Rv gone to doctor Forums

kands · Account Deactivated

Further update:
Service completed and all it needed was new disc pads at the rear, so that's good. I asked John to check the roof while it was in and he found a little mastic loose where the front cap joins the roof panel, so he dug it out and resealed it, hopefully that is one problem that won't happen.
Genny now working, needed a new pick up device and a new AVR board, both these parts were supplied by Jamie at Castle Motors.
The front suspension air bag is done as is the steering damper.
The steering booster has been located in Texas but so far the only steering box that can be found looks like costing £1500, so we are looking for another one. Trouble is that the box etc seems to be a heavy duty unit the Chevy only fitted to motorhome chassis for a couple of years so they are like hens teeth. Jamie is chasing around all his contacts in the USA to try and find a new steering box and I hope he finds one cheaper than £1500. I will not know for a day or so but my fingers are crossed.
I will keep you all posted as and when things happen.

Keith

BTW John, it was 56 degrees here today, much nicer than 85....lol

johnsandywhite

nicks

hi my name is nick , i've been reading about your probs, hope you get it all sorted out. i've put a deposit on a 93 tiffin allegro 7.4 chevy petrol with jamie at castle, which me & my wife caroline intend to fulltime with in spain&portugal. after reading about your probs i'm open to any advice on what to look for etc...

thanks nick

johnsandywhite

Hi nicks we bought ours from the same place. I am not suiggesting anything. But perhaps you should take a little look at our Website. Wink

kands · Account Deactivated

Hi Nick
What can I say??? We bought the Rockwood and I thought I had given it a pretty thorough going over. When we saw it there were no leaks underneath of any description and it drove well enough. The genny was faulty and Jamie promised to send me the parts to fix it, which he did. Unfortunately the parts didn't fix it because it had two problems and once this was established by John at Logical, Jamie then sent him the board to fix it, so it looks like we will not now incur the cost of the parts to fix the genny just the labour which is ok.
During the test drive the gearbox played up a bit by not going into overdrive so Jamie said he would change the filter and fluid as he though this was the cause. He did what he said and so far the gearbox has been fine for a few hundred miles, so I suspect the fault has been fixed. In view of the above Jamie included a warranty with the sale, which should cover the steering problem, however when John at Logical spoke to the warranty company he said it looked as though someone had "had a go at it" and as such the warranty company are not going to sort it out.
Jamie has been running around trying to help and get the required parts from the USA, so I guess you could say he has not just walked away from the problem, at this point I should say that we got a very good deal on the Rockwood and it was "Sold As Seen - Trade Sale". So I am very pleased that he is helping us out.
At the time of writing this reply we have had the RV off the road for two weeks and if Jamie cannot find a replacement box by tomorrow we are going ahead with a new one (ouch) that has been located by John at Logical.
I would strongly advise that you have the Tiffin checked over by a competent (preferably RV) mechanic, or maybe the AA / RAC and DO NOT buy it as a trade sale, so that if anything goes wrong you will at least have the opportunity to pursue them legally. It is quite difficult to pursue a private individual but very easy to chase a company.
I hope your experience is better than ours, although I have to say that we still love the Rockwood and cannot wait to get it back.......

All the best and keep us informed

Keith

Ps Keep watching this thread for future updates....

ScotJimland

Hi Nick

I concur with Keith, get a good RV or HGV mechanic to give it the 'once over', shouldn't cost more than £60- £80.
I had mine checked by an experienced RV mechanic, he found a few minor faults which could have caused problems if not rectified.
A faulty starter solenoid which he replaced and a twisted hydraulic brake hose .. nothing serious.
Total bill including the solenoid £160

All the best and good luck with the purchase ..

kands · Account Deactivated

ROCKY'S HOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HURRAY

Everything except the steering has been done, thick end of £2K though!!!!
Ouch mighty painful..... I hope the steering problem doesn't cost the same again Crying or Very sad

We found out when we picked it up that the split charge relay has an intermittent fault on it and needs to be replaced.
Drove it home about 20ish miles and noticed a huge difference in the handling, so the air bag and the steering damper are definitely doing there job now, can't wait for the rest of it to be done......

So now we can go to the Midlands Rally, which we have really been looking forward to for ages....

Take care

Keith

kands · Account Deactivated

Further update....................
To date Jamie hasn't sent the Onan board to John and his dad phoned to say that Jamie was very poorly in bed (pneumonia) so I guess it is understandable. His dad said that they had obtained a new steering box from the US whilst he was over there and it should ship this week, so heres hoping.
We got to the Midlands rally as many of you will know (fantastic fun) and the Rockwood drove superbly and didn't drop any steering fluid, well done John for the temporary fix. We did however have a bit of a lark because all the batteries went flat during the weekend. We were told by John that the split charge relay was suspect so I got a new one and fitted it on Friday, just before going to Warwick for the weekend. I tried starting up this morning (sunday) and no go, flat starter batteries again even though we were on a hookup. So question is...... How does the charging system on an RV work? If it is connected to the mains should it charge the coach and the starter batteries? Where do they fit the charger normally (I know they are all bound to be different) but I'm thinking there is possibly a common location?
I will get the batteries tested this week and see how they perform, I suspect some more expenditure coming on here...
I also had a worrying little moment whilst driving the RV to fill up the LPG tank, it had been stood all week without being run and I started it up and drove up the road when I noticed that the gearbox wasn't shifting up into 3rd or top. I tried manually shifting up and down but nothing happened...I had to drive about a mile before I found a safe place to pull over and the poor engine was screaming a bit. I pulled over and stopped, switched it off and restarted the motor, off we went all ok???? It then drove to Warwick and back without any problems. Are these gearboxes controlled by sensors or are they on linkages? I am beginning to think this is a sensor type problem because when I switched off and on again the fault seemed to clear, and it had been very cold and wet. Any advice would be most useful.

Keith