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Old 04-19-2014, 05:59 PM   #1
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Problems With New Sunseekers?

We purchased our first Moho this past December, a Sunseeker 3170df. Being that we are from Pennsylvania, we weren't able to use the rv through the winter. We were able to get in and out and find problems slowly as the weather got better. So far these are our issues, and we still haven't taken it anywhere yet!!!
1-Tub surround cracked (BIG crack)
2-Water filter housing broke off its threads.
3-Marker light covers fell off (one before we picked it up, the other must have been on the ride home).
4-Water feed line to the toilet sprays water as soon as you hook it to a water source. (This was especially frustrating as we were trying to get ready to go camping soon and now we can't put water to the system)

We have had 3 different 5th wheel campers over the last decade and never had close to this many problems. Our dealer is 2 and 1/2 hours away so it makes in very inconvenient to get repairs done! I guess that is something I didn't worry enough about since we had very few issues with the last 3 campers....

Has anyone else had this many problems with a brand new Sunseeker or Forest River motor home? Did I make a mistake on purchasing a FR product?
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Old 04-19-2014, 06:41 PM   #2
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Except for the marker light issue they sound like freezing or cold weather issues. Was it winterized correctly? Tube surround also may have broken due to severe cold this winter but it shouldn't have.

A motorhome is like a house on wheels so just like buying a new house you will likely find a number of issues.
I had a number of issues that I just fixed myself. Didn't need any expensive parts like you will so it wasn't worth the gas and time to get it back to the dealer. Things like mis-run water piping, improper anti-sail adjustment of the slide toppers, oil leaks on the Big Foot jacks, air conditioner duct blockage by trash, missing fuse in the engine to coach battery charge control circuit, severely mis-aligned hood, leaks in outside lights that caused bulb failures until I figured out it was a leakage problem, and various cosmetic or sloppy installation items. This forum is a great source of information to identify issues you may not yet know you have and find out how to fix them.
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Old 04-19-2014, 06:47 PM   #3
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The dealer winterized the unit in the fall, and I am guessing they didn't do a thorough job. It worries me what might pop next when we are out on the road with no way to fix the problem.

I can probably fix the toilet water feed, it looks like pex tubing and the local hardware has those parts.

The dealer fixed the tub surround, but it's not nearly as nice as the factory job.

Thanks for your feedback ATVer!
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Old 04-19-2014, 07:01 PM   #4
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We also had our water filter plastic cover crack off this winter. We also had a marker light fall off. We have had our 2450S for one year and have had almost 30 items too be fixed under warranty. After one full year all is finally good. We bought ours in Pennsylvania and had in delivered to KY.
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Old 04-19-2014, 07:03 PM   #5
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No offense, but I hope I don't have 26 more problems to get through. We have about 5k miles of trips schedule this year and I don't want to be fixing stuff every time I want to go somewhere.
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Old 04-21-2014, 06:42 AM   #6
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How disappointing to encounter these types of issues before you even use it. Yes we have a 2014 3170D and we had several AV issues (replaced switch box, sub-woofer as well as in-dash DVD/radio/GPS system. We also had some power issues with the conversion to the 12V system.....However, infrastructure has been very solid.

I would be furious with the dealer and have them supply a brand new unit due to their incompetance with winterizing. So obviously when you bought it you could not do a run through of the plumbing system...Could you not have seen the crack on the tub?

Very frustrating but I am sure once you get the plumbing sorted out your difficulties will be behind you.
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Old 05-01-2014, 08:58 PM   #7
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Sunseeker Problems

Wow, I can't believe the issues you are having. We took delivery of a 2014 2860DS in February and I live in Ohio where we had the worst winter in 26 years. Unit was winterized when we received it. In fact the dealer took 2 hours to show us how everything worked when we picked it up. Unit was washed and inside the garage when we arrived. Has been sitting in our driveway ever since. I have had no issues except I have 1 rear running light that the bulb keeps burning out. Have not had it to the dealer yet. Already took it to Florida and have about 3500 miles on it. Sounds like you have a bad dealer. I will say the 2 hours was informative but there was also a lot of things left out, especially about the AV system and GPS.
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Old 05-01-2014, 09:19 PM   #8
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I have a 2012 Sunseeker 2300 And I just discovered that my water filter housing was cracked at the threads. I know it was properly winterized. I blew out the pipes and put ran plenty of antifreeze into the lines. I think it just cracked due to the very cold weather we had in Ohio the year. I just bought a new filter housing and will de-winterize it tomorrow.
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Old 05-02-2014, 07:02 AM   #9
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The dealer did a pretty thorough walk through with us and we aren't new to RVing, just the motor home part. The crack in the tub surround either wasn't their when we walked through it or was much smaller, but it originated in the area where the screw holds the shower head holder.
The dealer sent parts for the water filter cup and the toilet valve (which most definitely was frozen) and I was able to replace both of them myself. I am just not happy with what appears to be a shoddy winterizing by the dealer. It makes me cringe to think what might happen after a few thousand miles driving now.
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Old 05-02-2014, 07:34 AM   #10
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Unfortunately good dealers are hard to find for anything. Sounds like you should learn how to winterize. It's not that hard and doing it once will pay for any equipment you may need and you will know it's done right.
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Old 05-02-2014, 07:56 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ATVer View Post
Unfortunately good dealers are hard to find for anything. Sounds like you should learn how to winterize. It's not that hard and doing it once will pay for any equipment you may need and you will know it's done right.
I will definitely being doing it on my own. This winterization was done on the dealer lot before I bought the MH in December.
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Old 05-02-2014, 08:10 AM   #12
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We also had a crack and part of the filter housing was on the ground and half of the thread plastic was still attached up on top. I live in Northern Kentucky and got it winterized at the dealer in Ohio!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by tlf65 View Post
I have a 2012 Sunseeker 2300 And I just discovered that my water filter housing was cracked at the threads. I know it was properly winterized. I blew out the pipes and put ran plenty of antifreeze into the lines. I think it just cracked due to the very cold weather we had in Ohio the year. I just bought a new filter housing and will de-winterize it tomorrow.
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Old 05-02-2014, 08:12 AM   #13
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I think all new RV Manufacturers are the same. I bought a new Tiffin 38' DP and had 50 issues the first year. I should have know. One of the Country singers (I think Winnona Judd) had just purchased a 1 year old Allegro Bus. I asked my salesman with all he money I would have bought a new one. He said because she has bought a few Motorhomes and knows it takes a year to work out all the bugs. I rinks all manufacturers push them off the assembly line, give dealers extra money to tackle the issues an that plan works best for them - unfortunately, not for us owners. Next one, like my current 2006 26' Sunseeker will be used. Only four minor issues in 6 months.
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Old 05-02-2014, 11:52 AM   #14
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I know that's the common misconception and maybe some mfg's still work that way....but we preach to our employees all the time, if they take 5 minutes to fix something at the plant it saves us hundreds each time. Does anyone really think we want to pay the dealers $100-$140 an hour to fix what we can do for a quarter of that?

Our goal is to have ZERO warranty claims, but when you employ as many people as we do, you cannot guaranty #1 that 100% of your employees have the same goal, nor that 100% of your suppliers have that same goal. We are still at the mercy of our suppliers in many cases and the dealer.

As was discussed earlier, all but one of the issues on this particular unit are attributed to a very cold winter and possibly not a great winterization. In seeing this, I would recommend that everyone put some vaseline on the threads of the water filter. Ever if you winterize the units, I wonder if there might be some water trapped in the threads that could freeze. Or maybe it was just a ridiculously cold winter. I know a few years back in Edmonton it was 40 below for about 2 weeks and there were 100's of units that the vinyl flooring cracked. No one really tests materials for -40.
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Old 05-05-2014, 09:34 PM   #15
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Kind of reminds me of a song, "well it's 40 below and I don't..."

Anyhow, I recall reading last year too about somebody, possibly in Canada that had a cracked water filter housing in the threads during the winter. I made a note to literally dry each thread when winterizing. Pretty easy to run a paper towel with your fingernail through the threads. You can be sure no dealer will do that. Or do the Vaseline thing as bclemens suggested.
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Old 05-06-2014, 09:50 PM   #16
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Angry 2013 Sunseeker 3050SF Slide room problems

We bought a new Forest River Sunseeker 3050SF Aug 3, 2013. The major problem still exists after 2 trips to the Elkhart, IN factory. Also a local repair shop did everything Forest River said to do and then some but could not get the slide room to close all the way. It has less than 5k miles but over 1,000 were racked up transporting to and from the factory. It was bought in Grand Rapids, MI at Terry Town RV and taken home to IL. We have had so many other problems such as: generator not staying running in Aug 90 plus heat with kids and grand kids on board, water leaking when shower used, ice maker water line blowing off, microwave malfunctioning, cab over marker lights out, exhaust pipe blowing a hole in part that is extended for the rv by the factory, window screens blowing out while driving, refrigerator door handle breaking off, trim falling out, cabinets doors not closing, cabin door letting air blow in constant air noise in motion, big foot jacks malfunctioning.
When driving home from the dealer air was coming in the slide room so bad the linoleum floor was blowing up. The microwave rattled extremely loud. The slide room rattled in back and in front constantly while in motion. So annoying right in the drivers left ear where I usually am. After this second trip to the factory it was made worse! Topper on slide doesn't retract, the body in the area on top the slide is damaged and is squeaking and rattling louder than ever. The exhaust extension pipe hole was not even fixed. The screens were repaired.
The dealer and Forest River customer service and warranty claims have only been blowing me off. This rv is not right, never has been right and never will be right. I have asked that the unit returned and a refund be made to us.
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Old 05-07-2014, 07:58 AM   #17
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As others hopefully will attest on this site if I am EVER asked for help I will always do everything within my power to help. If I need to grease some wheels, grab a part, at the end of the day I am just looking for customers to be happy. However, one thing I hate to see is a distortion of the truth. As I always tell my kids, there are two sides to every story and the truth is normally in the middle.

First off, you contact me last night at about 5pm. I listen, offer my assistance, offer to open the videos that are in an apple format that most of our windows based computers cannot open. I have a mac so I say no problem. Without even giving me the chance to respond today you post here that Forester River is just blowing you off. I reviewed some of the file notes. Forest River service had the unit here and asked you to come and pick it up so it did not leave the plant until you were satisfied with the repairs. You could not find a time that was convenient for you so asked for it to be shipped. So they had at least 4 different people take the unit on a test drive and verify that they could not replicate the problems.

I do not want to belittle the issues you are having, I'm sure they are very real but you imply that FR Service has made no effort to rectify the situation. In reviewing both sides of the situation I can tell you that service is ready and willing to resolve any of the lingering issues you do not feel have been resolved.

I will exit stage left at this time. The last thing we need is too many cooks in the kitchen and it appears that you have a open line of communication with the correct service people.
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Old 05-07-2014, 08:10 AM   #18
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I just am trying everything I can do. Am I supposed to just take it?
Everyone just kept telling me they understand my frustration. But I
don't think they would unless they spent their money on the product
themselves and have the issues I am having. I did not say that you
have done nothing. That was yet to be seen. I said service and warranty.
And you just want to exit. That makes it easy doesn't it?
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Old 05-07-2014, 10:33 AM   #19
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If I would have taken a day off work without pay and drove to the factory it wouldn't not have mattered. The slide problem still exists a new problem arose with the slide topper. There is damage to the body in the front and top around the slide now. The exhaust pipe was not fixed at all. The window screen was the only thing fixed. But now the jacks are malfunctioning. I am still requesting the work orders from this last service. So if I went all the way there and this was still the case what then? Leave it at the factory to be put off even more and get told it is all ok. Somebody or you say now 4 different people inspected and drove it and had no problems? This is what I mean! How can anyone not notice there is a problem here? I am not going to go away. Somebody who really cares about customer service should be looking into this. I don't care if there have been no problems with any other slide room. There is a problem with mine. Review the video I sent you closely and you can see the inside of the front room is pulling out now when the slide makes full contact. I noticed this after reviewing on a larger screen than my phone.
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Old 05-07-2014, 10:38 AM   #20
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Alwidiot, how is FR blowing you off if they are fixing all your issues? Its obvious you are frustrated with the issues, which I can relate to.
Bclemens was only trying to make sure your issues are being addressed, which is more than he has to do. I think he'd be stepping on toes if he eere involved any further. Has nothing to do with him just wanting to not be involved. FR will make it right

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