Gas Fill Problems on Ford E-Series Chassis

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by harmsal

Hi, heard back from Camping World in regards to the slow fuel problem. Here is their take on the deal. CW says they checked other 31L Class C coaches and they all look the same as mine. The service adviser said it is just a problem you have to live with. LOL!! So if every coach came with a flat tire.....every one would have to live with that also. I called Thor Customer Service and talked with two very nice people. The first lady could not believe a coach was delivered in that condition and never heard of the problem before. I told her to check the Thor Forums to see how many unhappy people have this problem. The next person at Thor was a Technical adviser and was very helpful in regards to the problem and seemed to understand the problem. He was going to call CW after our phone call. Still waiting on that. It seems the problem is two fold. Ford delivers the chassis with a 6 inch stub on the fuel tank. Thor then removes the stub and replaces it with a hose connection to the house and tank. Now....CW says this problem is Ford's and Ford says the problem lies with Thor. It seems the gas tank hose is considered an emission part and CW won't touch it. Ford says it is not an "original" Ford emission part and won't touch it either. So....the poor consumer gets it in the shorts again!! This may get interesting before a fix is done. More as this develops.

Sounds like what is happening is Thor may want to get the problem corrected based on your conversations with them, yet CW doesn't want to do the repair. It may be that although CW has certified RV technicians on board they may not have an ASE certified automotive mechanic that is smart enough to work with gasoline. After all CW wouldn't want their facility going boom because someone did something stupid like disconnect a fuel line while holding a lit propane torch in their hands.

[FW28z]

Originally Posted by dstankov

After all CW wouldn't want their facility going boom because someone did something stupid like disconnect a fuel line while holding a lit propane torch in their hands.

Do you suppose that happens?

[harmsal]

Latest update on the slow fill problem. I crawled under the unit to check things and found that the hose pictured above by FW28z has a very nasty twist in it. The twist is so bad I don't see how any fuel can possibly get thru. Tried to take some pictures of the twisted hose but too many things in the way for my larger camera to get a good picture. I then explained the twisted hose to my service adviser at Camping World in Mesa, AZ. and guess what. He said he would take a picture of the twisted hose, send that picture to Thor to get the OK to fix, wait for the reply, and then fix if Thor OKs it. His estimate was about two weeks. I suggested that the "fix" would take about 30 minutes to fix - an hour if you really took your time and he said he would look at it. I then offered to pay for the fix if I could get it fixed in a day or two and he said his mechanics were all busy. How is that for customer service. More as this develops. It has been four weeks today that CW of Mesa has had the coach in for repairs. 4 WEEKS!!

[RetiredRN]

Fairly new to RV life. Just purchased our 2nd. Flew from CA to NC Camping World to purchase the buy of decade. After hours a day (retirees) and months on line, this was the absolute best price for a 2014 Thor Citation 29tb with 6k miles, which actually was 2k. Anyway, we have two issues talked about on Thor forum. Gas filling issue and non functioning jacks. (those we knew about After we arrived and they said 5 weeks to get part. Talked with Lippert and I think that will be resolved) The gas filling is so frustrating... Turns a 10 min stop into a 30min stop. But with the information from this forum, we are hopeful once home, our mechanic can fix it. Thanks for great input.

[RetiredRN]

Fairly new to RV life. Just purchased our 2nd. Flew from CA to NC Camping World to purchase the buy of decade. After hours a day (retirees) and months on line, this was the absolute best price for a 2014 Thor Citation 29tb with 6k miles, which actually was 2k. Anyway, we have two issues talked about on Thor forum. Gas filling issue and non functioning jacks. (those we knew about After we arrived and they said 5 weeks to get part. Talked with Lippert and I think that will be resolved) The gas filling is so frustrating... Turns a 10 min stop into a 30min stop. But with the information from this forum, we are hopeful once home, our mechanic can fix it. Thanks for great input.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by zdomain

I've had the gas fill problems on our Four Winds 28z that seem to plague many motorhomes with the Ford E-Series chassis. I got underneath today and took a look at the gas fill pipe and vent tube, and found that the fill and vent tube don't match up between the gas tank and the fill on the outside of the MH. It is bridged by a short rubber tube that appears to have a twist in it. Anyone else see something like this? Has anyone had it repaired successfully? A picture should be below.

Compared to other pictures posted, it appears to me that the hose was attached first and then the filler tube was rotated counter-clockwise as much as 90 degrees, putting the kink in the hoses. What gives it away is the position of the clamp, which would be very difficult to tighten as aligned in picture.

In a motorhome like FW28z all the clamps are aligned properly as you would expect a mechanic to do it to make it easier on himself if tightened after the assembly was aligned between the tank and the body.

I personally see this as a 100% Thor issue and not Ford.

[probs]

Same problem with 23u Chevy. No quality control is the problem. Get them done and out without a check. Shoddy workmanship.

[sylphil]

/well it seems we Thor folks are having this problem. My four winds 5000 is on a chevy chassis. After almost getting stranded we did a work around until we can get this issue fixed. We used a funnel and a 5/8 inch heater hose that pep boys said was graded for fuel. It may not be the best go around but it helped us meanwhile. We are sharing it with the forum. Sorry pic came out sideways

[09 Challenger]

Originally Posted by zdomain

I've had the gas fill problems on our Four Winds 28z that seem to plague many motorhomes with the Ford E-Series chassis. I got underneath today and took a look at the gas fill pipe and vent tube, and found that the fill and vent tube don't match up between the gas tank and the fill on the outside of the MH. It is bridged by a short rubber tube that appears to have a twist in it. Anyone else see something like this? Has anyone had it repaired successfully? A picture should be below.

all on with hose clamps you should be able to loosen and straighten out you may be able to slide up to remove kink or you may have to take an inch off. I would also re route that ground wire.

[tcshr5@yahoo.com]

we have a 2016 axis 24.1. it had same fueling issue. we called Thor and found closest thor-authorized, non-camping world rv repair center.
Took it to Open Road RV Service in Acworth, GA. 2 days later, they had us in and out in less than an hour. fixed.

[RetiredRN]

Had the similar situation. An RV mechanic fixed it in less than an hour. So stupid that the manufacturers can't fix it before it is sold.

[RetiredRN]

Originally Posted by RetiredRN

Fairly new to RV life. Just purchased our 2nd. Flew from CA to NC Camping World to purchase the buy of decade. After hours a day (retirees) and months on line, this was the absolute best price for a 2014 Thor Citation 29tb with 6k miles, which actually was 2k. Anyway, we have two issues talked about on Thor forum. Gas filling issue and non functioning jacks. (those we knew about After we arrived and they said 5 weeks to get part. Talked with Lippert and I think that will be resolved) The gas filling is so frustrating... Turns a 10 min stop into a 30min stop. But with the information from this forum, we are hopeful once home, our mechanic can fix it. Thanks for great input.

Update. We had so many issues with the 2014 Thor 29tb that it now sits on a lot for sale. Here is the list and the final straw....and everything repaired now, but bad taste for my.
1. Fuel lines twisted
2. Jacks needed new harness
3. Good sized Leaks at two slide edges
4. Table latch loose so table won't stay up
5. Electric owning switch burned up owning motor
6.cosmetic stuff....window without handle, decorative wood panel in kitchen fell off, shower door latch broken, shelf slide in wardrobe wall won't stay in
7. Airmattress leaks so much, can't sleep on it
All fixed fairly simply.
The last straw...camping last month, went to pack it up and the large slide wouldn't come in and was bending the kitchen. Had a nearby RV come. Manually, pushed it. Drove home to our mechanic who found a small "washer" like part had been installed backwards and was causing the slide to move in an odd movement, which screwed up the kitchen drawer slides.
All could have been fixed by CW under warranty, but God knows why they didn't. We were out of warranty. Never a Thor again. We love the Ford part.

[DocMike]

tcshr5 or RetiredRN ,

Can you get a picture of your "fixed" problem? Once it quits raining today I plan to get up under mine and see what I have. So far no problem, but why wait to get stranded somewhere before looking.

Doc

[vkb]

Originally Posted by zdomain

I've sent an email to Thor Customer Service. I would rather not take the rig to the service center and have them scratch their heads for a week before Thor gets back to them and authorizes/tells them the fix. I'll see how it works out.

Don't email Thor Warranty..call them directly...only email if they want to see the photo, or need documentation.

then...stay on top of it !

[RetiredRN]

Actually, we are selling the motor home. It is on a lot. This is a problem that is there or not. If you are not having the any problems filling your tank, you don't have this issue. It was a manufacturer defect...some worse than others.

[txc2936@yahoo.com]

Same problem, 2021 THOR ACE, the fill port keeps backing up and cutting off the gas station nozzle! I will go under and look at the tube, it seems to be kinked from above. You would think something simple of this would have been worked out by THOR during F53 testing! Now i have to dribble fuel in at about 5 gal per half hr.....

[txc2936@yahoo.com]

i just checked fuel line.... it actually has to travel up hill to get to the fuel tank. This will cause a backup in the fuel nozzle area. i think a 5/8 dia hose slid down the fuel cap area might do the trick. There is no quick fix for this one.

[Chateau_Nomad]

I was curious... that fuel setup looks like non- factory clamps. Here's my 2020 (actually 2019 chassis... no such animal as 2020 Ford E-350 chassis). I have no problems pouring my life savings of gasoline into it... no hiccups.

[txc2936@yahoo.com]

so, i have discovered that the fuel line actually goes up hill a little to get down to the fuel tank, a certain miss in Engineering. So, i can either make sure the RV is parked down hill, raise the rear jacks a little, or i just purchased 5 feet of 5/8 heater hose and a funnel. I can slide that down the fuel line and pour gal of fuel into the tank. I only have this problem a few times. Pouring fuel onto the pavement at $3.15 gal. aint no funnn....

[Chateau_Nomad]

Yep... definitely NOT a Ford chassis problem. It's how Thor (or whoever) in manufacturing chose to twist and mount the rubber fill & vent tubes to the MH body.

I'm not sure the "running uphill" is a serious problem... it would simply act like a P trap in plumbing. I think the problem is blocking the vent by twisting that vent hose. Without a good vent from the tank, air can't escape to allow gasoline into the tank. THAT'S your fill problem.