Bad Wires

[Timothy]

I've had to repair the wires to my slideout 3 times now and thought I had it all taken care of until my last trip the beginning of August. Everything went fine until the day we were leaving, I hooked up and got a short message on my prodigy brake control. Looked around to see if anything was obvious and no luck. I had just replace my brake shoes a couple of weeks before so I though maybe one of the brake wires got pinched. I limped home with intermittant brakes because I didn't have the tools needed with to jack up the trailer and pull wheels.

I unhooked all the brakes at the wheels from the back side and found the feed wire was shorted. Unhooked the wire from the umbilical cord and sure enough still shorted between the brakes and the junction box under the pin box. Decided I would have to remove the metal panels to get a better look, what a wonderful design!!! I had to remove the gas pipe that ran under the panels, unhook cables that fed through them and cut through caulking around the waste pipes, it took me 3 hours to remove one panel, the second one only took about 30 minutes and the panel that was around the dump valves I just about had to destroy to get it off.

Before I removed the panels I had contacted GS via the Ask Mr Wothmore section on thier web site, received no response for 2 days so I sent an email to towtech asking for assistance in locationg the wiring problem, 2 days no response gave up and started removing panels as stated above. Anyway this is what I found.

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VADdAtgYHRb2fF!9C8DZ*vPE4On7jrbyahrTnmkzHWxYsYer3 Nhn!07J!nxi0leREBVBDbjRxe!2fa!JgotsNi4YIp5*vxbZ5Pt HHvlv*3R51SdEBSMBe7lHcEIHWyp4/Bad%20wires%20007.jpg?dc=4675587549622282704

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0WAARA7AZSXv2fF!9C8DZ*vPE4On7jrbyZda9LLQ6Xf4bZxFxE y1b2DXrJfAoIPGDf3h5l8*pBpa!RcYaE2!72z1!XO*ud8YfEeT 5v1XZKEmzMGku3HlFtA129R5vAXvOSgAAAP****8/Bad%20wires%20006.jpg?dc=4675587549593008525



The horizontal square tube rotates when the slide room is moved in or out, and of course Gulf Stream ran the wire right next to it. The wires were pulled under the tube and pinched in between the tube and the freshwater tank mounting bracket. I contacted Gulf Stream for help as I thought that this may be a fire hazard, the guy on the phone told me to take it to my dealer. I told him my dealer was 250 miles away and I had no trailer brakes, his response was to run a temporary wire to the brakes. I give up on GS and went back to work. I was able to repair the wires and routed them as far away from the moving shaft as I could, then wire tied to the frame and covered with foam pipe insulation.
I hope this works, I still have to do the slide wiring tomorrow and try and wrestle the under belly panels back on and reattach the gas line etc.

Tim

[lockdoc]

Tim-

WOW....I just looked at your pics and it looked like a fire waiting to happen!!! I sure hope this is NOT the norm with their wire looms and slides! GS should have treated you better with this issue! Did you email or fax these pics in to them by chance?

Sorry to hear about your troubles! Did you talk with Jordan at GS? He seems to be their head sevice guy at GS HQ and has been helpful to me on two occasions. The take it to the dealer comment sounds like him though! I have been approved to do my own warranty work for a water leak issue and I have to rip into the basement of mine.

I sure do wish that we could get wiring and plumbing schematics....not to mention notes on how to access the same!!
:evil:
Kevin

[Timothy]

Hi Kevin, yes I sent the pictures to GS. I have a few more too, it was hard to get the camera in there to get a picuture, I shoud have took a few after shots but I was so tired of crawling around under the trailer I just wantd the job to be done. All is fixed and everything works. GS didn't seem too intersted in my problems, out of warranty so I guess they don't give a crap. I was considering buying a Sedona but not sure anymore.

I would hope to hear some response from GS about the wiring, there were 2, #6 wires feeding from the battery to the converter in that mess, fortunatley the insulation held or it could have been a bad melt down and possible fire. The GS rep that I talked to said this was a known problem that had been reported before, gee sure would be nice to know that you may lose your brakes without notice! Thank god it didn't happen when we were out in the rockies this summer.

I may report this to NHTS, I think there should be a recall on this.
Other then the crappy wiring I have been pretty happy with my trailer and my dealings with GS have all been good in the past. I'll see if I get a response out of them next week.

Tim

[lockdoc]

Is everything working all right for you now? Man this fall is getting busy in a hurry! I haven't had time to respond to you again till now....and I need to keep this one short as I am prepping for my journey to Kansas.

[Timothy]

Not a word from Gulf Stream, I fixed everything and took it for a test tow, the brakes worked fine. May go out to South Dakota the first part of October for the Buffalo round up, will be a good test trip to see how good my repair holds up.

I'm really thinking of trading for a Titanium by Glendale. I have heard only good things about them from owners and Glendale doesn't leave you sitting in the dark about repairs. Now I just have to convince my wife!

I'll probably be buying next spring.
I was dead serious about buying another Gulf Stream but their lack of response to what I feel is a serious life/safety issue has convinced me to look at other brands.

[Timothy]

Well, got the camper all winterized, no more problems with the wiring so I think my fix did the trick.
I never did hear anything from Gulf Stream, but I'm over my mad on now and realize that things like this can happen, I just wish they would have shown a little concern! Maybe if I would have gotten it to my dealer they would have taken care of it, guess I'll never know now.

Hopefully they will come up with some new floor plans that I like, I would consider another Gulf Stream, for the most part I have had good luck with this trailer and I do have a four year membership paid in the Gulfstreamer club, thanks to winning the photo contest last year. :D

[THenne1713]

(Know this is old but) IMHO, NOT Fire Hazard (next to a water tank) and NOT good practice, a blunder at best by an untrained, but THAT is what fuses are for and why you should never oversize a fuse.