Problems with new Carthago (1 Viewer)

[Casper46]

We are used to having problems with a new Motorhome, like many of you the mileage involved in journeys to and from the dealers is ridiculous.

We had arranged to call in to the dealer on Thursday this week on the way home from France to drop off the tv that stopped working just before we left for our holiday and to discuss other bits that need seeing to..
One of the problems is the fuel gauge that doesn’t work correctly, nor does the charging system seem to be ‘normal’. I thought that we had a super duper alternator that I assumed charges the vehicle battery, the vehicle battery was fully charged but after 70 miles of driving it had dropped 2 bars on the display.
I mentioned it to them on the phone today. I was told that this was not the dealers problem and that we needed to find a Mercedes Commercial garage ourselves and get it sorted. The young man I spoke to at the dealers didn’t word things quite a bluntly.

As we bought the vehicle from the dealer and not just the conversion is he correct that we have to find a garage to sort it out.
Thoughts please.

 

[Steve and Denise]

I would have thought your contract is with your supplier dealer

 

[DavidG58]

I would miss out the dealer wherever possible

Probably legally they should sort it, but you will need to get on board with Mercedes for service I would do it now

 

[Manic]

I would have thought it was the dealers responsibility to sort any problem, even if they take it the base vehicle garage

 

[Dutch 68]

We are used to having problems with a new Motorhome, like many of you the mileage involved in journeys to and from the dealers is ridiculous.

We had arranged to call in to the dealer on Thursday this week on the way home from France to drop off the tv that stopped working just before we left for our holiday and to discuss other bits that need seeing to..
One of the problems is the fuel gauge that doesn’t work correctly, nor does the charging system seem to be ‘normal’. I thought that we had a super duper alternator that I assumed charges the vehicle battery, the vehicle battery was fully charged but after 70 miles of driving it had dropped 2 bars on the display.
I mentioned it to them on the phone today. I was told that this was not the dealers problem and that we needed to find a Mercedes Commercial garage ourselves and get it sorted. The young man I spoke to at the dealers didn’t word things quite a bluntly.

As we bought the vehicle from the dealer and not just the conversion is he correct that we have to find a garage to sort it out.
Thoughts please.

No , your contract is with them, they solve problems on all of the vehicle, if they can’t do that in house then they have to arrange for it, you don’t buy a new build house and having to negotiate with the various suppliers where the materials came from……

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[bigtree]

When I had my Frankia which was still in warranty the handbrake jammed on one side, I was at the Frankia factory and they told me it wasn’t their problem. They gave me the address of the nearest Merc garage, I drove to there and got it fixed. Being fairly new to motorhoming back then I took their word for it.

 

[VXman]

I would have thought it was the dealers responsibility to sort any problem, even if they take it the base vehicle garage

No , your contract is with them, they solve problems on all of the vehicle, if they can’t do that in house then they have to arrange for it, you don’t buy a new build house and having to negotiate with the various suppliers where the materials came from……

Just more hassle though. Probably have to drive further and it will take longer. You'll have to drop it off, then they will have to take it the the Mercedes place, then get it back etc etc. Really not worth it. On the engine cab/base vehicle/engine side it will have to go to a Mercedes garage and there are more of them available so easier to take it direct to one. Might even do it while you wait. Presumably you'll use the same one when it comes to the servicing side in the future so good to build up a relationship.

 

[MichaelT]

It's always been any issues with base vehicle are dealt with by the maker(fiat, Mercedes etc.) And the conversion dealt with by dealer unless the dealer is also a base vehicle workshop.

If you buy a new house say and the oven goes wrong you call the oven manufacturers not the builder.

 

[AdrianChen]

We are used to having problems with a new Motorhome, like many of you the mileage involved in journeys to and from the dealers is ridiculous.

We had arranged to call in to the dealer on Thursday this week on the way home from France to drop off the tv that stopped working just before we left for our holiday and to discuss other bits that need seeing to..
One of the problems is the fuel gauge that doesn’t work correctly, nor does the charging system seem to be ‘normal’. I thought that we had a super duper alternator that I assumed charges the vehicle battery, the vehicle battery was fully charged but after 70 miles of driving it had dropped 2 bars on the display.
I mentioned it to them on the phone today. I was told that this was not the dealers problem and that we needed to find a Mercedes Commercial garage ourselves and get it sorted. The young man I spoke to at the dealers didn’t word things quite a bluntly.

As we bought the vehicle from the dealer and not just the conversion is he correct that we have to find a garage to sort it out.
Thoughts please.

Not sure if you mean the cab battery display on the CBE panel, or the Merc dashboard display, found my CBE panel needed to be calibrated through the panel menu so the two agreed, if it is a smart alternator then it will not fully charge the battery, they are designed to leave room for the battery charge to take place during deceleration/braking, how many blobs that might be on the display I'm not sure since having a battery master type device the cab battery always gets topped up!

As to who should check/correct I would expect the dealer to take care of any diagnostics at least, since it may be a CBE issue not Merc, or the battery itself being poor, but if not convenient then start with the Merc dealer (Fuel Gauge as well) or DIY.... If your CBE panel went crook, or Dometic fridge etc, etc

 

[WESTY66]

I would assume anything wrong with the base vehicle, ie Mercedes would have to go back to Mercedes, after all what does a Carthago hab tech know about Mercedes, he’s had zero training on Mercedes so I wouldn’t be happy letting the hab man anywhere near the base side of things and vice versa!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Southend]

We had a similar issue with our Fiat based PVC. Our dealer told us to find a local Fiat Professional garage ourselves. I pointed out the dealer was responsible for the warranty and it was dealer I would return the vehicle to for a refund if it wasn't fit for purpose. They backed down and took the van to their chosen Fiat garage and even refueled it to cover the extra mileage.

 

[Pausim]

The warranty on the base vehicle is offered by the motor manufacturer not the motorhome converter and would be invalidated if handled by someone not authorised to do it. Personally I would rather deal directly with the appropriate garage than through the dealer. Yes if it came down to a legal argument about a contract breach it would be with the selling dealer who took your money but a mechanical fault is not initially a contractual failure, just an unfortunate occurrence.

Another thing to check is the clauses in the sale agreement. I have a motorhome one in front of me now and it clearly states. “The chassis is under warranty from its manufacturer. We are only authorised by the manufacturer to carry out warranty work to the Fixtures and Fittings and nothing else.” Much easier to go directly to an authorised garage near you I would have thought.

As for the fault I wonder if it is anything more than a smart alternator doing exactly what it is supposed to do. When on a hook up or domestic charging the motorhome will charge both the leisure and engine batteries to their maximum. A smart alternator does not want the engine battery full, it needs space in it for energy recovery. It will deliberately let the engine battery voltage drop to about 12.3V to allow room for this to happen. The 2 bars on the display is probably exactly the level the smart alternator wants the battery at, not the full level the motorhome has pushed it up to. Lots of people get confused by the antics of smart alternators but this is how they save you from wasting road fuel.

 

[Casper46]

Thanks everyone, I am just writing another post, it never rains but it pours.

 

[Otter Spotter]

The warranty on the base vehicle is offered by the motor manufacturer not the motorhome converter and would be invalidated if handled by someone not authorised to do it. Personally I would rather deal directly with the appropriate garage than through the dealer. Yes if it came down to a legal argument about a contract breach it would be with the selling dealer who took your money but a mechanical fault is not initially a contractual failure, just an unfortunate occurrence.

Another thing to check is the clauses in the sale agreement. I have a motorhome one in front of me now and it clearly states. “The chassis is under warranty from its manufacturer. We are only authorised by the manufacturer to carry out warranty work to the Fixtures and Fittings and nothing else.” Much easier to go directly to an authorised garage near you I would have thought.

As for the fault I wonder if it is anything more than a smart alternator doing exactly what it is supposed to do. When on a hook up or domestic charging the motorhome will charge both the leisure and engine batteries to their maximum. A smart alternator does not want the engine battery full, it needs space in it for energy recovery. It will deliberately let the engine battery voltage drop to about 12.3V to allow room for this to happen. The 2 bars on the display is probably exactly the level the smart alternator wants the battery at, not the full level the motorhome has pushed it up to. Lots of people get confused by the antics of smart alternators but this is how they save you from wasting road fuel.

I believe your first line may incorrect, as long as your chosen garage proves they have used Fiat parts, then the warranty is still valid. I had an issue early on with my Citroen and my local Independent sorted it and confirmed with Citroen that the warrant was safe. It’s something to do with ‘restrictive practice and the rules against it.

 

[Pausim]

I believe your first line may incorrect, as long as your chosen garage proves they have used Fiat parts, then the warranty is still valid. I had an issue early on with my Citroen and my local Independent sorted it and confirmed with Citroen that the warrant was safe. It’s something to do with ‘restrictive practice and the rules against it.

Using proper parts might mean the warranty would not be invalidated but does it also mean that the costs of the repair would be repaid to the independent garage under the warranty, or would the owner have to stump this up? I would rather have it done by a garage that can get authorisation for the warranty work cleared quickly without giving them an excuse to kick it around.

I am still mostly convinced that this is just a smart alternator doing what it is set up to do and that there is nothing wrong.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[G7UXG]

If it’s the vehicle battery status on the CBE panel that has dropped, I’d take that with a pinch of salt. As others have said, Euro 6 smart alternators do strange things. If you haven’t had any problems with the vehicle starting, the battery and its charge state is probably OK.

If you load the vehicle info panel on the central Mercedes display whilst your driving along, you’ll see the start battery voltage changing constantly as the smart alternator does its stuff.

 

[Roger S]

Our 9 month old Sprinter lost its power steering, thankfully we were at home just going to go out. I didnt even consider contacting the motorhome dealer in Scotland as they are SOOOO unhelpful, the Mercedes dealer was quite the opposite replaced the rack and had it back in about a week which I was quite happy with.