8.1 L Reliability

[Bacor]

Tragic towing Exprience. Dec 2004 I was on my way to Gulf Shores Al for the winter. 40 Miles south of Birmingham Al on I-65 the engine quit. Turned out to be the crank position sensor. Workhorse sent 82 wrecker Svc out of Prattville Al. The owner an an assistant came in a big Peterbilt double axle wrecker. Good equipment. Used hydraulic arms with wishbone shaped arms that went into the suspension. Lifted the front of the Mtr Home about 1 ft. Had me put in neutral and make sure brake was off. It was. He sent the assistant under to disconnect the drive shaft at the rear end with instructions not to get under the drive shaft. Assistant took one strap off the universal than a loud snapping sound, and sound of metal banging off the concrete and the assistant in convulsions with blood pouring out of his ears, nose and mouth and out cold. Drive shaft was under pressure and struck him in the forehead, crushing his skull. Took 3 hours before they got him to U of A in Birmingham by Helicopter. Last I heard about a month ago is that he will survive but will have to learn how to walk and talk all over again and will never be right. examination of the rear yoke showed that after he took one strap off the shaft was under so much tension that it sheared the other side of the yoke right off. I spent 3 days in Prattville at RV service center waiting for the parts to fix it. Towing a Motor Home is the last thing I want to do again.

A similar accident just occurred with towing my motor home. Fortunately, the tow truck driver was not hurt as bad, but still ended up in the hospital. Spread the word for folks to be extremely careful when getting towed.

[Dalsn1]

32000 miles and no problems with 8.1. Went into limp mode once turbo speed sensor on the trans failed. Allison fixed it at no charge even though it was out of warrenty.
The one thing i don't like is the worry about a brake failure every time I use the rig. I have the brakes serviced every 12 months.

Steve

[bruceh]

Originally posted by DriVer:
Only Workhorse has put in print that your engine has a life expectancy of 200,000 miles.D

Yes, they did print it. This is not a guarantee or a warranty. It is a Marketing statement and means nothing. When my engine needed replacement at 37,000 miles, the response was 'Oh gee, bad luck'. I have become a little cynical about Workhorse statements.

Regular oil changes, no abuse just to forestall any responses along that line.

I am told that my replacement cost of $10,000 was a good deal. That knowledge does not cheer me up.

On the towing thread, my tow was a flatbed. Could have been good had the driver been competent. He had no wood to put under that back wheels so my hitch dragged (I had removed my Blue Ox tow bar) on the way up. On the way down, he dropped me in gravel and messed up the rear clip.

[Easyrider]

So far we have only put on 9000 miles on our '05 with no problems with the 8.1. One thing that really does impress me with this engine is that after storing it all winter for about 6 months, I can reinstall the battery, get in it and turn the key and the engine starts immediately with no hesitation! I don't even hear the starter engage, the engine starts so quickly! At about 2100 rpms I'm cruising at about 60 mph and happy as can be! I'm sorry to hear the 8.1 will be phased out in 2010. Hard for me to believe another gas engine could be better for a gas powered motorhome than the current 8.1L GM.

[edgray]

Yes, they did print it. This is not a guarantee or a warranty. It is a Marketing statement and means nothing.

BRUCEH: You are quoting a post DriVer made in 2005. I'm sorry you had a bad experience soon after apparently being out of warranty.

FYI, the drivetrain warranty is now 5 years or 100,000 miles, with the Allison warranty of 200,000 miles. GM and WCC now cover the engine, driveshaft and rear axle for 5yrs/100,000 miles. ED

[DriVer]

Originally posted by Dalsn1:
The one thing i don't like is the worry about a brake failure every time I use the rig. I have the brakes serviced every 12 months.

Steve, It's a great idea to practice good brake preventative maintenance. I have a 38G just like yours with 66,214 miles and I have had no serious problems with my brakes.

[bruceh]

Originally posted by edgray:
BRUCEH: You are quoting a post DriVer made in 2005. I'm sorry you had a bad experience soon after apparently being out of warranty.

Actually Driver was quoting Workhorse. I have the same literature. I am not slamming Driver just pointing out the something being printed is not terribly useful unless it is a guarantee or a warrantee. The new 100,000 is better than 36,000 but it is not the 200,000 that the Workhorse literature implies.

My new engine has the 100,00 mile warranty.

[Oemtech]

As I have said many times... 90% of us will NEVER see 100,00 miles in 5 years. How many of you put 20,000 a year on your motor home.

So, 100,000 miles is more advertising than anything else. The same goes for Allison's 5 year or 150,000 mile warranty when you use Transynd.

[edgray]

So, 100,000 miles is more advertising than anything else.

Really??? No, in fact it is a warranty. And bruceh would be a happy camper today IF he had that benefit when his failed @ 37K. There are, or will be, owners who suffer a failure after 36K who will receive major benefit from the 100K warranty. I'll agree that "most" don't put on 100K in 5 years or less, but that does not change a warranty into advertising. FYI, the Allison warranty is now 5yrs/200,000. ED

[bruceh]

Originally posted by edgray:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">So, 100,000 miles is more advertising than anything else.

Really??? No, in fact it is a warranty. And bruceh would be a happy camper today IF he had that benefit when his failed @ 37K. There are, or will be, owners who suffer a failure after 36K who will receive major benefit from the 100K warranty. I'll agree that "most" don't put on 100K in 5 years or less, but that does not change a warranty into advertising. FYI, the Allison warranty is now 5yrs/200,000. ED </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not to be negative but the 5 year window would have precluded any warrantee issues and I still would have been out of luck.

Dale has a point.

As a side issue, the warrantee on the engine comes fom GM. They have the same warrantee on all GM vehicles. The 100,000 in 5 years would be more useful in a car if you rack up high miles.

[Tom N]

Not a subject relative post but an interesting comment.

100,000 miles @ 7mpg with gas @ $3.35gal = $47,857.14



-Tom
back home in PA

[misfit]

Sure wish I had been reading this Forum last year. I cannot say much for the reliability of my 8.1, having had two separate breakdowns in the last 9 months, costing me around $6 K with no real confidence that "the problem" has been solved.

I have been wasting A LOT of diagnostic time because my error code system does not record/display misfires. I spend hundreds of dollars chasing fuel issues only to learn I have classic burned plug wires. If the software is not working now, I doubt if ever worked. I think AT LEAST WH ought to check out my error code software on their nickle so I don't go through another of these.

BTW, only 21,000, properly maintained, never overloaded or abused. Just unlucky.

Ron
2002 Safari Trek ('01 8.1 WH chassis)

[dieselclacker]

misfit, there is a guy on this forum that goes by Jestme 13. You should let him tell you all about Trek motorhomes equipped with 8.1 engines and the problem he had with ign wires. He solved the problem!!

Dieselclacker

[Bagman57]

Max, 3,500 miles on a 8.1 Vortec is nothing! I do more than that everytime we go out to Scottsdale, Az and back to Wyandotte, Michigan. We are closing in on 40,000 miles on our W-22 Allegro Bay with 8.1 Vortec and it runs like a champ! Chuck