Community Forums

midasman · 07-18-2019, 09:06 PM

My 2019 Entegra Esteem 30X (Jayco clone) defaults to defrost periodically My warranty visit to Ford yielded NOTHING, NADA, just a hello and goodbye. They had NO idea where to start and because they just DIDN'T CARE! I am SO disappointed in them and my USELESS WARRANTY...They claimed since they didn't see the problem themselves, they needed Ford to intervene...
How many have had this problem? Is it possibly merely loss of vacuum due to driving on hills and high throttle setting? The air is COLD but doesn't keep us cool when directed to the windshield...
My chassis is a Ford E450 with, of course, the V-10. Thanks in advance.

Skip426 · 07-18-2019, 09:21 PM

Loss of vacuum at WOT is a common fault for the switch to defrost ( default ) ,possible causes are .
1, Vacuum leak beyond the vacuum reservoir .
2 Defective check valve between the intake manifold and the reservoir; allowing vacuum back to the intake.
3. Under size reservoir, ( black plastic softball size under the hood ) many have added a second ( E Bay $14 ) to aide the issue. ( I had to on my 93 Dakota ).

Above the green circle in this photo.

8.3Oilbuner · 07-18-2019, 09:28 PM

Good evening Pete & Mary from the west coast here in Wa. state. Sorry to hear about your extremely poor service from Entegra. I would go right up the food chain until you get to talk to someone with more clout than where you took the Esteem. As on our Monaco class A coaches when there is a loos of vacuum the dash A/C heating system defaults to the defroster mode. This does happen frequently on our diesel pushers as we have a vacuum pump to supply vacuum to the system as none is present from a diesel engine. You should have a vacuum reservoir somewhere in the engine compartment. I personally have not heard of your problem being present on Ford E450 chassis. I am going to guess that when Entegra built your unit something or someone might have done something to effect the system. I know you are under warranty from Entegra, not much help, but I would check your area for a good local Ford dealer that will do warrant work on the E450 chassis. Or if you are handy I would find the vacuum reservoir and check for any present vacuum there. You might have a hose that is not pushed on a fitting all the way and letting vacuum slowly leak out of the system on full throttle. Just a couple of thoughts since no one has responded yet to your post. If you find the problem, let us know so others here can benefit from the fix and that will get passed along to others. Hope this info is helpful and good luck! I see Skip has provided some great info also.

avfordguy · 07-18-2019, 10:49 PM

Call ford rv care, take the service manager for a ride and floor it so it goes to defrost. Then tell them to fix it it's under FORD WARRANTY

Quote:

Originally Posted by midasman

My 2019 Entegra Esteem 30X (Jayco clone) defaults to defrost periodically My warranty visit to Ford yielded NOTHING, NADA, just a hello and goodbye. They had NO idea where to start and because they just DIDN'T CARE! I am SO disappointed in them and my USELESS WARRANTY...They claimed since they didn't see the problem themselves, they needed Ford to intervene...
How many have had this problem? Is it possibly merely loss of vacuum due to driving on hills and high throttle setting? The air is COLD but doesn't keep us cool when directed to the windshield...
My chassis is a Ford E450 with, of course, the V-10. Thanks in advance.

ThePowells · 07-18-2019, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8.3Oilbuner

Good evening Pete & Mary from the west coast here in Wa. state. Sorry to hear about your extremely poor service from Entegra. I would go right up the food chain until you get to talk to someone with more clout than where you took the Esteem. As on our Monaco class A coaches when there is a loos of vacuum the dash A/C heating system defaults to the defroster mode. This does happen frequently on our diesel pushers as we have a vacuum pump to supply vacuum to the system as none is present from a diesel engine. You should have a vacuum reservoir somewhere in the engine compartment. I personally have not heard of your problem being present on Ford E450 chassis. I am going to guess that when Entegra built your unit something or someone might have done something to effect the system. I know you are under warranty from Entegra, not much help, but I would check your area for a good local Ford dealer that will do warrant work on the E450 chassis. Or if you are handy I would find the vacuum reservoir and check for any present vacuum there. You might have a hose that is not pushed on a fitting all the way and letting vacuum slowly leak out of the system on full throttle. Just a couple of thoughts since no one has responded yet to your post. If you find the problem, let us know so others here can benefit from the fix and that will get passed along to others. Hope this info is helpful and good luck! I see Skip has provided some great info also.

I'm sorry, did I miss the part of the original post about taking the coach to Entegra? Who did you talk to at Entegra?

Waiter21 · 07-19-2019, 05:08 AM

What Skip426 said.. (Post #2)

midasman · 07-19-2019, 06:14 AM

Thank you for responding! It is Ford who is in charge of the chassis warranty, and so helpless...If you start the engine, have full vacuum, and then shut it off, after 30-45 seconds you can hear when the system depletes the vacuum and the doors divert to defrost position. Since the V-10 is usually running at 70-80% power, even at cruise speed, vacuum is probably marginal anyway??? I DO NOT REMEMBER having this problem LAST YEAR on our 3000 mile Colorado trip...??? I HAVE NOT taken it to Entegra because it is a FORD issue.

Winterbagoal · 07-19-2019, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midasman

Thank you for responding! It is Ford who is in charge of the chassis warranty, and so helpless...If you start the engine, have full vacuum, and then shut it off, after 30-45 seconds you can hear when the system depletes the vacuum and the doors divert to defrost position. Since the V-10 is usually running at 70-80% power, even at cruise speed, vacuum is probably marginal anyway??? I DO NOT REMEMBER having this problem LAST YEAR on our 3000 mile Colorado trip...??? I HAVE NOT taken it to Entegra because it is a FORD issue.

Couple of suggestions:
1) Post up manufacturer specific problems/issues in the manufacturer's forum, in this case, Entegra. You may get more specific comments and possibly some help from another owner, than posting in the general Class C Motorhome forum. You've got some useful ideas and encouragement here, which is good, but someone with a similar issue might not watch this forum. They might be watching the Entegra Owner's Forum.

2) Pursue this with a qualified competent Ford dealer, if you feel the issue is Ford's responsibility under the chassis warranty. Bringing the problem and angst to an internet forum may be a "feel good" thing, but isn't likely to get any kind of useful resolution. You have to be persistent with the warranty support people, as others have implied or expressed.

bearaboo · 07-19-2019, 03:53 PM

Do a google search of the problem and you will find a very inexpensive solution to the problem. You basically bypass the original Ford vacuum chamber. Ford will charge big bucks to do this, since they will want to remove a lot of stuff for the “official dealer fix”.

TonyMac · 07-19-2019, 04:12 PM

You either deplete the vacuum from prolonged WOT operation, or you have a leak. Eliminate one, and it has to be the other. Finding a Vacuum Leak 101:
1. Start engine.
2. Spray vacuum system with starting fluid.
3. When engine revs up a bit, you have found the leak.

midasman · 07-20-2019, 07:09 AM

avfordguy: Not quite that simple! Takes a LONG TIME to default to defrost! Must have a large vacuum accumulator. So yesterday I ordered a 12 volt vacuum pump and check valve to try to put this behind me. The only "hill" near me is a 6.5% grade on a long bridge but that wouldn't do it...:( Thanks ford guy!