What broke on your last trip?

[foldbak]

This thread will never end. Lets see, early October a Micro-Air soft start went out and the roof needed re-sealing.

Just got home from a trip to San Diego, temperatures were in the low 70's. On our last day, which was yesterday, I opened the freezer and there was a puddle of water in our ice drawer. Opened the refrigerator section and things were definitely not cold like they should be. This is a Norcold 2118 model electric/propane fridge. Where should be the first place I should be looking at to try and diagnose what's wrong? Do I replace with a residential fridge of 110 volts or go with a 12V system? If you have replaced this model fridge, what is a replacement that fits? This thing has me worried, cause we have a 9 day trip planned for the Thanksgiving holiday. My rig stays in storage, which has me either bringing it home to work on, our outsourcing the repair. My home owner association only allows for a few days on the street.

If it has power the the cooling unit probably failed. Mine did the same. Open the outside cover and check that you have a flame with fridge on propane. Also check for 12 volt and 120 volt power. Look for orange powder on the bottom. If it's a cooling unit, the dealer will need to replace it. You could change it out with a res or 12 volt fridge.

 

[432bartman]

Thanks Tony...

 

[buck119fa]

It's always something on every trip. Some small repairs, some a little bigger. Right now I have a intermittent loss of brakes on the unit when traveling. Sometimes it's all good, no issues for months, then for no reason... Trailer disconnected warning and no brakes, then it just starts working. This bug is getting old, I've run this down and repaired/replaced so many things on this, had the truck in the shop getting checked twice... I'll be back at this trouble in the spring.... Ugh..
Last 3 trips we've had something... trim laying on the floor, Liquid Nail and tap the nails back in -fixed. Propane valve started leaking - took a minute to find one where we were staying, replaced. hydraulic line leaks at the pump (that was a bit of a mess). Microwave broke away from the wall and was flopping, 3 screws holding the plate to the wall were loose and the tabs bent out that hold the bottom of the microwave. now has 15+ screws with glue, tabs bent back around the back of the microwave and blue loc-tite on the top screws. Last week on a trip we had the ceiling fan lose a blade, found it on the floor, no damage but now all the screws have blue loc-tite on them. Light above the kitchen island falling off the ceiling, more blue loc-tite on those screws and shade caps.
I just count on repairing something every trip now with this rig. Nothing really major but all the little things falling apart every trip is just becoming the norm.

 

[jsb5717]

It's always something on every trip. Some small repairs, some a little bigger. Right now I have a intermittent loss of brakes on the unit when traveling. Sometimes it's all good, no issues for months, then for no reason... Trailer disconnected warning and no brakes, then it just starts working. This bug is getting old, I've run this down and repaired/replaced so many things on this, had the truck in the shop getting checked twice... I'll be back at this trouble in the spring.... Ugh..
...

Yep, always something. I tell prospective RV buyers...If you don't like fixing stuff, don't buy an RV.

I had the intermittent brake error as well. I checked all wiring at the truck plug, the plug and cable from trailer to truck. All was good. I pulled the wheel hubs off to inspect wiring at the brakes. I found a broken wire...repaired it. But that wasn't the issue. Based on reading other threads I decided to remove and replace the wiring that goes through the axles. That's where I found the problem. The wiring insulation in the rear axle was wearing, exposing the wire, and intermittently causing a short inside the axle. I cut off the lengths of wire and rewired to the outside of the axle. I zip tied the wire to the top of the axle. It hasn't moved and has stopped the brake error. Worth a look.

It's not a hard job but once you decide to cut the wire to pull it out of the axle, you're committed to a rewire anyway...whether or not if it's the issue.

 

[Reset19]

Max Air Fan lid will not open all the way. I suspect the change in DC voltage due to recent Lithium battery upgrade.

 

[buck119fa]

I've had the brake wire in the axle issue on other RVs, I'm doing a lot of work on the suspension in the spring so those are getting replaced. I've already found broken wires on the Brake plates, bare wires in the frame, bad connections on the pigtail, all the wiring has been redone except the axles... next step and hopefully the last.

Currently getting ready to winterize and have a bad ball valve on the water heater bypass so i can get that to close off... so time to add a new ball valve to the line. Never ends, always something. I love RVing so I'll deal with the little fixes.

 

[GilaElkHunter]

Was winterizing the camper this past weekend and noticed one of the (gussets) braces that goes from the frame to the floor and wall on outside of frame had broken loose. Should I just weld it back together?

 

[RMcNeal]

Max Air Fan lid will not open all the way. I suspect the change in DC voltage due to recent Lithium battery upgrade.

I'm having that problem now. No battery upgrade or changes. Cover will eventually raise to about 2" open. In the bathroom, I can manually open it all the way using the knob. It closes fine, just will not open even though you can hear the motor trying. I suspect some plastic gear is stripped and not turning like it should but I haven't gotten around to pulling it to see.

 

[Reset19]

Thanks for the comment. Interesting that we both have 2019 models. I do know the lid stops going up when it meets resistance. Looks like a disassembly and clean-up of all the moving parts is in the future.

 

[Mikendebbie]

We are spending a few days in San Antonio - first time the Monte has been out in 16 months. Setting up i noticed the half bath ships door was wonky. Reattached the skate and partially removed the jamb trim and the hinge rod keeper had pulled off the wall and was off of the hinge rod. I reset the plastic cap over the rod and put some good screws in the jamb. Hand-tapped the jamb trim back on. It’ll do until we get back home. We always treat that door like a baby and talk sweet to it. This is first time we have had an issue.

 

[twindman]

I'm baaack! June started summer trip. First day heading to Flagstaff check engine light comes on. Chevy dealer backed up 2 weeks. We were staying in Flag for 6 nights, so no go there. Autozone said it was engine EGR valve. $1300 and 4 days later it was repaired. Went the next 2 months no problems. Back home for 7 weeks and head for Iowa for a month in Sept/Oct. Second day my check engine light comes on again. 120 miles west of Amarillo. Couldn't find any place near for repairs. Made it to Amarillo around 3:30 pm and dropped off the rig at the park.
Called a dealer and they said bring it in. So drove it in and left it. Best dealer I have ever dealt with. Drove us back to the rig and said if we needed to go out to eat or to Walmart or anymore just call them. Next morning they called and said it was the EGR valve AGAIN. Got it fixed and we picked it up late in the day. Drove to Fort Sill to visit kids and stayed in the rv park. Drove around for 3 days and loaded up to leave. Got about 1/4 mile and the check engine light came on again!!!!

So back to the rv park and found a spot for one more day. Drove straight to the dealer there and they were backed up but would check it out. (said one guy was out that day, so might be slow) Next morning they called at 9 am and said there was a code relating to the EGR valve, but after clearing it they could find nothing wrong. So off we go. After I canceled 2 other reservations. Continued for 3000 miles with no more problems.

Enough is enough I hope! Just have to keep plugging away, I guess. LOL

 

[AZ Traveler]

Tom,

After driving across Canada with a check engine light looking for a dealer, I bought "Blue Driver" OBD reader. https://us.bluedriver.com/products/bluedriver-scan-tool.

It connects to your phone or iPad via Bluetooth and gives you a good idea if the issue is serious that needs attention now or a minor nuisance that can wait. It is regularly updated and provides common fixes for most codes. It provides a lot of piece of mind for a relatively low cost.

 

[mlh]

A code reader is almost a necessity. Harbor Freight has one that works, I have it for $30 a Bluetooth for $60 and several more for various prices.
Lynwood

 

[Montana Man]

Well, the bedroom slide gearbox is toast. Luckily it managed to die in the in position. Bad thing is changing the gearbox in the in position.

 

[Mikendebbie]

Like I said above - first time we have had the Monte out in long time, and my senior brain forgets stuff. When we got things all set up the first day and DW wanted to see if she had stored some place mats under the table top. We also extended the table out to the longer position just for grins.

Five days later, we are packing up to leave and we BOTH forgot to put the table back in. I ran the slides in and heard this awful crunching noise inside the living room, and the extended table had knocked the kitchen island caddy-wompus and it was leaning toward the stove. It was an “Oh sh*t” moment. I ran the slides back out and the island sat back down to proper position. When we got home I inspected it a little closer and it looks to be ok. This week I will be stuffing the plumbing cutout holes under the island with steel wool for our little mice friends. I will check out the interior of the cabinet and the plumbing for damage and add some anchoring screws to the base of the island. For now - it looks like we dodged a bullet with no significant damage.

 

[foldbak]

Yesterday I started prepping for a January trip when the kitchen slide wouldn't move. It's rack and pinon. All I hear is gear grind. I opened the bottom and confirmed it is the motor gear pack. I called my dealer and spoke to my service writer and told him the problem. Knowing that they are getting ready to close for Christmas break, I told him I would be willing to do the repairs if needed. I have 2 years left on my extended warranty. He replied "get it to me Thursday at 9am and I'll get you right into the shop" He's got a bottle of Makers coming his way!

 

[bigred715]

Nevermade it for our first trip of the year. First, just getting ready to pull out and leave, noticed the engine light on. Stopped and unhooked and took the truck to garage. He plugged in diagnostic and it said #4 glo plug was bad and could not fix until next week. Was supposed to be in Sisters Oregon city park that day and they would not give refund for the 10 days, which I new before hand so lost $500 for reservation. Came back home and took trailer to storage and went to raise trailer to disconnect and the right front jack broke and could not get trailer up high enough to pull out. Used hydraulic to lift trailer high enough to get over "Bed Saver"when I pulled forward to get clear of hitch. Thank goodness for the bed saver to keep off of truck. Got the engine fixed the following week and had to buy a new jack from Amazon and install. Had to have new ladder put on after backing into rear of storage area "because my helper wasn't paying attention to stop me in time". Cancelled the rest of our trips for the summer and will reprogram for next year. First time in 20 yrs for this to happen.

 

[foldbak]

I had one month to prep for our first trip of 2025. DW's Bday on the coast for a week. I figured I'd get a jump on it so we didn't have any stress or surprises. Trip number 44 since 2/22/22. So roughly 15 trips a year. As I posted in another thread, surprise #1 was to have the kitchen slide drive motor replaced last week under extended warranty. No big deal, the dealer ordered the part locally and I was in and out in 2 days. I expect stuff to break with this much use. I just went out to relieve some rain water off the slide toppers by lowering the front. I received an out of stroke error which requires retracting all legs. Rear came up, front started retracting and then SNAP sound from the right front! Freak out time!

I was 95% retracted so nose on the ground. I grabbed my 5 ton bottle jack and every block and brick I had to jack it up one hole at a time, measuring and matching the left side to the right side. I managed to get it high enough to hook up to the truck. Now that the bad leg is extended, I had to forcibly retract it doing the exact opposite if extending.

Finally got the leg retracted and strapped up to prevent it from lowering in route to the dealer..... That would be bad. FLRV got easy care authorization, ordered the part from Keystone 3 day delivery, Lippert didn't have one.... Rig going in tomorrow and picking it up Thursday, leaving for the coast on Saturday! That took everything I had! I'm going to rebuild that leg so I have a spare. **** I might open a parts store.

 

[432bartman]

Well my bathroom swivel door hardware came loose at the top. I had to pop off the outside thin molding and the large center molding covering the hardware in order to fix it. Both wood screws had completely come out. I was able to use larger wood screws and got it fixed. Next I had to remove all the old finish nails and renail the trim pieces back in. The joys of Rv'n.

 

[Mikendebbie]

I had to perform the same bathroom door fix on my unit couple months ago…refer to post #150 above…longer screws!!!