- Joined
- Jul 27, 2019
- Messages
- 12,374
- Location
- Midlothian, VA
- RV Year
- 2017
- RV Make
- Newmar
- RV Model
- Ventana 4037
- RV Length
- 40' 10"
- Chassis
- Freightliner XCR
- Engine
- Cummins 400 HP
- TOW/TOAD
- 2017 Chevy Colorado
- Fulltimer
- No
In my 2017 Newmar Ventana with a Cummins ISL 9 (400 HP) I had an issue with oil consumption, having to add oil every few months. When on the rack at HWH for Active Air install I noticed wet areas which may be normal or not but my peers I asked if they had to add oil and the answer was no. So I took it to Cummins in Dec 2018 and they replaced the oil pan gasket, a one day job and in Mishawaka (however it's spelled) they have 50A hookups so staying overnight was easy. The oil consumption issue was fixed.
During my big winter trip starting September 1st I noticed oil dripping on the pads at each CG. Very little but it was noticeable and I certainly didn't want to be dirtying up CG spots. If I knew I was keeping this coach forever I probably would live with it as the risk of having something fixed far outweighs this slight oil issue, or so I thought. Last thing I wanted was to have to fix this out of warranty in order to sell it so I went to Cummins Tucson to have it diagnosed. They put die in the oil and determined the head gasket needed to be replaced. They said it would be a 7-10 day job which I didn't want to do at the time so I left. I figured when I get home in VA I'd just have it done there and not have to deal with a hotel room, etc. I was surprised when Cummins Tucson tried to charge me $300 and I said no, it's under warranty and was released. Later I got an email telling me to pay the $300 as they did the diagnostics but not the repair, I said no. I called Cummins corporate to see if I was getting taken advantage of they said no, if you were to have Cummins diagnose it and then get it repaired somewhere else is the why behind that. Okay, well I had intention of getting Cummins to do it so I just let it go and I was never asked again.
As I'm near Tucson in Casa Grande I figured I'd give Tucson Cummins my business and have them replace the head gasket while under warranty of course. It was a bit confusion because the service guy said whether they'd pay for my hotel would be up to the manager yet when I spoke to the manager they said Cummins never does that (I should have asked Freightliner and think I may need to do so as I write this, never occurred to me). So I would have to eat the cost of the hotel but made my reservation for 5 days. I boondocked on the street outside of the Cummins facility Sunday night to give them the keys at 6 AM Monday morning (sketchy part of Tucson!!) and asked them to please have it done by Friday, i.e. 5 days as I'm paying a lot of money both for my CG site I left and will return to and also a hotel and meals and $25/night for the dog. Long story short they got it done in every minute of that 5 days, it was a massive amount of work and the tech did a great job working hard.
I left Friday evening around 5:30 PM and had to make the 1 hour drive back to Casa Grande hoping I wouldn't be on the side of the road which I expected after disassembling everything around the engine to do this job. I'm happy to report I made it back, no leaks, no lights, no explosions, no rapid evacuations (which I was prepared for, kept my wallet in my back pocket and had a plan). The weird thing is if Cummins found any parts needing replacement such as belts, etc. I would have to pay for that. I told them no, it's under warranty with FL, they told me they don't work with them, I'd have to work that out. Weird. There was one issue but later they figured out the part problem and didn't need to replace one thing so in the end I didn't have to deal with that.
The cost of this job if not under warranty would be an estimated $7K. Apparently this is common in the ISL 9's per the tech as Cummins used too thin of a head gasket which they later improved, however, mine has a defect as you can see in the picture and was not a "too thin" issue but an actual failure in the head gasket. Notice the raised area.
Interesting to see how they access the area in the Ventana by removing the rear radiator, once that's out seems like they have great access.
During my big winter trip starting September 1st I noticed oil dripping on the pads at each CG. Very little but it was noticeable and I certainly didn't want to be dirtying up CG spots. If I knew I was keeping this coach forever I probably would live with it as the risk of having something fixed far outweighs this slight oil issue, or so I thought. Last thing I wanted was to have to fix this out of warranty in order to sell it so I went to Cummins Tucson to have it diagnosed. They put die in the oil and determined the head gasket needed to be replaced. They said it would be a 7-10 day job which I didn't want to do at the time so I left. I figured when I get home in VA I'd just have it done there and not have to deal with a hotel room, etc. I was surprised when Cummins Tucson tried to charge me $300 and I said no, it's under warranty and was released. Later I got an email telling me to pay the $300 as they did the diagnostics but not the repair, I said no. I called Cummins corporate to see if I was getting taken advantage of they said no, if you were to have Cummins diagnose it and then get it repaired somewhere else is the why behind that. Okay, well I had intention of getting Cummins to do it so I just let it go and I was never asked again.
As I'm near Tucson in Casa Grande I figured I'd give Tucson Cummins my business and have them replace the head gasket while under warranty of course. It was a bit confusion because the service guy said whether they'd pay for my hotel would be up to the manager yet when I spoke to the manager they said Cummins never does that (I should have asked Freightliner and think I may need to do so as I write this, never occurred to me). So I would have to eat the cost of the hotel but made my reservation for 5 days. I boondocked on the street outside of the Cummins facility Sunday night to give them the keys at 6 AM Monday morning (sketchy part of Tucson!!) and asked them to please have it done by Friday, i.e. 5 days as I'm paying a lot of money both for my CG site I left and will return to and also a hotel and meals and $25/night for the dog. Long story short they got it done in every minute of that 5 days, it was a massive amount of work and the tech did a great job working hard.
I left Friday evening around 5:30 PM and had to make the 1 hour drive back to Casa Grande hoping I wouldn't be on the side of the road which I expected after disassembling everything around the engine to do this job. I'm happy to report I made it back, no leaks, no lights, no explosions, no rapid evacuations (which I was prepared for, kept my wallet in my back pocket and had a plan). The weird thing is if Cummins found any parts needing replacement such as belts, etc. I would have to pay for that. I told them no, it's under warranty with FL, they told me they don't work with them, I'd have to work that out. Weird. There was one issue but later they figured out the part problem and didn't need to replace one thing so in the end I didn't have to deal with that.
The cost of this job if not under warranty would be an estimated $7K. Apparently this is common in the ISL 9's per the tech as Cummins used too thin of a head gasket which they later improved, however, mine has a defect as you can see in the picture and was not a "too thin" issue but an actual failure in the head gasket. Notice the raised area.
Interesting to see how they access the area in the Ventana by removing the rear radiator, once that's out seems like they have great access.
