2003 Winnebago Adventurer

[asharpe]

OK People I need some good input. What do you all think of a 2003 Winnebago Adventurer 35u Workhorse 27000 miles. It has all the options on it for 2003.

[puttin]

I've heard from others here that the 35-U was a great floor plan. Just my opinion here, I would stay clear of a motorhome built on a Workhorse chassis of that vintage. There were brake issues and some engine failures with the 8.1 L.

[Peddler]

Mine is a slightly different floor plan but the same length and chassis. I specifically looked for a Workhorse chassis. Like the way it rides, drives, and the engine sits lower so noise is less than others and the hump is lower. All are personal preferences.
The brake issue was resolved by a recall, check the vin number on the Workhorse web site to make sure it was done.

The issues I have experienced and/or read about are Coach specific rather than chassis.
1. 27000 miles in 11 years could mean it was a snowbird coach with an annual round trip. Check items that age or deteriorate with time rather than miles. Leaks, rust, rubber deterioration, sun damage, etc.
2. Check tire dates. The probably are not original but could be. A $3000 hit if you need to replace.
3. If dealer owned, get them to remove the windshield molding and look for rust. Less than an hour to pull, inspect, and replace, with no parts expended. Common problem and pricey to fix.
4. Have the inner skylight removed and look at the roof opening cut for water damage. The outer skylight can leak for a long time without ever showing damage inside.
If owned by an individual it may not be possible to get these two things done but, if they really want to sell, it isn't that hard to do and I'd be very hesitant to buy it without them being done.

Probably other year/model specific issues but those are the ones I am personally familiar with.

[Bug512]

Peddler has some great recommendations.

We have a 04 Adventurer. The 35U is a great floor plan on a great chassis.

Workhorse had some brake recalls for calipers. Make sure the recall is complete before taking delivery. As far as the 8.1 reliability. Take a look around the board here, have there been some failures? Sure, I bet every engine manufacturers have had failures. Heck I had 08 Ford F-150 with a transmission failure at 30K miles.

See if they have maintenance records for the chassis as well as any of the systems.

Is this from a private seller or dealer? If dealer what kind of warrenty are they offering?

Start everything up, take it for a 30 mile ride, turn on the generator, AC, heat, microwave, oven, TV. Spend some time looking at everything. Do yo have someone that is familiar with RV's to go with you and look at it? Hire a mobile RV technicion to look it over.

[RVThere]

I had a 2003 Itasca Suncruiser 35U/Workhorse which is sister to the Adventurer. I had about 50K miles when I traded it in for my current rig in 2008 so 27k after all this time is very low mileage.

Other issues I had that you should look for:
- coolant leak at the sensor on the engine block (passenger side). You can see it by lifting up the front end on the jacks and look above the tire.
- back wall separating from the floor. Go in back bedroom, put your head against the wall and look down. Look for daylight where the floor and wall come together.
- serpentine belt. Mine went at about 30k miles.
- rubber 'curtain' that goes above the engine and attaches to the bottom of the 'doghouse' often deteriorates. This is necessary of engine cooling.
- my 8.1 tended to use some oil so check every 1000 miles.