2016 Pursuit 30FW, the saga of the slide

[scotttkd]

Wasn't sure I was going to document our experience, but after reading other threads of owners with issues with their new RV's, I decided I should make the effort.
After researching models and features, my wife and I decided on the Coachmen models constructed with Azdel, for long term durability for our first ever RV. Looking at various models, my dw decided she wanted the model with the outdoor kitchen, so instead of the 31's or 33's we went with the 30FW. Nice open layout, lots of counter space in the kitchen, walk around queen bed in back and the outdoor kitchen and entertainment system. Took delivery right after the first of the year, did a nice whirlwind walk through and drove it off the lot looking forward to all the tweaks and addons to come.

Our first dose of reality came on our maiden voyage to Carlsbad State Beach the weekend after we brought it home. Once getting on the site and leveling per the instructions from our walkthrough, (love those automatic levelers!) I extended the slide and set up camp for the night. Should note this thing has a monster 24ft slide that runs from the back of the drivers seat to the rear wall of the bedroom....its huge! Anyway, the next afternoon I decided I wanted to make an adjustment to how we were parked in our space, so I start to roll in the slide, only to have it stop dead after retracting about 3 inches. Got the dealership service dept on the phone, (big mistake, in their expert opinion the problem was because I wasn't holding down the button correctly), and asked for help in what to do next, and was told "we dont offer that kind of service", try Coachmen and was hung up on. It is now 4:45 west coast time on a Friday. After much googling, I was able to come up with the emergency Coachnet phone number, (our account had not even been set up yet, fortunately they had the VIN in their system), got a tech on the phone the next morning and was walked through the procedure of finding the control unit underneath in the utility bay and did an emergency retract. Since this model is barely usable with the slide retracted, we called it quits and headed home, and the next week made an appt with dealership service dept for repairs. After some words with the dealership owner over how his people handled the situation, they looked at the error codes on the slide controller and replaced the slides rear motor, and 3 weeks later we had the motorhome headed home again.

More saga to follow......

[scotttkd]

So you would think the dealership service department would have checked those error codes after putting in the new motor wouldn't you?? Yeah, that's what I would have thought too. The slide did go in and out, but not evenly. The thing would start out ok, (or need a bit of a push with your butt on the edge of the kitchen counter, ok a really big push with your feet braced on the dinette seat opposite), it would whine and grind and screech, and going in or out, one side or the other would lag behind the other side by as much as a couple seconds. I am grateful the dealership schooled me on the proper use of the rocker switch though, it made all the difference in the world! (insert snark here)

We continued to use the RV, and I decided to do some of the common mods found on these forums starting with LED lights. Wait a minute, it comes from the factory with all led lighting?? How dare they take away the joys of spending hundreds of dollars on leds.! One notable exception is the porch light, for some unknown reason that one is incandescent (was).

After doing a ton of research, I decided to do the CHF myself, and it did improve the handling dramatically. Not sure if I will try any other stabilizers as I have nothing to compare with and am pleased with its drive-ability at this point

Added a TPM system I bought off of Amazon, had to do a little grinding on the front wheel covers to make the sensors clear, not my best work, but it functions.

Bought a small compressor and hose to keep the tires inflated with, it stores neatly in the front compartment under the DVD player, and has AC power right there to run it with. Used it on guys weekend trip to the desert dry camping, with a bunch of friends and their off road toys where I aired down a little to accommodate the sandy conditions off road. No major issues with the RV on this trip with the exception of a clogged toilet that was solved with the assistance of one of the guys and his ryobi leaf blower. The less mentioned about this episode the better.

Also forgot to put the travel pins in the overhead bunk over the captains chairs on the way home, and sure enough, the bunk would not move when I next tried to lower it, and threw an error code. This time I was determined to fix it myself, and googled the service manual, printed it, and accessed the back of the switch in the cabinet over the entry door. Followed the instructions, and was able to lift the side that had slipped, and re calibrate the movements upper and lower limits. All good and working again! Score one for the good guys, and I will not forget the travel pins again anytime soon, I hope.

Only other issue has been with the water heater on a week long trip to Sedona AZ with my wife. We woke up one morning with no hot water, and the fault light lit on the control panel. I immediately assumed it needed to be relit, and went out to investigate. Opened the panel, and voila, no igniter, its all electronic. Went back inside and flicked the hot water switch on and off (and apparently back on) at the control panel, and while waiting for a call back from Coachnet figured I would go wiggle the wires some, after all what could go wrong! Immediately upon touching the brown wire that is connected to the flame sensor it bursts into action (nearly singeing off both eyebrows.) ((Note to self, that igniter is not to be messed with while up close and personal)). Turns out the connection at the spade lug that holds the sensor had corroded just enough (we had a lot of rain in the winter in CA, and the water heater compartment is not water tight) to lose the connection slightly. Cleaned the corrosion off of the spade lugs and gave them a pinch with the pliers and hot water was restored.

more saga to come......

[scotttkd]

But what about that slide you ask?? I decided with all the noise it was making and the fact that it needed a healthy push to get going, I would take another crack at getting it serviced.

I took a couple dozen pictures with the slide extended and a tape measure in place and prepared to make my case. After researching Lipperts website, the service best practices mentioned there, and the 1/16th to 1/8 (don't quote me, that's my recall as I am writing this) tolerances required for correct operation I figured I was ready. By now I had found Nate Hedges at Coachmen's name and number on this forum, so I contacted him and got him up to speed on the situation and the hopeless mess the dealership service department was. He requested that I take it to my local CampingWorld for the service and he would take care of it with them as a warranty repair.

I made an appt for April 6th and dropped it off with my local CW. The next day they extended the slide, confirmed my measurements and got on the phone with Lippert engineers. Lippert decided that the measurements were out of tolerance (duh) and was a manufacturing defect that would need replacement of all of the components. Nate did not want to hear his assembly guys disrespected, but after much discussion back and forth with Lippert, CW and himself, they finally agreed to the replacement of the slide components. Only problem now was that Lipppert had no replacement parts in stock, and couldn't provide a part number as this was a brand new model. (insert scotts teeth grinding noises). Parts were finally sourced, and sent out by truck from Indiana to CA. Only problem was they sent the wrong parts. (more teeth grinding noises). After a lot of finger pointing, navel gazing and several more days (weeks) of phone calls, they finally got the correct parts sourced, packed and on a truck CA bound. Within another week, the slide work was done.

I was able to inspect the slide operation at the CW shop prior to completion, and it was amazing what putting the parts in correctly does for its operation. Smooth as silk, with no binding and both ends stop at the same time...genius!
Only problem now was the top seal exterior had been ripped by the service guy at the dealership when he slapped a new motor in and repaired with super glue, and in taking all of the trim off to remount the slide mechanisms, CW had peeled some of the fake wood grain off the fake wood trim on the inside top of the slide. Not a big deal, but 3-4 more weeks to source those and get them shipped in. Having blew through cancellation fees on three more mini vacations with my wife (we are trying for a weekend a month), I decided to take it home as is and try to recover some dignity by keeping our reservation for the end of this month.

next up, the big wrap up.......

[scotttkd]

Years ago I has a new house built, and had a 3 page punch list of items to fix even though I was on site daily for 6 months during the project. A mass produced new construction RV should have at least similar expectations, and the home I built did not go down the road each time it was used, or off road for that matter like the RV has.

Nate Hedges is everything that the members of these forums have said he is. He has always treated me with respect, and attempted to follow up in a timely way. I believe he is doing his honest best to fix the sometimes shoddy workmanship that occasionally slips out of the facility in Indiana.

With that said, the Pursuit is an entry level RV, and the fit and finish cant be compared to a high priced units. You really do get what you pay for.

CampingWorld in San Marcos CA agreed to get into this mess, even though it was not their mess, and with the exception of some early communication challenges, they have been good to me. They will continue to get my business.

The dealer (whose name I have purposely left out, is in Temecula CA, I will share privately if anyone is looking to buy in that area) I would not ever buy from again, nor recommend to anyone. They have a decent sales team, but their service department is just not up to the task. The first thing they should have checked out is the tolerances on this slide, as it was visibly out of alignment. Instead they attempted to deflect and blame me for not knowing the proper procedure for pressing a damned button. Stupid. When I brought the RV in for the slide issue and confronted the owner he kept telling me ( and his employees swore) they had given me the magic Coachnet phone number upon delivery, yet repeated calls to them on the dreaded Friday, both sales and service, and no one ever mentioned Coachnet to me, nor offered to give me a phone number to call for assistance. If it is such an important number, it should be plastered on every desk phone in the building, and offered up as the first choice should a customer call in that is in trouble. No one should have to spend an afternoon googling for it sitting in a broken RV.

Coachnet has proven to be a very valuable service, and I will definitely be renewing the service.


Thanks for letting me get this off my chest, it has been strangely cathartic, and I look forward to seeing more posts from the regulars and newbies like me on the forums with new tweaks and mods to our treasured toys.

carry on!

scott

[WDW]

WOW.

And Nate is ace!


Taking in the sights wherever my Trolley takes me.

2016 Coachmen Mirada 35 BH
Western NY

[jgourlie]

Thank you for Sharing your experience.

[scotttkd]

Got away for a weekend with the DW, rv performed perfectly. Found a little more damage to the trim caused by the slide repairs, will take up with CW when the existing damaged trim parts come in. Slide performed perfectly, and several people came by and asked to see the rig. DW took charge of tours, and is looking forward to getting out again. Looks like I'm off the hook for the original "new rv" issues. Success!!

[Bdogdt47]

So sorry to hear of your slide problems. You might want to look at the Schwintek video of how to lubricate the slide mechanism for future reference. My slide was out of sinc and would stop after traveling in after about 8 inches. One side was in further than the other. Also, the slide was making a large squeaking and cracking sound when hitting uneven roads. Right behind the driver's seat. I did the emergency re-set, got the slide in and then lubricated the mechanism per the video and with the product they recommended. The slide is working fine after several cycles and the sound appears to be gone. We have an upcoming trip, so we will see how a real road test works. We have a 2016 motorhome by the way.

[scotttkd]

Yeah, I tried the factory lube recommendations, but slide was so far out of tolerance from the start that no amount of lube was going to help it. After the repair It moves so smoothly now it's hard to believe it's the same rv.

[scotttkd]

So getting ready for a 3 week tour of west-midwest. Picked up some Camco Aero-flo's in smoke for the two roof vents, and swapped out the pitiful fan in the bath and added a fan to the living area (Vortex II's.) Hoping for a little more air flow and some ventilation going down the road without the vent covers rattling and bouncing. Both installed easily (fans could have used a third hand with, but got them wrestled into place. Will see how they work in the long run, but it was nice to have some air movement in the living area where there was just a vent previously.

As for slide, it is still working smoothly, I barely cringe when I hit the in/out button anymore. I guess that is progress!

Also swapped out the tiny radio speakers in the overheads above the dash Jury still out on how much improvement. I may ned to add a set for the rear wiring. Anyone have any ideas where the rear speaker wiring is? I am guessing if any was run at all it would have been left in the overhead but I havent spent any time looking for it yet.

Also added Sirius sat radio. I wound up attaching the antenna to the mirror on driver side and running the wire lead into the cabin through the existing hole used for the mirror controls wiring. Seems to get a good signal but will be testing when I head out for oil change tomorrow. Would be curious if anyone has had a good experience with antenna placement.

Any thoughts are appreciated.


Scott

[WDW]

We replaced our fans with Fan Tastic Fans. A lot of times we just open one vent and have the other pull air. Or we have one push air in and one pull.


Life is always better under a Palm tree...

2016 Mirada 35BH "Trolley"
2016 Jeep Cherokee Latitude

Previous- Jayco Greyhawk 31FK

Western NY

[scotttkd]

thanks wdw, so far definitely liking the aero flows, and the new fans push and pull air nicely, much more comfortable when we dont want to run the genny and air

[scotttkd]

ok, so the 3 week adventure went off with a few minor glitches. I say minor, because with some dealer and factory attention they were all fixed (mostly).

the first issue to appear was the continuing work/notwork with the water heater. we pretty much got along without it until the midway point of the trip when we took the unit to a dealer for a water leak repair, and steering stabilizer install. The circuit board was replaced (from stock, what a great way to do business!) and no more problems with the water heater. ---- passhooter take note------ this dealer was stocking the board so my guess is they have seen more than mine come in with bad boards.

The next item was a fresh water leak. We discovered that we were emptying our fresh water tank in under 24 hours with minimal usage. At the midway point (again), I noticed the outdoor kitchen compartment floor was wet, ( and we had a big puddle under the coach) and upon removing the drawer, I found a 1/2 inch of water under the cabinet. The dealer looked at it, and found the water filter on the intake side of the pump was basically falling off, allowing the fresh water to just spill into the cabinet. A quick tighten of the fitting, dry out the cabinet and we were fixed.

This dealer appointment happened because after wrestling with this thing for 2500 miles plus, I knew it needed help, and we decided to add a Safe T plus. While I still had some alignment issues (see below) it made a world of difference in the drive ability.

What about the stupid slide you ask??

Sure enough, after 2500 miles of cross country torture across the freeways, it stuck in the in position, and required some serious pushing to extend. On a Sunday, I called Nate at Coachmen, and left him a message that we were going to be on his doorstep Wed morning and to plan on a crew to work on this thing. (Fortunately, this mishap happened less than 2 hours from the mother-ship and I decided it was time for the nuclear option.) Nate called me back on Monday, and had me take it 20 more minutes down the road to Lippert where Shannon took over. We got a hotel for the night on Coachmen and waited for the minions to make their repairs. Shannon completely tore the slide apart and finally discovered that the rear part of the slides underside rollers were not making contact with the floor, thus the entire weight of the rear of the slide was on the brackets and causing the binding. With this fixed, you can now barely even hear the motors work while operating the slide, before it was too loud to have a conversation.

Shannon gave me a tip though, after driving it, he said to push and hold the in button before trying to extend the slide out, and allow the motors to resync and take up any slack caused by shifting as it was beaten to death going down the road. Worked like a charm and we have had no further issues with it.

While at Coachmen, I did have the alignment redone as it was out 3 degrees, and attempted to have the "clearview" set, (to me its center the steering wheel so it is straight when the wheels are straight). Mine came from the factory almost 5 degrees to the right. The idea was to have this fixed at the factory, but that day the only guy certified by Ford to to do it was out. Nate has asked me to have it done by a local Ford truck repair facility and send him the bill.

Overall impressions after 3 weeks and 5300 miles.

My wife and I bought the Pursuit 30 to do a weekend per month away, and for that I believe it will be excellent. (Comfort, waste tank size, etc.) For longer term trips though, and especially over the road type trips down the highway, the Pursuit is the equivalent of bringing a knife to a gun fight. It just does not have the suspension to take on the highways in any kind of comfort. Every cabinet and drawer rattled loose, even the microwave plate committed suicide and exploded on the floor while going down the road. I have a small bracket and two screws on the floor at the bedroom door that I still have not been able to determine what they are for.

With all that said, its not a bad entry level coach experience if you go in with the expectation that there are going to be things to fix, and upgrades to make to make the thing more comfortable to drive. (like the Safe T Plus)

BTW, Shannon and Nate were great to work with, and gave me the impression they truly care about the work they do. Nice to see that kind of attitude today in the consumer throw away world.

Next trip to be determined......in the mean time stay safe and enjoy!


Scott

[WDW]

3x on holding slide button then after deployment to sync the motors.

50x on Nate.


Life is always better under a Palm tree...

2016 Mirada 35BH "Trolley"
2016 Jeep Cherokee Latitude

Previous- Jayco Greyhawk 31FK

Western NY

[scotttkd]

Hi WDW, i agree, i was told to hold the slide button until all motor noise was stopped when moving it, but what the Lippert rep told me was to start out in the direction it was already in and allow the motors to resync with the position. In other words if in, press in and allow the motors to move, once they stop let go, then go out. Same with the other way, in case there was any settling with the slide out, press out, let it sync and then let go and then press for in. The slide has been very easy to move since then.

I did notice after the last leg home after some horribly bad highway driving, when I pushed in with the slide in, I got a very small amount of movement from it and then the motors synced and stopped. Im pretty sure that amount of movement would have resulted in binding if I had gone straight to out instead.

just my 2 cents, but kind of makes since if it is taking up slack like that.

BTW, the aero flows are amazing, we had a small monsoon at one point, and not a drip inside while maintaining the vents in full open and running position. I love those things!

[WDW]

Thank you for clarifying that - it makes a lot of sense and I'm going to try what you have shared.




Life is always better under a Palm tree...

2016 Mirada 35BH "Trolley"
2016 Jeep Cherokee Latitude

Previous- Jayco Greyhawk 31FK

Western NY

[pashooter]

Originally Posted by scotttkd

...the first issue to appear was the continuing work/notwork with the water heater. we pretty much got along without it until the midway point of the trip when we took the unit to a dealer for a water leak repair, and steering stabilizer install. The circuit board was replaced (from stock, what a great way to do business!) and no more problems with the water heater. ---- pashooter take note------ this dealer was stocking the board so my guess is they have seen more than mine come in with bad boards.
Scott

Just saw this... after driving 565 miles home from the Coachmen mothership in Indiana yesterday. I took my rig back to the factory for Bob Jewell to work his magic on the heat distribution issue with my 31BD. It's really a design flaw (furnace all the way in the back so the bedroom gets blasted and the front of the coach... not so much). He did the best he could with the layout and I will say it's MUCH better... but still exhibits a large temperature differential between front and back. A compact ceramic heater out front pretty much equalizes things and I'll just live with that. A better design would have placed the furnace amidships but that's another story.

Anyway, to relate this to your post - my Atwood WH flame sensing issue had progressed to a "no spark" and not lighting at all issue, so Bob called in the on-site Atwood rep who replaced the board and adjusted the air shutter and now it runs as it's supposed to. The latter was too "open" causing the flame to be loud, to flutter, and to be too far inside the burner chamber to reliably "trigger" the flame sensor. I suspected this, but when I loosened the screw and attempted to adjust it myself it was frozen and wouldn't move. I figured that rather than force things (and risk breaking something) I'd let the factory gurus deal with it - and they did. I finally have a water heater that works as it's supposed to.