Workhorse UFO Water Pump Blowout Loss of Power Mileage

[JimO]

My sick Latitude UFO 37' MH is 4 hours away in the middle of Washington at a repair site in Yakima. After Three days of diagnostics and towing and sleeping next to train tracks, and truckers parked, Workhorse found the water pump to be out. I told them that, 10 minutes after I pulled over in central eastern Oregon in the mountains. Maybe someone here has some input because I have seen a lot of head scratching from people smarter than me in the troubleshooting of engines.

I had a problem going through a pass the first day of my trip. I have traveled this pass many times at about 45MPH. This time I was lucky to keep it at 30MPH and went down as slow as 20MPH. I called a Workhorse mechanic and he said he could not get me in except to replace the fuel filter because they were so busy. They were very confident it was a fuel filter problem. I had them replace the filter and also there were no codes in memory. I left and moved further east on my trip when I realized the power loss was still a problem and the new fuel filter and air fitter did not fix it. As I made my way to a big enough town that may have some help the water was released all over my toad and I pulled over. Fortunately the engine never got hot as only a few minutes went by before I pulled over. I just happened to be looking out the mirror when it happened. I was towed about 500 miles to Yakima. I only get at best 5.5 MPG and have got below 5MPG on several trips.

My questions are;
Is the low MPG normal (5.5)?
Does the water pump going out relate to the low power?
Is the low power a whole other issue and does anyone have any input as to why?

They are waiting for the water pump to be shipped, before they can do much else and we drove home about 4 hours away. I just thought the more I know when they call me the better off I am.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

[dieselclacker]

JimO, you need to have the facility your UFO is at contact the West coast district service manager for Workhorse. In addition to the water pump replacement, you will probably need a new and improved fan clutch assembly for the viscous fan on your engine. Much has been written on this problem here on this forum, do a search using the search feature at top. If it were me, I would not take the coach from the shop without both the waterpump and the fan clutch assembly being replaced. Workhorse is aware of this problem, but not all Workhorse repair facilities are familiar with it. Contact the district service manager, he should be knowledgeable of the problem.

Dieselclacker

[JonBrazel]

Your conditions of low power, poor fuel mileage and loss of the waterpump are all most likely connected to the Fan Clutch being "stuck" on. Make sure your dealer is in contact with their Workhorse Regional Service Manager on this issue.

[-Gramps-]

Some us here have been tracking mileage of our UFOs just to see if low mileage is a sympton of a bad FCA. It seems that it is. As soon as the FCA is replaced with a correct one, mileage goes up by at least 1 mile per gallon if not more. So far I have not done worse than 6.5 in the mountains and no better than 7.77 on a flat road such as I 95. My friends, who own the same coach as my own, got 9.9 traveling from Buffaloe NY to Suffolk VA with an empty coach and no toad.

[JimO]

Thank you for your information. I passed it on to the mechanic. I was not really as worried about the water pump a it seemed straight foward and I asumed it was a fluke that it went out. I was more worried about the power loss I had, and I am still concerned, as it could be hard to figure out. I recently went to a Winnebago rally in Rickreal, OR and someone told me that, the one other UFO at the rally, complained about his being guttless and I told them I was reasonably happy with my power. That changed on the next trip. I hope that the FCA isssue is what it totally wrong with mine.
After reading some threads in this forum I find that I should change my shocks. I had a Kodiak, supper C, before and the noise and ride was terrible. I improved the ride with new shocks and it was a night and day. Of course I have allmost no noise with the UFO, but now I can hear my wife. My wife does like to watch a DVD in the bedroom on long trips, but the noise back there was terrible. I installed two Rockfish wireless speakers and that cured that problem. I got them at Best Buy. I have been happy with the UFO, ride except when we go over more rolling dips and it takes an hour to settle back down. Other than that I love this coach.

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimO I have been happy with the UFO, ride except when we go over more rolling dips and it takes an hour to settle back down. Other than that I love this coach.

Several UFO owners report improvement using Koni FSD shock absorbers on their rig.

[YngRvrs]

Well Well well another breakdown on the road. I am probably one of the most patient UFO chassis owners out there, but this issue with fan clutches and water pumps has been going on for over a year. My most recent 1st hand information is that a recall was coming within 30-60days. That was over 4 months ago. Please understand my frustration hearing about what I consider a preventable breakdown. I believe as an RV owner that things are going to break, think about what we carry with us, but come on Workhorse lets get with it and lets get this issue behind us.

[UFO Pilot]

I had one of the early FCA failures so they replaced it with an "old" style one. I asked Winne to replace mine earlier this summer and they agreed to with no problem. They also replaced the water pump at the same time. I noticed an immediate increase in MPG (varies from .5 to 1.5 increase) and can now hear the fan cycle on and off.

The KONI shocks are a definite improvement and I would highly recommend them.

[gbs2320]

I am on the way back east (to Va) from my trip to the balloon fest in ABQ NM. Got the FCA and water pump replaced before a break down in Santa Fe. Many thanks to this forum, Driver, Shannon (at Workhorse), Workhorse and Hal Burns Truck Service (in Santa Fe) for all the help and info on this issue. While at Hal Burns they had another UFO chassis sitting there for repair of the FCA and water pump and another was due in by tow shortly after I left on Monday. According to my Scan II guage (from Oemy's) my mpg is up over .5 to 7 plus and my power is up (seat of the pants gauge!) and of course my breakdown worries are down. Love the UFO power and handling (stability proven to me during 4 hour drive in 40 to 60 mph winds from passenger side (yes I know I should not have been out there). The addition of koni fsd shocks eliminated the poggo sticking of the front end on big bumps (bilstiens were great maybe a little better on compression but the koni fsds on the best on rebound control IMHO).

Regards to all,

Greg

[CraigA]

Same FCA failure about a year ago, since the newly designed FCA, mileage up .5 to 1 , and I can hear FCA cycling. I personally believe it will NEVER become a recall. It's just sad that with the known problems, some WH service centers will just replace the water pump and send you on your way. I know of a UFO owner that had a failure, and knew about the issues from this forum, the WH service center told him it was just a water pump, he had to beg them to call WH and get more info. One would think that when a WH service center orders a water pump from workhorse for a UFO, it might trigger further action like, "check FCA type on vehicle". In this state of the economy, knowing that the cause of the failure is the FCA, and allowing the WH service center to just replace the water pump seems foolish. Maybe the government provides bailout money to Workhorse on warranty repairs??

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CraigA Maybe the government provides bailout money to Workhorse on warranty repairs??

That's not happening ....

[CraigA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriVer That's not happening ....

It was a joke...

[JimO]

I am waiting for the repair to be completed to post the results, but I am getting more and more upset after learning how to search here, I find that this terrible inconvenience could have been easily avoided by Workhorse. This breakdown happened a week ago and they just got the new FCA and water pump installed and now are having problems with the parking brake, most likely from the tow. It was towed for about 6 hours. It was towed the first day about 150 miles to a truck service facility. Workhorse told them to make the repairs and the tow company dropped the RV. About an hour later Workhorse technicians changed their mind and wanted it towed elsewhere. I know now why they changed their minds. Not only that but Workhorse chose to have it towed 132 miles rather than to our home that had a DSU Workhorse site that was 200 miles. We then had to drive home which from Yakima was 186 miles with no Starbucks on the way. Of course we have to drive back when and if it ever gets fixed. I am trying not to loose credibility by sounding like a disgruntled customer (Whiner). I have not even touched on the costs we have incurred and the fuel that has been wasted because of this known problem.

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CraigA It was a joke...

10-4!