Testing Keystone Warrenty

[Montana_6705]

2nd try - I'm very new at this. I purchased a 2006 3000RK a couple of months ago, and I just joined MOC today. I took the unit to Mammoth Mountain snow camping for New Years, and plan to be in Death Valley in a couple of weeks. So far, so good, with the exception of a couple of small problems. I have no 12V power on the door side, lights or oven vent, and the small rear surround sound speakers are inop, so just dropped the fiver off at the dealer for repairs. I am a fairly good troubleshooter, but I found no visible shorts to ground in the wiring that I could visually trace, so I suspect a screw through a wire. Can anyone tell me how wires are routed in these units, near the top, or down low? I will report back after the repairs to let ya'll know how it went.

[stiles watson]

First, welcome to the forum. You have found your best resource of information about Montanas. However, the wiring in the Montanas is an enigma wrapped in mystery and clocked in confusion. There seems to be no identifiable pattern from unit to unit. There are no wiring diagrams available as far as I know. Sometimes I just wiggle the one end and see what happens. I guess it satisfies the adventurous soul, but agitates problem solving. Happy RVing.....

[Parrothead]

Mike - Welcome to the MOC. You have found the place for answers. Since you are still under warranty, your dealer should fix your 12V problem. Let us know what they find as it may help someone else that runs into the same problem. Also think about joining us at the Western Regional Rally in Shasta Memorial Day weekend and the National Spring Rally in Buellton, CA. We would love to meet you.
Happy trails........................

[Montana Sky]

I just wanted to extend my hello's and welcome to the MOC! You will find a great wealth of information here.

[Joyce H]

Mike, Welcome aboard. As others have said this is THE place for answers re your Montana. Over the years somone on this forum will have "been there done that" on most any problem or question you may have. Always good to see a newcomer jumping right in with a post. Keep us informed about your adventures in your new wheel estate.

[Dustytuu]

Welcome to the MOC. Great bunch of people here. Wealth of information too.
Hope they find the problem with the Monty.

[LonnieB]

Spooner,

First of all, welcome to the MOC. As others have already stated, this is the best place for getting your questions answered. The people here have a knowledge of these units that far exceeds the dealers in most cases. At least that's the way it seems to me.

As far as your electrical problem goes, the first place I would look is the breaker and fuse panels. If the fuses are good, and no breakers tripped, look at the connections on the rear of the panels. Mine, and several others have had some loose wires.

The speakers? Look in the book for the sound system for directions to run a test of the entire system. There is a technical name for it but CRS has crept in again. I'm sure someone will be along to elaborate.

I suppose none of this really matters now though, since you have already got a dealer working on the problem. I too would be interested to know what the problem was, and how they fixed it.

BTW, nice rig.

[Montana_6705]

Thanks for your enthusiastic responses to my very first post. It appears that I have discovered a great place to discuss RVing, with particular emphesis on the Montana product line. I will sure post the results of the repairs of my 12V problem. I myself am anxious to learn where the problem is, and have it fixed so we can use it again. - Mike

[Montana_6705]

The repairs are complete. Turns out that either a screw or a staple went through a 12V wire somewhere between the forward light fixture located just aft of the door, and the stove vent in the rear kitchen. Instead of peeling off the paneling to locate the short, they just cut the wire, then fished a new wire from the from the forward light fixture to the stove vent, reconnecting all three lights and the vent to the new wire, effectively removing the short.

I had the work done at Steirs RV in Bakersfield California, which was not where I purchased the unit, and can say that they were real pros. Their maintenance team was awesome.

[AZCampinfool]

Spooner....welcome to the forum. That is great news. Its always nice to hear of dealers stepping up to the plate and taking care of folks, even if you didn't buy the Monty from them. Glad your issues are resolved and can now get back on the road.

[patodonn]

Spooner: Glad it all worked out. I used Stires/BFL for some non-warranty stuff a couple of years ago, and they did the work, did it well, for the price quoted, did it in minimum time and finished it on schedule. We are "full timers", so those last two parts were also very important to us.

Death Valley...ever been there? Very interesting place! Furnace Creek Inn has a great buffet on Sundays ( www.furnacecreekresort.com/ )...and don't miss Scotty's Castle!

The geology of the area is amazing..check out http://geology.wr.usgs.gov/parks/deva/

And, if you like golf, there is a great course at the Nat Park.

Have a great trip!!