# Two Camping Trips & Two Leaks



## davidrf (Jul 13, 2010)

A little over a month ago I took the 250rs on her first camping trip and had a fairly bad toilet leak. It made for a rough seven day trip. I came home and took it back to where I bought it and waited for about two or three weeks to get it back, other issues had to be fixed as well. Now I am out on my second trip and the wife sticks her head out the door while I am enjoying a peaceful camp fire and tells me it's leaking again. Now I am upset. It takes a little over an hour to get to the dealer that I purchased this from. That is one trip down to drop it off, then back home. A trip down to pick it up and back home. This is a total of eight trips and over eight hours just to get a toilet fixed. As many of you know a 6.0 liter chevy loves gas and I feel like this free warranty work is getting expensive. Thanks for listening to me vent.


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## duggy (Mar 17, 2010)

Sorry to hear about your troubles. A recurring problem like that takes a lot of the shine off the new purchase. Hopefully they get it fixed right this time.

I don't know if it makes you feel any better, but we've had our 250RS for three months now, and other than a few minor adjustments that I've taken care of myself, we've had a trouble free ownership experience.

Good luck,

Doug


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

Yeah, our dealer is about a 75 minute trip away. We parked our brand-new Outback in the driveway when we got it home. Next morning, the pump was running and wouldn't stop, unless I turned it off. No water leaks - just a bad pressure switch. The dealer replaced the pump while I waited (HUGE dealership with 25 service bays) - but lots of time and gas. (I, too have the 6.0L gasser) Six months later, a short in the right front marker light had my tail lights go bye-bye. Back to the dealer, who found and fixed it in about an hour. But again . . .

I can't complain, though. I've had only a few problems other than the aforementioned, but nothing that I, along with the collective wisdom of this website couldn't fix.

Hopefully your dealer will get it fixed right this time. It might be something simple. Make sure you get every squeak looked at while you're there, though.

Good luck.

Mike


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## Tangooutback (Apr 16, 2010)

davidrf said:


> A little over a month ago I took the 250rs on her first camping trip and had a fairly bad toilet leak. It made for a rough seven day trip. I came home and took it back to where I bought it and waited for about two or three weeks to get it back, other issues had to be fixed as well. Now I am out on my second trip and the wife sticks her head out the door while I am enjoying a peaceful camp fire and tells me it's leaking again. Now I am upset. It takes a little over an hour to get to the dealer that I purchased this from. That is one trip down to drop it off, then back home. A trip down to pick it up and back home. This is a total of eight trips and over eight hours just to get a toilet fixed. As many of you know a 6.0 liter chevy loves gas and I feel like this free warranty work is getting expensive. Thanks for listening to me vent.


Sorry to hear about your toilet. Did your dealer explain why it leaked?


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## Joe/GA (Aug 14, 2009)

Sorry to hear about your troubles. It's an hours drive for me too, to the TV dealer or the TT dealer. What exactly is leaking? Is it leaking supply water at the valve? Does it leak only when flushing?


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## rdvholtwood (Sep 18, 2008)

Sorry to hear about your troubles....shortly after taking delivery of our 250Rs, we found out that our kitchen window was installed incorrectly...Since we purchased our OB at the Hershey, PA show, our dealer was located in Churchville, NY.....Keystone was nice enough to make arrangements with a local dealer to have the problem fixed; however, I had no tow vehicle yet (our TT was delivered) and I had a broken right foot!! After making a few calls to our dealer, they had arranged for a driver to come pick the trailer up and transport it to our local dealer at their cost. Although we saved on gas, the whole process was unnerving to us being new Outback owners......


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## davidrf (Jul 13, 2010)

Tangooutback said:


> A little over a month ago I took the 250rs on her first camping trip and had a fairly bad toilet leak. It made for a rough seven day trip. I came home and took it back to where I bought it and waited for about two or three weeks to get it back, other issues had to be fixed as well. Now I am out on my second trip and the wife sticks her head out the door while I am enjoying a peaceful camp fire and tells me it's leaking again. Now I am upset. It takes a little over an hour to get to the dealer that I purchased this from. That is one trip down to drop it off, then back home. A trip down to pick it up and back home. This is a total of eight trips and over eight hours just to get a toilet fixed. As many of you know a 6.0 liter chevy loves gas and I feel like this free warranty work is getting expensive. Thanks for listening to me vent.


Sorry to hear about your toilet. Did your dealer explain why it leaked?
[/quote]
I didn't get to talk to anyone, but it was written up that the gasket was changed.


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## davidrf (Jul 13, 2010)

Joe/GA said:


> Sorry to hear about your troubles. It's an hours drive for me too, to the TV dealer or the TT dealer. What exactly is leaking? Is it leaking supply water at the valve? Does it leak only when flushing?


It leaks around the base of the toilet and when I flush I guess it gradually makes its way out.


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## OutbackPM (Sep 14, 2005)

davidrf said:


> Sorry to hear about your troubles. It's an hours drive for me too, to the TV dealer or the TT dealer. What exactly is leaking? Is it leaking supply water at the valve? Does it leak only when flushing?


It leaks around the base of the toilet and when I flush I guess it gradually makes its way out.
[/quote]

Sorry to hear about your problem. Unfortunately there always seems to be something wrong with new campers.

I have two suggestions that I might do in your situation. 1) Find a nearer Keystone approved dealer that you can work with. The original dealer has shown they cannot/won't be able to fix it. I have a local independant dealer who only does maitenance and repairs but they are authorised for many manufacturers. 2) remove the toilet your self and investigate the problem. It might work out to be the cheapest and least time consuming. For me I like to know how things work on the camper so if I develop a problem I have a chance to put it right by myself or know that I need help and not waist any time figuring it out. The more you can do the easier it is for the minor things.

Good luck and let use know what your problem was in the end.


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## ftwildernessguy (Oct 12, 2009)

In your stack of manuals that should have come with your camper, there should be one for the toilet that goes into some pretty good detail on how to take it apart and replace seals and reassemble it. I vote for doing it yourself and saving a lot of time and headaches. I hate to think of how many things I have rebuilt in trailers over the years and ended up doing a much better job than the factory or the kid the dealer hired as a service tech.


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## Calvin&Hobbes (May 24, 2006)

ftwildernessguy said:


> In your stack of manuals that should have come with your camper, there should be one for the toilet that goes into some pretty good detail on how to take it apart and replace seals and reassemble it. I vote for doing it yourself and saving a lot of time and headaches. I hate to think of how many things I have rebuilt in trailers over the years and ended up doing a much better job than the factory or the kid the dealer hired as a service tech.


X2... The "systems" in these trailers are pretty basic. I had to replace the flush mechanism on our toilet after our second season (over zealous 5 year old flushing- bent the spring loaded actuator rod). Not a big deal to replace really, but I'm sure the RV dealership would have soaked me, I'm sure.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

ftwildernessguy said:


> In your stack of manuals that should have come with your camper, there should be one for the toilet that goes into some pretty good detail on how to take it apart and replace seals and reassemble it. I vote for doing it yourself and saving a lot of time and headaches. I hate to think of how many things I have rebuilt in trailers over the years and ended up doing a much better job than the factory or the kid the dealer hired as a service tech.


It sounds as if you have a brand new unit that you've had out just a few times. If that is the case, you have the manufacturer's warranty to pay for repairs - unless you do something yourself trying to make your own repairs that they could blame on you and then deny coverage. If it's truly just a gasket, you won't be out much. But because a new gasket didn't fix the problem the first time, there may be a defective part, parts - or complete toilet - that needs to be replaced. That would cost a bunch more money if you had to pay for it yourself.

Frustrating as it is, if it were me, I would call the dealer and talk calmly, and ask what kind of resolution you can come to. Explain your frustrations and displeasure with this defect and how much time and money to bring the trailer for repairs - again.

Our dealer is now sending us to another one of their stores that is much closer. They don't sell Outbacks there, but they are authorized Keystone techs. Perhaps they might have a similar solution.

Don't screw up your warranty. But if you have no warranty - then I agree with the quote above. I just hate paying someone to do what I can do myself, for much cheaper, too!

Good Luck - and hope you're back campin' again soon!

Mike


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## davidrf (Jul 13, 2010)

Will be calling them today to see what they say. It is under warranty and I know they will fix it. It's just really frustrating to pay that kind of money for something and have problems with it the first two times I use it. It leaks so bad that when I got home the water that was left in it ,which wasn't much, had splashed out from underneath of it and was all over the floor and stunk really bad. I hope there is no damage to the floor itself. But, everything will be alright eventually. I just hope I can keep the wife calm enough to get this resolved peacefully.


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## Joe/GA (Aug 14, 2009)

davidrf said:


> leaks so bad that when I got home the water that was left in it ,which wasn't much, had splashed out from underneath of it and was all over the floor and stunk really bad.


If it smells bad, then it must be the seal between the flange and the toilet. If it is a Thetford, they have good diagrams and instruction. Click the link to see. clicky


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## Hoosier Camper (Sep 19, 2010)

davidrf said:


> A little over a month ago I took the 250rs on her first camping trip and had a fairly bad toilet leak. It made for a rough seven day trip. I came home and took it back to where I bought it and waited for about two or three weeks to get it back, other issues had to be fixed as well. Now I am out on my second trip and the wife sticks her head out the door while I am enjoying a peaceful camp fire and tells me it's leaking again. Now I am upset. It takes a little over an hour to get to the dealer that I purchased this from. That is one trip down to drop it off, then back home. A trip down to pick it up and back home. This is a total of eight trips and over eight hours just to get a toilet fixed. As many of you know a 6.0 liter chevy loves gas and I feel like this free warranty work is getting expensive. Thanks for listening to me vent.


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## Hoosier Camper (Sep 19, 2010)

Just wondering what was the cause? I bought a used 25RSS and the first trip out the black tank was leaking. To make this story short the toilet fitting and tank wasn't even connected and the top of the tank is busted! Also the floor had been hacked on. It really look like it left the factory this way.


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