Help track the quality of the '04s!

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by gklott

2. Shower continues to leak. It seeps out onto the bathroom floor from the shower corner nearest the master door.
11. Excessive frost build up on front top right area of freezer. This is the same area where the door was bent significantly prior to delivery.
12. Replace broken handle on bathroon vent fan.

Gus, the shower area seems to be prone to leaks. Both Airstreams I have owned had this problem new. On my Classic the seeping on the floor ended up to be the lower door frame cap. From the inside the shower my dealer ran a bead of silicone that they forced under the cap. That stopped the floor leak.

Your frost build up shows that that door is still not fitting correctly. If they replaced the door, I wonder if the door hinge is also bent?

That broken handle on the bathroom vent fan is typical of that model fan. I had one like it on my Hi-Lo and it broke in the middle. I've learned to push it up and pull it down with two hands, one on each side of handle so the force is not placed in the center of that pull bar. That's the weak point and over time, that's where they break.

At this point I have 2 flaws that I need to have addressed. One is replacement of the curtains on one of the windows (mismatched velcro tabs), and the more serious problem of replacement of the front pocket door the separates the bathroom and the kitchen area. There is a screw protruding deep within the storage pocket that has scratched the door when it slides open or closed.

Keep us posted on your issues.

Regards,

Jack

[Dave Jenkins]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

Gus, the shower area seems to be prone to leaks. Both Airstreams I have owned had this problem new. On my Classic the seeping on the floor ended up to be the lower door frame cap. From the inside the shower my dealer ran a bead of silicone that they forced under the cap. That stopped the floor leak.

[snip]

Jack

Jack:

I'm not sure what you mean by "lower door frame cap"?

Our shower has a brass frame that surrounds the opening. At the bottom, there is a "threshold" piece, that is atop a plastic "flap" that extends downward on the inside of the shower enclosure about an inch or so. We have caulked around the screws that hold the "threshold" piece to the shower and under the threshold. Is this the area you were talking about?

Thanks.

[Porky Pig]

Originally Posted by Big Dee

2. The toilet foot pedal leaked once on the trip when pressing the pedal but has't happened in three weeks since during heavy use.

Heavy use? That's more than we want to know ... but lay off the bran muffins anyway.

Big Dee ... the "knob" is actually the the male portion of the catch that is supposed to secure the table ... it snaps into the female portion located on the credenza. I think Gus called it a knob because ... well, it looks like one.

Gus ... keep talking with the factory. Have you spoke with Jim Parrett? He has been extremely helpful in resolving some issues with me.

[MikeL]

Since this subject of quality control has come up again I'll throw in my "almost annual" report on my 04 16cc Bam. Actually won't be a yr. old until mid Nov. I think I finally have the bugs worked out. Looking back over all the many things I fixed I have come to the conclusion the factory needs to do so serious house cleaning of employees. 99 percent of all my problems were related to assembly and what I call obvious defects. It's understandable for some things that are not visible to slip by, a wire getting pinched in a wall, a plug connector not completely snapped together etc. But the things I had to deal with were so obvious thats it's obvous that the workers there don't care . If they do they are so incompetent they should be run off anyway.The latest and just as an example of the MANY like problems was a water leak from the roof I just fixed. Seems they had alignment problems of some kind when they were putting the top sheet of roofing on. There were 3 holes drilled through the outer layer only. then they moved over a half a rivet hole and install the rivets. They never bothered tho seal the open holes, just left them open to the weather. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know it will leak if left open. If this was the only problem I had I would write it off as a simple mistake but the entire unit was like this from front to back. My only conclusion is the WORKERS at the factory JUST DON"T CARE !!!!! The people at the factory were very nice and said they would be glad to take care of any and all problems which is nice but I question why we should have to have a unit REMANUFACTURED. This is the 8th RV I have owned over the years and it has had more things wrong with it than all the others combined. My advice to anyone looking to buy an airstream if you're not prepared to deal with these types of problems look for another brand. Am convinced there will be no improvements until such time money tightens up or sales drop off. There are no insentives for them to improve as long as people are standing in line to buy their products in this condition.--Pieman

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by Dave Jenkins

Jack:

I'm not sure what you mean by "lower door frame cap"?

Our shower has a brass frame that surrounds the opening. At the bottom, there is a "threshold" piece, that is atop a plastic "flap" that extends downward on the inside of the shower enclosure about an inch or so. We have caulked around the screws that hold the "threshold" piece to the shower and under the threshold. Is this the area you were talking about?

Thanks.

Yes we are talking about the same area. I probably should have said threshold. In our trailer there was a small gap between that ran along the length threshold and the inside shower enclosure. I didn't remember seeing a plastic "flap" but it could have been there. During a dealer rally the service person came to our trailer and pointed out that that area is a common leak point. Water splashes upwards and gets under the threshold from the inside. I watched him caulk that and once it was done, we had no further problems that weekend with that leak so he was correct in his diagnosis.

Jack

[KIMILI]

Originally Posted by Dave Jenkins

Our shower also leaks (may be fixed - we'll soon see...). It generally showed up at the floor corner just forward of the shower door, but was sometimes bad enough that it ran along the floor in front of the entire width of the shower.

We took it to the dealer for warranty repairs, and they have installed clear seal/caulking along all seams (mainly to the left and right of the door, top to bottom) and caulked where the top and bottom part of the shower fit together. I believe that if it leaks now, it must be coming from the plumbing behind the shower. I doubt that, though.

It appers to me that there was no caulking at all in those seams before the repair, but it's really too late to tell now. The repair guys did an ok job installing the seal, but some of it shows on the edges of the seam. Even though it's hardly noticeable, it bugs me that if they'd done it right in the first place, we wouldn't have worry about the slightly rough extra caulk being a breeding ground for mold and algae.

Caulking & sealing seem to be an overlooked job in 2004 for the AS production line...especially in the bth/shower area!!

We have your same experience and have had the dealer try to fix this several times with poor results. Ours leaked from what seemed the entire bottom part of the shower. Ultimately we have fixed it ourselves with clear silicone and with an almost perfect outcome, but there's still a small leak in the bottom left corner near the bed.

After reviewing our work we have discovered that the actual screen on the door was mounted crooked, revealing an opening in that corner big enough for water to leak down and under the bth door and all the way to the bed, everytime you take a shower!

We're going back for further warranty repairs already mentioned and still unresolved in this thread. This is on the list too.

Check your door, hopefully it's an easy fix.

Best of luck.

[flyfisher]

Gus -

My wife and I are staying just north of Cincinnatti, OH today en route to Jackson Center on Monday for more repairs to our 2004 30' Classic Ltd. Last time were there at the end of June they spent a couple days making repairs to our brand new unit. (The factory service guys fixed some of the defects on my trailer, some they only halfway fixed, and and we did not ask them to tackle others, like the vinyl.)

Then, in early August I took my trailer to Bretz RV in Missoula, MT for additional repairs and Bretz TOTALLY screwed up EVERYTHING they touched. Hopefully, we'll get by with just a day at Jackson Center next week.

My shower also leaked like a seive when it was improperly built at the factory. I saw this was defective when I originally picked up my trailer from Turner Airstream. I showed these problems to Jim Turner, even noting them in writing to him, but he took no action to fix them.

The door on my shower was not assembled correctly so that the magnetic stripping on the door did not close tightly all the way from the top to the bottom. The door hinge was missing a required shim which fixed that problem. The plastic drip strip at the bottom of the shower door was not intalled at an angle to carry off water that dripped from the door and was also missing a small plastic cap at the high end. There was also no caulking around the sides and bottom perimeter of the door.

The factory service guys fixed most of my shower water leak problems, but I found water somehow still leaked out, similar to what you describe. I found that I could fix 99.8% of my water leaks by putting even more silicone sealant around the lower portion of my shower door, paying particular attention to the bottom edges of the door frame. When everything is caulked and installed correctly, I believe that the shower is still a poor, cheap design and it is impossible to open the shower door without getting water dripping down the "wood" laminate below the shower door and across the floor.

My curbside front tire/whee/hubl assembly was also severely out of balance. I took my trailer to a local frame and alignment specialty garage, and it
took 3 experienced mechanics about 3 hours to correct it. I beleive that the major culprit was my hub. I paid for the cost of getting this in balanced. Dave Schumann at Airstream does not believe this is Airstream's responsibility to remedy, and has not agreed to reimbuse me for the cost of my repair. Although my owner's manual says that the tires are factory balanced, it was my understanding from the factory service guys in June that this is not true. I was also told at the same time that Airstream does no formal quality inspections of any purchased components.

Good luck with your repairs.

For information, these are among the items I hope to get repaired at the
factory this coming Monday:

1. 2 outside lights leak - apparently were installed without seals, and one had a stripped screw when originally assembled.

2. Rubstrip separated from sidewall - for the third time and place.

3. Nightstand drawer between bedroom twin beds still doesn't stay closed. We have to put drawer on floor before towing trailer now - has gotten progressively worse over summer.

4. Not sure that heat pump works properly - need to ask factory service guys about this - it heats for a couple hours and when outside air is above 40 degrees or so, then just blows cool air. Owner's manual says this should work down to 30 degrees, but it doesn't. The condenser fins on my unit were also smashed before my trailer left the factory - I aksed them to fix this when I was there in June. They only did a halfway fix on the fins at that time.

John

[Tinsel Loaf]

I was writting about having the whole street side lower panel and beltline replaced because of aluminum skin cancer 18 months into the warranty, but my page expired and I lost it all.

[RivetED]

From personal experience I believe Airstream has a long way to go. I've been to J.C. once already & that was not sufficient, still working with them.

[Dave Jenkins]

Originally Posted by flyfisher

Gus -

[snip]

3. Nightstand drawer between bedroom twin beds still doesn't stay closed. We have to put drawer on floor before towing trailer now - has gotten progressively worse over summer.

[snip]

John

Our nightstand drawer fell out , also. The last time it did, it boogered up the tracks and rollers so badly that now it's very hard to pull out and push in. The upside of all that is, it never falls out anymore!

I would also advise folks to pull all of their drawers out and examine the assembly of the tracks to the vertical "wall" that's behind those drawers. I found that it many instances, the tracks were not fastened to the vertical piece of particle board back there, and were, for all intents and purposes, floating in mid-air. Sheesh!

[MaShep]

Here's a picture of the fix for the rear cabinet done by C & G Trailer. The long brace in the back is solid. It's hidden by the shade. But, the two inside screws on the front/inside look to be out or coming out already. So far, it has held on nice and tight.

[gklott]

Jack - we are adding to our list, and the screw scratch on the pocket door is the same here. But we now hear a similar sound starting in the other door. Wonder if it is a screw too?

Our bedside drawer on the curb side has fallen out twice. No damage yet.

We're also adding:
1. Paper on wall behind sink is coming off again.
2. Black water sensor is always "F".
3. Noticable soft spot in floor in front of sink - under vinyl.
4. Not too sure about the fresh water - we lost a load without explanation, but it seemed to hold on the last trip.
5. Lamp with shade curbside bedroom, switch no longer works.
6. Main door gets harder and harder to open.
7. Cold air rushes into the trailer from beneath the dinette seat at the frig.
8. Front Fantastic fan doesn't close when rain comes.
9. Frig isn't as cold as it used to be on the same setting.

We had talked with the factory (Dave) on our first list, and we will be talking with them again this time. So far, we have been without the trailer for about 4 weeks. Hope it isn't too long this time. But there is a long list to fix again.

The vibration has begun wearing the replacement tire again. It appears to be uneven patches - not all in the sale line on the tire. On the last trip home from Albuquerque, we had to hammer down the door pin about every hour.

Hope the shower leak hasn't damaged the sub-floor and caused mold. That will take some effort to repair, and much more down time.

Will be interesting to see how they repair the big hole in the floor in front of the sink. Imagine that will require removing the cabinets, which they will need to do anyway.

Oh, when I opened up the access door beneath the fresh water tank looking for a leak, about a dozen rivets, half a dozen screws, and 4 or 5 long spirals of metal fell out.

Is that to be expected?

Thanks for all the encouragment. We will keep at it. Just wish the time was spent snjoying the trailer.

73/gus

[Silvertwinkie]

Gus,

Sorry to hear about the ongoing saga. I think some of us can relate to at least part your pain.

The reason for my post here is to tell you we had lots of "debris" in the out of site areas. I would guess that like a house under construction, some things will remain. I pulled out 2, 2"x4" pieces of routed out sheetmetal, a couple of feet spooled excess wire that was rubberbanded and loose (not connected to anything), rivets, metal shavings, sawdust, etc. I wasn't too concerned about that part as it is fairly expected and normal.

However, if it were me doing the install, I would have cleared it out since the bulk of the stuff I found was under the sink area by the furnace.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by gklott

9. Frig isn't as cold as it used to be on the same setting.


Oh, when I opened up the access door beneath the fresh water tank looking for a leak, about a dozen rivets, half a dozen screws, and 4 or 5 long spirals of metal fell out.

Is that to be expected?


73/gus

Hi Gus, on your comment about the frig, keep in mind that the outside temps will have an effect upon the cooling capacities. As temperatures get hot, its not unusual to see some rise in the interior temps. I know mine wasn't as cold in July as it was on my first trips in April. I use a Fridge Mate fan on the inside of the fridge to circulate the air and provide better cooling to the contents.

As far as debris go. That doesn't surprise me. Even though the trailer was spotless upon delivery, it took about 4 trips for debris to finally stop showing up. Most of it seemed to come from under the kitchen sink and stove which have open cutouts at floor level.

I forgot to note I'm still having problems keeping the kitchen cabinet drawers closed. Its been in twice so we will try again this fall and see if they can finally get this resolved. Maybe if I would load them more they would stay in, but on the other hand keeping them light has helped keep the rails from bending when they slip out during travel.

I accidently didn't lock my rear drawer on the cabinet that separated my rear twin beds in my '01 Safari. The drawer slid open and eventually the rails bent and the drawer and contents dumped on the floor. Thankfully I was stopping at JC on the way and picked up a new set of rails.

Jack

[flyfisher]

Gus -

I have just gotten home from our 3 month trip to Montana and our 1 day trip to JC for repairs, and just read your most recent post.

Regarding your issue:
"7. Cold air rushes into the trailer from beneath the dinette seat at the frig."

I recently took my dinette cushions and seats off and could see straight through to the pavement below the trailer beneath the same dinette seat your referring to. I'll have to look again to see if this was from a drain hole for the refrigerator or something else. Maybe your trailer has a similar "peep hole"?

I should have mentioned it to the service guys yesterday, but forgot. If I didn't get too much water in that hole driving home to PA today in torrential rain, I'll have to put some sealant in it before I put my trailer away for the winter.

Also, I took my 4th factory tour yesterday and took note of all the garbaqe that is left in the trailers as they come off the assembly line. Then, they let everyone that is taking the tour walk right though all the debris that is on the assembly line floor, and then walk right into and through any and all of these trailers. It's no surprise to me that there's all kinds of garbage found is Airstreams for months after purchase. And, it's no wonder some of us buy new Airstreams only to discover cuts in the vinyl flooring, scratches on walls, etc.

John

[gklott]

We delivered our Classic to Randy at North Dallas RV today. Randy has the original list plus the new items.

Today, we stopped at MM 393 in I-35. In the picture, you see what the hinge pin does in 4-5 hours of road time, all Interstate. We hammered down the pin, and continued North. By the time we got to MM446 at NDRV, the pin was 1/2 in up again. We've had to hammer it down each hour or so.

We first reported this 3 months after we received the trailer. When NDRV worked on our first warranty list, they drilled and put a rivet in it, as you can see in the picture. The force sheared the rivet. Randy said this time he is replacing the hinge.

We've also reported since we first received the trailer that it doesn't seem to tow level - regardless of load. Curbside is always a bit lower, connected to the truck or standing on a firm parkinging area. Any ideas?

Could a Hensley adjustment cause this? We've adjusted it several times just as the manual says.

Could this be related to the cause for the pin and the terrible tire wear on the curb side?

Randy is working on the list for us. They did good work last time, and we will see how things go now.

Will report back to the group when repairs are done.

73/gus

[frozen chosen]

Also, I took my 4th factory tour yesterday and took note of all the garbaqe that is left in the trailers as they come off the assembly line. Then, they let everyone that is taking the tour walk right though all the debris that is on the assembly line floor, and then walk right into and through any and all of these trailers. It's no surprise to me that there's all kinds of garbage found is Airstreams for months after purchase. And, it's no wonder some of us buy new Airstreams only to discover cuts in the vinyl flooring, scratches on walls, etc.

John[/QUOTE]
John, did you mention any of this to any AS folks on the floor, or at all?

[crazylev]

What if Airstream built the entire trailer except for any interior work. THe entire AS "blank" would then get delivered to a specialized AS dealer where the interior including all mechanicals would be installed on a customer to customer basis. These dealers could have several options including but not limited to appliance choices, cabint material, including a choice ranging from particle board, or solid wood cabinetry with NICE joinery. Differant configurations of entertainment packages. Plumbing options, and so on. Could you imagine?

AS strenghth is the main structure. Let them really work that to "Martin Guitar" perfection.

Wouldn't this trailer cost a fortune? Here ends my dream for the holy grail of Travel trailers.

Just dreaming again

Gotta go. Guys in white jackets are coming...

Jonathan

[Big Dee]

Gus,

Regarding the Hensley and the level problem, how tight are your strut bars? The manual says they should be hand tight plus a quarter turn. I'd call the factory as they are really nice and always very helpful when I have questions. I think it is definitely worth looking into.

[WayWard Wind]

We just returned from one of our long? 3 day week-ends & now I know I'm not dreaming. There is a definite "soft" spot in front of our sink. So much so that one can actually see the floor move up & down & the flooring will squeak. From other posts regarding the same problem area, it appears to be a poorly designed flooring structure. We did not have this problem in our 02, so I'm wondering if the flooring structure changed & perhaps something important was deleted from the engineering design. Also lost our tv antenna roof support pan somewhere along the road. It appears they are not riveted down, but held in place by a generous amount of Bostik.Guess ours was not given the generous amount. I do have to say however, that since our unit was returned from JC, we have been really pleased with the unit. We're hoping things stays that way. I'm concerned regarding the flooring issuse & will be checking with JC in regards to the "soft" area problem. All in all --you do have to love them.
Best,