Leaky pullouts and no service

rosadiva · 05-11-2012, 05:38 PM

We spent our first week in our frand new Retreat 39FDN. In rained and both our pull outs ended up with soaked carpet area. The unit is levelled. It was not pouring storm of the century- just raining. A call to our dealer revealed that they can not come check out the issue any time soon and - we were advised that for warranty reasons one should always pull the pullouts back in EVERY TIME THE UNIT is NOT attended. Imagine! We are furious! Not impressed at all..

geo · 05-12-2012, 07:24 AM

Hmm, I don't recall anything in the Warranty about pulling slides in while not occupied. Sounds like a dealer problem. However, if you contact Keystone Customer Service, they might be able to put a little pressure on the dealer. Go to WWW.Keystone.com and navigate to the Customer Service.

Ron

Festus2 · 05-12-2012, 07:58 AM

rosadiva -
Similarily, there is nothing in the Warranty section of our Owner's Manual about retracting the slides each time the RV is left unattended. The suggestion that this be done is neither necessary or practical. As Ron suggested in his post, it might be worthwhile getting in touch with Keystone. It seems like your dealer is either misinformed or is avoiding having to deal with the leaking problem.

Outbackmel · 05-12-2012, 04:24 PM

Yes, for maintenance and ensuring working, by all means, excercise them. BUT, "in", every time unattended, makes zero sense. My RV is 55 miles from home on a permanent site. We choose (as do almost 100% of the other 100 RV's and Motorhomes) to leave slides out. In 4 years, 2 different campers, no issues. None of my neighbors have ever complained that I know of.

The issue as described is abnormal. Sounds like if you are not going to be inside to sop up any water, pull in the slides...That's a "LEAK" any way you wish to call it and needs to be repaired before you get mold in the walls...

Do it....make something happen to fix this.

jkghdrider · 05-15-2012, 06:46 AM

We too have the 39FDEN Retreat & after coming across a post on this website, checked the corners of our superslide & they we both wet, one worse than the other. Called our dealer whom said: You know we did just get 6.5 inches of rain... I said: A little or a lot of rain, should not leak, it's brand new! They did come out to check it & did find a few spots of crappy caulking but also mentioned it is our responsibility to maintain. I said: Less than 1 year old, I shouldn't have too... Manufacturer should do a better job... Anyhow, we love the camper & enjoy it... once we work thru all the little things, it will be even better!

richjr4721 · 05-15-2012, 07:08 AM

We purchased a brand new Springdale Model 303BHSSR at the end of 2011 right before Labor Day weekend. Picked it up on Thur and had it set up at the campground on Friday.

We had a pretty good rain on Saturday and discovered that the fixed window on the side of the slide out near the couch had a leak. It looked as if someone had poured a pitcher of water down the wall under the window.

While cleaning the saturated carpet, my wife discovered that the window to the exterior bathroom door was also leaking quite profusely.

I was less than happy to say the least.

The short story of this is that my dealership (General RV-Birch Run, MI) took care of me. I did have to take my camper back to the dealership and showed them exactly where the problems were. They replaced the gaskets around the windows, pressure checked the unit to make sure there were no more leaks and had it all fixed at no cost to me (other than the gas money).

I would say your dealership has shown you what they think of quality customer service.

rosadiva · 05-29-2012, 04:34 PM

Some time,,,quite a bit of time has passed since my last post. We are still waiting for resolution. We called Keystone who gave our case to Barb- who seem to be applying pressure to the dealer- but we have yet to see them send anyone for repair. My hubby had to deal with the dealer and Keystone to get a 'local ' ( the RV is 80 miles from the dealer) guy repair. We are now waiting for dealer to 'review the request' which could take up to 2 weeks. What a joke. Water still coming in everytime it rains. We bring pullouts in everytime it rains or we leave for the week. We know that we are going to get resolution,,,but how much damage. Keystone did say to us again- you know it is out of the kindnest of the dealers heart that they send someone to your site...you should have to bring your RV back to dealer for maintenance. We had a Northlander Supreme before..never got this type of run around!

rhagfo · 05-29-2012, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rosadiva

Some time,,,quite a bit of time has passed since my last post. We are still waiting for resolution. We called Keystone who gave our case to Barb- who seem to be applying pressure to the dealer- but we have yet to see them send anyone for repair. My hubby had to deal with the dealer and Keystone to get a 'local ' ( the RV is 80 miles from the dealer) guy repair. We are now waiting for dealer to 'review the request' which could take up to 2 weeks. What a joke. Water still coming in everytime it rains. We bring pullouts in everytime it rains or we leave for the week. We know that we are going to get resolution,,,but how much damage. Keystone did say to us again- you know it is out of the kindnest of the dealers heart that they send someone to your site...you should have to bring your RV back to dealer for maintenance. We had a Northlander Supreme before..never got this type of run around!

I would think on a unit like that the dealer would be happy to come out to resolve the issue.
Maybe a complaint to the local BBB would also help things along.

Tough item to test, we got lucky during our PDI, it was pouring rain (Love the NW), and the place the trailer was sitting had the slides on the high side, only H2O inside was when pulling in and the top was squeegeed off, had a small water fall for a couple of seconds 90% went outside.

MyCoug243 · 06-01-2012, 09:19 PM

I noticed that the first trip with our trailer , it was quite drafty when sitting on the couch in the slide. Upon closer inspection I noticed the slide was not square to the wall of the trailer. So I made the necessary adjustments and she's nice and taught now! The seals are all evenly compressed when extended and now this will keep out air and rain.

Johnnyfry · 06-02-2012, 08:39 AM

In my opinion asking the dealer to come to you is a stretch. In the shop they have the equipment and a staff of RV technicians to attack the problem. They also have the means to test the repair.

However well meaning, sending a single tech with a bag of tools will compromise the level of service they can render.

Inconvenient? Certainly, but you will get a superior job if you hook up and drive to the dealer an leave it for them to repair.

IMHO,
John

WhiteTundra08 · 06-18-2014, 02:52 PM

We have a 2011 Keystone Retreat 39 FDEN. When it rains the carpet in the corner by the dinette gets soaking wet. I have been on the roof several times and can not seem to find where any water can possibly be coming in. I see others with this same model have had similar problems. Has anyone come to figure out where the water is coming in. I am totally at a loss trying to figure it out. Thanks and hopefully someone has been able to figure this out.

wdt · 06-20-2014, 01:44 PM

This series of posts about various leaks makes me wonder how many dealers will conduct a 'water test' on units ? We are lucky that a local RV bodyshop does them - pressurizes the unit with a big fan unit and goes over the entire outside with a soap spray, looking for bubbles. Our one year old Montana passed with no problems this spring (we do it every spring with whatever RV we have) - yay. Our previous Class "A" motorhome would annually have a few 'leaks' which got caulked. Sure - it costs a few hundred bucks - but the alternative if a leak occurs - particularly involving the roof - is not at all pleasant.
An ounce of prevention ......

billb800si · 06-21-2014, 05:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wdt

This series of posts about various leaks makes me wonder how many dealers will conduct a 'water test' on units ? We are lucky that a local RV bodyshop does them - pressurizes the unit with a big fan unit and goes over the entire outside with a soap spray, looking for bubbles. Our one year old Montana passed with no problems this spring (we do it every spring with whatever RV we have) - yay. Our previous Class "A" motorhome would annually have a few 'leaks' which got caulked. Sure - it costs a few hundred bucks - but the alternative if a leak occurs - particularly involving the roof - is not at all pleasant.An ounce of prevention ......

====================

For those interested here's a Video illustrating just such a pressurized RV leak test is done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOQ-cJWGY-o

When we purchased our last Cougar at General RV (here in Michigan) they do this test on every unit they sell. Nice to know where the leaks are if any.
Happy trails,

bmach · 06-23-2014, 09:19 AM

The line about pulling it in when unattended makes me wonder what magical force is in use to keep it from leaking when attended. Does the occupants exhaling cause positive pressure to stop the leak?

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