Maiden voyage complied with [Archive]

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texhater42

04-26-2015, 04:24 PM

First I will say that we had an AWESOME time in our new Passport 2400BH. I am a realist, however, and I realize after reading many many reviews/forum posts on rv's/tt's that there'd definitely be some issues...I was no exception. A couple of these may have been of my own doing, as there is lots of trial and error and tons of learning going on with each trip. Here's a list of some of the issues I came across, and I was wondering if others had similar experiences/advise to lend, I'd greatly appreciate it.

1. I didn't do a 'proper' burn-off of furnace apparently since every time i kicked it on it would set off smoke alarm (even though it was working just fine during PDI)
2. I noticed some water below the blue/red low point drains next to black/grey discharge valves so got to messin with stuff and realized that there was actual water in the underbelly (this one has the enclosed reinforced cardboard crap for the belly)...i pushed up on certain spots of the belly and water would drain out from random opening...have NO idea where that water is coming from...need to remove some of those bolts to have a look
3. TV antenna crank seemed to be binding to raise it...i didn't want to force the issue and break something so I just let it be...
4. I had a brake controller (Tekonsha Voyager as it turns out) installed from dealership and it seemed to work great on way to campground. On the way back however, about halfway through drive it seems the brakes on the trailer were locking up with very little brake pressure on the TV. I had to keep adjusting the gain on the right hand side of the controller to make a smooth braking action...the light still turns from green to yellowish-reddish but I don't feel the same slight tug I used to get from the trailer so I am not sure how much braking is being done on the trailer side.
5. The dealership also threw in an E-2 WDH, and set it up. I had absolutely NO issues on journey up...but on the way back, when a big rig or large vehicle would pass me I'd get that 'sucking' action towards them. That didn't happen on the way up. It was only on vehicles that passed me on the freeway, didn't notice a thing on small two-way country roads with on-coming traffic. Everything was set up just as dealer had...kinda hard to mess that up actually.

Anyway, these were some of the things I ran across on our first trip with our new '15 Passport 2400BH. Any of these happen to anyone on here? Any advise would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance...

chuckster57

04-26-2015, 04:47 PM

Here is what I know. I will number my answers the same as your questions.

1) not uncommon to have the furnace smoke a bit the first few times. Here's what to do. Turn the thermostat to 90 so the furnace burners stay lit for at least 15 minutes. The entire "burn box" needs to get real hot and the only way to do that is keeping the flame lit for a while.

2) there shouldn't be any water in the underbelly, so your on the right track by taking out screws and looking. If you can, pay attention to the water quality. If it's nice and clear then your probably looking at the fresh water tank. Not uncommon for the supply line fitting to be loose. You may end up filling all the tanks with water before the leak shows.

3) The spring behind the crank can cause binding. Also, go up on the roof and spray some dry lube on the gear. May clear up any binding.

4) voyager brake control uses a pendulum on the left side to determine how much energy to apply to the trailer brakes. If it's "set" on level ground, it will change when the TV attitude (nose pointing up/down) changes. Is it possible your journey TO the cg was uphill and the trip home was downhill? If the TV is facing in a downhill attitude, the pendulum will be forward and it will take very little for it to swing more forward and apply brakes. Best cure-Prodigy, set it and forget it.

5) what were the weather conditions on both drives?

It great to hear you had an awesome time, and once these issues are figured out, you can have an even better time.

GaryWT

04-26-2015, 04:55 PM

I did not have a burn off issue but run the furnace at home if you can to see if it goes away. The water issue you might want to bring it in under warranty. Could be fresh or waste water leaking. Look at the antenna on the roof to see if things look ok, have someone else crank it. Brake control and sway can change depending on weather, wind, speed, packing and other things. In time you will get the feel for it all. Adjust the brake controller as needed. Sometimes you need more on highways and let in stop and go traffic. My wife use to think she would go through the windshield if we were in stop and go at about 10-15 mph.

texhater42

04-26-2015, 05:14 PM

thanks for the responses!

The water that was dripping out was definitely clear and not black and probably not grey either, although can't be certain about grey water. I should've added that it sat parked in the driveway for a week or so and it rained a couple of times...our drive to cg it was raining the whole time and the entire first night of our trip. Rain water somehow? Once I saw the 'water' issue, I went strait in the camper and searched as much as I possibly could (behind benches, under bunks, in cabinets...pretty much every visible inch and found NO evidence of water intrusion).

The drive to the cg was raining going up, nice and sunny coming down. My speed was pretty constant in 4th gear about 55-60...never went above 60

As far as the brake controller goes, I remember gentleman explaining the brake controller to me and he told me I was to NEVER touch the dial on the left side of the controller lol...which I didn't, only the right dial to adjust the gain...like I said, they installed it and it runs parallel to the ground. The ride down the mountain came with no issues, it wasn't until I was exiting the "level" freeway and came into flat city driving that the brake 'shutter' was so much that i had to pull off the road for a quick inspection...(everthing was still connected, no hot brakes)

jsmith948

04-27-2015, 03:42 AM

On our 5er, there were several cutouts around the spring hangars and the gaps were large enough to allow spray from the tires to get into the underbelly.
We had to take the coroplast down, let everything dry/air out and then we used about 2/3 of a roll of Gorilla tape and sealed everything up. No problems since.
I would still check to be sure you don't have a leak somewhere in the plumbing. But, since you drove through some rain, my guess would be spray from the tires got in there.

{tpc}

04-27-2015, 04:17 AM

I was thinking the same as the poster above...maybe some spray got underneath there. I am sure the chloroplast isn't sealed perfectly, despite what they might have you believe. I am going to have a hitch welded on this year hopefully for transporting our bikes, so I am interested in seeing what it looks like under there and sealing it up better.

Chuckster57 seems to have you covered on everything. :) So I will ask you a question...did you have a slide topper installed? I'm still looking for someone with a 2300 or 2400 bh that has one installed that could tell me a little bit about how they like it and how it is installed.

grampscamper

04-27-2015, 04:22 AM

Another thing you may want to check on the brakes is the drums. If there is any grease on the brake drums it could cause the brakes to stick and lock up.
I would agree with jsmith. The same thing happened to us on a trip out west. We went through some heavy rains we noticed after water coming out from the undercarriage when we made a rest stop.

texhater42

04-27-2015, 05:01 PM