Normal to have issues with new Airstream

[mutcth]

Originally Posted by Thomas_G

It is encouraging to know this is all normal. Even if it is a pain. Just wish closest dealer was less than 3-4 hours away!

Airstream of New England is about 2.5 hours from us (I live just south of you in Cromwell) but I've never tried them, nor heard much about their service dept.

Once the warranty is up, or if you want modifications, I highly recommend Classic RV just across the border in Holmes, NY - it's run by the former service manager of the now-defunct Waterbury AS dealer. I've used them a lot - helps keep me sane with AS ownership...

Tom

[xrvr]

Try turning the pump off and then opening a faucet to relieve the pressure, might stop the drips. Be sure to turn off the faucet and leave the pump off when done. Jim

[biggoofball]

Originally Posted by mutcth

Airstream of New England is about 2.5 hours from us (I live just south of you in Cromwell) but I've never tried them, nor heard much about their service dept.

Once the warranty is up, or if you want modifications, I highly recommend Classic RV just across the border in Holmes, NY - it's run by the former service manager of the now-defunct Waterbury AS dealer. I've used them a lot - helps keep me sane with AS ownership...

Tom

I was wondering where George ended up. Good to know.

[Thomas_G]

I have been away with no Internet for a few days.


Thank you to everyone for their insight!

Scheduling a trip to Colonial soon. Going to give the calibration a try to hopefully this weekend

I am going to search the forum a bit now but I was also wondering if anyone experiences panels that warp on the outside when it gets warm and is cold at night. The dealer said this is normal and many had that occurring on the lot as well. It's about 40-35 here at night and 70 during the day. Happens in the same spot on both sides. Only occurs when the sun hits it. Then goes away at night again. Is this something that is common?

Dealer did say that if it still occurs when temps are higher then to let them know.

THANK YOU!!!

[ROBERT CROSS]

The consensus here is that it's normal for some, others not so much.

Ours has not done it, regardless of temp/shade/sunlight.

TGFSF...

Bob

[tkowalyk]

Originally Posted by Thomas_G

I have been away with no Internet for a few days.


Thank you to everyone for their insight!

Scheduling a trip to Colonial soon. Going to give the calibration a try to hopefully this weekend


THANK YOU!!!

I did the calibration myself, after experiencing the same problem. It is possible to calibrate a single sensor -- it is in the instructions.

For the empty setting -- I drained the tank (buckets dumped to our house toilet -- gross), then filled the toilet bowl up twice and dumped into the tank -- this is my empty setting.

For full setting, I ran the water until the water level was about 1 - 1/2" from the bottom of the black connection below the toilet. the instructions say to go to 1/2" from the top of the tank -- this is too close for my comfort. With this full setting, I know that I can carefully use the toilet several times without the risk of overflowing.

Read the instruction a couple of times -- the first couple of pages show what the sensors are used for during calibration.

We have been doing this for 25 + years, and this is our second new Airstream, and your punch list items don't seam too bad. The window issue sounds like the most significant.

We bought our unit from Colonial as well.

Good Luck

[dkottum]

Originally Posted by Thomas_G

I have been away with no Internet for a few days.


Thank you to everyone for their insight!

Scheduling a trip to Colonial soon. Going to give the calibration a try to hopefully this weekend

I am going to search the forum a bit now but I was also wondering if anyone experiences panels that warp on the outside when it gets warm and is cold at night. The dealer said this is normal and many had that occurring on the lot as well. It's about 40-35 here at night and 70 during the day. Happens in the same spot on both sides. Only occurs when the sun hits it. Then goes away at night again. Is this something that is common?



Dealer did say that if it still occurs when temps are higher then to let them know.

THANK YOU!!!

Ours also warps when the sun hits it directly, and that seems normal to me.

Aluminum expands when heated and direct sunlight certainly does that. The first time I noticed it was alarming (although it is a small very small deflection), but when the sun moved to the other side, it went away.

It made me think of the aluminum fascia used on houses which also expands and warps in direct sun, then disappears as the sun moves on. I do some design work and hate this effect, preferring wood fascia, but the owners want the so-called "no maintenance" of aluminum.

doug k

[Thomas_G]

Here is a pic of the warp for reference. Same on the other side as well.

[dkottum]

I would say that is not a problem at all, considering it goes away as the panels cool, just normal expansion.

Great looking rig, by the way. You guys are in for a fun summer, I don't think we're going to get one here in Minnesota; heavy snow forecast tonight.

doug k

[Gene]

I had several rivets pop over the kitchen area. Some appeared not to be riveted into anything. Those I replaced with slightly oversize ones. All the ones I replaced about 6 mos.—one year after buying have stayed in and I never riveted anything before.

Sometimes the sensors don't work because dirt gets into the contacts. The wires and plugs are telephone wire. One end is at the tanks and not all that simple to access. There are access plates under the tanks and you might be able to get to the plugs, but I'd save it for the dealer. These monitors are notoriously inaccurate, but after a while, you get the hang of it and be able to estimate how much is in each tank.

No faucet should drip. Glad to hear you have a Moen because I think it is better quality than Delta. It may be the cartridge. For all the washers, seats and cartridges I've replaced, I've never had problem with a single handle faucet, but there is a bolt at the base of the spigot that probably can be unscrewed. I would think the cartridge is under that. The paperwork for the faucet may have a exploded view of the faucet so you can figure out how to get to it. Or, it may be online. As much as I like Moen, their paperwork is poor, unfortunately.

There should be a visible spark when you light a burner. Might be a lose connection or faulty part. I think the reason it lights when hot is either expansion makes a poor connection tighter, or a very weak (and invisible) spark may be just enough to light a hot burner.

The aluminum front on the fridge is an insert and if cut a little too small, can come out. Ours barely stays in, but hasn't fallen out. It may be cut at Airstream or by Dometic.

The windows are strange. It can be difficult to get the arms to seat, but I can't imagine how they would slowly close if they were seated at all. You may not be seating them properly. Have you tried them in the next position up to see if they go in better and to see just how they work? Both sides of this are mass produced and should not be out of line or too short or too long, so this is perplexing. I imagine the windows come as one piece from the manufacturer and hard to mess up when installed.

I wish we had your punch list. I even wish we had Bob's. Ours was much longer. Finally, things settled down. All of your items are warranty issues and are not all that hard to repair.

Our subwoofer did not have a switch to turn it off. It was a drain on the battery when boondocking. I installed a switch. The settings on the subwoofer were wrong and it made noise. I turned it off and it has stayed off ever since. I can live without one and probably should just remove it and reduce tongue wt.

Gene

[interstateflyer]

I've had my 2013 International 19 for two months and I'm fairly pleased with the build quality.

Only issues so far (3 trips....8 overnights).

1. corroded grab handle......outside door
2. ill-fitted led light over bed....gap in wood
3. leaky water heater drain plug.....when under pressure

The dealer actually created more significant problems than did Airstream. They incorrectly installed the Husky Weight Distribution System. This caused the trailer to ride high in the front and spring bars to catch on driveway entrances and exits. The system was way too stiff.

Just found out today that they installed spring bars intended for a trailer with a tongue weight of between 801-1,200 pounds and max gross trailer weight of 12,000 pounds. Our 19 footer is rated at 550 tongue weight and 4600 gross trailer weight. The ones they installed were way too heavy and could have caused major problems down the road. Thanks to a "thinking" employee of the dealership this was spotted and will be resolved.

[ROBERT CROSS]

"The dealer actually created more significant problems than did Airstream. They incorrectly installed the Husky Weight Distribution System. This caused the trailer to ride high in the front and spring bars to catch on driveway entrances and exits. The system was way too stiff."

Well that's not good.

Easy way out...."install the one we have in stock"

I guess it's very fortunate that there was someone there who knew better.

Stream Happy...

Bob

[tkowalyk]

Originally Posted by Thomas_G

Here is a pic of the warp for reference. Same on the other side as well.

We have never had a problem with warping like that.

[Bluto]

Originally Posted by tkowalyk

We have never had a problem with warping like that.

You are lucky. Mine does it when it gets hot from the sun then straightens out when not in the sun. It never happened on my 87 even in the Texas heat. I just figured it was normal on the newer trailers.

[polarlyse]

It seems a shame to take the long trip to the dealer if the faucet leak is the only reason. That is unless you're passing by anyway. It's pretty straightforward to replace the faucet cartridge so just pick one up and see if that corrects the leak. I'm sure you can find a U-tube video that will show how it's done.

Our trailer is at George's shop as I type getting some road-trip damage repaired. I didn't know him from his previous employment but I did like him and his work ethic so I'm happy that he's doing the job for us. He came highly recommended from a forum member. It should be repaired over the next couple of weeks ( I Hope).

Hope you get your new trailer straightened out for your summer travels.

[tkowalyk]

Originally Posted by Bluto

You are lucky. Mine does it when it gets hot from the sun then straightens out when not in the sun. It never happened on my 87 even in the Texas heat. I just figured it was normal on the newer trailers.

Bluto,

I can say id did not happen on my 2006 Safari. I don't know if we will have the problem with the new Classic.

I will post my experience as we get through the summer.

[Rod Johnson]

We had (still have) the same problem with one window. Took it to a dealer (not where we bought the unit, but one closer to home). They worked and worked but in the end could not get it to stay open. We now just live with it. I cut a piece of firm foam padding to slip under the window at that setting and forget about it. IMO the geometry is too extreme (angle too acute) at the lowest setting coupled with some movement at the top hinge.

We discovered the pantry drawer lying in the middle of the floor when we were at the top of Wolf Creek Pass. The plastic latch is inadequate and the slides were attached to the cheesy pressed board with 4 inadequate screws. I reattached it with 8 bigger screws from Ace Hardware. The factory has offered to rebuild the unit, but my repair works fine. The fact that the slides now bind slightly is an improvement, not a hindrance--it ensures that the cheesy plastic latch isn't the only thing holding the drawer in.

All in all, our 2010 Flying Cloud 27FB has been terrific and far better built than the diesel pusher motorhome we had previously.

[Davern1]

You know we used to lose rivets here and there inside the trailer before we bought and installed the centramatic wheel balancers. Since you trailer is new, I think they are a worthwhile very small investment to make. Many threads on the forum about them.

[cwf]

I will recommend the following: if you are in need of fellow AS to fly some "shakedown" cruises for you, pipe up here! I might be cajoled into helping!

[Thomas_G]

Originally Posted by Davern1

You know we used to lose rivets here and there inside the trailer before we bought and installed the centramatic wheel balancers. Since you trailer is new, I think they are a worthwhile very small investment to make. Many threads on the forum about them.

Thank you. These seem great am I am going to check out the other threads about them as well!