Replacement of the fuel filler necks with an
improved design - February, 2009
Every fuel stop was an adventure in patience, for us as well as those behind us. It was one of those minor but completely aggravating and annoying issues we get to deal with in life from time to time. It was also a reminder that our coach, while a really good well thought-out and built product, was not without its warts.
It was with great glee I noticed a thread several months ago on a popular RV forum about Freightliner and Winnebago addressing this problem. The problem was apparently inadequate venting - about 400 fuel tanks were going to be replaced, and on other chassis numbers, improved filler necks were the solution (this latter category includes us.) If your unit was in warranty, no charge for parts and labor. Out of warranty, the owner pays for parts, Freightliner covers the labor.
This was apparently one of those "soft" recalls - it is available only if a customer complains and is not proactively offered by either Freightliner Custom Chassis or Winnebago Industries.
The improved filler necks have a vent pipe of 7/8" compared of a vent pipe of 1/2" on the old version. The new tank has a 7/8" vent on the top of the tank, the old tank has a 1/2" vent near the top, but on the side. I have no idea what the problem is with the 400 or so tanks that are being replaced. As previously mentioned, my tank was not a candidate to be replaced, but installing filler necks with a 7/8" vent tube to a tank with a 1/2" vent outlet doesn't make a whole lot of engineering sense to me. My guess is this was a cost-driven decision and not an engineering decision.
Freightliner of Tolleson, Arizona (Phoenix) is about the only Freightliner dealer I will let touch my chassis (besides the factory), so I made an appointment with Kirk, the Oasis manager, to have our new filler necks installed. Kirk (and the tech) said they have replaced two fuel tanks in the campaign, but no filler necks - lucky me.
The installation of the left side went fairly well with no complications (other than the tech bolting some parts together that needed to move when the slide was extended - guess how we discovered that!), but the right side filler neck took a wrong twist and some of the pipe had to be cut off to make the installation work. I can't believe that field modification was necessary, but I saw the issue with my own eyes. There must be about ten man-hours of labor in this job - I sincerely hope the results are worth the cost.
After the tech was finished, he wanted us to try a fill-up, so we drive the mile or so to a nearby Pilot. It was extremely busy at the station and for the first time ever in 40,000 miles of using mostly truck pumps, we had to pre-pay for a specific amount with our Visa card. I thought we needed 48 gallons according to our VMSpc engine/trip computer, so Jane pre-paid for 48 gallons of fuel. (I don't know if pre-paying is a local policy, or a corporate policy, but Pilot is now on the very bottom of our fueling list.)
With the truck pump nozzle set on its lowest position (lowest flow rate), it clicked off at 33 gallons of fuel pumped, leaving us short about 15+ gallons. Those 15 gallons did seem to go in faster with the new filler necks, but we won't have a good feel for this until we have two or three more fueling experiences. I'll going to leave a little white space under this paragraph so I can add later comments.
