Probability of water leaks?

[RedRover]

I have already "pulled the trigger" on purchase of a new Cougar 313RLI and it is waiting at the dealer for my pickup. Owing to the extreme cold temperatures we have been having for the past month and into the foreseeable future here in Northwest Indiana, I expect to pick it up during freezing weather. I queried the salesman about the one hour walk through/checkout on the date of delivery and would there be water hooked up. He replied "no because then we would have to winterize it again".
Now for the question: Do these new Keystones ever leave the factory with leaks in the plumbing systems? What is the probability? Collectively there are hundreds of you out there that have purchased new RV's and I would like to know your experiences.

[rode2nowhere]

I purchased mine new, never found a leak yet, hope it stays that way too :)

[rclark]

Same here. No leaks from new Alpine.

[JRTJH]

There are reports of leaks, broken fittings, loose connections, faucet strainers that were clogged, toilets that were loose and not secured on the floor and other "plumbing related" issues. Are they commonplace? No, but do they happen? Yes, they do.

What should you do? If you're really concerned, don't pick up your RV until the dealership can find the weather breaks to do a complete PDI for you. Or, trust that if there are any issues, they will get your RV in and repair the problems at that time. Really, the only difference is that you will be doing the "leak checks" rather than the dealership. The repair will still be done by them, just not before you know about it.

I bought my Springdale in 2010 in October and it was not dewinterized before delivery. We did the PDI on all systems except the plumbing system. We had no problems and didn't worry about it at all. I just checked all the plumbing carefully as I dewinterized it. I'd do the same again if it came to the need for that kind of situation.

Good Luck

[theasphaltrv'er]

DW & I went thru our PDI today. Took us almost 3 hrs. We had that tech draggin lol ... Was only 25 outside so we didn't de-winterize it. But I got it in writing that if I found anything that I couldn't fix, ie .. broken pipes or leaks when I do de-winterized, they would fix it without having to wait. Wow! That Ecoboost pulled that 5er like it wasn't back there.

[bobbecky]

On our 2012 3402RL, we had a couple of the fittings behind the convenience center were loose. Kept finding a puddle of water on floor of pass through and finally, pulled everything out and removed the panel covering the area behind the convenience center. It appeared the water had been leaking for some time, but no damage was evident and I was able to tighten all the fittings, and no more leaks. The worst fittings are those white hose fittings, sometimes very difficult to get tight on a hose. That will be a future MOD, to replace those with real brass fittings. You just have to inspect occasionally, and if you see water, don't be afraid to either take it to dealer or go in yourself to locate the leak.

[therink]

It takes about 15min and 2 gals of antifreeze to re winterize. I would not sign the papers until all systems have been tested and verified by me. My pdi took about 3 hours and I found about 6 items that they repaired on the spot to my satisfaction. One was a leak at the black flush vacuum breaker.
If you haven't downloaded the pdi Form available on this site, I recommend you do and follow it to a T before you hitch it to your truck. Good luck.

[ctpd814]

We did not have any leaks but did have a clogged between shower and the gray water tank. It was clogged with saw dust and had to be snaked.

[RedRover]

Thanks for the advice. The manufacturer must do a "wet check" at the factory or there would be no need to put antifreeze, which is evident at every outlet, into the lines.
Didn't know that a PDI checklist existed but will find it and make a copy.
(tx)

[SAD]

We took delivery of our 2012 Avalanche in March 2012.... The weather was about to turn to torrential down-pour.... We elected NOT to do a PDI at all due to the fact that my shop where it's parked inside ( :) ) is across a field - i.e. not paved access..... With the amount of rain predicted, the path to the shop wouldn't be drive-on-able for days.

Once safe at home in our shop, we "shop-camped" and inspected everything ourselves.

I've made ZERO trips back to the dealer for any reason since purchase :)

[FullTimer]

On our 2012 3402RL, we had a couple of the fittings behind the convenience center were loose. Kept finding a puddle of water on floor of pass through and finally, pulled everything out and removed the panel covering the area behind the convenience center. It appeared the water had been leaking for some time, but no damage was evident and I was able to tighten all the fittings, and no more leaks. The worst fittings are those white hose fittings, sometimes very difficult to get tight on a hose. That will be a future MOD, to replace those with real brass fittings. You just have to inspect occasionally, and if you see water, don't be afraid to either take it to dealer or go in yourself to locate the leak.

I have started going through mine and replacing the white screw fittings with the Sharkbite type, a tad pricey, but can be reused easily and sooo easy to work with. Though I bought used, the only leaks I found were where the lines connect to the HW, faucets and outdoor shower. Those have the cone washers, and several leakers I found were nicked/ deformed, by screwing on slightly crooked. So I have extras now.

On power up of the trailer, just make a point of running you're finger under a plumbing connection, if it's wet, it's leaking. Watch for those hard to read areas the most.

[canesfan]

Find a break in the weather to do your pdi. I picked mine up in mid Jan, watched the weather and picked a couple of days that were going to be around 50, called and asked if one of those days would be ok. No problem. Then I took it to a campground 10 minutes away. Found a few small issues, took it back 2 days later and it was going to get cold again. THEY asked ME if I wanted it winterized again, I said sure how much? They said don't worry about it. Also refilled one of my LP tanks that I had used for nothing. This is a very busy dealer, but they had time to do a few little things that made a big difference in my mind. Just my .02. Good luck!

Oh, leaks, last rig I had, first time out with it, was dry camping and the check valve on the city water inlet broke in the middle of the night. I had left the pump on, so the entire fresh water tank contents got pumped out the city water inlet into the basement. Fun. Not! Wasn't a happy camper. Haha. Since then I turn off the pump overnight and put a plug in the city water inlet when using the tank. Leaks and stuff do happen, you never know when, so check things well.

[JRTJH]

Thanks for the advice. The manufacturer must do a "wet check" at the factory or there would be no need to put antifreeze, which is evident at every outlet, into the lines.
Didn't know that a PDI checklist existed but will find it and make a copy.
(tx)

Here's the link to the PDI thread. http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5129

As for the factory doing a "wet check", yes they do, they fill the lines with water, put on a gauge to measure pressure, check it "X" minutes later and if it's holding pressure, they open the low point drains, pump in some antifreeze and push it to the next QC station. Sometimes there's a slight leak, sometimes there's not..... But, yes, your observation that "they must do a "wet check" is accurate. They do.

Check out the PDI, you'll find a number of things that you probably would never think to even check.....

[WaltBennett]

My only bad experience with a new rig was a class C, brand new from a well respected dealer, that had a loose fitting on the fresh water tank. After taking delivery (and not doing any inspection other than a walk around), I started filling it up and then had to mop all the water leaking inside - at least this was so far back in time that the floor was actually plywood and not MDF!

I'd never, ever, EVER accept a new unit, no matter how much the dealer said they'd inspected it, unless it had water put in the fresh tank, the pump turned on and everything checked - AND then had the unit connected to city water and everything checked again. Also be certain to verify the AC, furnace, stove, oven, refer and everything else works BEFORE you accept it (that means DON"T sign anything until you see it all work!)..

[Pmedic4]

The one thing we didn't do from our PDI which knowing what we experienced, I would definitely do it. If you could go back to some of my earlier posts, you could see our tale of problems. For a short summary:
Fresh water tank cracked and leaking.
Black and gray water waste lines cracked and Multiple leaks.
One gray water valve broke.
Toilet leaking.

Yes, knowing what I experienced, would definitely have them fill and show the water system is good.
Yes, ours was a new 5ver - supposedly winterized from the factory. We think and several others suspect to, it wasn't winterized early enough in the winter after it was demoed, or perhaps returned by someone.
The dealer fixed it, and we've had no other problems, but it took two trips to fix all the leaks.

[gearhead]

Since I live on the Gulf Coast I'm not aware of how y'all do these things up north where it gets cold. But, where do the dealers do their repairs? I assume not in the snow in the parking lot. They don't have a heated repair shop they can pull the trailer in to do the customer walk thru?