Who is canceling travel plans because of the DEF head issue?

[Krikati]

Dear friends,
Could someone please explain in simple terms what is a "DEF head?"
Krikati

[brobox]

Originally Posted by gatorstan

What is a def head I just my newer RV with a 380 Cummins and I had a cat motor in my other RV with no def

Post #49.

[Johnynorthla]

I was thinking of going back to diesel for my next rig, you guys are making me 2nd guess that thought. Is it motor specific? Or Part specific?

[Ranger Smith]

Not cancelling anything . . . No DEF to worry about.

[Mr. T]

I have a buddy that drives a delivery truck. He makes short trips and at least once a week the system goes through the regen process. He's never had (or heard of) DEF head problems. What's so different about motor coaches that's causing this problem? Are Truckers experiencing this too?

[cyclist0920]

We are almost 3/4 of our way to CA from Atlanta. So no, we are going for it!! If we have an issue, then we stop and get it fixed. We had our DEF head replaced in February

[LWBAZ]

Originally Posted by Mr. T

I have a buddy that drives a delivery truck. He makes short trips and at least once a week the system goes through the regen process. He's never had (or heard of) DEF head problems. What's so different about motor coaches that's causing this problem? Are Truckers experiencing this too?

The short answer is that your friend's delivery truck is probably not equipped with a DEF head manufactured by Shaw Development LLC.

Yes, truckers are experiencing DEF head failures too, but keep in mind the number of Class A diesel motorhomes on the road at any given time is lost in the rounding of the number of over-the-road trucks and regional delivery trucks that are logging lots of miles pretty much every day.

If we could get data listing failures as a percent to total vehicles or better yet failures as a percent of total miles driven, I'm confident we'd see a major difference in failure rates between commercial diesel trucks and Class A diesel motorhomes riding on a Spartan or Tiffin PowerGlide chassis.

[jeskibuff]

Originally Posted by jnets

I’m new to this DEF issue everyone is discussing. Just finished an 8000 mile trip. Bought DEF at Walmart. Had no trouble. Is this a certain model of Motorhome or engine type. I have a 2029 Berkshire 39a. 360 Cummins. No issues???should I be concerned for my next trip?

Originally Posted by brobox

Absolutely no problems with that coach yet.

Probably can't get it up to that magical 88 MPH. Also have to check for flux capacitor damage.

[AndyZ]

Originally Posted by brobox

Just posted on FB an hour ago. This is getting to be a really sad travel season for some. Personally my DEF head has already been replaced and I'll go for it, if we can.

Sue



We left Middlebury on Wednesday - love the AIR benefit and are thankful to all who make that such a wonderful experience.
Sadly, we decided to cancel our 43-day Western trip and miss both the ECOA Spearfish and FMCA Gillette rallies. It's our turn for the dreaded DEF Head Failure. Had orange codes prior to our arrival at the factory and then another code show on the way home from Middlebury. We were told by Spartan they are not sending out replacement DEF parts (due to extremely limited supply), until your engine derates and you need to be towed. And when they run out of parts - who knows how long we could be stranded! We don't want to be stuck somewhere for months because parts are out of stock, so we will be parked at home until the stock of DEF heads are replenished. If you need a space for Spearfish or Gillette, there is a spot now open... going to miss seeing everyone...As common as this issue has become we are surprised there hasn't been a recall on this part.

It is times like this that I am glad I have a Caterpillar C-7 that neither regens or uses DEF in my 2005 38n

[RKark]

We just pulled the plug on our EOA Spearfish trip today. We hated to but we’re lucky to make it home from Elkhart, IN after a separate service issue. All codes and failure is imminent. Not willing to be stranded in the middle of nowhere and risk towing damage to our 2020 Anthem. We are on Spartan’s radar and list for replacement. We will miss being at the rally.

[bsnids]

In March this year, we were heading from Central Florida to Venice, FL to visit family. Heading west on I-4, we saw alarms and flashing DEF icon and thought we were having the dreaded DEF issue on our 2019 Cornerstone 45W. Fortunately, we were only a mile or so from LazyDays in Seffner and pulled into their campground hoping to get a spot. They did have a spot for us. We called the after hours no. for Spartan. The tech asked for the codes which we read from the dash. He said we needed a new DEF head and would have one over-nighted. They did and LazyDays did the work, all under warranty and we headed back to Central Florida with no more issues. We were so fortunate to be so close to a dealer and have this occur while Spartan still had DEF heads in inventory. Had this not happened as it did, we would have had the problem in May heading for our annual trip to northern Michigan and probably would have been one of those who I am reading about who are stuck. Really a bad situation, especially for Spartan and FL. I wonder what the chassis mfgs. will or can do to solve this industry wide problem. This could really kill the RV world for a time until this gets done. C’mon, Ted Cook, you can solve this if anyone can. We all need you. And can’t Spartan and/or FL find another supplier or two so there is some competition so we RV-ers can experience our travel without such consternation about getting stuck in the middle of nowhere for who knows how long.

Bill & Julia Snyder
2019 Cornerstone 45 W
2015 Cornerstone 45 B
2011 Tiffin Allegro Bus 43 QGP
2004 Dutch Star 4010

[mike5511]

Originally Posted by TXBart

Our DEF failure was in our driveway, a couple days after we returned from a month-long trip. It was replaced a week after I reported the failure.

Now our coach is ready to hit the road but the reports of failures of replacement heads and now a supply delay until Sept-Oct make us hesitate to get back on the road.

How many others have cancelled or adjusted their travel plans because of DEF heads?

I just sold the truck and bought a pre emissions class 8 semi. Problem solved.

[svaughanrv]

We bought a 2014 Anthem last fall. We have put 6K miles on the coach, which had 49K miles already. Our summer trip will put another 2K miles. We have not had any issues yet but not canceling travel plans because we could have a breakdown. We didn't buy our coach to sit, so we just hope all goes well.

[Master_Call]

I have been reading about all the def failures and I must say that even though I would like to have a lot of the features that are available on newer RVs I am now glad that I bought an older one (2001 Monaco Diplomat 40PBDD). I have had a few problems over the last few years such as inverter replacement, fresh water pump, starter, alternator just to name a few of them but I don't have to worry about DEF fluid or anything related. I do hope that all of you that do have to use DEF have good luck as it is a royal pain to get stuck on the road far away from home with no parts anywhere available for what's broken !!!