Total Engine Failure at 900 miles on new Thor Vegas

Hawkeye · 08-03-2015, 11:32 PM

So we took our new Thor Vegas up to the northwoods of Wisconsin, Minocqua. That is about 400 miles north of my home, and we did go over some hills between Dubuque and Madison. But just south of Dubuque the engine revved up to 6000 rpm. We drove ten more miles to Dubuque, dropped the towed car and went on up to Minocqua. RV drove fine but check engine light stayed on. Local Ford car dealer said we blew a piston, but just said they could not service it and did not offer one more ounce of help. They did say don't drive it. So our Good Sams Road Service turned out to be a joke (they have been quite good in earlier years), but this time no help at all. It was quite obvious they had no network of adequate truck chassis dealers. Thor tried to help. Ford came online too. After 22 hours and our dodging Ford with phone calls, they paid for a tow 100 miles south to a servicing Ford truck dealer (local campground said they were good.) This was a Thursday and they could not get to it until Monday. The campground let us stay in a rental trailer for two nights since we did have two dogs with us. We loaded as much of the RV as we could into the towed vehicle and came home. So today is Monday and the servicing truck dealer says one engine cylinder had no compression. They sent a scope down the cylinder and found a foreign body in the cylinder, most likely inserted during assembly. We will find out tomorrow what they will do for us. So far we are out $20 for a cooler and blue ices and lots of inconvenience and a ruined end of vacation. We will see what Ford will do tomorrow. I hope we don't hear a remanufactured short block proposal.

Kathy from the Quad Cities.

Larry · 08-03-2015, 11:57 PM

What a bummer!! So sorry to hear of your misfortune. I can't even imagine the frustration and disappointment. Sure hope Ford and Thor will do the right thing for you on this and make it good to your satisfaction.

Kenneth Neal · 08-04-2015, 12:01 AM

Keep us up to date on your troubles. I'm sure the are plenty of people who want to know how Ford and Thor handle this engine failure.

Happy RVer · 08-04-2015, 12:12 AM

Yep, that takes the cake I would say. That's a Carolina saying.

timp410 · 08-04-2015, 12:24 AM

WOW! I really hate this happen to you. I hope they take care of this asap.

Daveht · 08-04-2015, 12:55 AM

All I can say is WOW!

Nursx2 · 08-04-2015, 03:27 AM

That SUCKS Hawkeye! Will be following your thread on your result! Good luck man!

Hawkeye · 08-04-2015, 02:11 PM

I will keep you up to date. I do have my active license to practice law in Iowa and Illinois in my back pocket, but I hope they come through without having to use that tool. But I should start researching our rights under both states lemon laws (RVs are frequently not included.) One of my co workers at John Deere who used to work in Ag Quality Control says that is known as engine infant mortality and totally preventable....

**EA37TS** · 08-04-2015, 03:43 PM

Hawkeye

Sorry to hear about the problems.

I have been a Ford customer for over 40 years making the switch from GM back in the late seventies. In that time I had two warranty issues that were interesting. In both cases the dealer wanted to decline warranty coverage. In both cases I contacted Ford directly and after explaining the situation their response was "you are now dealing with us and not the dealer". In both cases when I returned to pick up the vehicle the dealer had to call Ford, in my presence, and explain what they did and after I inspected and test drove the vehicle I informed Ford whether or not the repair was satisfactory.

In one case it was a dealer other than the selling dealer and in the other case if was the selling dealer trying to do something on the cheap.

It would surprise me if Ford doesn't step up to the plate on your issue.

BTW, I was in the QC area on business last week. I especially enjoy the Iowa side of the river.

Phil Saran · 08-04-2015, 05:39 PM

Kind of sounds like maybe a valve broke off and killed the piston?

Hawkeye · 08-04-2015, 11:49 PM

Heard nothing from dealer or Ford. Called Thor and asked for a transport home. Denied by first level intake person, referred up chain with supposed call back, heard nothing. I sure hope they don't offer up a re manufactured short block.

Mr Sunshine · 08-05-2015, 12:44 AM

What an awful thing to have happen! We'll all be watching to see how Ford handles this. And Thor, too. Hope you don't need to use your lawyer powers.
We took our new Vegas up those same roads last month. We'll be anxious to hear that you are back on the road before too long.

joemusic321 · 08-05-2015, 12:56 AM

It's unfortunate to say the least but these things will happen. Infant mortality is a real thing especially with engines and transmissions. As many of these engines are produced, it's a wonder these things don't happen more often. The real "proof in the pudding" will be if repairs are made in a timely and effective manner.

JamieGeek · 08-05-2015, 01:22 AM

I wonder if you spit out a spark plug. The Triton engines are notorious for doing that. Ford did some modifications of the line back in the 2000s increasing the # of threads in the spark plug hole but it still happens from time to time.

Neither of my two V-10s did that (a 1999 F-250 that had 138,000 miles on it when I traded it in for the 2008 F-350 which had 70,000+ miles on it when we traded it in on the Axis which hasn't done it either but we only have 7,000+ miles on it).

Hawkeye · 08-05-2015, 03:31 AM

I suspect Ford will take the engine back for an autopsy.

Chance · 08-05-2015, 10:49 AM

I suspect you'll get a new engine and not a remanufactured one.

As JoeMusic mentioned, these kinds of failures can happen occasionally. The transmission on the very first new car my wife and I purchased went out within 100 miles or so. Apparently a piece of flashing from the casting broke loose and locked it in 2nd gear. Chevy fixed it quickly and we never had a problem with transmission until engine died just under 200,000 miles. Just saying that if fixed properly your engine should be as good as new. If anything I would be more concerned about Ford having adequate access to engine in motorhome to perform repairs.

Your associated inconvenience/headache is very unfortunate.

**fhenn** · 08-05-2015, 10:58 AM

If you have an extended warranty most will cover a trip interuption

Hawkeye · 08-05-2015, 12:30 PM

Does anyone remember what usual warranty is? We left all our books in rig. Thinking of asking for additional one rear warranty on engine and transmission. Did it previously with a Gulfstream diesel pusher that had a lot of coach issues the first year.

**EA37TS** · 08-05-2015, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Does anyone remember what usual warranty is? We left all our books in rig. Thinking of asking for additional one rear warranty on engine and transmission. Did it previously with a Gulfstream diesel pusher that had a lot of coach issues the first year.

Power train should be 5 year 60,000 mile with the remainder of the chassis at 3 year 36,000 mile. The coach itself is Thor's 12 month warranty.

Hawkeye · 08-06-2015, 06:23 PM

Thor contacts have been funny. Yesterday the "concierge" called to welcome us to the Thor family. When told what had happened we were referred to someone obviously based in India for customer support. Communication was fruitless due to language difficulties. My contact the day before had not been recorded in the reference file for our incident. Taken up one level to supervisor who started off rudely, but calmed down. No contact since then.

Contact with Ford fruitless. We asked for some contact or updates and were told those were "courtesies and Ford was not courteous."

Called the dealer where being serviced. They said Ford has not yet authorized repairs, but wanted them to further tear apart the engine. Dealer feels strongly we need new engine.

Researched lemon laws in Illinois and Iowa. As suspected, Iowa does not cover RVs. Illinois does. We live on the east coast of Iowa (can see the Mississippi River from our deck) but bought the rig in Illinois. If out of service for more than 30 business days qualifies for refund or replacement. But must go to third party dispute resolution service provided by manufacturer. Thor's manual lists such a service but when I called them they said they do not cover Illinois. Just California and Florida. Sent email to Thor asking for name of such third party and informing them they were not in compliance with Illinois lemon law by not having in operator's manual.

It truly appears as if the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.

Their thirty days runs out on September 10 so they have a while, but it will once again ruin our trip planned over Labor Day.

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