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Dav5942 · 11-21-2006, 02:55 AM

Last Monday leaving for the race at Homestead our new ATME would not start. After going thru the circuits we called Spartan who said we will come tow you. We did not want to be towed after all the horror strories lately and asked for a mechanic to come to us-but the policy is if a mechanic(who is a local deisel mechanic, not necessarily experienecd in our unit)cannot solve the problem the owner has to pay for towing. After opting out we asked for drawings which Spartan emailed us and we determined the problem was either the neutral relay or the keypad. After numerous on/off, neutral/drive with the keypaid the unit started and has not failed since. PS-race was great and we had a constant stream of lookers at the ATME 4153 with garage-Harley/bedroom/WD setup!

As a side bar we noticed a couple of things after 9 days dry camping:

1. The new automatic toilets use a lot more water than the older pedal type toilets even after programing changes!

2. Although specs say the freshwater tank is 105 gal.-actual is closer to 80 gal.

3. Very difficult to fill freshwater tank with a small pump and container-will try bypassing the system filter next time.

4. We changed the water pump to a 5.7 Smartpump which used water a lot faster(than the standard pump)-especially with guests!

5. The inverter with four batteries heldup good-having to recharge batteries every 24 hours(we had TVs(5) on constantly, coffee pot, ice maker,etc.)

Dav5942 · 11-21-2006, 02:55 AM

Last Monday leaving for the race at Homestead our new ATME would not start. After going thru the circuits we called Spartan who said we will come tow you. We did not want to be towed after all the horror strories lately and asked for a mechanic to come to us-but the policy is if a mechanic(who is a local deisel mechanic, not necessarily experienecd in our unit)cannot solve the problem the owner has to pay for towing. After opting out we asked for drawings which Spartan emailed us and we determined the problem was either the neutral relay or the keypad. After numerous on/off, neutral/drive with the keypaid the unit started and has not failed since. PS-race was great and we had a constant stream of lookers at the ATME 4153 with garage-Harley/bedroom/WD setup!

As a side bar we noticed a couple of things after 9 days dry camping:

1. The new automatic toilets use a lot more water than the older pedal type toilets even after programing changes!

2. Although specs say the freshwater tank is 105 gal.-actual is closer to 80 gal.

3. Very difficult to fill freshwater tank with a small pump and container-will try bypassing the system filter next time.

4. We changed the water pump to a 5.7 Smartpump which used water a lot faster(than the standard pump)-especially with guests!

5. The inverter with four batteries heldup good-having to recharge batteries every 24 hours(we had TVs(5) on constantly, coffee pot, ice maker,etc.)

rebelsbeach · 11-21-2006, 03:11 AM

As one of the recent "horror stories" I can attest to your indecision on being towed...

If in the Atlanta area I can also attest that you don't want B and D Towing of Madison,GA towing you!!

I don't know what I would do,but I DO KNOW that if I ever encounter another tow truck driver that I don't feel a "warm fuzzy" with from the start, HE WILL NEVER tow my coach.
The guy from B and D was "Mister Attitude with 13 years experience" right from the start.

The fact that he beat on the drive train cover such that it needed replacement and then was doing 80 MPH down the interstate speaks for itself.

MBnKen · 11-21-2006, 04:21 AM

Bob, I can't compare with your towing nightmares but here is mine:

We had to get towed two weeks ago (a failed flex plate on the transmission after just 13,000 miles). The tow driver shows up and it starts raining. He is not too happy and gets the lift extension on his tow rig twisted and hooked behind the front right tire. Before I could say anything he just uses the retract control on the wrecker and the lift mechanism scraps hard along the inside sidewall of the tire. He finally gets it right, mounts the tire strap and says we are ready to go. We had to go a few rounds to get him to remove the driveline. He tells me it wasn't necessary since we were only going 20 miles and he would stay under 40 mph. I told him that my EXDP was not moving until the driveline was removed.

Once we got to the other end I inspected the tire...a nice cut in the sidewall about 14" long and about 3/16 deep.

Coach-Net did a good job of contacting the tow company owner who did pay for a new tire and installation. I had Mich XZA1s on the front and now only XZA2s are available. To keep consistent on the axle I had to buy the other XZA2.

Just another fun day.