Two questions - Montana Owners Club

Montana Martins · 06-19-2008, 07:41 AM

We have a new 3500RL that has a couple of quirks. Would appreciate any input. First, our sink faucet often begins to flow with water only to clunk and shut down. Sometimes, it clunks the minute we turn it on. Our dealer has ordered a new faucet but I really think it is some other problem. Any ideas?

Also, all of our cabinet doors with glass have a very unsightly bumpy plastic film on them. During our walk-thru, we were told to take it off. However, the film has a warning to not remove. Keystone says to leave it on and to discuss it with our dealer. Our old Montana had glass doors on cabinets and there was no film on them so I'm at a loss. I won't be happy with it the way it is. What have others done?

Bill-N-Donna · 06-19-2008, 09:07 AM

I'm not sure if this would be your problem but when you first turn the water on there is usually some air in the lines that need to be burped out. Once this happens the water should flow normal.

Welcome to the forums, a great place for information on you Montana!

Wayne and Carolyn Mathews · 06-19-2008, 09:45 AM

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

We have a new (August '07) 3585 and our kitchen faucet does the same thing, right down to the KLUNK noise. It's definitely not air in the line--I've "bled" all the lines over and over and it didn't help. I can get the water flowing again if I leave the kitchen faucet open and then turn on the one in the bathroom. Once the water begins to flow through the kitchen faucet, I turn off the bathroom faucet. This has worked 99% of the time, but occasionally it doesn't. When that happens, I leave the kitchen faucet open and turn the water pump off (if we're using it) or on (when we have water from our well). Sometimes I even start running water in the bathroom sink at the same time. A couple of times I thought I wasn't going to get the sink water running, but generally sprinting back and forth between the bathroom and the kitchen and playing with the water pump will solve the problem. (Basically, I'm doing water voodoo.

)We can go days--even a week or two, occasionally--without any problem at all, but then the problem returns.

We are taking our Montana in for some minor warranty work next month, and that sink faucet problem is on the list. My dealer thought a filter in our water pump might be clogged, but the sink line is the only place we have problems; the hot water tank is 4 or so feet from it, and it works perfectly.

I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone else shares our problem and if so, how was it fixed.
Carolyn

Texas5er · 06-19-2008, 10:41 AM

I had the same bumpy film on my 07 3075RL. Dealers said to just pull the film off. I told him Keystone says not to take the film off. He finally called Keystone per my insistance and they sent 13 new glass inserts for the doors. Service manager said he had never heard of such a thing. Looks like a 6 year old put on the new silicone caulk. Keystone stated they cancelled the old contractor and have now a new contractor making the glass inserts. This was completed this past March. Hope this helps.

Rob

levietta · 06-19-2008, 11:34 AM

We had the same problem with our glass inserts. We took the unit back to where we bought it (Webb's RV, Bangor, ME)and they ordered in all new glass inserts from the factory and installed them for us. We are much happier with the new ones. They are clear, tinted glass, without any film. I have seen the exact replicas of the replacements in SOB fifth wheel that Keystone produces. We were happy with the attention and service of both our dealer and keystone.

racerjoe · 06-19-2008, 01:09 PM

sounds like your faucet has the bypass inside it for when you would have a separate spray nozzle. They must have installed the wrong set in yours and others. it is made to stop the flow when using the sprayer, when you get a pressure loss like turning on the bathroom sink it drops it out of the way and then works.

Wayne and Carolyn Mathews · 06-19-2008, 01:43 PM

Racerjoe, the situation with our faucet, and probably with the Montana Martins, is that we don't get ANY water when that KLUNK happens. I mean, we aren't using the sprayer or spout because the water is off. But when we push that lever back to start the flow, we get nothing at all, or at best, a drop or two--no more--along with the KLUNK.

I forgot to mention that recently, when that KLUNK happens, water leaks under the sink. I didn't know that until I got under there to get some paper towels about a month ago and discovered a popcorn bowl with about 1/2" of water in it. I felt all the lines under the sink, and sure enough, that silver metal line was wet. Thank goodness the bowl was in the perfect spot to catch the leaking water. I pulled everything out, expecting to find water or wet things everywhere, but everything was bone dry, including paper napkins, spare towels, and lots of other things that would either have been wet or smelled mildewed if they had soaked up any water.

Now that I know about that leak, I check the bowl every day. Sometimes it has a bit of water, sometimes it doesn't. I've been under there with a flashlight while Wayne turns water off and on, and when the KLUNK stops the flow--nothing, absolutely no water, no wet line, nothing. The next day--water. This would drive me nuts except that I know I can deal with the problem until we take the Montana in for some other warranty repairs in about 3 weeks.

Carolyn

lasater · 06-19-2008, 02:11 PM

I believe racerjo is on the right track. The faucet may have a bypass for a spray nozzle and the bypass valve is doing the clunking. Have your dealer replace the entire unit. I did that with mine (after the warranty expired) and have had no trouble since.

Wayne and Carolyn Mathews · 06-19-2008, 03:46 PM

Sounds like a plan to me! Thanks for the info--I'll ask for a replacement, especially since we are under warranty. The bathroom faucet has to be replaced, too. It works, but it's literally falling apart.
Carolyn

Montana Martins · 06-20-2008, 01:22 AM

Thanks for all your input. Regarding the faucet- when we open the doors under the sink and check the water lines, one of the lines seems to collapse. It's almost happening every time we turn the water on and seems to be getting worse. Dealer has ordered a new faucet so we'll see what happens when they install it- so stay tuned!!

I can't believe the glass inserts on all the cabinets will need to be replaced but if that's what has been done I guess we'll be next in line. They sure look ugly right now.

We'll be sure to keep you all informed- this site is sure helpful.

Lambchop · 06-20-2008, 02:07 AM

On our 08 Mountaineer, all inserts were replaced a week ago. Had to wait for 7 weeks....now I noticed they are starting to bubble up on the bottoms of the glass. Can't win! It looks like they are a protective film for the glass, in case something is moving around in the cabinets.

Some of the silicone that holds the glass in is dropping from the top. It's hard to find someone who knows how to use silicone properly.

Lambchop

Wayne and Carolyn Mathews · 07-30-2008, 07:04 AM

Hey, Montana Martins--did you ever get your THUNK/NO WATER problem solved? Our 3585 is at our dealer's for warranty service right now for that problem, and so far, nothing unusual has been found to cause it. I just wondered if replacing the faucet had fixed the problem.
Carolyn

Montana Martins · 08-02-2008, 02:31 AM

Thought we'd let you all know that the faucet was replaced and it has solved the problem. Water whenever we need it!!!

Regarding the film on the cabinet doors- Montana factory says it needs to stay on but dealers are all telling us to just take it off. So, I've started taking it off and will see what happens. Our old 3295RK did not have the film on the cabinet doors and we never had trouble with them. So it's coming off.

Bill-N-Donna · 08-02-2008, 03:18 AM

Glad to hear the you got hte problem resolved!

ehmcfarl · 08-02-2008, 04:14 AM

I have a white film on the back of my mirror door on the little closet next to the shower on my 3400RL. It is starting to bubble up all over the place. Has anyone else had this problem?

EJH · 08-03-2008, 02:51 AM

Disconnect the extension line for the pull out faucet under the sink, remove the plastic flow restrictor inside that line, trouble solved. There is also a restrictor in side the faucet handle. Took the @#$% faucet apart a couple of times before finding the one in the extension line.

ejh

Wayne and Carolyn Mathews · 08-04-2008, 10:13 AM

ejh, was that setup something you found in a 3585 or some other model? I'd dismantled our entire faucet, fittings, hoses underneath, etc., and didn't see anything that looked like a restrictor. However, since I wasn't sure what it would look like, I might have missed it. The faucet in the 2007 model we bought had enough plastic discs in it (some with a tiny single hole, some with "salt shaker" holes) to make my eyes cross.

Carolyn

VanMan · 09-27-2008, 07:00 AM

Wayne, What was the verdict on your faucet? I'm having problems with our 2000 FKS305 original equipment. It's ALL the hot water faucets. I've done everything in this and the other thread short of takiung apart and/or replacing the faucets. I've bled the low water drains, bled the hot water heater with the pressure relief popoff thingy, tried the tricks with opening the bathroom faucet, removed the pressure regulater at the city water, cleaned the aerators, etc. The hot water in the shower this morning was not even enough pressure to keep the shower head flow on and I had to run so much cold to keep it open that I had a cold shower - grrrrr!

Wayne and Carolyn Mathews · 09-27-2008, 07:55 AM

Would you believe our 3585 is still at the dealer's? Everything is fixed except for the cracked sink, and that's the holdup. Keystone ordered the sink from its supplier the first of August; Keystone is still waiting on the supplier to ship it to them, and then they'll ship it to my dealer. Good thing we didn't have any trips planned, although the dealer said we could pick up our rig and use is it as is (they left the sink in just in case we wanted to do that), and then bring our rig back for the sink/counter installation.

The "clunk, no water" problem was traced to a defect in the sink hardware, specifically to the little mechanism that switches the water flow to a spray (something many MOCers said might be the problem, although we had taken apart the whole fixture to be sure everything was in the right place, which it seemed to be). The leak was traced to a defect in the hose under the sink. An almost invisible-to-the-naked-eye horizontal slit was found in the area where the hose attached to the hardware, not easy to detect by simply removing and looking at that piece.

I'm not sure if our hardware fix would take care of your problem, VanMan, because we always had water everywhere else inside and outside the rig. It was just the sink that had the problem. Nothing like a cold shower to make you think really hard about water problems, right? Sure hope you can get that taken care of promptly.
Carolyn

VanMan · 09-28-2008, 04:20 PM

Thanks for the reply and the PM, I now think my problem is a check valve at the water heater output as described in another thread by Ozz. I made a "wand" for cleaning out the water heater - similar to the wands that hook up to a hose for the toilets (but smaller diameter). I thought perhaps some of that calcium/mineral deposit crud might have become lodged in the "out" line. I took the outdoor shower head off, opened the outdoor hot knob, and applied air pressure with my portable tire compressor. After a few attempts, I now have about 75% pressure (compared to the cold) at all points. When we get through with this 6 week trip, I'll look for a check valve as described by Ozz and try to replace it. Ozz's posted slideshow is GREAT!!

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