Community Forums

num1dgh · 10-24-2011, 11:00 AM

Beware the hydraulic system for your slides! This past Friday, we were returning to our northern California home after picking up our coach from Oregon Motor Coach (OMC) where we had a residential refrigerator installed (love it!) and power awnings (awesome!). We stopped in Yreka, CA to break the trip into smaller bites. As we attempted to extend the slides, NOTHING HAPPENED

. With sinking hearts we went outside and noticed hydraulic fluid streaming from behind the passenger side tag. Not a good day. In a panic, we called a local mechanic (hey that rhymes!). Once we had the mechanic coming out to us, we immediately called Bob Vinson, OMC’s service manager for advise (of course, this happened on a Friday at about 4pm!). He told us to call him when the mechanic got there and he would give him some direction regarding the repair, and that hopefully the guy could splice the hydraulic lines, refill the fluid, and we’d be good to go. When the mechanic finally accessed the hydraulic lines to the ram for the rear passenger slide, he found that the tubes had actually popped off the couplers. The local guy did not have the supplies or equipment to complete the repair. In tears (this is DW talking!) I called Bob (by now it was past 6pm) who immediately told me not to worry, that we could return to him Saturday morning and he would take care of everything and get us on our way.

After a not-so-comfortable night without slides (Did anyone else learn the hard way that the shower doors in the 2006 Intrigue do NOT open without the slides extended? Who knew?!), we left the park at 6:20 in the morning . . . it was dark (we’d never driven this coach in the dark), foggy (great), and then of course once we reached Medford we encountered a herd (I’m not kidding) of elk on the road. When we finally made it to OMC, Bob whipped the coach into the bay, and set to work. After a huge amount of work, some of which involved Bob contorting himself to squeeze into small spaces (he’s not a short guy!), our slides worked, and he proceeded to also fix a nagging rear camera problem that we had been having. Bob gave up his Saturday for us, yet all the while that he was working, he could not have been more cheerful, kind, and helpful. John learned a lot from him as he explained what he was doing every step of the way. He absolutely achieved hero status with us!

Apparently, this is a common problem because these lines are in an area that gets extremely hot. Anyone reading this with a similar coach might seriously want to take heed and do some preventative maintenance on those lines, and there’s nowhere better to get it done than at OMC. It is not pretty to be stranded with no slides in the middle of nowhere! Bob put higher grade lines in, and then put “firesleeves” on them to protect them from the heat. In retrospect, we are so glad that this occurred a mere 4 hours away from OMC and not here at home!

easdsa · 10-24-2011, 07:28 PM

Glad to hear that all turned out good in the end. Even better is to hear of a business that goes the extra mile to serve the customer. All too often people are willing to tell the whole world about a bad experience, but never think to say anything about the good experiences they have. Thanks for sharing.

RRMCJIM · 10-27-2011, 11:26 AM

Glad to hear that there are honest shops out there. I have put them in my addy book after all the posts about them in here. I have an appt in the spring to have them just look over the coach b4 the season gets into high gear. I had a shop here in Cali trying to have me replace everything due to preventative maint. Now I am all for that... but Air Bags !! After over 2.5 mil miles during my years, I have Never had an air bag fail. These are not even worn. No cracks, no cords showing , etc.. maybe I'm missing something.. Service my hyd system and filters ( I have air suspension and air levelers) Filters that were replaced 1k ago, reseal roof ( $1000.00) wrap around roof w/2 ac, 2 fans, ant, 3 vents.... thank you Cali... I know times are tough but come on... maybe I am just getting old ??? I was a mech for Harley Davidson for 38 years, I never once tried to sell something that wasn't needed...ever.
Sorry, just thinking out loud (ranting? )/....lol
Jim N Sheri
1997 CC Allure
beat cancer and will survive this service shop.... bwaaaaaaaaaa

num1dgh · 10-28-2011, 03:50 PM

NOT trying to sell you something that you don't need is another quality you'll definitely find at OMC. When you're briefly in their lot (they have 50amp service), you'll end up chatting with your neighbors. A couple next to us the last time we were up there told us that they came up with several things that they "thought" their coach needed, and Bob actually talked them out of some of them because they were just not necessary. They do a quality job there, but don't try to "upsell" you on needless things.