2008 model year quality....

[Jimandrod]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

I don't see the need for an on/off switch since you can simply turn down the bass and probably accomplish the same thing.

Even with it turned all the way down the sub woofer will still draw current.

The switch I have is a very simple on/off switch in the power line to the sub woofer. It's easy to get to and when it's switched off it makes a noticeable difference in my battery consumption.

[TIMEMACHINE]

Originally Posted by Jimandrod

Even with it turned all the way down the sub woofer will still draw current.

The switch I have is a very simple on/off switch in the power line to the sub woofer. It's easy to get to and when it's switched off it makes a noticeable difference in my battery consumption.

Great tip, every little bit of conserved power is nice when boondocking.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Jimandrod

Even with it turned all the way down the sub woofer will still draw current.

The switch I have is a very simple on/off switch in the power line to the sub woofer. It's easy to get to and when it's switched off it makes a noticeable difference in my battery consumption.

I was thinking about the noise problem and not the battery drain issue. Good point.

Gene

[FordTruck]

JDBfreeheel wrote:

Door needs to be slammed to get it to close and latch properly, allowing both locks to be used.

I assume you're referring to the entry door. We have the same issue. It's almost as if the entire trailer has 'racked' and is out of square.

What, if anything, have you done about this?

[Gene]

I think if you put too much tension on the stabilizer jacks, it can rack the door.

Gene

[Jimandrod]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

I was thinking about the noise problem and not the battery drain issue. Good point. Gene

Oh - OK - now I see what you mean. Yes, I also noticed that the rumbling noise went away when I lowered the volume on the subwoofer. However, on a real quiet passage on the DVD I could still hear it.

[Jimandrod]

Originally Posted by JDBfreeheel

Door needs to be slammed to get it to close and latch properly, allowing both locks to be used. Josh

Ours does the same thing.

Originally Posted by FordTruck

I assume you're referring to the entry door. We have the same issue. It's almost as if the entire trailer has 'racked' and is out of square. What, if anything, have you done about this?

Our dealer said "just slam the door. It's an Airstream - it can take it"

So, we just slam the door

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

I think if you put too much tension on the stabilizer jacks, it can rack the door.
Gene

Good point Gene

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

[quote=Jimandrod;645773]Ours does the same thing.

Our dealer said "just slam the door. It's an Airstream - it can take it"

So, we just slam the door


Hi, I posted it somewhere else, but the door doesn't have to be slammed if adjusted correctly.

(1.) I noticed that the striker plate on my trailer, and a few others that I looked at, rubs on the inside of the door latch cogs. I removed the striker plate and added one flat washer to space it out. [do not drill out pop rivet holding nut plate]

(2.) Next you need to adjust the striker plate up and down, and in and out to get perfect alignment. Note: The striker plate, nut plate, is held in place inside of the body and to the door frame with a pop rivet; If you drill out the rivet and remove the striker plate to add your flat washer, you will lose your nut plate inside of the body where you can't get to it. Also note, at least on mine that the hole for the striker plate was not drilled out, but hogged out with some sort of grinder.

(3.) After you have added the extra flat washer to the striker plate [if needed] and hand tightened it back in place, you will now need to drill out the pop rivet holding the nut plate inside of the door frame. With the nut plate loose you can move, to adjust, the striker plate. You want the striker plate dead center of your door latch and then pretighten your striker plate. Next you want your door to fit flush with the rest of the body. You will do this by moving the striker plate in the, in or out direction. If your door is too loose, move the striker plate inward. If the door is too tight, move the striker plate out a little.

(4.) Now your door should fit and close as well as the doors fit and close on your car or tow vehicle, mine does. Make sure you tighten the striker plate enough so it won't come loose while useing your door several times. If you get a perfect fit, like I did, then you need to drill a new hole through the door frame into the nut plate bracket and install a screw or another pop rivet to hold it in place so you don't lose it if you ever do this again. Lastly, take a pencil and draw a circle around the washer on the striker plate where it meets the door frame, so you know where proper adjustment is.

In the picture, showing the striker plate, you can see my pencil marks around the washer. The smaller washer, is the one I added. If you look at the hex on the end of the striker plate, you should be able to see marks where the latch has made contact with it. The marks should not be on the inside part of the hex, but just inside and only on the round shaft part. I used the same hole in the door frame for the nut plate bracket, but drilled a new hole into the nut plate bracket because it was in a new location. I used a screw instead of a pop rivet.

[Silvertwinkie]

This is yet another example of something the factory could have done during construction given that so many units have the door slam issue. My Bambi had it bad, while the Safari is not that bad unless I am near fully extended on the hitch jack.

Bob's fix is simple, yet effective. You should work for Airstream in their engineering dept b/c it seems they havnen't quite been able to grasp it on their own.

Yes it's covered under warranty, but the question is why can't it be done while under construction. I guess for those of us that have had the leaky shower issue over the past 5 model years, a door that cannot seem to be adjusted right on the production floor should come as no surprise.

I wonder if there will be yet another price increase this year given the stalled economy and shredded RV sector (even though some material costs have gone down)?

[OhScottyOh]

I have glance through this thread and have found much of the same with my 08 Safari 27 FB SE. Purchaced way back on Sept 12th 2008, my how time flies when you have an A/S. Places to go, things do, and fix. Golly, that was all of 4 months and all of 3k or 4k miles.

1. Shower that leaks into hall, dealer tried and failed. I fix .
2. Drawer facings falling off, I fix. Add screws and glue.
3. Counter and table edges peeling off, I fix. Glue and bevel the edges where top meets edge. Emory cloth will do. Using some marine adhisive, don't know name off hand but works well and quick drying. Good stuff.
4. Carbon monoxide alarm falling off wall in bed room. Turned out to be broken, improper installation, replaced by A/S. Let's here it for their effort.
5. Noise in woofer, no one at A/S has a clue.
6. Woofer volume can not be changed at the tuner/control panel. No sound at all when trying to adjust.
7. Hatch will not close completely. Very noticable at the bottom of door edge. Light streams in and so does the wind. One adjustment has been tried with A/S but its going back.
8. Hatch difficult to open and close. Should not have to slam and should not stick.
9. Leaking fore and aft, port and starboard.
a. Water getting in at front window as well as comming down front screen. Same problem at rear. Has been to Sutton, in Eugene, several times since end of September-early December for repair of these leaks but they still leak.

We had a dry fall so no more leaks showed up till I took the rig to Newport for Christmas and the weather got normal if not severe.

b. Water leaking down wall from all along the horizontal seam in bathroom, curb side.
c. Carpet in the bedroom on road side has begun to take on water an needs be bailed twice daily. No sign on exposed wall of any leaks. Carpet and pad are history and as well as flooring for all I know. Sutton's not open till after the 1st, so it is sitting rotting in my storage area.
d. Water in skylight, it comes and goes. Don't know where or how. I know I will think of more later but that is it for now.

[Gene]

Scotty,

Here's Airstream's solution to the subwoofer noise:

"First of all when you have the DVD playing what is your equalizer set on
your radio. When you have it on DVD you want to have it set on vocal. There
are about 4 different settings. If it was set on for example "explode" you
would get a Booming sound.
If this does not help the woofer itself has some settings on the top of the
speaker case. These are set at the factory and you would have to gain access
to the top of speaker to change settings. The gain should be turned up all
the way and the frequency should be turned up a 1/4 turn from the off
position. These could have been moved or not set correctly."

My subwoofer has the settings on the far side. You have to unscrew the two screws that hold the subwoofer in place and pull it out from under the seat to change the controls. I had to turn the volume (gain) so low to remove the noise that I don't think the subwoofer does much, if anything, now. While at it, install an on/off switch spliced into the wire with the inline fuse. I have to find a switch that I can mount under the dinette seat and won't be broken when something hits it. It appears the subwoofer is always on and draws some current when boondocking. Some people have installed a nopise suppression capacitor to eliminate the noise, but I haven't tried it.

I can live without the subwoofer since we don't turn up the music or DVD very loud in such a small space. Besides, loud would affect our neighbors at a campground.

It seems like you are getting every one of the leaks reported in recent models, all in one trailer. Good luck with getting it replaced. Does Oregon have a good Lemon Law? I think you're going to have to deal with the factory on this since they are the ones who would have to authorize such a replacement of the trailer. I got your PM and glad to hear the Timbrens are working. What you're experiencing about the leaks are awful.

Gene

[OhScottyOh]

I am hoping not to have to go that far.
Not sure of Oregon's Lemon Law or if it matters that it was purchased it in WA, it may be there that I would have to file. I am hoping that A/S will solve this before I have to seek legal recourse. I am not vary fond of attornys, but if all else fails, seek legal advise . Needed is that A/S provide the guality and craftmanship in a new unit as they tout there product is. If they can't produce what they advertise my expenses should be returned. A replacement unit will be well tested for leaks and other quality issues, or refund all spent. It would not be beyond me to take out a full page ad in Trailer Life, Good Sam, etc.

[OhScottyOh]

Forgot to mention. I am not even considering deal with anyone other than the home office. It is their problem not the dealers.

[Gene]

Scotty,

You can probably find the Lemon Law statute on the internet. Some state's courts have posted statutes on the internet and there other sources as well. Local libraries often have the state statutes and you can look them up. To find "Lemon Law", you may have to find it under "motor vehicles" in the Index, but sometimes it's hard to find depending on each state. You may have to consult a section called "Words and Phrases" at the back of the statutes, or sometimes there is a section with popular names for statutes. I'm unsure about the jurisdictional problem, but looking at Lemon Laws for both states may guide you. If you start with an Oregon dealer, the Oregon law may apply. On the other hand, if Washington's Lemon Law is better than Oregon's, you may want to go there. Usually you have to try to have something fixed several times without positive result before the Lemon Law kicks in.

Before you contact Airstream, it's best to know the law on the subject. Simply mentioning that you know the law gets people's attention and will let you know what you can ask for and what is hopeless. Also read over the Airstream warranty again and again until you can quote it back to them. I would start with the dealer closest to you (if the law is good in Oregon) and see what they will do making it clear in a nice way if you don't get what you want, you will contact Airstream. That's what I had to do and found the factory to be willing to help after the dealer was not. They like people to go through the dealer process first.

Remove any personal goods from the trailer that may be damaged by leaks as they will not want to pay for that. It's called mitigating damages and you have some responsibility for not making a bad situation worse.

For rather obvious reasons I don't have the antipathy towards lawyers other people have. Nonetheless, I would rather not have to pay for one just like I don't like to pay someone to change my oil. But sometimes hiring a lawyer is the only way to get someone's attention.

Gene

[Larry in MO]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

For rather obvious reasons I don't have the antipathy towards lawyers other people have. Nonetheless, I would rather not have to pay for one just like I don't like to pay someone to change my oil. But sometimes hiring a lawyer is the only way to get someone's attention.

Gene-
Did I tell you what a lawyer friend of mine told me? He said that there were only two real lawyer jokes---the rest of the stories were true!

Anyway, your advice was very good. I gave back a '96 Ford F250 4X4 which I bought new in '95. It was an extended cab 460 c.i. 5 speed that would shudder violently when easing off the gas on depressing the clutch pedal. The official Ford policy was either: "they all do it" or "we were unable to replicate the problem". A trip up the interstate w/ the service manager w/ an identically equipped truck demonstrated that they, in fact, did not all do it. Another trip up the interstate w/ same manager in my truck showed that I could replicate the problem every time.

After four trips to the dealership, I contacted the zone office. Same runaround, same quantities of male bovine waste. Next stop was the factory and, oddly enough, more of the same. After three months, I bit the bullet and hired a lawyer w/ this type of experience. A couple of his letters, three more months, and some equitable phone calls, they told me to come in and pick up my new truck. They even moved the aftermarket running boards, trailer hitch assembly, and re-tinted the windows on the new truck.

The moral of the story is that you have to jump through the hoops and follow the manufacturer's guidelines to get this done. If you don't follow the rules, document every call and letter,and threaten bodily harm, they've won. Take pictures and I mean a lot of them!

The second moral of the story is that I have not bought a new American vehicle since November, 1995. I've bought many new imports but no American cars. I don't think they cared--do you suppose they care now?

I have a rough idea what you guys (and girls-sorry!) are paying for the late model or new Airstreams and you are taking it in the shorts w/ this type of treatment. I always vote w/ my feet. It is hard to complain about the condition of a 50 year old trailer w/ no warranty.

Best of luck to all of you fighting the uphill battle!

[1cericks1]

Well I may have gotten off lucky compared to you all, but here's my list:
1. No owner's manual. Fortunately someone emailed me the link.
2. Subwoofer wierd noise issue.
3. LP Detector is hooked up, but no lights and the test button doesn't work. Maybe they unplugged it so it didn't beep randomly.
4. Had some cabinet install issues. The big drawer sits a little low, so you have to lift it over the panel below. It wouldn't latch, so I had to put a spacer in, which is not very sturdy. The cabinet door above the big sliding drawer binds slightly on the corner as it's opening...have not had success adjusting the hinges.
5. Black water tank monitor shows half full after one flush, and full after three.
6. The wrap around windows in the front, the gasket sits about an inch away from the airstream frame, on both sides.

I have found I can clean it wiith hot water, a sponge and a towel. Fortunately no corrosion issues. Good advice here.

[ramblin rose]

Originally Posted by ramblin rose

After getting the aforementioned lack of caulking under the TV antenna strut fixed, we went up to Mendocino for New Years, and discovered a few new drips inside. With the recent major rains here in NorCal, last Saturday I went out to check on the Airstream, only to discover puddles inside. Lots of puddles. The Fantastic Fan in the rear had two small drips down to the floor, but more significantly, there was a huge puddle forward, from the shower to the sides of the beds, and water running down the sides of the trailer from seams in the aluminum. And the mattress was soaked, as was the plywood under the mattress.

Fortunately, the storms broke for a bit, and we drove the trailer the hour to the dealer, and had them park it in a service bay (the compromise that we reached after they had told me over the phone that it would be a week before they could look at it, and I told them that it would be ruined in another day). I heard back from them yesterday, they told me that there were huge gaps (the largest that they've seen) in the caulking for the factory-installed solar panels and both fans.

I'm pretty unimpressed that the trailer could have left Airstream without anyone noticing the lack of caulk...

Well, now more than a year later and visits to two more dealers, our Airstream is finally (reportedly) fixed. Turns out that the dealer that we bought it from, and who had the trailer for more than two months last year, did not know what they were talking about. The TV antenna strut is simply glued on, no thru-hulls, so no need for caulk.

We took it to another dealer two hours away, and they fixed the leak in the bedroom - turns out it was poor caulking by the selling dealer on the King Dome installation - that solved the water literally streaming out/down the wall panels in the bedroom.

Not much rain here this year until February and March, so we did not find out until then that we still had major leaks. Finally, at the recommendation of some on this forum, we took it to Toscano's. (three hours away) They found cracks in both skylights and after fixing those, continued to water test, finding still more leaks. They removed a panel or two inside, and determined that there were several small leaks in the roof seal; they then resealed the entire roof. Hopefully that makes for a dry trailer - a year and half later.

[OhScottyOh]

Ramblin Rose, What was the build date of your unit? Locate tag on on the front roadside with month and year.

[millvalleyca]

Originally Posted by ramblin rose

Well, now more than a year later and visits to two more dealers, our Airstream is finally (reportedly) fixed. Turns out that the dealer that we bought it from, and who had the trailer for more than two months last year, did not know what they were talking about. The TV antenna strut is simply glued on, no thru-hulls, so no need for caulk.

We took it to another dealer two hours away, and they fixed the leak in the bedroom - turns out it was poor caulking by the selling dealer on the King Dome installation - that solved the water literally streaming out/down the wall panels in the bedroom.

Not much rain here this year until February and March, so we did not find out until then that we still had major leaks. Finally, at the recommendation of some on this forum, we took it to Toscano's. (three hours away) They found cracks in both skylights and after fixing those, continued to water test, finding still more leaks. They removed a panel or two inside, and determined that there were several small leaks in the roof seal; they then resealed the entire roof. Hopefully that makes for a dry trailer - a year and half later.

Hey Ramblin
I was wondering if you ever got your trailer dry free!
Glad Toscano was able to fix the problerm....that's where we bought our trailer from.
Did anyone pay for your soaked bed?
Hope to see you on the road!
Dennis

[ramblin rose]

Originally Posted by OhScottyOh

Ramblin Rose, What was the build date of your unit? Locate tag on on the front roadside with month and year.

Our unit was built to our order in August 2007.