Workhorse dash air useless at idle

[Pueblo Dave]

From day one, our '05 Itasca Sunrise Workhorse 31W's dash AC has blown warm air at idle and in slow traffic, while working great at hiway speeds. We stared using the house air with the generator running and the defrost fans on high speed. When I took it in for warrantee fixes I mentioned the problem and was told it was a problem with all Workhorse chassis and the only way to cure it was to hook up some kind of under dash cable to work a bypass valve or something, but the warrantee would not cover it, so nothing was done. Anybody been there, done that?

[Pueblo Dave]

From day one, our '05 Itasca Sunrise Workhorse 31W's dash AC has blown warm air at idle and in slow traffic, while working great at hiway speeds. We stared using the house air with the generator running and the defrost fans on high speed. When I took it in for warrantee fixes I mentioned the problem and was told it was a problem with all Workhorse chassis and the only way to cure it was to hook up some kind of under dash cable to work a bypass valve or something, but the warrantee would not cover it, so nothing was done. Anybody been there, done that?

[Fakrwee]

Hi Dave, I don't have a WH but that doesn't sound right. Who gave you the story about the cable. Sounds like BS.

Take it to another dealer. Hope someone on the board can help.

Good luck
Tom

[oemtech]

This has been beat to death over in the Workhorse forum.
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI> Poor Design
<LI> Poor implementation
<LI> Compounded by some OEM - How it is installed
<LI> To many items in front of the radiator.
<LI> Evans heater control valve fails regularly.
<LI> Heater draws 100 degree engine air at low speed.
<LI> Workhorse add on "Crystal Air" doesn't really work all that well.
<LI> A/C Box is not insulated.[/list]
Need I say more........

[Jackm]

As Dale indicated, you're not the first person to comment on the shortcommings of the Workhorse dash AC.

If you want more insight and information, go to the Workhorse Chassis Owner's forum (on this website) and do a search using the keywotds "dash AC problem". You'll tap into a large collection of disgruntled owners. The bottom line: On a warm day when you're sitting in traffic, don't expect much cooling from this system.

However, after I insulated my engine compartment (doghouse) cover, I did notice that the front area of our motorhome was considerably cooler. I used a product made by Dynamat (product #11905).

Jack

[Richard 34A]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Hill:
From day one, our '05 Itasca Sunrise Workhorse 31W's dash AC has blown warm air at idle and in slow traffic, while working great at hiway speeds. We stared using the house air with the generator running and the defrost fans on high speed. When I took it in for warrantee fixes I mentioned the problem and was told it was a problem with all Workhorse chassis and the only way to cure it was to hook up some kind of under dash cable to work a bypass valve or something, but the warrantee would not cover it, so nothing was done. Anybody been there, done that? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've got the exact same problem, though I have never had the dealer look at what might be the problem. While oemtech states that this issue has been 'beat to death', I'd say that if Workhorse hasn't resolved the problem on newer MH's and has no solution to the older models, then it hasn't been 'beat to death' enough...

All the problems he lists falls under 'engineering'; it's hard for me to believe that all MH's have this problem of no A/C at slow speeds or at a stop. I once had a Flair that certainly didn't have this issue and it was a similar 'brick' on wheels with a front grill, though it was on a Ford chassis. Maybe Ford knows something that Workhorse doesn't...

[Ding-a-ling]

Yes, the air conditioning does not work well in stopped or slow traffic.

I simply reach over and put the control at MAX A/C. That works fine.

[Pueblo Dave]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by oemtech:
This has been beat to death over in the Workhorse forum.
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI> Poor Design
<LI> Poor implementation
<LI> Compounded by some OEM - How it is installed
<LI> To many items in front of the radiator.
<LI> Evans heater control valve fails regularly.
<LI> Heater draws 100 degree engine air at low speed.
<LI> Workhorse add on "Crystal Air" doesn't really work all that well.
<LI> A/C Box is not insulated.[/list]
Need I say more........ </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Dale,
I had a hunch this would be the case. Now the big question.......how can Workhorse/Winnebago manufacture and sell brand new vehicles with such an unacceptable flaw? Sounds like a re-call issue to me. I'll head on over to the Workhorse forum for some answers. Although Ding-a-ling sure seems to have a simple solution. I just can't believe I haven't tried that. 'Course with it being 28 degrees today it's kinda hard to test the theory!

[Duner]

Workhorse has fixed this problem on the newer models, last year or maybe the year before that.

On the new models they have moved the AC coils to the very front of the stack, that is, in front of the tranny cooler and the engine radiator.

The problem with our older units is the tranny cooler is in front of the AC coils so that the AC is getting all the heat from the tranny cooler. In another words WH put the 1st priority to keep the Allison cool, and the driver has 2nd priority. I also believe that the cooling lines from the tranny go thru the engine radiator to heat up the tranny in cold conditions. So with the AC sandwiched in between, you get the worst case condition for the efficiency of the AC and the comfort of the driver & co-pilot.

The other problem is the AC intake is sucking in heat from the engine compartment, at least the way most coaches are built. So at slow speeds the AC is trying to cool 130+ temps. The way around this is to run "Max Air" which then sucks cooler air from inside the cab. I only run in Max Air mode, even at hwy speeds.

Happy Trails,

[oemtech]

Don't hold your breath wait for Workhorse or the OEm for any fix for olde coaches.

Workhorse has IMPROVED the A/C by a redesign as Duner stated. But, its not fixed yet.

Me, I plan to insulate the box and add a cold air pickup in the grill soon.