Waiting for Service

Tampa, Florida

On Wednesday, we got up early and had the coach at Lazy Days in time for our 10:00 am appointment….then sat in the parking lot until 2:00 pm when they finally put us in a service bay.  Grrrr.

I was getting a little frustrated sitting in the parking lot with the generator running, but I was trying to be patient.     We understand how things work and that sometimes repairs take longer then they expect, or an emergency comes in…like no a/c, or a leak. 

Wednesday they checked a few things for us and everything checked out okay.  The new Norcold refrigerator tested out okay.  I guess sitting in direct sun in 90+ degree weather isn’t the best thing.

The main issue we had was the loud clunk we heard when we braked moderately hard.  Our generator is in a slide out, and they had previously done some work on it because it was loose in the cradle. We had them check to make sure it was secure.  It was.

I went on the Rv-Net Forum to get some suggestions on what the noise was.  From my description several people thought it could be the “s-cams.”   That is an invaluable tool to have and I use them frequently.  You get a lot of opinions…. but you know what they say about opinions, though!

On Thursday they took it over to the chassis area and the  tech took it on a test drive with us.  He was able to replicate the noise we had been hearing.  The first thing he said was that the “s-cams” were sticking and needed lubricating. 

We felt pretty confident that we found the problem.  I’m not exactly sure what s-cams are, but they are related to the air brakes in the front.  Apparently, it’s quite a big job and the entire brake assembly has to be pulled.  It’s a $750+ job!  It is normally not covered under the 30 day warranty because it’s considered a maintenance item.  However, we felt it should be covered since when we first drove the coach we noticed a clunking noise.  They thought they had solved the problem, since the noise didn’t happen on a normal test drive.  You had to brake fairly hard to get the sound.  Anyway, Lazy Days stepped up and agreed to cover the s-cams at no charge to us.  Yea!  I must say, I am pretty happy with their customer service, even though things seem to move at a snails pace.  Some jobs are done by the regular technicians, and some have to go to the chassis area.  Of course moving from one area to the other always causes additional delay.

Since the s-cams weren’t going to cost us anything, we   decided to have them do a full chassis lube and change the transmission fluid.  We aren’t sure when it was last done and these are two very important maintenance items.  We currently have Transynd  transmission fluid in it now, and we will put the same in.  It’s very expensive synthetic fluid, but recommended by Allison.  One thing we have learned with diesel motorhomes is that you don’t buy oil or transmission fluid by the quart.  You buy it by the gallon.

Once the motorhome went to chassis, we got booted out and weren’t being allowed back in since it was going to have to be raised up.  There was no way for us to get inside to check on the cats, so we grabbed a few things and the kitties and invaded Mom’s house.  We thought it was just going to be for one night.  Yeah right!

So it’s now Saturday and we still haven’t gotten back into the motorhome.  The joys of full time living in an rv, I guess.  At least we’re not sitting in a parking lot like Judy and Emma. 

We are hoping it will be finished today and we can go back home!  I miss my own bed!