Itasca Solei 36G Basement Leaks

[The_Bob]

I need some help and advice, please.

We have a 2015 Itasca Solei 36G (diesel pusher) that we purchased new about 6 months ago. We have had numerous problems with it (another topic thread to come...); the dealer has been helpful in supporting fixes, and I can't fault them. Most of the issues come from crappy quality control at the Winnebago factory. (The first 90 days we owned this unit it was in the shop 50 days for warranty work.) I will say that most of the problems have been fixed by 3 good dealers. However, one issue that no one seems to be able to solve is water intrusion into the basement areas, most notably in the vicinity of the wheel wells.

Whenever we drive in the rain, these bays become totally saturated. Water also seems to be coming in when we are parked with the slides fully extended. I have had the unit in twice to a dealer; they applied more black sealant to where they seemed to think the offending areas were located. However, this does not seem to have solved the problem. Things continue to get wet. Every time we return home from a trip (after having to drive in the rain,) we have to totally unload all the basements, open all the bay doors and let things dry out for several days. Not to mention water damage to some stuff we have stored there. And now, because of the constant dampness (we live in Washington State) mold is beginning to develop. It seems to me that when you pay over $200K for an RV you should not be having these issues. I have read the 'Lemon Law' pamphlet; once I go in 5 times for the same problem I will have legal recourse. Three times to go...

I have contacted Winnebago Technical Support and they have been of absolutely no help, other than to tell me to contact the new Junction City Facility and see what they say. (I have already been there once for other issues.) Junction City is a 5 hour drive from our house.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? Any suggestions? I have thought about asking the dealer to remove all the wheels and spray in some sort of flexible sealant in the wheel wells. Perhaps this should have been done at the factory.

Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide.

Bob.

[ex-SubGuy]

Bob,
There are several articles on this forum concerning water intrusion into the basements on the Forza, you can perform a search and take a look. Looks like the most likely cause are poorly adjusted doors, and items that were not properly sealed at construction. Have sealed all the obvious and now will take a look at the doors. Have you done any type of leak testing; light, water spray, smoke, etc?
Good Luck
Russ

[Arkie_ENT]

Wow! I WISH I had the factory 5 hours from me! Try making the drive from AR -to- IA a few times!

[moechester]

I also had trouble with leaking bay doors on my Forza 36G. Same rig as the OP. I had my dealer adjust my bay doors and this seemed to fix the problem? Well, after this weekend of driving in the rain I noticed water in the storage bays again? My problem still exists. I am going on another long weekend trip this weekend. Rain in the forecast. Keep us posted if you find a solution.

[awol50]

Welcome to crappy Winnebago quality control. I also have a 2016 Forza 36G. When I went to pick it up new from the dealer, about 20 of the 25 interior LED lights either did not work at all or visibly dim. You mean to tell me neither anyone at the factory or dealer noticed that? And that is just one example of ****** quality control and dealer presale support. All in all I had a list of around 20 fixes after I picked the RV up and brought it home to inspect.



And all defects by the way were with the coach. None with the chassis. I think Freightliner, Cummins and Allison make a quality chassis. It is Winnebago and their dealers that should hang their heads in shame.

Trust me when I say, I will never pick up and pay for another new RV with out a thorough evaluation of everything. And those defects fixed before one dollar changes hands.

[awol50]

I do not think the lemon laws apply to coach issues in an rv in Washington. Only the chassis. Am I wrong.

[The_Bob]

Originally Posted by awol50

I do not think the lemon laws apply to coach issues in an rv in Washington. Only the chassis. Am I wrong.

I am pretty sure that the Lemon Law DOES apply in WA. When closing on unit we were given a Lemon Law brochure.

I would prefer not to go this route, but will if necessary. I have already mentioned it the dealer where we got it.

And, BTW, Winnebago DOES make a ****** product, and least in the case of the Solei. Zero quality control and no one at the factory seems to give a crap about it. I seriously doubt that I would EVER buy one of their products again. (However, no complaints abut the Freightliner chassis or Allison transmission. They are great.)

[The_Bob]

Originally Posted by awol50

Welcome to crappy Winnebago quality control. I also have a 2016 Forza 36G. When I went to pick it up new from the dealer, about 20 of the 25 interior LED lights either did not work at all or visibly dim. You mean to tell me neither anyone at the factory or dealer noticed that? And that is just one example of ****** quality control and dealer presale support. All in all I had a list of around 20 fixes after I picked the RV up and brought it home to inspect.



And all defects by the way were with the coach. None with the chassis. I think Freightliner, Cummins and Allison make a quality chassis. It is Winnebago and their dealers that should hang their heads in shame.

Trust me when I say, I will never pick up and pay for another new RV with out a thorough evaluation of everything. And those defects fixed before one dollar changes hands.

We had exactly the same problem with the LED lights in our Solei 36G. All 22 went dim or totally out within the first 2 months...and pretty much all at once. I called Winnebago Customer Service and the guy there said it was a 'known problem." He shipped me 22 new lights (cans, lenses, etc.) no questions asked. I installed them all myself. Easier then have the coach tied up another 2 weeks at the dealer. They arrived in less than 5 days. But, this issue begs the questions that if this was a "known problem," why was there no recall notice issued? I asked the dealer about it and they had no clue that there even WAS a problem. And the problem was known even before we bought the coach. What a load of crap, eh?

[The_Bob]

Originally Posted by ex-SubGuy

Bob,
There are several articles on this forum concerning water intrusion into the basements on the Forza, you can perform a search and take a look. Looks like the most likely cause are poorly adjusted doors, and items that were not properly sealed at construction. Have sealed all the obvious and now will take a look at the doors. Have you done any type of leak testing; light, water spray, smoke, etc?
Good Luck
Russ

We have had the unit into the dealer 3 different times to try to resolved the problem. The first 2 times he applied more 'black sealant' to the areas near the front wheel wells. This helped a bit, but not much. This past time, it happened to be raining so he took it out and drove it. Our complaint was confirmed. Suspects that the leaks are STILL coming from the original places, as well as other areas in front of, and behind ALL the wheels.

We discussed the bay doors themselves as another possible problem point, but this dealer said probably not. (And yet another dealer I talked to said "probably.") Par for the course.

We are supposed to get the coach back from this fix (and about 10 others...also par for the course, confirming Winnebago crap quality control). I will report back to this forum what happened.

If anyone else has any thoughts, please let me know.

[GTobey]

I had a leak in my right front basement compartment behind the front wheel. Carpet in that bin got wet on our trip home with it as well as some of the items I transferred from our Navion. Had to throw several cardboard boxes away that were soaked.

I saw the streaks on the black paint left by the water leaking in from the seam above the panel directly behind the wheel. CW of Roanoke dug out the original sealant and completely re-sealed the offending area. So far, it has been good.

In the automotive industry, to find leaks around door weatherstrip, a smoke machine pumps pressurized smoke into a car and check for smoke leaking around each weatherstrip. That may work with the door seals, but I think a lot of it would escape up into the RV above making it hard to find it below.

[The_Bob]

Originally Posted by The_Bob

I need some help and advice, please.

We have a 2015 Itasca Solei 36G (diesel pusher) that we purchased new about 6 months ago. We have had numerous problems with it (another topic thread to come...); the dealer has been helpful in supporting fixes, and I can't fault them. Most of the issues come from crappy quality control at the Winnebago factory. (The first 90 days we owned this unit it was in the shop 50 days for warranty work.) I will say that most of the problems have been fixed by 3 good dealers. However, one issue that no one seems to be able to solve is water intrusion into the basement areas, most notably in the vicinity of the wheel wells.

Whenever we drive in the rain, these bays become totally saturated. Water also seems to be coming in when we are parked with the slides fully extended. I have had the unit in twice to a dealer; they applied more black sealant to where they seemed to think the offending areas were located. However, this does not seem to have solved the problem. Things continue to get wet. Every time we return home from a trip (after having to drive in the rain,) we have to totally unload all the basements, open all the bay doors and let things dry out for several days. Not to mention water damage to some stuff we have stored there. And now, because of the constant dampness (we live in Washington State) mold is beginning to develop. It seems to me that when you pay over $200K for an RV you should not be having these issues. I have read the 'Lemon Law' pamphlet; once I go in 5 times for the same problem I will have legal recourse. Three times to go...

I have contacted Winnebago Technical Support and they have been of absolutely no help, other than to tell me to contact the new Junction City Facility and see what they say. (I have already been there once for other issues.) Junction City is a 5 hour drive from our house.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? Any suggestions? I have thought about asking the dealer to remove all the wheels and spray in some sort of flexible sealant in the wheel wells. Perhaps this should have been done at the factory.

Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide.

Bob.

(This is a follow-up post regarding a number of serious problems we experienced with our 2015 Itasca Solei 36G. In a previous post here, I outlined the many problems we encountered and our almost total frustration with this coach.)

To quickly summarize what you are going to read below, we are optimistic that almost all of the issues we experience during the past 12 months have been resolved to our satisfaction. But, this resulted only after many complaints to our dealer and to Winnebago Corporate. Read on...

Since we purchased this coach from Roy Robinson RV in Marysville, WA, we have had many continuing and seemingly irresolvable problems, including slide out failures, seriously leaking basement bays, a crooked (misaligned) refrigerator with a door that would never properly shut, floor tiles that were popping up and a myriad of other small problems. Some of the issues were never properly repaired, even after 3-5 return trips to an authorized Winnebago repair facility (Awesome RV in Chehalis, WA). Not that Awesome did not try - they did. It's just that the some solutions eluded them. And I will say, to their credit, they did help us with several early-on failures and did solve those. So kudos are deserved there.

During our first year of ownership, our coach was in the shop for repairs OVER 125 days. We had to cancel several planned trips and skip events that we had looked forward to attending. Obviously, we were depressed and angry. At one point, we asked Winnebago to extend our factory due to (unreasonable) time lost, but that request fell on deaf ears.

While traveling in Mexico recently, we had a slide fail, for the 2nd time. We managed to dissemble (a royal pain in the butt) the mechanism (Power Gear) and manually push the slide in. Two days later, another slide failed; we manage to nurse it in. That was the last straw and it really pushed us over the edge.

We previously had made an appointment for warranty work to be done at the Winnebago Repair Facility in Junction City, Oregon. We dropped off our seriously ailing RV and drove our tow car back home, a 4 hour trip north. Once home, I wrote a 4-page, extremely acerbic, letter to our dealer, in care of David Madsen (RV Sales Manager) and requested that he forward it to Winnebago Corporate, which he did. I will insert here that David is an incredibly nice guy who has very patiently tried to assist us with our problems; I can't begin to say how helpful and attentive he has been. It is because of him that Roy Robinson RV would get our return business. I regret that I cannot say this about our salesman - once we signed the sales contract, he disappeared into the ether. We were very lucky to have Dave step up to help. We were also lucky to make contact with one of their shop technicians who - over the phone - taught us how to resuscitate the Power Gear slide mechanism control "brain."

Continuing on, this was not the first letter of complaint we had sent to the dealer - there were several others. To make a long story short, after an exchange of emails with David Madsen, Brian Hazelton (Vice President / General Manager Motorhome Business) and Steve Evenson (Winnebago Director of Parts and Service) we finally seem to have attracted their attention. They were all sympathetic and very apologetic for the many problems we identified. And, they offered very reasonable solutions, which included extending our one-year factory warranty for another 12 months (our original warranty had expired on March 6.) Another part of our compromise agreement would be that, upon completion of repair work in Junction City, Bill Dickey (Service District Manager), Doug Beaudry, (Plant Service Manager), John Emanuel (Shop Foreman) and Nick (our lead technician) would meet with us to physically review all the work that had been done.

We drove down to Junction City last Friday to pick up the coach. Everyone who was supposed to be there was. We spent about 2 hours going through every issue - it was an excellent meeting; I felt that these folks were really concerned and had worked hard to make things right - especially Nick, our lead technician. I should also mention here that Nick was very attentive during the entire 3-week-long repair process. He called regularly with updates and always promptly returned my phone calls. His efforts are greatly appreciated and kept our anxiety level to a minimum.

Everything that we asked to be repaired was. The Lippert Power Gear hardware assemblies in ALL THREE of the slides were gutted and totally replaced - motors, rails, mount and related hardware. When testing slides during the meeting, I was amazed at how well they functioned - they had NEVER operated that smoothly! They had also removed and reinstalled the refrigerator, that was never properly installed in the first place (manufacturing sloppiness); they discovered several attachment/alignment issues and fixed them. The floor tile problems were resolved and, once again, poor installation at the factory was found to be the culprit. The leaking basement bays appear to have been fixed - we drove the 4 hours home in the rain with no detectable leaks. It should be noted here that we had this leak problem in for repair 3 previous times (not at Junction City) with no improvement. The resolution at Junction City came by applying additional sealant to the OUTSIDE of the bays, rather than the inside. Furthermore, they discovered, and repaired several other issues not our original list of repairs. Finally, entering their shop area is like walking into a hospital - clean, orderly, well lit and well organized.

In summary, let me testify to the fact that the Winnebago Junction City facility is a CLASS ACT. Their staff - all of them from the receptionist on up - is the BEST I have ever encountered (almost all those we worked with were products of the original County Coach manufacturing operation.) They do what they say they are going to do: they are consummate professionals - and they are always patient and friendly. One of their successful business practices, at least in my opinion, is that when you have your coach in for repair, they have eliminated the service writer. You deal right from the very beginning with your lead technician - no middle person. Now there's a thought!

So, in summary, our confidence in Winnebago has been restored. And, even though Junction City is a 4-hour drive for us, it is now the ONLY place we will ever take our Solei for service. Thanks to everyone at Winnebago Industries who helped us through this difficult process. Your willingness to make things right means a lot to us.



(The attached picture shows Doug Beaudry, Bill Dickey and Nick. What a crew!)

Bob.

[powercat_ras]

The problem areas on my Winnebago were:

- water thrown up by the wheels from getting thru the compartment to sidewall seam and the compartment to floor and square frame tubing seams. Floor seam and outside wall compartment seams not pefectly sealed. Not just easy to seal - NOT straight seams due to the square support tubing used under the floor outside the frame rails.

- cable entry hole on inner outside wall of compartments that were not air or water tight.

I bought a roll of 6" Wide Eternabond tape and went to work on the seams where the compartment wall meets the outside coach wall and where the bottom of the floor meets the compartment wall. The 6" wide tape lets you get a seal around those irregular surfaces that get missed trying to use sealant. The tape bonds well if you reasonably clean the surfaces and the plastic upper layer of the tape seems to be durable. It can flex and maintain seal even as things move and flex going down the road.

I also used a few tubes of adhesive caulk on other areas that looked like air could get in or out of the compartments to underneath the coach.

I don't know yet if I have totally solved the problem. Next drive thru rain will tell the tale.

[Gormleys]

Well, I thought my leaking basement basement compartment days were over, but traveling east from Colorado during the last two days, I have discovered that the two times in the shop have solved nothing. All of my bays were wet. I guess I'll have to get the Eternabond tape and try to fix it myself.

[Forza Tom]

Originally Posted by The_Bob

We had exactly the same problem with the LED lights in our Solei 36G. All 22 went dim or totally out within the first 2 months...and pretty much all at once. I called Winnebago Customer Service and the guy there said it was a 'known problem." He shipped me 22 new lights (cans, lenses, etc.) no questions asked. I installed them all myself. Easier then have the coach tied up another 2 weeks at the dealer. They arrived in less than 5 days. But, this issue begs the questions that if this was a "known problem," why was there no recall notice issued? I asked the dealer about it and they had no clue that there even WAS a problem. And the problem was known even before we bought the coach. What a load of crap, eh?

We had the same issue with the lights. Our dealer told me that several other manufacturers were have the same issue even telling me that they had a couple of Fleetwood's that had to have every light replaced. These lights were from a 3rd party manufacturer that several RV manufacturers use.

Whether we like it or not unless you are buying a high end coach you and your dealer are the quality control function. I don't like it but it is what it is. This is common across all of the manufacturers.

Winnebago checks a few basic things and ships the unit to your dealer. The dealer is supposed to fix the obvious things an deliver it to you. You have the things fixed that you discover over the first year.

Again I think it's a poor way to do business but if you are going to buy a new coach going into it knowing this will help you maintain your sanity.

[GTobey]

Coming back from NC last weekend, we were running in a big thunderstorm. When I got home and opened the doors in front of the rear wheel wells, the water bay had water and silt from the road in it filling the two recesses where the caps can be removed. The carpet was wet on the opposite side where the fresh water tank and the water pump is mounted.

I found the seams at the top of the wheel well liner were separated on both sides, and some white material was showing through the very thin film of black sealant that was originally put on it.

I ordered some 3M 8367 Urethane Seal sealer, and filled the gaps, and then caulked it heavily to cover the seams inside the bay and at the wheel well. Here's a couple of pictures of the seam that was separated.

That 3M stuff is thick and only has a 10 minute working time, so it cures really fast! Much better than silicone though. I hope it works.

[MountainMH]

We have had a lot of Forza leaking basement issues and finally have solutions. Come join us in the Winnebago Diesel Pusher forum where a lot of us Forza owners reside.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/228615...urce=typeahead