memories than bad....

Bill Frisbee · 12-18-2006, 10:26 AM

Sometimes no matter what you do, you cannot catch a break. No one has ever made more of an effort to ensure that they purchased a quality, trouble-free product than Rich and Helen. And if Keystone were asked to name the customers they most wanted to have a quality product and trouble-free first trip, my guess is that Rich and Helen would be close to the top of the list. The only saving grace in all of this is that Rich and Helen's hometown football team is the Cleveland Browns ... and I am a 50-year New York Football Giants fan. We KNOW how to deal with disappointment! Rich and Helen, I hope all works out well. I have come to the conclusion that purchasing an RV today is like purchasing a car 40 years ago ... a big crap shoot with minimal chance of getting one that is free from problems of some sort.

Bill

richfaa · 12-18-2006, 05:01 PM

Well thanks everyone for the advise and support. We arrived in Lake Havasu City a day late..but we are here. Keystone did , as some of you like to say, came through, Stepped up to the plate and all that stuff, Mark Kroll then Susan at the service center sent us to RV lifestyles in Quartzsite.These are a great bunch of guys.Mike, Dennis, Chuck..They worked 7 hours straight and drove to Blythe, Ca to get us a 30 foot section of hydraulic line custom made.Our heartfelt thanks to Mark and Susan at Keystone..They gave RV lifestyles a blank check to do the repairs, no matter what and get us on the road. To be short.. The charge line from the converter rubbed against the frame and shorted out. It ran alongside the Hydraulic line and burnt it through causing the smoke..Helen and I reacted fast enough to shut down all the power.. The guys at Rv lifestyles said we were maybe 20 seconds away from a ball of flame. The short cindered ALL the wires in that bundle and they had to rewire the entire thing. The wiring in the underbelly is a nightmare..a real nightmare.. Keystone stepped up to the plate so why are we not happy campers.That would be because the entire issue was a result of poor design, sloppy workmanship and poor quality control..We could have lost everything and had I not noticed the first wisps of smoke and returned into the camper..it could have killed us. This is not a Keystone thing..it is a RV industry thing and why do we allow them to get away with it.So Mark you came through as usual and Susan..well done..we love you..Guys at Rv lifestyles..you are the greatest..Keystone and the Rv industry ...you need to improve..IMO you nearly killed us.

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