New Serenity Ordered Add on suggestions or experiences?

Marks71

New member
Woohoo action on the Serenity board! I don't feel so lonely anymore! We bought our Serenity in September of 2013 and absolutely love it. We flat tow our Jeep Rubicon and with the addition of a Brake Buddy the Serenity handles it very well. I have also added Koni shocks and a Helwig sway bar from the Sprinter Store and it has really made a differance in the way it handles the road. We've also added a Tire Minder monitor and valve stems from the Tire Man (stems are a must). We use a Winegard in motion satellite with a dish receiver for our entertainment. Also bought a separate DVR player...using the coach radio to play movies was not for me. Leisure Travel did a great job with the satellite pre-wireing making the installation easy. I have also installed an Ultra Gauge, a hardwired EMS surge protector, a Trik-L-Start to keep the coach batteries happy and Weathertech floor mats. Remi blinds are next on the list. My wife's claims I can never leave anything the way it comes......I guess she's right. Just put a Whipple 650 hp supercharger on my Ford Raptor for an example. This forum.....well the Unity side of it has been a wealth knowledge in choosing what I feel were the right things for me to add to our Serenity. You will truly love your new Motorhome. PM me if there is anything that I can possibly help you with. We all have our own opinions here but it's you that ultimately get to make the decisions on your new motorhome...enjoy!
I currently drive a 2015 Airstream Interstate, but have been looking at the Serenity. on the AI, the ride in back is extremely rough. People have added Koni shocks and a sway bar, but report that while those add stability, the ride is, if anything, even more firm. How was your Serenity ride in back to start, and what effect did the Koni / sway bar have on it?

note: AI now makes air suspension in rear an option; and it is available aftermarket for about $10K

THANKS
 

israndy

2007 LTV Serenity
I fear it may not be better. I have the OLD T1N Serenity, but the suspension should be similar. LTV puts airbags on them. The actually seem bouncy. My Airstream SkyDeck 40 foot RV has the full air suspension. That thing is like riding on a cloud. The air moves thru the system to whatever corner needs the support, while the Firestone bags on the LTV just bounce. You can change the amount of air but I have yet to find a setting where people would be happy in the back. We just make up the dining room bed if there is sleeping during travel as the rear is too hard to sleep over, oh, and technically illegal.

Advanced RV is using a new air suspension system made specifically for the Sprinter. Doubt it is going to be available for me but probably would work on modern Serenitys. I don't know much about it, but it may be worth looking into. If it's anything like my SkyDeck that would be awesome.

-Randy
 

oregon62

New member
Hi and welcome to the Serenity club. I bought my 2015 in April from Johnson RV and have been officially full-time since July. I currently have 24500 miles on it (I know-way to blow through your 1 year warrenty quick).
Right now I am in Southern California but will start driving up 101 on Monday heading back to Oregon-and the rain.
As far as comfort-it is just me and this suits me nicely. I would have liked a few more plug ins but I am learning to manage and bought a strip to plug in a small crockpot and a toaster without having to stack them on top of something.
I love the handling of this rig-took it up to Cedar Breaks NP in Utah with 10% upgrade and it handled it like a champ. I came down 14 to Cedar City and it was only 6-8% grade ;).

The bad side-not having a current owners manual is a pain. The black and white photos in the book they give you do not help plus there are a few things that are not there (6 v plugin in the upper cabinet) or changed so you have to double check what you are doing. Down load the 2014 book and you will get color photos and you can save it as a PDF . Can you imagine if Microsoft made customers use the manual from Windows XP for Windows 10? It is almost as if once you buy their product-nevermind.
I have so far lost 2 of the support cables for 2 of the outside storage bins-of course they are the 2 I use the most-utilities panel and where the electric cord is stored. Thankfully I have a small collapsible foot stool that I use when I have to dump my tanks. I have tried to get it fixed here but the shops are looking at a 3 week time out and I have decided to wait until I am back home.
My 3 bathroom lights have gone out and since they are wired like Christmas lights I will have to take each one down to find the one that burned out-but first I have to figure out how to get them out of the ceiling.
The snap closure that hold the bathroom door closed came apart and I have been using one of the 3MM hooks in place which I like better as it is easier to use.

Welcome to the club and have fun.
 

RusH2go

New member
Have been a lurker since we picked up 2010 Serenity last July 1st. Came from 20 years in an Alaskan Camper on diesel Silverado. We have really enjoyed the layout and comfort of the new rig. Like new...19k miles...plastic covering still on door of microwave. Would like to add driver side sear swivel before we head out in mid March. Any recommendations on which is best would be appreciated. Will switch into more LED bulbs too eventually. Trying to learn more about taking a motorcycle along...BMW f650...approx 425 lbs. just getting acquainted with posting and getting around this neighborhood.
Looking to meet more of us.

Best,
Rus
 

Luckyme1980

New member
Seems not so many Serenity owners out there, as first stated on this forum thread. Looks like Unity is the big seller, Serenity is a flagship? Anyway, in 2 days, 8/11/17, we fly into Dallas to pick up our 2017 Serenity and start our trek back to Ft. Myers, FL, where our home is. We looked at these units a week ago, and were sold. Unity is very nice, but preferred the layout of the Serenity. We preferred to have everything in a slide free coach. This one did it all for us.
 

Joan

New member
Hate to appear stupid, but I must ask -who makes the Serenity????? Is this a model or a brand????
 

israndy

2007 LTV Serenity
It's made by the manufacturer Leisure Travel Vans, you are in their area of the forum!

I don't know why the Serenity is still a flagship other than it was perfection from the start. In the decade of manufacturer it has really only had one change, no two. They moved the entry door forward allowing more closet space but sacrificing seating (no longer an 8 seater with a full time bed). And they raised the roof for greater insulation, sacrificing the 9'6" height which allows me to drive thru at Wendy's. Still, would buy it again if I had to replace it. Might even buy a newer one, the slight changes are actually advantages despite my complaints. I mean, a hard door for the bathroom!!

-Randy
 

Luckyme1980

New member
We're a bit late to this forum, and just picked up our 2017 Serenity in Dallas last week, drove it 1250 miles home to Ft. Myers. Literally decided we wanted one on Monday, found one in stock equipped right, purchased on Tuesday and got 1 way plane tickets for Friday to take delivery. What a wonderful coach. Very well designed and built. Originally had a 2018 Navion 24G custom ordered from Winnebago for delivery 8/15, but after Winnebago delivery was pushed back 4 times to sometime in October, we said forget it, and got our deposit back. Probably a good thing, as we were starting to get irritated with them, and concern arose over weight issue. The Serenity is slide free, which is a bit more snug, but great for overnight quick stops, so no slide issues. It has everything the Navion had, and more, except the slide out extra walk around room. We've had a 2007 Navion J we sold in 2010, and it was a good unit, but the Leisure Travel Vans are built with so much more attention to detail. Resale value is high (although cost of entry was higher).
 

lovetokite

New member
Would any of you mind sharing what you paid for your Serenity? What percentage off of MSRP can be expected?
would be interested to know as well, I know one member stated not more than 10%. Find that hard to believe...may be others can share as well. Thank you
 

israndy

2007 LTV Serenity
Best of luck, there are very few Serenity owners on this site. I think the problem is that the vehicle is pretty easy out of the box, no need to join a group to learn about it. Most of the Serenity owners on my Yahoo group are also here as I was cross posting most of my articles for a long time.

To answer your question i bought my pristine 2007 Serenity in 2011 for $65000 with 30K on the odo

-Randy
 

lovetokite

New member
well, just ordered a 2018 Serenity after actually visiting the factory in Winnipeg. Delivery is scheduled for the end of April '18. Will keep you posted...
 

hoosierrun

Active member
We bought a new 2016 Serenity last year. We think it is a beautiful vehicle, but we have had a lot of problems with our unit. Keep in mind that Leisure Travel Vans is just the builder of the unit and they do a pretty good job with construction. The problems we have had are primarily with the components, not built by LTV. Our first cool night out, we found that the furnace did not work. Then we had a failure of a tail light and the third brake light. Both of these were caused by water leakage due to bad seals. We have had the screen door jam and come off its track (you must be super gentle with these). We have a cabinet latch that is locked and won't open unless you slide a knife behind it. We have had the toilet overflow (valve wouldn't shut off). The support cables for the storage doors broke on two of the doors. The shower head fell off. The vehicle alternator would not charge the house batteries which was traced to a failed relay (contactor). The house battery hold down strap corroded and was found sitting loose on the battery and the slide tray rails were totally seized.

But worst of all has been the engine problems. First it was an oil leak and then two weeks later the engine decided to just stall at random in the middle of the highway, sometimes running perfect, and other times, stopping for no reason. We ended up having to wait over a month for this to be repaired while we were stuck in a motel, 2700 miles from our home.

Needless to say, our first year of vacation was very stressful. When everything worked it was fun and exciting, but when things started breaking. it was very disheartening.

We hoping the bugs are worked out and will start again fresh next year, but I will always have a little paranoia about the reliability.

It would be interesting to hear if anyone else has had similar issues. I really get the feeling (based on all my reading) that we just got a lemon.
 

israndy

2007 LTV Serenity
Why I always buy used, you save so much money that if there are any issues, and there will ALWAYS be issues, you can pay someone to fix them with the savings.

-Randy
 

aljimenez

'13 LTV Serenity on '12 3
We bought a new 2016 Serenity last year.
New to you or brand new? Brand new should have come with warranty repairs.
We think it is a beautiful vehicle, but we have had a lot of problems with our unit. Keep in mind that Leisure Travel Vans is just the builder of the unit and they do a pretty good job with construction. The problems we have had are primarily with the components, not built by LTV.
We agree they are good especially compared with most other RV's
Our first cool night out, we found that the furnace did not work.
You don't give details so can't help. Our furnace has never given us problems in any of our numerous RV's, but we made lots of mistakes at first and thought it was a problem with the furnace.
Then we had a failure of a tail light and the third brake light. Both of these were caused by water leakage due to bad seals.
I haven't had these problems so I guess you got unlucky
We have had the screen door jam and come off its track (you must be super gentle with these).
If your screen door is like ours, a screen that rolls to the left when open and to the right when closed, then yes they are delicate but I am really happy with this design.
We have a cabinet latch that is locked and won't open unless you slide a knife behind it.
This was the case for one of our cabinets when we bought ours new and the dealer fixed it and we have had no issues since then. This issue should have a simple adjustment to make the door lock and open like the others.
We have had the toilet overflow (valve wouldn't shut off).
You definitely had had some bad luck as this has never happened to us in any of our RV's.
The support cables for the storage doors broke on two of the doors.
We have had a couple of these break also; they are fairly straight forward to fix though.
The shower head fell off.
Don't know how serious this is. We have have the shower head fall to the floor while driving.
Then we added a velcro hold to keep the shower there while on the road.
Easy to remove when taking a shower.
The vehicle alternator would not charge the house batteries which was traced to a failed relay (contactor).
This can happen to these relays, although we have been lucky as it has never happened to us.
The house battery hold down strap corroded and was found sitting loose on the battery and the slide tray rails were totally seized.
This happened to us too. Flooded batteries can be messy since they need so much maintenance to keep them filled with distilled water often. We took the slide tray out and cleaned everything, painted it and replaced the batteries. I now have Lithium batteries that are maintenance free.
But worst of all has been the engine problems. First it was an oil leak and then two weeks later the engine decided to just stall at random in the middle of the highway, sometimes running perfect, and other times, stopping for no reason.
I certainly hope Mercedes stood behind these problems with the engine.
Again you have had such bad luck as our engine has been very reliable.
We ended up having to wait over a month for this to be repaired while we were stuck in a motel, 2700 miles from our home.

Needless to say, our first year of vacation was very stressful. When everything worked it was fun and exciting, but when things started breaking. it was very disheartening.

We hoping the bugs are worked out and will start again fresh next year, but I will always have a little paranoia about the reliability.

It would be interesting to hear if anyone else has had similar issues. I really get the feeling (based on all my reading) that we just got a lemon.
I sure hope your unit is finally settling. However, don't expect it to run perfect forever. This is a house on wheels with an engine. Lots of preventive maintenance and lots of fixing is part of the package of this.
 

hoosierrun

Active member
New to you or brand new? Brand new should have come with warranty repairs.
We agree they are good especially compared with most other RV's
You don't give details so can't help. Our furnace has never given us problems in any of our numerous RV's, but we made lots of mistakes at first and thought it was a problem with the furnace.
I haven't had these problems so I guess you got unluckyIf your screen door is like ours, a screen that rolls to the left when open and to the right when closed, then yes they are delicate but I am really happy with this design.This was the case for one of our cabinets when we bought ours new and the dealer fixed it and we have had no issues since then. This issue should have a simple adjustment to make the door lock and open like the others.
You definitely had had some bad luck as this has never happened to us in any of our RV's.
We have had a couple of these break also; they are fairly straight forward to fix though.
Don't know how serious this is. We have have the shower head fall to the floor while driving.
Then we added a velcro hold to keep the shower there while on the road.
Easy to remove when taking a shower.This can happen to these relays, although we have been lucky as it has never happened to us.This happened to us too. Flooded batteries can be messy since they need so much maintenance to keep them filled with distilled water often. We took the slide tray out and cleaned everything, painted it and replaced the batteries. I now have Lithium batteries that are maintenance free.
I certainly hope Mercedes stood behind these problems with the engine.
Again you have had such bad luck as our engine has been very reliable.
I sure hope your unit is finally settling. However, don't expect it to run perfect forever. This is a house on wheels with an engine. Lots of preventive maintenance and lots of fixing is part of the package of this.
Wow... a lot to discuss here, but let me say first that we did buy it brand new and it was our first RV and first time RVing. We did 6 months of researching before buying (maybe a couple of hours a week). I had just retired and we wanted to travel the Country.

Regarding the warranty..... we did not buy locally so it is over a 200 mile round trip for every time we need service. Fuel costs and wear and tear are not reimbursable. I didn't mention it in the original post, but the first time we drove this unit on the highway, the front end vibrated significantly. We called LTV and they told us to get the tires balanced and have the alignment checked. We made an 80 mile round trip to a frame shop who specializes in this work. They aligned the front end (only camber was off), trued one tire that was out of round and balanced the tires. LTV reimbursed us the $225 cost for this.

The furnace ultimately turned out to be a stuck sail switch. The unit would run one time and lockout. Then after you drove the vehicle for a while, the furnace would run one time and lockout (over and over again). LTV said to call a Suburban furnace authorized mobile repair center. The guy came out, worked on it for a bit and said he could not repair it the way it was installed. His comment was... "apparently they installed the furnace early in the interior assembly, and then finished building the unit around it because there is no way I can remove this furnace to take it back to my shop. It will take major disassembly. You will have to take your RV to an RV repair place and leave it there". Then he gave me a bill for the service call for which LTV ultimately reimbursed me for. I talked to Brad at LTV and after he checked with his assembly people, he confirmed that there is a lot of disassembly required, but gave me the information on how it is done. I ultimately spent an entire day removing the seat frame including the propane detector, power switch, trim that goes vertical along the door, and slicing of the silicon bead at the floor. I shut off the gas, purged the line, disconnected the electric.. and ultimately got to the opening of the furnace. I spent a couple of hours figuring this out and even replaced the control board to no avail. It ended up that the sail switch would move back when the fan came on, allowing the gas to ignite in the burner, but the sail switch was a hairs length from the heat chamber. The slight expansion of the heat chamber touched the sail switch paddle causing it to stick in the closed position. It would free up when we drove because of vibration and the fact that the heat chamber eventually cooled. I bent the paddle slightly away from the heat chamber, and it has worked perfectly. That was about 6-7 hours of my labor on me. I honestly believe we had have had 2 or 3 trips to the dealer and they probably would have just replaced the unit on the third trip (we would have been raising holy heck at that point). Even Suburban factory tech has never heard of that happening (so they say).

The tail light was ultimately fixed by me (after dealer supposedly fixed it and it went out the next week). The light lens fasteners are accessible from inside the rear storage space, but blocked by the vertical plumbing pipes. The factory failed to put one fastener in because it is tough to access. This caused the gasket to leak and water to drip on the light socket. It corroded and the bulb lost electrical contact. I figured it out and managed to get a proper nut into the stud of the lens and finally got it sealed. I have had no more problems, but dread the day I have to get in there to change the bulb. That is definitely a poor design.

The third tail light (which is a LED rail) was fixed by drilling a number of drain holes in the bottom to let the water out, and sealing around the assembly with silver caulk.

I ended up buying some stainless eyelets and a crimping tool to fix the broken support cables for the storage compartment doors.

The alternator not charging the coach batteries ended up being a burned up White-Rodgers 12 volt contactor. With research on the Internet, I performed the voltage checks to prove this and replaced the unit myself, after disconnecting both the chassis and house batteries to prevent blowing fuses or creating big sparks. Just probably took about an hour to do, once I figured out the location of the unit and all the details on how to change it. I absorbed the $60 cost.

It has been 2 months since LTV said they would send me a replacement cabinet latch. It has not showed up yet. I guess I will eat the cost on this one too. They are less than $10 on Amazon. I believe that they see my number pop up on their caller ID up at LTV and probably say "oh no, not that guy again" lol.

The engine problem: This was a horrible fiasco. I have quite a story on the iRV2 forum about our experience for over a month. We were stuck in Montana while Mercedes tried endlessly to try and fix the engine from randomly stalling. We really thought this would go to court and we would have to turn in the Serenity under the lemon law. As it ended up, LTV offered a lot of support here, really putting the pressure on Mercedes, and Mercedes came through, but not until we had just left Montana for Florida over a month since the break down. Everything was ultimately covered including our expenses. I signed a non-disclosure for the settlement so I am not allowed to talk about the financial details. In a nutshell... the dealer could not diagnose the problem with any diagnostic machine (no meaningful error codes). They started shotgunning replacement parts including pressure sensors, wiring harnesses, computers, etc... all with the international engineers giving instructions. They tested the injectors as good, but the thing that fixed it was ultimately replacing the injectors. There was an intermittent short in one that took the computer down and stopped the engine. Apparently it was so intermittent that no diagnostic equipment could detect it. In case your wondering, they did a fuel analysis which checked good. This was an electrical problem. If you can imagine being stuck in one place for a month, hopeless to what was going to happen... that was us. Once fixed, we drove the unit home with no more engine problems... but the toilet did overflow for some unknown reason.

That has been my story of my first year of ownership. I know, should have bought used... lesson learned. :thinking:
 
Last edited:

lovetokite

New member
Wow... a lot to discuss here, but let me say first that we did buy it brand new and it was our first RV and first time RVing. We did 6 months of researching before buying (maybe a couple of hours a week). I had just retired and we wanted to travel the Country.

Regarding the warranty..... we did not buy locally so it is over a 200 mile round trip for every time we need service. Fuel costs and wear and tear are not reimbursable. I didn't mention it in the original post, but the first time we drove this unit on the highway, the front end vibrated significantly. We called LTV and they told us to get the tires balanced and have the alignment checked. We made an 80 mile round trip to a frame shop who specializes in this work. They aligned the front end (only camber was off), trued one tire that was out of round and balanced the tires. LTV reimbursed us the $225 cost for this.

The furnace ultimately turned out to be a stuck sail switch. The unit would run one time and lockout. Then after you drove the vehicle for a while, the furnace would run one time and lockout (over and over again). LTV said to call a Suburban furnace authorized mobile repair center. The guy came out, worked on it for a bit and said he could not repair it the way it was installed. His comment was... "apparently they installed the furnace early in the interior assembly, and then finished building the unit around it because there is no way I can remove this furnace to take it back to my shop. It will take major disassembly. You will have to take your RV to an RV repair place and leave it there". Then he gave me a bill for the service call for which LTV ultimately reimbursed me for. I talked to Brad at LTV and after he checked with his assembly people, he confirmed that there is a lot of disassembly required, but gave me the information on how it is done. I ultimately spent an entire day removing the seat frame including the propane detector, power switch, trim that goes vertical along the door, and slicing of the silicon bead at the floor. I shut off the gas, purged the line, disconnected the electric.. and ultimately got to the opening of the furnace. I spent a couple of hours figuring this out and even replaced the control board to no avail. It ended up that the sail switch would move back when the fan came on, allowing the gas to ignite in the burner, but the sail switch was a hairs length from the heat chamber. The slight expansion of the heat chamber touched the sail switch paddle causing it to stick in the closed position. It would free up when we drove because of vibration and the fact that the heat chamber eventually cooled. I bent the paddle slightly away from the heat chamber, and it has worked perfectly. That was about 6-7 hours of my labor on me. I honestly believe we had have had 2 or 3 trips to the dealer and they probably would have just replaced the unit on the third trip (we would have been raising holy heck at that point). Even Suburban factory tech has never heard of that happening (so they say).

The tail light was ultimately fixed by me (after dealer supposedly fixed it and it went out the next week). The light lens fasteners are accessible from inside the rear storage space, but blocked by the vertical plumbing pipes. The factory failed to put one fastener in because it is tough to access. This caused the gasket to leak and water to drip on the light socket. It corroded and the bulb lost electrical contact. I figured it out and managed to get a proper nut into the stud of the lens and finally got it sealed. I have had no more problems, but dread the day I have to get in there to change the bulb. That is definitely a poor design.

The third tail light (which is a LED rail) was fixed by drilling a number of drain holes in the bottom to let the water out, and sealing around the assembly with silver caulk.

I ended up buying some stainless eyelets and a crimping tool to fix the broken support cables for the storage compartment doors.

The alternator not charging the coach batteries ended up being a burned up White-Rodgers 12 volt contactor. With research on the Internet, I performed the voltage checks to prove this and replaced the unit myself, after disconnecting both the chassis and house batteries to prevent blowing fuses or creating big sparks. Just probably took about an hour to do, once I figured out the location of the unit and all the details on how to change it. I absorbed the $60 cost.

It has been 2 months since LTV said they would send me a replacement cabinet latch. It has not showed up yet. I guess I will eat the cost on this one too. They are less than $10 on Amazon. I believe that they see my number pop up on their caller ID up at LTV and probably say "oh no, not that guy again" lol.

The engine problem: This was a horrible fiasco. I have quite a story on the iRV2 forum about our experience for over a month. We were stuck in Montana while Mercedes tried endlessly to try and fix the engine from randomly stalling. We really thought this would go to court and we would have to turn in the Serenity under the lemon law. As it ended up, LTV offered a lot of support here, really putting the pressure on Mercedes, and Mercedes came through, but not until we had just left Montana for Florida over a month since the break down. Everything was ultimately covered including our expenses. I signed a non-disclosure for the settlement so I am not allowed to talk about the financial details. In a nutshell... the dealer could not diagnose the problem with any diagnostic machine (no meaningful error codes). They started shotgunning replacement parts including pressure sensors, wiring harnesses, computers, etc... all with the international engineers giving instructions. They tested the injectors as good, but the thing that fixed it was ultimately replacing the injectors. There was an intermittent short in one that took the computer down and stopped the engine. Apparently it was so intermittent that no diagnostic equipment could detect it. In case your wondering, they did a fuel analysis which checked good. This was an electrical problem. If you can imagine being stuck in one place for a month, hopeless to what was going to happen... that was us. Once fixed, we drove the unit home with no more engine problems... but the toilet did overflow for some unknown reason.

That has been my story of my first year of ownership. I know, should have bought used... lesson learned. :thinking:
wow, quiet a story, thank you for sharing. I ordered a brand new Serenity and hopefully I do not have to go through what you had to. As far as buying used is concerned, the options were just too limited for what I was looking for...
 

hoosierrun

Active member
Well... we would probably buy another one in spite of what happened. The same could have happened on the Winnebago that we almost bought before settling on this unit. We just had very bad luck.

I agree that it very hard to find a used one (especially a LTV made unit) that is set up the way you want it to be.

Best of luck with your unit. I know you will enjoy it.
 

hoosierrun

Active member
wow, quiet a story, thank you for sharing. I ordered a brand new Serenity and hopefully I do not have to go through what you had to. As far as buying used is concerned, the options were just too limited for what I was looking for...
When you get your new Serenity, please let me know if they have struts for the compartment (storage) doors instead of those steel cables. I think I saw where the new unit doors now have struts.

I'd eventually like to modify my doors to have slow open struts.
 

lovetokite

New member
When you get your new Serenity, please let me know if they have struts for the compartment (storage) doors instead of those steel cables. I think I saw where the new unit doors now have struts.

I'd eventually like to modify my doors to have slow open struts.
yes, will do ... end of April :)
 

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