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Old 10-16-2020, 06:37 AM   #1
bubbapk1
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M.O.C. #25941
2018 Montana 305RL - ceiling leak

Purchased our 305RL in May of 2018. We use it occasionally and have kept it covered. We are readying it for our next trip when noticed a black substance on the floor. Tracking it to the back of the RV, we saw the that the leak was coming from the ceiling at the rear-most seam. The ceiling appears to be sagging, and the strip that covers the seam was spotted with black mold. I pulled the strip off the ceiling and water dripped down. I put a screwdriver in the gap between the seam and about a pint of black water ran down.

I imagine that this has been an issue for a while, it just couldn't take it anymore and started leaking. I am attaching a picture and will attempt to attach a video.

What I am asking is if anyone has an idea what caused this? The roof seems fine on the outside. I have an appointment at the dealer in 5 days, and would like to have some knowledge going in. Also, any ideas on how to replace/fix?

You can see in the picture that the strip is spotted with black stuff, and it appears that staples toward the back are rusting and leaving spots on the ceiling. The LED light is also removed as water came through there and made it black.
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Old 10-16-2020, 08:19 AM   #2
ChaseTX
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M.O.C. #26041
When you run your A/C, can you see the condensation drain off the back. If not, the culprit might be the A/C. If the drain is clogged. then it might be draining back through the seam between the two. Make sure and check your sky lights to ensure there is not a crack in the sealant
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Old 10-16-2020, 08:34 AM   #3
jsb5717
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The AC was my first thought as well. Mystery water leaks can be difficult to trace. Any small void anywhere in all of the various sealant locations on the roof will find their way of least resistance and can show up no where near the actual leak.

I would start with the AC drain as well as it's seal to the roof. If that's not it then you will need to scrutinize all of the uphill seals as well as the membrane for any small puncture.
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Old 10-16-2020, 11:55 AM   #4
R.S.O'Donnell
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My bet would be AC as well. The Coleman in our class C began dripping water through the filters. Ended up being clogged condensate drains that was causing the drain pan to overflow.
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Old 10-16-2020, 02:51 PM   #5
bubbapk1
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305RL leak

I went up and inspected every inch of the membrane and found nothing (doesn't mean there is not an issue). I checked the skylights and all vents. Nothing obvious. In February, I had put Dicor self-leveling adhesive on every vent and skylight, antenna, etc and that all looks real good.

So, I am also leaning toward the AC. I say this because on the inside of the unit, the rusty staples are showing on the ceiling from the AC unit position toward the rear.

The difficulty is that I have a ducted system and I do not how that works as I have never taken the AC unit off (only two years old). I have my appointment on Tuesday and hope they can positively ID the cause.... we'll see.

If they do say it is a blockage, or a bad seal I assume this is an easy fix? My remaining question would be, now what do about the mold that has to be above the ceiling? Do you recommend pulling the cove molding off, and removing the ceiling panels to replace the insulation? and then remounting the ceiling panels?
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Old 10-16-2020, 09:16 PM   #6
ChaseTX
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Does the decking around the a/c unit fill squishy, if so they are going to ha e to remove the membrane and repair the decking. Now I can't remember if that year had the aluminum trusses like mine, if it does and the decking is good. Then the repair should be less extensive. If it is still under some type of warranty then I would have them repair as much is damaged. If not then they should be able to repair from underneath.
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Old 10-17-2020, 06:42 AM   #7
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Hey Bubba, Please keep me informed as i have the same year and model. I sure hope its an easy fix for you. being only 2 years old one would expect the membrane to be ok and like most here mention, the AC is most likely the culprit. I regularly take the cover off and inspect the area and invariably find debris all around the ac frame (pine needles leaves and even wasp nest) once even a sandwich wrapper. Good Luck. stay in touch.
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Old 10-17-2020, 06:51 AM   #8
Harrisden54
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I had a very similar issue with water dripping from the seam in the ceiling onto the couch. Took it to 2 differnt dealers while under warranty and they could not find a problem. After dealing with it for over a year I finally pulled the A/C and found they cut the holes for the A/C too large and the A/C gasket was not sealing. Condensate water was coming into the vent area from the roof and leaking into the ceiling. I had to splice in a 2"x4" on the roof to make the hole smaller and reseal everything to stop the leak. Not a drop of water on my couch since the repair.
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Old 10-21-2020, 03:32 PM   #9
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Our rear AC leaks water out of the return vents during a hard rain. There's a couple of threads here about some drain holes in the AC pan that were not big enough, and how to fix that. I recently found a little leak evidence inside on a rear corner. I suspect the leak from the AC pan has traveled inside because of the ceiling slope and I find nothing on the roof to cause it. I suggest you check out those threads.
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Old 10-21-2020, 04:11 PM   #10
Buckfisher
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We had a good sized rain storm when we were at the Montana rally the same year we bought our 305RL High Country. The floor under the rear AC was covered with water the next morning. They pulled the rear AC and found that the gasket between the AC and roof was not compressed enough to make it seal. They replaced the gasket and ran the mounting screws down all the way. No problem since.
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Old 10-22-2020, 06:25 AM   #11
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I had a roof leak also. I found that the installer had cut the corner of the membrane short of the roof corner and just flooded it with self leveling caulk. It leaked needless to say . Keystone wouldn’t fix it. They said it wasn’t structural so they wouldn’t repair it.
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Old 10-22-2020, 08:13 AM   #12
CT Wanderer
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Roof leak

We had a similar problem in our 2016 305RL. The air conditioner itself they determined was the culprit. It took several trips to the dealer and different fixes before the AC was replaced along with one third of the roof decking, ceiling and rear outside panel of the camper. This was all done under warranty. So far no more leaks.
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Old 10-25-2020, 05:12 AM   #13
JimKrieger
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Harrisden54, what is the shinny material all around the AC opening?
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Old 10-25-2020, 07:23 AM   #14
Harrisden54
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The shiny material is 4" foil tape. They use it to seal the gap between the duct and the ceiling. The factory had very thin foil material that was not sealed very well and had come loose. I replaced it with heavy duty foil tape.
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Old 10-25-2020, 08:18 AM   #15
SteveandTerri
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I had a similar problem back in late 2018. Keystone reimbursed me for the corrective work. Here's a copy of the post I created after the leak as fixed:

The Roof Openings on my 305RL were not cut in the right place. They were crooked and too large. The AC Gasket didn't make full contact around the openings. For the most part, only half of the gasket actually made contact with the surface of the roof. The rest of the gasket surface was located over the roof openings.

The worst location: there was no contact at all between the gasket and the roof surface along a 5-inch section of the Supply Air roof opening. The gasket was located completely over the opening in that area.... As a result, rainwater was able to leak into the roof opening and the duct. Water also got to the closest lag screw that secures the AC Unit to the Roof. The lag screw was only fastened to the 1/2-inch thick Oriented Strand Board: there was no framing below it. Due to the leak, the OSB softened and the screw just pulled straight out. All four of the hold-down lag screws were rusted.

The RV Roof Specialist that I took it to affixed framing to the roof deck/structure to reinforce the openings and make them a bit smaller (so that the gasket would make full contact with the roof surface). He also installed a metal frame with "up-bolts" (the frame is attached to the interior ceiling). The bolts extend up into the AC Unit base frame. The AC Unit is now held down with nuts and bolts - not just lag screws coming down from the top side.
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Old 10-28-2020, 06:14 AM   #16
CharleyD
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2017 305rl roof leak

I am having the same problem. Leaking through a/c ducts and ceiling. Dealer service is recommending new roof and extensive repairs as support structure is rotted. Keystone won't cover repairs,(out of warranty), dealer has said it(a/c) was installed incorrectly. Anyone have any luck with keystone covering this repair. Thanks.
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Old 10-28-2020, 11:53 AM   #17
CT Wanderer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CharleyD View Post
I am having the same problem. Leaking through a/c ducts and ceiling. Dealer service is recommending new roof and extensive repairs as support structure is rotted. Keystone won't cover repairs,(out of warranty), dealer has said it(a/c) was installed incorrectly. Anyone have any luck with keystone covering this repair. Thanks.
Yes, as noted in my earlier post the culprit was the AC. My dealer went to bat for me and I followed up with Keystone myself. Took two attempts resulting in a new AC and partial roof, ceiling and back wall. Took 6 months to sort it all out as it was an intermittent leak. This was started after the initial one year warranty had expired and they covered it.
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Old 12-30-2020, 03:21 PM   #18
bubbapk1
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305RL roof leak, update

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cook-Den View Post
Hey Bubba, Please keep me informed as i have the same year and model. I sure hope its an easy fix for you. being only 2 years old one would expect the membrane to be ok and like most here mention, the AC is most likely the culprit. I regularly take the cover off and inspect the area and invariably find debris all around the ac frame (pine needles leaves and even wasp nest) once even a sandwich wrapper. Good Luck. stay in touch.
Here is last and final update on the issue. Camping World did the repair. The membrane was fine, but they had to repair the back end of the roof and redo the entire roof with new membrane. They tried to reuse the old one, but it was stretching too much. They could not be definitive on the cause. But they thought that the leak was through the bolt hole as the gasket was not centered around the bolt. It seems to me that the gasket was not placed properly as in picture 3. seems like a "clean" membrane area should be around that smaller rectangular hole. Anybody see what I am referring to?

Bottom line, Keystone picked up 3/4 of the cost. I paid 2K, they paid 6K. I still feel they should have covered the entire cost, but I took what I could.

We ended up trading it in as we were too nervous about what else was wrong. But the repairs looked awesome.

My last question is, since the rear AC is ducted, you can't tighten any bolts from underneath like you can the non-ducted. How do you know how hard to tighten the bolts that seem like they are mounted into a wood rafter?
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