2003 Tiffin 1st 2000 mi trip

[Jbones]

About 2 years ago we bought our first coach, a 2003 Tiffin Allegro. After a year of suspension, mechanical, electronic equipment, appliance upgrades, interior refurbishing, & several weekend trips,
we were anxious to reap the benifits of the past years work.

Our first long trip was to Mexico from Oregon was great. The return trip, not so great. We were about 30 miles from Wickenburg, AZ going up a hill when the composite engine fan exploded, taking out the radiator, fan shroud, hoses, etc, etc. We sat on the side of the road for 19 hrs in 107° heat, while being given the run-around by the insurance people in Vegas. Finally we were towed to Fleet First in Wickenburg. After their terrible work and two failed test drives, the third test drive resulted in a engine fire, caused by Fleet First's failure to weld a radiator mount bracket back on the frame and secure a transmission line on the bottom of the radiator, which blew out and shot trans fluid over the engine exhaust manifold. The trans fluid ignited and destroyed (melted) the wireing, air cleaner, sensors, plug wires, distributor cap, etc, etc.


We again went through the insurance BS and had the Tiffin hauled to Kingman AZ. Towing fees were now almost $6000.00. The over 30 hrs of dealing with the ins BS was worth it at this point, I suppose since they finally paid it.

JOE'S TRUCK & RV REPAIR in Kingman was backed up for at least 6 weeks, so we drove our tow car back to Oregon. We told Joe's to take their time as winter was coming on, and we would not need it until spring.

The wiring loom had to be removed, checked & repaired plus many electrical & engine parts replaced, altenator etc.
Joe's did a great job, & we highly recomend them.

We returned to JOE'S about 6 months later and resumed our drive home. Everything seemed fine until we stopped for fuel & upon trying to leave I couldent get the shifter out of park at first. Hmm, never had that problem before. Several times the shifter acted up and also the coach transmission would go into neutral while traveling all by itself. We were stuck on the side of the road several times. I managed to get it going several times after messing with the linkage to the trans until finally I couldn't get it in gear at all. So once again we had to go through the insurance bs, but finally did get a tow truck out. The two times prior we had to have the coach put on a low boy truck & trailor. This made the third time , but no low boy was available, so I disconnected the driveline so the coach could be towed normally.

We finally made it to Sparks NV an took it to a supposed Allison trans expert truck repair shop.
They greased the linkage, checked the transmission, said it was fine, charged us $1400.00. We headed out & started having the same problems again about 80 miles out. Long story short, we nursed it back to southern OR. We ended taking it to an Allison Transmission repair shop in Medford, that rebuilt the transmission and said that due to the excessive fluid loss when it caught fire, the trans was badly damaged.

Towing total was almost $7,000.00, which our coach insurance covered.
The Fleet First insurance paid a settlement of $32,000.00
We paid $8,000.00 for transmissiin rebuild.

The amazing thing is that after paying out almost $7000.00 in hauling/towing charges, our insurance co lowered our annual rate.

Before you ask, the reason why we repaired the older coach is because we had just finished a complete suspension upgrade, interior remodel and it had all new appliances, plus new roof solar panels, etc, etc.

I am now putting in a new 4000w inverter and a 400ah lifepo4 lithium battery. I don't know much about solar, as to why I joined this Forum, why to be able to ask you all my future questions, as I am sure there will be many.

[D Gardiner]

Yikes! What a story.

So sorry to hear that the fan exploded, and caused so much damage.

What is less encouraging is the damaged caused by the first shop causing the fire. Luckily the second shop did the extensive repair to fix the wiring harness. Not an easy task, as I just did that last spring on a vintage car.

Unfortunately, as you described, there was more damage caused by the first shop, when the transmission line blew. Glad the last shop in Oregon got you fixed up.

Understand keeping an older coach on the road. It seems silly to pour thousands in upgrades on a late 90s or early 2000's coach. But,....you are not alone. We've dumped over to $10K in upgrades, in our rig, since 2017.