Winterizing Problems

[Zoltar]

Well..... time to vent a little... Had the dealership winterize my '09 LSV the end of last summer. I figured the cost of winterizing it with them was worth the piece of mind and would have no problems this spring. I drove it 7 hours (one way) to my rv site, dropped it off and returned home the same day. So roughly 14 hours and couple hundred in cash for fuel. So.... this weekend I haul the 5th wheel to the site to enjoy the long weekend and do a little boating, golfing etc. Here's where it gets fun...... I should have set up a fake a lake and ran 'er up on shore, but things happen and I didnt do it. My mistake. I started it up in the launch... perfect... fired right up. I'm thinking " its gonna be a great day on the lake!" then I notice water on the floor under the helm and the walk way to the bow. It had been raining, so a little leakage seemed normal to me. After a couple minutes the water on the floor was particularly warm and the bilge pump was now" functioning well". Tied it up at the dock and looked under the seat in front of helm. Water, such as can be viewed at Niagra Falls, was spewing from the heater. What a downer!! I could have froze the heater myself for alot less than the dealership charged! I signalled my wife to bring the trailer back around and quickly checked to see if we had "milk" in the engine oil. It appeared clear, thank God. In all the " excitement" i forgot to check the ballast system, so hopefully that is OK. I haven't yet taked to the dealership, as it is a long weekend here. What are your thoughts..... how should I handle the servce manager and do they owe me any thing above and beyond a new heater( of course I hauled it back the 7 hours again as the dealer is here)

[dru1974]

I would expect replacement of the heater and something to repay you for the trips to and from would be fair.....what lake were you at?

[Zoltar]

We were at Mabel Lake B.C.

[dru1974]

Did u buy the boat in Alberta at the moomba dealer. That's a long way to Pull it to find out it wasn't correctly winterized

[Zoltar]

Yes, I bought it in Alberta last year. We bring it back every year in the fall and store it here. there is too much risk of falling trees if I were leave it in B.C.

[sandm]

dealer should own that problem.
might be tough to get them to admit, but good luck :)

[Zoltar]

Really?! How could they deny that the heater is "toast" and they were the ones responsible? I guess I'll find out tomorrow when they open.

[DOCDRS]

any chance it could be coming from where the hose connects to the heater? or is it from the core?

[zabooda]

I had a heater core start leaking after it was eight years old from corrosion. It seems a little too early for a corrosion leak and mine started mid summer. I bet he forgot about the heater.

[Zoltar]

any chance it could be coming from where the hose connects to the heater? or is it from the core?

Actually the hose connections looked to be fine, oddly enough. Just poring through the bottom og the heater.

[dru1974]

If it was mms I know they will take good care of u they always try to

[Zoltar]

Yea, they got me in tomorrow. Everything so far sounds positive!

[lsvboombox]

I think ithey pull the heater core it will be easy to tell if it busted do to ice.... the piping wouldnt be swollen and split, would be hard for them to agrue if they winterized...

[Zoltar]

I think ithey pull the heater core it will be easy to tell if it busted do to ice.... the piping wouldnt be swollen and split, would be hard for them to agrue if they winterized...

Yes, I agree. I am having them " go though" everything!! From the brief phone call, it sounds like they are completely manning up.
'

[Ian Brantford]

My marina made the same mistake. They didn't get antifreeze all the way through the system. I don't know if they just misjudged, or if they had someone who did not know about the heater. They had done it correctly the year before.

Anyway, they were pretty embarrassed about it and weren't even going to tell me. The only reason that I found out was that I had gotten a drysuit and wanted an unusually early start to the season. They were still waiting on the part to come in, and so had to confess as to why the boat was not ready.

[zabooda]

Interesting someone would run antifreeze through that system as the water flow is slow. It takes two seconds to blow it out and two minutes to run antifreeze through it.

[sailing217]

Buddy had this happen to him. Dealer stepped up and replaced it (took like 2 months tho).

Did you pay specifically for the heater to be winterized?

My ballast strainer cracked because there was water in between the threads. The actual strainer was Pink, but the dealer still replaced it.

[Zoltar]

Buddy had this happen to him. Dealer stepped up and replaced it (took like 2 months tho).

Did you pay specifically for the heater to be winterized?

My ballast strainer cracked because there was water in between the threads. The actual strainer was Pink, but the dealer still replaced it.

I paid for a complete winterization. I took it in this morning and they said they would have it done in the afternoon. I told them to take their time and check EVERYTHING!!