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Old 05-01-2017, 01:36 AM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Vegas 24.1 - Sold it!
State: Tennessee
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THOR #6513
Tail Lights on 2017 Vegas - Rusted/water/delamination

This weekend we went camping. Noticed the tail lights on the right side burned out. Checked it out and noticed a lot of water on the lens inside.

Results:

*Top center screw missing from the factory, lens bowed out to about a 1/8" gap.
*Back up lens never had the paper removed from seal, IE no seal.
*Two bulbs contacts rusted through.
*Screws rusted
*Full of dust.
*Screws used to attach lens too large for mounting holes which caused lens to crack and screws to bind (almost unable to remove screws).
*Plywood absorbed water and fiberglass has started to de-laminate from the wood.

I encourage you to check your rear lights and see if any moisture is present. The lens is the primary seal. It is mounted directly to the RV with a cutout in the wood. Any moisture present will be absorbed by the wood behind it.

Fortunately my unit is still under warranty so I have the opportunity to resolve it with factory. You may not so check it out and fix it before its too late.

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Old 05-01-2017, 02:05 AM   #2
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THOR #3483
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeDS View Post
This weekend we went camping. Noticed the tail lights on the right side burned out. Checked it out and noticed a lot of water on the lens inside.

Results:

*Top center screw missing from the factory, lens bowed out to about a 1/8" gap.
*Back up lens never had the paper removed from seal, IE no seal.
*Two bulbs contacts rusted through.
*Screws rusted
*Full of dust.
*Screws used to attach lens too large for mounting holes which caused lens to crack and screws to bind (almost unable to remove screws).
*Plywood absorbed water and fiberglass has started to de-laminate from the wood.

I encourage you to check your rear lights and see if any moisture is present. The lens is the primary seal. It is mounted directly to the RV with a cutout in the wood. Any moisture present will be absorbed by the wood behind it.

Fortunately my unit is still under warranty so I have the opportunity to resolve it with factory. You may not so check it out and fix it before its too late.
Seriously, Thor? It seems like every other owner that has these taillights has had the same problem to one degree or another. My left taillight had moisture inside it and I found that the top right screw was broken in half, therefore it was not tightened down. The backup light also did not have the paper removed on one side of the very skinny gasket. This will probably be my next change out (change for Bargmann triple LED taillights) after I have the front cap roof clearance lights replaced with sealed LED lights. Several of them have moisture droplets inside meaning eventually they will corrode and stop working.... Who is supervising the QC at Thor?
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Old 05-01-2017, 11:36 AM   #3
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My solution to the taillight issue: http://www.thorforums.com/forums/f27...axis-1433.html

There are other discussions about this:
http://www.thorforums.com/forums/f8/...ghts-2568.html
http://www.thorforums.com/forums/f8/...else-5314.html
http://www.thorforums.com/forums/f8/...issue-808.html
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Old 05-01-2017, 03:46 PM   #4
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THOR #6513
Unreal. You are right about Thor quality control. Rather poor. That and the bean counters probably saved a dollar or two on each of these lens instead of standard self contained sealed type.

I was amazed at all of the other entries posted.

It amazed me that they have yet to correct that back up lens gasket application.
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Old 05-01-2017, 04:17 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeDS
I was amazed at all of the other entries posted.
I didn't post them all, only the ones with significant discussions !
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Old 05-01-2017, 05:20 PM   #6
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We had not seen any moisture in the lenses, so I hated to unscrew and possibly "break" the seal. However, after this weekends horrendous rain event, we now see moisture, so I guess the time has come to investigate. That and the fact that our warranty expires in two months
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Old 05-01-2017, 06:17 PM   #7
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I wasted my time trying to get the dealership to repair the left taillight. I won't get into the details, but, they didn't fix the problem.... Better off doing it myself, as usual. I am glad that my one year warranty is over and I won't be going back...
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Old 05-01-2017, 08:08 PM   #8
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I need to fix my taillights as well- like said before there have been threads on it, but I was wondering if anyone has tried this rather than caulk- seems to work great on windows and I don't see why it can't be used for this application?
https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Butyl-Tape-p/38-1467.htm
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Old 05-02-2017, 01:29 AM   #9
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I called tech support. They said take it to the dealer. Of course. I mentioned that it is an ongoing problem for some time. Party I was talking with quite frankly didn't care.
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Old 05-02-2017, 01:29 AM   #10
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Jamie, did you see a reasonable way to change out the tail/brake light bulb? We want LED.

I'm going to follow your example by using flexseal to protect the wood.

Does the black plastic cover on the inside of tail light fixture simply pop off?
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Old 05-02-2017, 12:16 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JollyRodgers
Jamie, did you see a reasonable way to change out the tail/brake light bulb? We want LED.

I'm going to follow your example by using flexseal to protect the wood.

Does the black plastic cover on the inside of tail light fixture simply pop off?
I did not look to see if changing the light was easy or not (and can't really tell from my pics). Nor did I try to remove the back plastic cover behind the black foam gasket.

Not sure if I'd replace the bulbs with LED bulbs or simply replace the fixtures with better ones with LEDs in them (time will tell).
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Old 05-02-2017, 12:33 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JollyRodgers View Post
Jamie, did you see a reasonable way to change out the tail/brake light bulb? We want LED.

I'm going to follow your example by using flexseal to protect the wood.

Does the black plastic cover on the inside of tail light fixture simply pop off?
When you unscrew it its all one assembly. The red lens covers a black plastic piece that holds the bulbs followed by a foam gasket. In my case the screws used are slightly larger than the holes in the red lens. Since they use a drill to insert them it slightly melted the plastic around the screws and they became attached to each other. I had to carefully back out each screw in increments to keep from breaking the plastic lens then detach the screws once I removed it.

I had to use one of my low power impact driver drills to get it out. I started out using a screwdriver but that approach was not satisfactory. Too much force required and I was afraid if stripping the phillips head screw.

Personally in sealing the wood my choice would be a latex caulk, or silicone, the type used for windows, applied by using your finger. A little messy but you can work it into the wood grain that way and seal it completely.
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Old 05-02-2017, 12:39 PM   #13
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THOR #6513
PS. If you take the cover off Do replace the bulbs. The contacts on my bulbs were totally rusted away. replace them and use a dielectric grease to seal them from moisture. You can get the bulb grease from any auto parts store.
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Old 05-02-2017, 11:07 PM   #14
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THOR #4687
Lazinskm, we used some of your tape on the back of the RV,and stuck the gasket to the tape and screwed through that.

We also used clear rubber sealent to coat all the wood and plywood in the cutout.

While we had everything apart, we replaced the turn/brake lamps with RED LEDs and the backup lamps with WHITE LEDs.

It was as simple as unplugging and plugging in..

We left the bottom of the light assemblies with no tape to allow a little bit of a "drain"

I hope it works like I think it will.
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Old 05-03-2017, 01:44 AM   #15
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Thx Mo_Mike! This is great info!
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Old 05-03-2017, 12:31 PM   #16
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Mo Mike, that sounds great! I need to do this next weekend. Where did you get the LED bulbs from?
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Old 05-03-2017, 06:53 PM   #17
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Probably not the cheapest, but got them at OReilly (AutoZone also has them) I know they are cheaper online, but had the lights removed when I decided to put in the LEDs and didnt want to reassemble, then disassemble again if I didn't need to...

Also, some vehicles need a load resistor for signals to work right, but not on our VEGAS, just plug them in.
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Old 08-02-2019, 08:34 PM   #18
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Yes, we have right brake light is out. Took cover off and sure enough water behind it. The 2 screws on the left hand side of cover broke in half. Of course everything wet behind it. Now letting it dry out then will go from there. Thor’s QC is terrible. Not our first issue with this motorhome.
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Old 09-23-2020, 11:58 PM   #19
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THOR #3471
Has anyone changed the complete bake brake turn light assembly on axis or vegas. Where did you buy them
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Old 09-24-2020, 12:04 AM   #20
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There are several LED retro-fits
Here’s a post on one of them...

https://www.thorforums.com/forums/sh...7&postcount=13
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