Western Star Truck Issues And Fixes

I have been thinking about starting this thread for some time, I want to compare my issues and problems with other owners and drivers experiences. Also, if some body has a good dealer they work with we could start a list as well since quite a few of them fall short on their services.

I will start a separate post on different issues to keep them a bit more organized.

 

Here we go with problem that has caused the biggest frustration in owning my 2013 4900EX.
The HVAC system.

The truck started out with a broken AC system straight from the factory. The expansion valve was bad and it was changed at the dealer under warranty. Here are some problems, complaints and things I have run into.

The fan in the dash is horrible loud when it runs on a higher speed. The front and rear system fight each other. When I turn the bunk heat on the dash will go to blowing cold air pretty quickly. Closing the curtain does buy me a little more time, but eventually the dash will go to blowing cold. The defrost system is an absolute joke. An asthmatic blowing through a straw cold get more air to the windshield than the WS system. I had the update done where the ducts get sealed and the side vents between dash and doors got plugged. Some improvement, but still terrible. When the temperature goes down into the teens my side windows will fog up and it is a constant battle between full defrost and dash air to keep either the side windows or the windshields clear. Turning the heater on in the bunk makes it even worth. If the temperature goes below 0 the glass will ice over and I eventually have to stop and deice or heat the truck up and let windows thaw out. The bunk heater control panel was replaced since the automatic fan speed only had full speed. I could turn it down manually, but would automatically default to full fan speed after cycling ignition key.

Here are some pictures.

 

The HVAC controller up front seems to have a mind of it's own. It will change temperatures randomly on me after starting truck or when going down the road. Two random numbers it seems to pick the most are either 60 or 90 degree Fahrenheit. A while back it changed to Celcius and displayed the temperature that way, but after shutting down and restarting the truck it changed back to Fahrenheit.

 

Here is a cabin replacement air filter that works in the sleeper. I had to open up a lot of boxes at Walmart and measure filters to find the correct size.

I have not been able to find a replacement for the dash filters.

 

Water leaks are another issue since I can find water under the rubber mat in the sleeper or under the mat in the cab up front. I'm going back and forth between cab leaks or condensation. I usually have my passenger window down a bit even in the coldest temps to help with condensation.

Maybe it is the stereo system that is causing it since water keeps dripping out of the speakers.

 

Lately I have been struggling with wiring issues on the truck. Left head light and heater motor. The two prong connector on the heater motor melted and stopped the heater motor. Luckily it was the end on the harness and not the motor side. I cut the melted connector off and installed a new one in it's place.

Head light had two different issues. The first one was the harness being rubbed in half by the hood. It only made contact when the hood was flipped down and not real obvious either. The second time the head light quit was due to corrosion in the connector. I guess the factory does not believe in dielectric grease in the supposedly sealed connectors. I have since taken most of them apart and filled them with some dielectric grease to prevent corrosion.