Community Forums

z3406 · 02-10-2018, 02:44 PM

For whatever reason The pic in the post has disappeared, here is a link to it in the files section
https://www.irv2.com/forums/download...do=file&id=244

Mnoel · 02-10-2018, 02:48 PM

ok, I like it.

USTrekker · 02-11-2018, 02:31 PM

Hi,
This is one of my pet peeves about the aria and it seems from the pictures I've seen of the venetian shower - that cheapo plastic bracket to hang the showerhead.

I assume the adjustable bar is part of the mod you made and I would definitely want to do this too if I get an aria. Did you say the top end of your adjustment bar was screwed into the same holes as the original clear plastic bracket? That would be my concern - getting something like an adjustable height bar anchored to that shower wall.

I'll have a similar problem needing to install grab-bars. I did the factory tour and see the aluminum framing and the thin steel sheets they put on the wall to hold the styrofoam into the frame. But they rep said those sheets might not be in exactly the same place on each unit - so it could be hit or miss in finding them with a screw (the aria 3601 shower backside is against the outer wall).

I'm wondering if a studfinder would see the aluminum bars through the fiberglass shower wall.
Phil

z3406 · 02-11-2018, 03:27 PM

On my coach there is an access panel directly behind the shower so I had a clear access to the area behind the faucet. I thru bolted the bar on my coach, ie I used bolts, nuts and some fender washers to secure the bar. The fiberglass shower surround is fairly substantial and I didn't see a need to reinforce the bar other than the fender washers.

The biggest reason I did the mode was to get rid of the cheapo single handle shower faucet originally installed.

z3406 · 02-22-2018, 08:44 AM

VENETIAN SIGHTING
FWIW
We were driving north on I95 in the Titusville area when what do we see but a coach with exactly the same paint job, tag axles and the words Venetian painted on the side heading south. Somewhat ironic that the first Venetian we have encountered on the road is exactly like our coach externally.

z3406 · 03-09-2018, 09:22 AM

Thor factory rules
I'ld like to pass this along. As I type this the Winnegard Satellite antenna has been inoperable for about a month. When we left GA and drove to South Florida after setting up the coach I turned the antenna on and it went about halfway up and was searching for satellites when it locked up. When it locked up it sent a No Communication error to the controller box. I called Winnegard customer service we did some troubleshooting and I discovered a few things. Firstly the controlled cable on my coach has been spliced and repaired sometime since the coach was built and before we took delivery, according to Winnegard this is a NO NO. There were no factory trained Winnegard techs in the South Florida area able to get to our coach in the time we were there.
Now for the Thor Rules thing. While I was up on the roof talking on the phone with the Winnegard rep she talked me thru manually retracting the antenna. After that I called Thor hoping to get some help from them on getting the system working again. There were no Thor dealers within a reasonable distance and if I wanted a mobile tech to look at the coach I would have to pay for the service call. If when up on the roof of the coach I had not retracted the antenna manually the coach would have been undrivable and Thor would have payed for the mobile tech visit to get the coach drivable. When talking to the Thor phone rep I mentioned that there was a Thor dealer close enough to my next and current location but that the possibility of getting an appointment with a dealer I did not purchase the coach from were pretty slim. The Thor rep then stated that if that happened I could call him and he would try and intercede on our behalf with the dealer. Well when I tried to make an appointment here my suspicions proved correct and the service department could not give us an appointment. When I called Thor back to see if they would intervene with the dealer the Thor rep never responded back to me. I will be at our next destination for 5 weeks and hopefully I can find a Winnegard certified tech in the area to get my satellite running again.
I will be at the factory service center in May and hopefully the satellite system will be fixed by then. If not it is on a list of 51 items that need to be addressed while at the service center.
One other thing that will happen is that I will be talking directly to the phone representative and his supervisor that told me he would try and intercede with the dealer here face to face and find out why my request for assistance was never responded to.
Thor rule
If your coach is drivable a service call from a outside vender is on your dime. If the coach is undrivable then Thor may pay for the service call if you make prearrangements with them.

z3406 · 03-30-2018, 05:56 AM

A couple of new things have come up. The most aggrevating was the washer giving an A10 error message. After some internet research I found the problem. Color Catcher sheets. Look carefully on the back of the Color Catcher box and they say if you have a front loading washer to put the sheets into a bag. If you carefully rotate the washer drum so that one of the agitating ribs is directly on the bottom you can carefully pull the sealing ring back and see the internal drain with a flashlight. About 30 minutes with a coat hanger and I fished 8 or 9 color catcher sheets out of the drain. While trouble shooting I also discovered if you pop the lower plastic cover off the front of the washer you will find a service manual and a drain clean out. I found two pennies in the clean out.
The topper on the passenger side slide out is starting to tear at the sewn seam where the binding is attached.
If you pay close attention you will find that there are some locking tabs on the microwave oven external fan vent. I can reach them with my Camco awning pole and latch them if desired. The vent flapper was pretty noisy in the wind and that's why I was looking at it closely. Right now i have some thin rubber self stick pads on the vent frame and that has quieted it down a lot. It was loud enough to wake you from sleeping when the wind kicked up.
We're in Pensacola right now at the Blue Angles Camp Ground really enjoying the size of the coach very very livable. Next stop Austin TX for the Moto GP race.

z3406 · 04-04-2018, 09:15 AM

Had a pleasant surprise on Monday. I received an unsolicited phone call from the Thor Concierge service asking about my experience with the coach. We had a long and rewarding chat and as we terminated the call the Thor representative was looking at this thread. Hopefully this will result in some positive feedback between Thor and fellow Venetian owners resulting in a better ownership experience for all of us. I encourage all other owners to add your insights positive and negative to this thread. One thing I have learned from my background in aviation maintenance, You can't fix something if no one will tells you there's a problem..

z3406 · 04-28-2018, 07:27 PM

This is our last night out on our trip, be back home tomorrow. With 6000 miles on the coach the last mileage check was 8.6 mpg. No new issues only the ones we've recorded previously. Next big thing will be seeing how the service center handles our issues when we visit them next month.
We had another Venetian sighting this one was today about 11:30 am on I30 heading westbound in Little Rock AR. It was another T42 this time with a much darker paint job.
Yesterday we did 600 miles in the coach and other than traffic in Dallas was a good day. This is about 200% more enjoyable compared to driving any of my prior gassers, more stability, quieter, smoother riding, better road holding and virtually impervious to cross winds.

Ihawk22 · 05-02-2018, 08:03 PM

Had a great experience at the factory last month. Fixed everything that our dealer could not fix the first time and then some. Numerous small things mostly and a few difficult repairs they did not want to attempt. Customer service was great at the factory. We have had our 2017 Venetian A40 now a year and a half with about 11,000 miles on it. Two winters in Florida. Other then the initial problems coming out of the factory build we have a good experience with it. We love the floor plan. The only thing we are disappointed with is the Carefree awning. Flimsy and continually needs adjusted. This is our second Thor motor home the first one was a Hurricane which we had for 6 years with virtually no issues.

z3406 · 05-14-2018, 10:53 AM

The coach is at the service center today. Be leaving it here for a few weeks. Right now I feel positive that my issues are going to be resolved in a timely fashion. The folks I've talked to are impressing me with their can do attitude.

Mnoel · 05-14-2018, 02:36 PM

I truly hope all goes well. Its such a nice unit except for the issues you have had, it would be a shame to not have it all working.

z3406 · 06-15-2018, 10:09 AM

It took two trip to get my coach back. First time we went up to get the coach at the last minute we found the windshield washer no longer worked. The folks at the service center after some troubleshooting determined it was a freightliner issue and made arrangements for freight liner to fix it so we went home. I went back this past Monday to retrieve the coach.
First thing when we went up on the original retrieval trip the inside of the coach was filthy. There was sawdust, debris everywhere my wife spent well over an hour getting it fit to spend the night in. The technicians are first rate, the corporate mentality leaves a bit to be desired. If you ever take your coach there beware, there was an inexcusable amount of screws and work debris on the floor and area in front of the work bays all just asking to find a home in one of your tires. When I brought this to the attention of the staff there I was basically ignored. I was told there is a magnetic sweeper there that was supposed to solve the problem. What I saw was a problem, hopefully one that will not ever hurt anyone but one that has the potential to do so.

I had a list of over 60 issues, some minor some not so much. Of the 60 plus items most were taken care of quickly and competently.
I however had some misgivings about a few of my issues here they are.

When it freezes outside for a period of time the entry steps would freeze in the down position. I was told if they can't duplicate an issue there wasn't anything they could do. I had to call the step manufacturer myself and arrange for a warranty replacement of the step control board.

The latch on the front entry door will at times get stiff, sometimes so stiff that my wife can not open it, as it did not do it for them they would not look at it. When we first pulled into the lot I had my wife open the door, she could not open the latch, that is how the door still is.

I have mentioned in earlier posts how when the outside temp is below freezing the furnace in the front of the coach can not maintain a comfortable temperature. I was told that the furnace is functioning as designed and therefore cannot be replaced. I maintain that the furnace is undersized for the area they expect it to service and is a design flaw. As an aside when I tested the furnace this past Monday it was non functional. A service tech had to troubleshoot and get it to work.

The service center replaced a lot of components and did fix anything I showed them that wasn't working properly when we were at the center.
This is not my first experience with an RV factory service center and frankly Thor pales in comparison with my prior experiences.
They had the coach for about a month and I left with a door that may still lock my wife out and a furnace that is not able to maintain a comfortable temperature on a cold night.

z3406 · 07-28-2018, 06:13 AM

We've had to take the coach back to the service center for some emergency repairs. We have a planned trip to Michigan and our route took us close to the service center so we stopped in and they helped us with a couple of issues on a drop in basis. When the freightliner techs worked on my smart wheel I didn't realize it but the horn somehow got disconnected, it took one of the Thor techs less than 10 minutes to fix it. On the drive to the service center the ball in the mid bath stopped working, the service center replaced the toilet. Very pleased with the quick unscheduled response from the service center people.
After a few days of heavy rain as I was walking past the coach I heard the furnace motor rumbling at a slow speed. The cause was a stripped screw on the furnace door was letting water get into the sealed part of the furnace. The bottom of the circuit board was sitting in a pool of water. Draining the water stopped the fan running but the furnace is now non functional. It's on a repair list of items to get fixed at the TDC rally in Oct.
I also have a second service center visit scheduled for Nov to get a few new things fixed and some things that were addressed but have resurfaced.
Thor did replace the bedroom DVD player with a Blueray unit and replaced both of the HDMI junction boxes with a different model that works about 1000% better.

If you have a Venetian, Aria or Tuscany there is no drip rail/gutter on the roofline. The A/C drainage will run down the passenger side of the coach and collect on the topper or awning and make the entry area wet from the condensation. My coach has the Coleman Mach 8 H/P. After removing the cover I could see that the drain pan is made of a phenolic material and the drain holes are located on the passenger side if the coach. I sealed the existing drain holes with some RV Goop and drilled a new drain hole in the same chamber the size of a .38 special shell casing. I drilled the back out of the shell casing and RV Gooped it into the hole. I then took some tubing that fits on the shell casing and routed it to the drivers side of the coach. The A/C drainage is now running down the drivers side of the coach and no longer dripping down on the entry/front awning area. My coach has three A/C units and I did this to the two forward units. The perpetual puddle by the entry door is now gone.

If you coach has a different A/C unit it may be easier to divert the drainage to the drivers side but it will make a difference in you take the time to do it. Sometime in 2017 Thor connected the A/C drains to exit in the engine bay if you have one of those coaches consider yourself fortunate.