Yahoo Message Number: 18626 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/18626)
From: "Gary L. Collins" garynsandy@...> To: "travman100" travman100@...>
Subject: Re: Windshield Problems
Date: Wednesday, October 05, 2005 9:21 AM
Hi Ray,
Thanks for your advice. You seem to be somewhat more objective than some CC owners. While I agree that many minor problems fall into the category of "bugs," I feel that factory defects relating to safety, such as transmission or windshield problems, do not fall into that category, and I think it's important for CC owners to make that distinction. We are fortunate that these problems occurred during the warranty period, allowing us to defer the cost of repairs to CC.
The transmission began downshifting and locking into 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gear at moderate speeds, forcing us into the breakdown lane in heavy traffic. The termporary work-around was to turn the ignition off/on to regain control of the pushbutton selector panel. Motor Trucks of Bellingham, WA (Allison Transmission's Worldwide Sales & Service Directory, page 150) had no idea how to troubleshoot and repair this problem, but we were still billed $216.06 which was eventually reimbursed by CC. The problem occurred several times enroute to Tillamook, OR and by the time we arrived, the temperature gauge indicated that the transmission fluid had reached 300 degrees.
CC finally sent us inland to Pacific Detroit Diesel-Allison Co. in Coburg, OR, where Jason, a 26-year-old shop foreman, correctly diagnosed and repaired the problem by replacing the turbine speed sensor in the transmission. Symptoms of this problem were present on the day we drove the coach off the dealer's lot, but we didn't recognize the problem.
The windshield problem was another nightmare. We noticed that the windshield on the driver side of the coach was moving away from the rubber seal. CC at first sent to us to Coach Glass in Eugene, OR who examined the windshield and determined that there were factory defects in the cavity that had to be corrected before the windshield would seat properly. CC agreed to work on the coach if we would bring it to the factory at 5 a.m., which we did. By the start of their normal workday, repairs were supposed to have been completed, but CC was unable to patch up the windshield after 12 hours of intensive labor. They finally agreed that the cavity had to be reworked by installing additional fiberglass on the driver side of the coach. This procedure took CC six days to complete. After the work was completed, the coach had to be sent to a local paint shop in Albany, OR and that took two more days.
We should add that CC went out of their way to lessen the impact of these problems by putting us up in a hotel while we waited. In fact, during the warranty period, which has about four more months, CC has been very helpful and supportive with regard to every problem we've brought to their attention, and there have been several. One thing that helped immensely was that we took digital photos of every problem and attached them to e-mail. We have photos of the windhield cavity after the windshield was removed and before any repair work was done, and we were amazed at the sloppy and unprofessional job that was done on our coach during production.
As for the lemon laws, that has crossed our minds, but as long as CC takes care of problems that we have identified, we don't want to take that course.
If we have to go that route, we have the photos and the facts to support our case.
Thanks.
Gary Collins
'05 Inspire 51491