Anyone heard of a bad batch of Cummins 400 ISL's?

[dlhaynes]

I was reading a post by an owner of a '06 Mtn Aire with a Cummins 400ISL. The engine, on its maiden voyage, throw a rod. He stated that Cummins is replacing the engine with a new '06 model as opposed to an '05 model. He also stated that he was told that Cummins had experienced a "bad batch" of engines in '05 where the piston rods are "disintegrating". Has anyone heard of this happening to the 400's in any '06 models?

[dlhaynes]

I was reading a post by an owner of a '06 Mtn Aire with a Cummins 400ISL. The engine, on its maiden voyage, throw a rod. He stated that Cummins is replacing the engine with a new '06 model as opposed to an '05 model. He also stated that he was told that Cummins had experienced a "bad batch" of engines in '05 where the piston rods are "disintegrating". Has anyone heard of this happening to the 400's in any '06 models?

[Ed-Deb]

I have heard the same thing regarding the 05 engines.

Haven't heard anything yet regarding an 06 terminating itself.

[rebelsbeach]

Dana.....LISTEN UP!!!

I JUST received a call from my buddy who has the same coach as you....'06 4304 MADP.

He is on the side of the road with a blown engine...I helped him with telling him where to look for the Newmar and Coach-Net numbers and so forth.

Certainly sounds like Newmar better do so serial number sequence checking doesn't it?

There's also a Winnebago member "Sweet40FD" who is currently going through engine replacement as well...I had already communicated with her, seems Cummins wants to put the new motor in the oil soaked engine compartment without cleaning it.....I can tell Cummins that my buddy Jeff won't FALL for that one.

[sjcarmich]

I have an 05 DSDP w/375 ISL that had the engine changed out after ~2,500 miles... only 120 of them by us driving home from the dealer.

To make a long story short.. the engine was found to have a porous block. This is "supposed" to be a one in a million occurrence. I guess it was my turn. A new engine was installed and I've put on 16,000 more miles without a problem. Cummings did a good job in adressing and dealing with issue.

So... yes there were definitetly some ISL issues in 05, and not limited to 400 HP versions.

Steve

[rebelsbeach]

Steve, WELCOME to iRV2 and THANK YOU for your information...

We look forward to hearing more of your experience with your rig, sounds like with all those miles you are getting your money's worth!!

[rebelsbeach]

An update on my friend's 400 Cummins issues...

The only number he could get to work was the Spartan Roadside Number and they wanted to tow him to a SMALL town in Iowa...The wrecker driver advised him that he should go to Sioux City, IA where there was a much larger Freightliner/Cummins/Allison dealer....Apparently Coach-Net had an issue with that and advised Jeff he'd be paying for that....Nice to know they care!!
The place they "wanted" to tow him was "Ottowa,IA" where there was apparently a small repair shop...
WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING???

The folks at Holcomb Truck in Sioux City found several holes in the block, the starter was blown clean off the block and the back plate was blown off as well.
Sounds like it's a porous block now.....

He has been advised it will most likely take at least two weeks to get it fixed and thankfully he has found someone that is leaving Sturgis today and they will detour and pick he and his daughter up...(Saves his best friend a trip from Virginia Beach....)

I will reiterate what I have said before.....WHY ISN'T Cummins doing something about these blocks?

My guess is it's cheaper to fix 'em when they break,rather than recall them...What a shame!

[smlranger]

All this sounds like the customer is not getting the support they need when they need it. I am of the opinion that in the first year (warranty year) of any new rig, the coach manufacturer should be the only call and the only party who takes responsibility for fixing problems. I realize that is not the way it is in the RV industry but that is because we as customers stand for it. In this case, and the case of Sweet40FD on the Winnebago, I'd make a call to Newmar or Winne and say, 'you built the coach, you selected the components, you get me off the road and get it fixed.'
There needs to be some serious grass-roots effort to get manufacturers to handle any and all warranty year issues.

Did Coach-Net finally agree to pay the tow to Sioux City?

[rebelsbeach]

Coach-Net WOULD NOT authorize the tow to anywhere further than where they advised.
I am sure they've not heard the end of it though...

I wholeheartedly agree with your assertion that WE should have ONE CALL to make and that's the manufacturer.....The manufacturer's coach is what WE bought, the engine is a VENDOR SUPPLIED item to the manufacturer.

When I had a nav radio issue,I took my coach to my dealer who called NEWMAR....Newmar then called their vendor and got my nav radio straight...

When I had issues with my Vectra, my dealer called Winnebago and Winnebago called the vendor and got it straight....
Sweet40FD, until recently was dealing with Cummins themselves....Thankfully,there is someone at Winnebago that got this straight....KUDOS to that person at Winnebago for taking the bull by the horns.

[Sweet40FD]

We had a bad experience with Coach Net also. They said they would have a Tow driver out within 45 minutes to get us off the side of the freeway. Our insurance company was offering to come and get us but we told them it was ok because Coach Net would be here.
It ended up being 4 hours before the driver arrived and then another hour to do his thing. Meanwhile we were standing out on the side of the road in 122 degree heat. We also had our small dog with us. We got very sick. So I know we were overcome by the heat. Our dog colapsed in my lap. Thankfully she's ok now. We had a friend come and get her finally.
Coachnet didn't know where to take us so our insurance agent told us to have it taken to our dealer. When we finally arrived at our dealer, coachnet then had a problem with that stating they would not pay for it to be towed there. While we were waiting on them to make a decision. Our dealer locked the gates and wasn't going to wait on us. That's a whole other story. We've had so many problems from the dealer we bought at from the time we ordered the MH all the way thru to delivery. They were a nightmare. So we were back to square one. We finally had it towed to Freightliner. It was there for a week with nothing being done. Cummins then sent someone to go get it and take to their shop. The Coach has now sat there for another 3 weeks.
Nothing was being done until we asked Winnebago for help. They have done so much in getting the ball rolling in just one week. So they are helping us. I wish I would have called sooner. We might have our MH back by now if I would have.

[rebelsbeach]

Good news for you Cheryl....glad you guys are on the road to recovery.

[rebelsbeach]

A little more information....

I have learned the "affected" engines were apparently manufactured by Cummins between 11/05 and 3/06.

If you can determine yours was in that timeframe I would definitely take some sort of preventive action...

Might save you a lot of headaches!!

[Lug_Nut]

Has it been established that this is only ISL model engines?

[rebelsbeach]

I believe that to be true Peter, from the research I've done....