it never ends ( UPDATE) it gets worse.

[K0LCB]

Washing machine water can get pretty sour smelling. I hope you find your problem and it is something simple

[Jay Bird]

We had the same problem in our 3400 and a lot of water got in the under bell somehow. When I open the underbelly I was surprised how much water was in there. Stale washing water stink. Hope this is you only problem. Also, if you can see the drain hose look to make sure the washer drain it is properly seated in the drain and you are not getting additional water overflow from there. I know you said you do not have an overflow but you can not see if any water is sliding down just outside the drain pipe into the under belly.

[richfaa]

Gray tank leaking is confirmed. Helen took a shower this AM and water is pouring out of the underbelly. Next step is to find out were the leak is, They usually leak at the top when the tank is full. The dump handle is open now and the tank is empty.
I will not be saying more about this on the forum except for were the leaks are. We never travel with much in the tanks we normally dump tanks every two or three days. This best you can buy, top of the line 3402 Big sky is only 17 months old. This is totally unacceptable. Richard is not happy and further conversation will be with Keystone.

[steves]

Thanks for the info!

[richfaa]

We left the gray tank open and filled the bathtub with water twice That is a lot of water. Water did not pour from the underbelly. That may confirm that the leak is at the top of the tanks were they usually fail It also confirms that little has been done to prevent that since 2006.The ride down here from Ohio with empty tanks was too much for the design of the tanks or poor build quality.

[richfaa]

More troubleshooting and here are the final results. Recap we never travel with full tanks we keep a couple of gallons in the tanks just to keep them wet. We normally keep the gray tank open when at a site with full hookups .We do let it fill every once in a while to flush out the waste hose after a black tank flush. We arrived here October 21st and the tank has been filled 3 or 4 times in that time indicated by water in the tub with no leaking.

Therefore this tank failed while in a stationary position. Looking at the specs we see 93 gallons of gray water between two tanks, galley and gray can't find the individual capacities. .That would be 774 lbs .They may be 46 gallon tanks meaning at least 383 lbs of water per tank. This gray tank failed in a stationary position due to the weight of the water.

I would not recommend filling these tanks to capacity as IMO the design is not capable of bearing the weight.

We are living in the RV.A tank can not be replaced on site .We have nowhere to live while in repair. We are in snowbird country and the nearest facility is C.W and they are backed up for weeks. Other dealers are many miles away.
Thus far this 2013 Big Sky was a poor purchase.


We are in communication with Keystone customer service. Primarily to get our tank problems on record. It is important that we all report our problems large and small. We are not looking for a handout as we do have the Good Sam extended Warranty. IMO these tanks are not properly designed or installed as far to many of them fail.

[richfaa]

Splendide door handle replaced and all is well. Excellent service from Splendide. Gray tank is still leaking badly. Have no choice but to let it run on the ground. Hopefully we will not get thrown out of the campground. Just finished gorilla taping the bottom of two of the dining table chairs as they fell out. The weight of some maps and the Instruction manuals for the Montana was to much for them. Helen had to use some screws to reattach the closet wall. Does not look real good but we can use the shelves in the Ardmore again.

It is warm and no snow or ice here in Florida. That is good.

[richfaa]

I just noted that there is no panel to remove to see under the bathtub to check for leaks. Good move or the plan is nothing will never leak or need replaced under there...

[rohrmann]

On our 3402RL, the black tank is 53 gallons, and it appears to be exactly the same size as the grey tank. That would make the galley tank 40 gallons.

[richfaa]

Thanks for that Bob.53 Gallon or 441.49 lbs in the gray tank was to much for the tank to support and it was stationary. We filled it up to flush out the dump hose after a black tank dump and it failed.

[richfaa]

THE GALLEY TANK IS LEAKING... Noticed a smell last night and water is pouring out of the galley tank. It also pulled the underbelly lose as it tore the material away from the screws holding it up. It was NOT leaking three days ago as it is easy to see and smell a stream of water flowing down the pad. We have been stationary on our lot since October 21st.No moving, no bouncing. The tanks can not stand the weight of the water in them. I started this thread when the GRAY tank started leaking under the same condition. So we have holding tanks that we can not fill up. I now have to dump out black tank every day as we have zero confidence it its integrity.

[richfaa]

I can see the leak in the galley tank/The screws holding the underbelly in that area pulled loose as they were hardly catching the underbelly material and the weight of a full tank of galley water was too much for it. Helen says she dumped the galley tank two days ago and there was no water or stink on the pad.

The crack is in the tank and the bottom corner that fortunately we can see.
Should have kept the 06 3400. I am not a happy camper and will not talk to Customer service till I calm down

[davidaf]

So, that's both grey tanks? Making me a bit nervous, I believe you have an early 13 as do I. Can't imagine there's much difference in parts on the BSky 3402 and the Non-BSky 3400. I'm not a brand loyal guy, especially since this is my first Montana, so I don't need to tell you what I'll do if mine starts following your path. I accepted I'd be doing some work on misc stuff as a full timer but...

Best of luck. Hopefully this is the last of the issues.
dave

[Irlpguy]

Rich you are batting 1000 at least. I sure hope you are able to take pictures of the tanks and what part of the support system failed. I suspect all of us with the same model will have the same method of supporting the tanks and I would rather upgrade mine before I suffer the same problem you are having.

Perhaps starting happy hour early, and going late, then phoning tomorrow would work best.... Pretty hard to point out the virtues of owning a Montana when you are sitting with these problems. I have no doubt Keystone will look after the issue, however it simply should not be happening.

[richfaa]

We did have a non productive talk with Customer service and I expected it to be non productive. I insisted that my concerns be listed under my VIN number. I advised them that I was not asking or waiting for anything from Keystone as I have two leaking tanks and have got to get them repaired. We do have the GS extended warranty. We will talk to a good Mobil Rv service company that we have done business with in the past to see if they can replace the tanks on site. If they do we will have them take pictures and offer their expertise on why they failed and forward that to Keystone. We may be able to repair the galley tank with Eternabond.I can not see the gray tank leak.

We will forward our Keystone contacts and stated problems to Mike Mack today.

[richfaa]

Ok so we filled up the gray tank about half way before it started leaking (shower and bath) tank. Two confirmed leaks and the location pretty much known. Here is a Idea everyone. Fill your tanks to capacity and let them sit for awhile. See what happens.

Also..folks have reported a "smell" in the Rv. Check the underbelly for a bulge these one piece underbelly's can be pretty well sealed that is the good news but they will hold a lot of water that has leaked out of a tank. Our "Smell" was galley water in the under belly and the previous smell was gray (bath and Shower) water in the underbelly.
We now have many, many 1/4 inch drain holes drilled into the underbelly. At least it will drain and prevent the smell.

[Ramblin Roadrunners]

I had a simular leak in my S O B. I also drilled holes in the underbelly to relieve gray water and try to get rid of smell. My underbelly had insulation in it that held and absorbed gray water. I added about 1/2 gallon clorex to the gray water to kill the bacteria and mold. It helped. Rich, I'm starting to think you got a lemon. You have a right to be upset I M O.

[mainer]

This is unbelieveable! I am so sorry for you and Helen, this should be a happy time in your life.

When we bought our 2011 Big Sky we had more problems with it than we ever had with our 2005. We also wondered if ours was a good decision too!

Hope this is the end of your problems and it gets fixed quickly..

[davidaf]

Not sure if anybody has done this or if it's even possible, but what about a sensor in the underbelly to detect moisture? We use them in Data Centers all the time. Don't know if they make a 12v one that can be adapted to the RV world. Would sure like to know before the nasty stuff starts to stink and mold.

I like the idea of filling the tanks to test but I don't want to join the leak club yet. Ignorance is bliss for the moment. Will do the test when I'm at my home base and I know a good mobile guy. I haven't looked but can the underbelly be pulled back and re attached w/o much issue?

[DQDick]

So sorry for your troubles. Will be praying for a quick fix and that this is the end of it for you.