Another Water Leak on The Tribute

Tribute_650

Nice sunny day today so we decided to tour the North York Moors, calling in on "Adensfield" Goathland, Heartbeat Country, Fish & Chips at Whitby and a brew up watching the sea come in.

So a full tank of water ( I'll risk it) and off we go, enough water to brew up for the full cast of Heartbeat!

Gets to Goathland and pulls up outside Scrips's garage only to find the habitation area floor swimming in water so I opened the drain tap and dumped what was left of 80 litres of water in the gutter / drain. So if you see water running down the street on the next Series of Heartbeat you know where it came from, a leaky Tribute.

Got home and decided to tackle the problem (again) myself as finding someone to collect me and take back to the dealer a week later did not appeal. I had to remove the center bed extension and unscrew the top of the sofa box as the inspection hatch did not reveal anything. Filled the tank with water again.

As you can see from the pic it is the filler pipe thats leaking. I undid the pipe and pushed it further on and tightened the clip but it still leaks. What is happening is the type of pipe used is designed to be uncrushable hence not the best choice for the job. I am now leaving it until tomorrow and get a different type of pipe as it still leaks after several attempts to fasten it.

Wife said to me a week ago as we drove home in our newly collected Tribute "It doesn't get better than this" well I can safely say it hasn't!!!

homerdog

Oops

I have to say that I replaced my water fill pipe with exactly type of pipe and it's perfect Confused

i just got the clip between the ridges and screwed it with the electric 'driver. Hope this helps Smile

H

sallytrafic · Southern Rally Co-ordinator

They have skimped it should be ribbed on the outside smooth on the inside. Otherwise mould etc can collect in the grooves as well as giving you problems with leaks.

homerdog

Clever Bugger Very Happy

H

Jacobite

Hi Tribute_650,

Sounds like there is a jinx on your van.

Hope ours doesn't turn out the same!!

Like your sense of humour though Smile

Jacobite

pabloh77

Due to be picking our 550 up next week and hoping for less problems. The entire panel van forum seems to be taken up with Tribute problems Sad

Really hoping we haven't made a mistake!

Well, I've built up an extensive list from the issues others have been having to try and check them before coming all the way back from the dealer. They're in Hampshire and I'm in East London! So don't particually want to be making that trip if I can avoid it......

Tribute_650

We could do with a Tribute Forum so all the other Panel Van owners don't have to put up with our ramblings.

It is also not doing the Tribute image any good but I have found other posts useful as I hope others have found mine. IE we are so disappointed with the toilet area we seriously thought of selling but Lazza's post has given us a solution (excuse the pun)

In my view the Tribute problems are down to poor workmanship at the fitting stage, either an unmotivated or unskilled work force. You can bet if they had been made in China they would be perfect! The problems are not necessarily the same on each van but I note Lazza had the same problems as I with the Battery box which means mine was not a one off and as it could be potentially so destructive and dangerous I find that worrying. It begs the question "What else"
And what do you do if you can not or understandably don't want to have a go at stripping your new van and fixing it your self. I think it was Otto who sent his back to the dealer and was without it for 2 weeks and they did not fix everything. On that basis I would not be using my van till Christmas!
Going back to my first point :
So Mr Moderator Can we Please have a Tribute Forum ?

ingram

Tribute_650

Thanks for that info Frank. Got the pipe off this morning and it is smooth inside which I would not have thought to check.

They had over tightened the clip and split the pipe either that or had started to cut the pipe and realised it was going to be too short so gave it an extra couple of inches... I would not put anything past these cowboys.

Waleem

When putting the pipe back on, it is worth using a little smear of silicone sealer round the tank stub before tightening. Belt and braces approach!!