Thor Forums

[breenw]

So sorry to read others are having so many problems with their rigs. We just bought our 3rd motorhome with the purchase of a Thor Challenger 37LX in July. So far we have this list going for Thor. Many are minor but they add up. We have an appointment with Thor in October to drive the rig to Elkhart, IN and leave it for repairs. This list is from prior to taking it camping and/or what we found on our first trip out:

FIX:

• The drop down bed above the front seats does not align properly when raised and lowered. It dropped significantly on the left side and we had to put a lot of pressure on that left side to force it to go back up straight. There is now a “clanging” sound in the enclosure where the mechanics are for this bed on the Left side of the coach near the driver’s seat. When we were driving home yesterday from camping, we heard what sounded like something metal dropping. It sounded like it was near the driver’s seat (my husband flinched when it happened), and we think it might have been inside that enclosure also.
• Window in bedroom (escape window) needs repair. Long piece of weather stripping fell out and some of the stripping is stuck to the outside and some to the window. Would like all windows checked for same.
• The dinette back cushion on the left side is ripping apart from the back as the Velcro was torn out along with the staples.
• Both bathroom sinks are scratched. Fix or replace.
• The wallpaper above the dinette is rippled and coming away from the wall. Also in small bathroom on Left side inside the door.
• Carpet is hanging out of the ‘plumbing cabinet’ next to the pantry. Needs to be trimmed back.
• Left bedroom window – screw sticking out of window frame.
• Drawer under Right dinette seat doesn’t stay closed – comes out when driving.
• Both drawers under stove open while driving.
• Cabinet across from small bathroom is splintered on the edge.
• Shower door won’t open properly. It jams and you can’t get out of shower without reaching over the top and sticking fingers between glass to separate enough so doors will slide open.
• Shower leaks. Also looks like clear caulk was used to seal. This is rolling off because wrong kind was used.
• Front windshield electric shade won’t stay in track when raising/lowering.
• Cabinet above entry door – indicator light for water heater will not light. Doesn’t matter whether you are trying to turn on, turn off, light the pilot, etc.
• Water heater will only work when LP is turned on. Will not work on 110.
• Water does not heat above lukewarm, no matter how long you run the water. We had to take room temp showers and heat water in microwave to do dishes.
• Microwave door scrapes the wood panel next to the refrigerator every time you open it.
• Inverter is not converting over when shore power is disconnected and motorhome is turned on/traveling. Do not want to rely on generator power to keep refrigerator cold while moving. (Found out there is a major part missing that connects the inverter. We bought one and installed it)
• Water is getting into the outside television bay.
• Refrigerator is either crooked or cabinet surrounding it is. Larger “gap” on the Right side at top of refrigerator vs. the bottom of refrigerator.
• Bay doors need to be checked as one came open during travel on interstate and we lost a couple of expensive items when they fell out. Door was in locked position. Some other bay doors don’t want to engage unless you manually push the lock mechanism into place.
• Hot and cold knobs on outside shower are reversed.
• Button/snap in Right corner of the pull down bed (netting) needs to be repaired/replaced.
• Grill on front of rig is not fastened properly and isn’t fastened at all at the bottom.
• Front engine door panel came open while traveling. We adjusted it but not sure it is fixed properly.

REPLACE:

• There was no sink stopper in the small bathroom.
• The small bathroom toilet lid was scratched.
• The plastic slide in the screen door needs replaced.
• Metal strip across front rise of dinette floor needs replaced.
• Screen in window above dinette is warped. Leaves a gaping hole where bugs can come in.
• Flooring needs to be replaced. Living area and bedroom area – when Camping World tried to clean off the sticky residue from the stickers, they took the finish off in several places. One spot in front of dinette is already turning black from the finish being gone.
• Two bay door handles need replacing as they have deep scratches/dents in them.

FIX OR REPLACE??? Not Sure Which….

• Dent in refrigerator door on front
• Kitchen sink is dented
• Invertor control switch on side of sink cabinet does not work
• Drivers side dashboard area has an area that looks “pinched” or stressed.
• Front of rig above windshield appears to have been "damaged". There are 2 areas that are buckled and possibly this was driven into an overhang of some sort??? One area also looks like something is trying to punch through from the inside to the outside.

We had other issues reported previously but those were fixed by Camping World. These consisted of:

• • Panel warning lights were all lit up.
  • Jacks would not go down or retract.
  • Roof seam at front of rig was temporarily caulked and screwed back where it now appears there was some kind of impact damage. Thor to investigate this on October visit.

We took the rig out for our 2nd trip this past weekend and found the following to add to the list above:

38. Thermostat in living area is off by 5-7 degrees. Room is colder than thermostat registers.
39. Window leaks on driver’s side window.
40. Screen above couch area is warped and will not lay flat against channel.
41. Light fixture above dinette is crooked and regular screws were used instead of the decorative screw covers.
42. Bathroom door squeaks when opening or closing.
43. Right side dinette drawer not only won’t stay closed in transit, but will not close straight (top sticks out farther than bottom.
44. Major issue: Our large slide would not retract in when we got ready to pack up and leave camp site. Had to make multiple calls to Thor, Camping World, Good Sam Roadside Assistance, etc. to get someone that could figure out how we could manually retract slide in order to leave the campground. Appears that one of the motors is bad and needs replacing.

So we are up to 44 items not counting the 3 that were fixed or temporarily fixed by Camping World.

Needless to say, we are not “happy campers” literally. We never experienced this many issues with our prior 2 motorhomes so we weren’t anticipating this happening.

My concern is most owners are fixing things themselves or are commiserating here on forums such as this but are owners contacting the powers that be at Thor and other manufacturers and demanding better quality?