New Seneca owners heads up...

[Rustynuts]

So we have had our 2018.5 Seneca for about a month and have 2 trips on it. You might want to check the screws on your compartment door as I went to put in a couple jugs of DEF in the first compartment on the drivers side and when I opened it, the gas strut and mounting plate on the coach side was just hanging by the door. I looked up inside where it was screwed on and the heads of both screws had broken off!. I figured great another thing to fix and went to check the batteries and when I opened the second compartment door it fell towards the ground and I luckily caught it with my foot...all 3 heads had popped off of the screws on the lower hinge. So I checked all the other doors and every single one had 1-3 screw heads broken off. I went and got some quality stainless 14x3/4 hex head sheet metal screws that are NOT self drilling as you get a tighter fit by drilling a pilot hole first, and started replacing them all. If a screw was broken off in the slotted hole it was easy to just put a new one in next to the original. On the single hole, there is no way to get the screw out so you have to drill a whole new hole in the hinge plate....that took some time.

When I did each compartment I also checked the strut mount in the bay, some are screwed vertically into the floor, but only had 2 screws and the plates have 4 holes so I added screws to secure the plates like they should be. On the drivers side, the plates are put on with 2 screws that screw into wood and the pressure of the strut when closing the door puts so much leverage on the mount that the screws will soon rip out of the wood. If you put any screws in the lower holes, they would come out just outside of the door seal so what I did was to drill through the mount and used 10-32x3/4 stainless button head bolts and now there is absolutely no flex in the mount.

In these pics are a bunch of the screw heads that popped right off when I tried removing the screws to replace them. Others show strut mounting bracket screws not even tight and only 2 screws and then the bolting of the strut brackets.

[Murff]

Jeez! Is thor just asking for a Class Action lawsuit with this crap?

Murff

[Hahndavid1]

Thanks for the info. I pick up my 2018.5 Seneca next week.

[memphis02]

Just wait until the hinge rusts up and breaks causing the exact same problem, which is what I'm dealing with on my 2014. I've had 4 fail, so far. Every time I open a compartment, it's just a roll of the dice....

[Robbbyr]

Originally Posted by memphis02

Just wait until the hinge rusts up and breaks causing the exact same problem, which is what I'm dealing with on my 2014. I've had 4 fail, so far. Every time I open a compartment, it's just a roll of the dice....

My hinges were looking terrible too, so I had them plated and remounted them with better hardware. See post #5 here to see more info: https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...nge-46744.html

BTW it appears the new Seneca hinges are the same as Memphis02's and mine, hopefully they were improved the finish and pins since then.

[Griswald One]

Unfortunately this is not a new problem or limited to Seneca. I posted similar info last year for my 2015 Greyhawk. Over half my screw heads had sheared off. The dealership put it down to the screws being over torqued but I suspect there is a supply problem with their screws.

Dealer was good to me and inspected mine fairly thoroughly (I think) and dropped new screws where they could. It is the ones that you can't see that leave me a little worried.

[submariner]

Like Rusty,I've had my new Seneca for around a month.Luckily all the screw heads were in tact,maybee I got lucky or Rusty just got a bad installer on the day his was built.While checking the compartments I found half of the rubber seals around the door panels were drooping at the top.No trim adhesive on them.Put adhesive on them,and on to the next screw up that the Jayco "crartsman" did a substandard job with.
On the door hinges,maybee some one could recomend a good spray rust inhibitor that we could use on the hinges to make them last.God forbid jayco would use a good stainless hinge and fasteners on these expensive machines.........

[WaltW]

I doubt that Jayco looks at the cost per screw or the difference in cost per coach with different screws. They look at the total savings of using the same lower quality part across all their products. That way they get a much bigger number to justify stupidity.

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by submariner

On the door hinges,maybee some one could recomend a good spray rust inhibitor that we could use on the hinges to make them last.God forbid jayco would use a good stainless hinge and fasteners on these expensive machines.........

I will be using Fluid Film on mine. I have had excellent results with it as corrosion preventive and lubricant.

https://www.fluid-film.com

[Crossingover]

Originally Posted by Rustynuts

So I did each compartment I also checked the strut mount in the bay, some are screwed vertically into the floor, but only had 2 screws and the plates have 4 holes so I added screws to secure the plates like they should be. On the dri these pics are a bunch of the screw heads that popped right off when I tried removing the screws to replace them. Others show strut mounting bracket screws not even tight and only 2 screws and then the bolting of the strut brackets.

Are all your inner door surfaces like that shown in your last pics? They look nothing like mine that are smooth and white.

[Robbbyr]

Originally Posted by Crossingover

Are all your inner door surfaces like that shown in your last pics? They look nothing like mine that are smooth and white.

Mine are smooth too, good catch Crossingover. His door inside looks like my former Class C's doors which were a thin sheet of textured aluminum over plywood. My 2014 are all smooth aluminum, the white finish on mine looks like it might even be a powder coating.

[Rustynuts]

They are a textures black aluminum. They are not a skin over plywood though. Every hinge originally had a #14 hex head screw in the center slotted hole and then a #8 Philips/square drive screw in the outer round holes. I removed the center #14 hex screw and replaced it with a #14 and on the outer holes I had to pilot them out to fit the #14 screws I was putting in and the doors are hollow as I had to be careful as the drill bit went through not to hit the outer skin. They appear to be about 1/8" thick on the inner skin.

[Robbbyr]

A textured finish probably won't show scuff marks from items shifting in the compartments as readily, glad to hear it still is all-metal construction!

[Harbour35]

I have a 2018 Seneca built in early 2017 and have also experienced multiple screw heads popping off. This is not a new or isolated problem
The majority of the failures just caused a minor annoyance and could be fixed in the driveway but the failure of the screws that hold the rear wheel fender panels that was discovered on I10 at 65 mph could have been a major disaster as this allowed the panel to flair out like a sail and possibly even come off.
Luckily I saw it in the rear view mirror and was able to pull off on the shoulder and apply a temporary fix with the liberal application of Gorilla tape to secure it until I could replace the screws. I did all of them on both sides (8 screws per side) as a preventive measure. iu

[RVermont]

Originally Posted by Harbour35

I have a 2018 Seneca built in early 2017 and have also experienced multiple screw heads popping off. This is not a new or isolated problem
The majority of the failures just caused a minor annoyance and could be fixed in the driveway but the failure of the screws that hold the rear wheel fender panels that was discovered on I10 at 65 mph could have been a major disaster as this allowed the panel to flair out like a sail and possibly even come off.
Luckily I saw it in the rear view mirror and was able to pull off on the shoulder and apply a temporary fix with the liberal application of Gorilla tape to secure it until I could replace the screws. I did all of them on both sides (8 screws per side) as a preventive measure. iu

I also had a similar issue with the screws holding these panels on and saw them waving in the breeze. I had already purchased stainless screws but had not gotten to these panels yet so I was alone to pull over and reattach. I would strongly suggest that these are checked and replaced before they fail. I also lost the front mud flaps on the dually axle. It was hanging and dragging on the tire. They simply do not use the right size or quality of screws.

I spray the hinges every month or so to try to get these to live until I can get them fixed as robbbyr mentions.

[RogerSwann]

This has me thinking. I also have the white interior doors. Any thoughts on replacing the hardware with stainless, then using a bedliner type material to coat the interior of the doors and hinges and hardware? I also have a few doors with scuff marks on them from various cargo.

[Texasgal]

My husband and I have decided to purchase a Seneca 2018 HJ. Now I’m wondering if we really should or not. I’ve read so many different issues people have encountered from the slow fill tank problems to the screws breaking off. Our lack of knowledge of DIY repairs, and of the entire unit in general has me concerned. We’ve been wanting a Seneca for many years and now that we’re both retired have decided that we still want one.

[RVermont]

In spite of many of our comments I personally would do it all over again. I think this is a great unit and provides us numerous occasions to enjoy this great country of ours.

[Robbbyr]

Originally Posted by Texasgal

My husband and I have decided to purchase a Seneca 2018 HJ. Now I’m wondering if we really should or not. I’ve read so many different issues people have encountered from the slow fill tank problems to the screws breaking off. Our lack of knowledge of DIY repairs, and of the entire unit in general has me concerned. We’ve been wanting a Seneca for many years and now that we’re both retired have decided that we still want one.

I think you will find that most Seneca owners are very happy with their units, but like any other mass produced items some issues are likely to happen. What sometimes seems to affect attitudes most is how responsive and competent their local dealer is. Get a good dealer who cares and communicates well, then it seems like the owners are far more "satisfied". Get a non-caring dealer, and the same issues another owner may face are exponentially more aggravating.

Is the unit you are considering a 2018 on an M2 chassis or a 2018.5 on the S2RV chassis? The M2 has 2 "saddle tanks" under the cab steps for fuel, the S2RV has a 100 gallon fuel tank hidden underneath with a single fill. I have only heard of one S2RV owner with fill troubles and I thought it was corrected. So that likely is not a big worry.

I have a 2014 model, but if I was in the market for a new unit I would not hesitate to buy a new one!

[Texasgal]

It is the S2RV. Have heard good things about the dealership, so hopefully our experience with them will be good too. Thanks for the encouragement!