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2011 Senecas?

Yahoo Message Number: 5140
It seems that Senecas are no longer listed on Jayco's website for the 2011 model year. I thought it was coming back on the freightliner chassis?

Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #1
Yahoo Message Number: 5141
The NEW 2011 Senecas on the Frieghtliner M2 chassis will be available in late November or early December, according to Jayco sales rep I spoke with today.


Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #2
Yahoo Message Number: 5143
Craig
You thinking about getting one? :D
Best
Ron Hall



Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #4
Yahoo Message Number: 5145
Ron....no just interested in what's new. Anyway, I just got my Seneca outfitted the way I want it. :-)

Craig



Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #6
Yahoo Message Number: 5147
I'm surprised that they would create a vehicle that has less horsepower and torque than our units. I'm sure all of us agree having more power and torque during our trips is key.






Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #8
Yahoo Message Number: 5150
Stupid question what is the hp and torque. I have an 06 DM also. I don't answer a lot but I read most of the emails. Very educational.

Paul

Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #9
Yahoo Message Number: 5151
Ron, just got home as I mentioned in my PM to you. One item in the mail was the RV Gazette (Cdn pub). It has an article on new GM Heavy Duty Trucks. Was a misnomer. The author was talking about a heavy duty Sierra and Silverado - far from being heavy duty trucks.

BUT, what the article did comment on was the Duramax available in these trucks. For 2011 they have 397 HP and 765 lb ft of torque. Pity GM pulled the plug on the MD Trucks.

Don


Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #10
Yahoo Message Number: 5152
Do you have a special engine in your Kodiak. GM has had only two Duramax engines for the MD truck. LRX 300 hp, 520 torque. LYE 330 hp, 620 torque. While the horse power is not as high. 660 torque is a good increase.
Best
Ron Hall


Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #11
Yahoo Message Number: 5153
Ron, I have a 35GS with twin turbos, if that helps. If not I can look in the owners manual.

Paul

Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #12
Yahoo Message Number: 5154
Yes, I'd say have a look in the manual. I think twin turbos would have to be a non-factory upgrade. I googled and the kits for twin turbos seem to run about $4500.

Don


Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #13
Yahoo Message Number: 5155
I have the 330/620 plus I have a very light tune that gives me 63/112 at the rear wheels. With this combination I do great in the hills and pulling my rig at the maxed out weight of over 26,000lbs. Even though the torque is more in the 2011 if you look at the other super c's they have a much bigger horsepower to torque ratio. I guess I was expecting around 400 horsepower with 800-900 torque. If you look at the new duramax engine it's hitting 397 horses with 765 torque.





Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #14
Yahoo Message Number: 5157
Tim, I suspect Jayco's answer would be [ Paul, are you reading this? :) ] "if that is what you want we have a good unit for you - the Embark."

My concern is that for our use both the Embark and the new Seneca are going to be too expensive and bigger than we require. If we wanted something that size we'd have stayed with our 40 ft 10 in. Ambassador that had a fabulous floorplan with a den at the back, 4 slides, a huge belly for storage and a price tag in excess of tghe Embark. The ISC was highly adequate for power - but of course most would say, "well, I'd really prefer the ISL's 400+ HP and 1200 torque (or whatever it is now).

Don


Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #15
Yahoo Message Number: 5158
Hey guys, be patient I'm not real good with the engines and ect. I've no special mods on my motor home. This is our third summer we have used it and we usually leave in May and return sometime in September. Deer season starts in October. We've camped in all but about 3 to 4 state and had no problems except those self inflected. This is my first DM and it seems to use about a quart of oil every thousand miles or so. Dealer says this is normal. This is not my first diesel, but the first that uses oil, my power stroke has never had this problem and has over 130,000 miles.

I found the table project very interesting, my wife and I discussed removing the table and installing another recliner and using travel trays to eat off of. Our table is just a junk catcher. I really enjoy your posts. thanks for listening. Another thing we discussed was removing the couch and extending the kitchen counter. We don't use the couch very much also. Is this doable or just pure crap.

Paul

Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #16
Yahoo Message Number: 5159
Paul, the Paul I was referring to in my next note was NOT you. It was Paul Gardner of Jayco.

On oil consumption there is a fairy tale about the 8.1 needing a quart every 1000 or LESS. This is DriVer's tale on iRV2. Well, we get our oil changed annually and the max we've driven between changes has been just over 5,000 miles - and did not have to add any oil. This seems to be highly individual with the engines, which makes me wonder about about how they are built since one would not expect to see such variability.

Don


Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #17
Yahoo Message Number: 5160
Don

I agree with what your saying, we buy our units because their not so big but not so small either. I would say they are just right. My point was that if they continued to stay with a Kodiak chassis with the new Duramax then you would have 397/795. This would be a great upgrade.





Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #18
Yahoo Message Number: 5162
Don Leslie wrote:

Quote
On oil consumption there is a fairy tale about the 8.1 needing a quart
every 1000 or LESS. This is DriVer's tale on iRV2. Well, we get our oil
changed annually and the max we've driven between changes has been just
over 5,000 miles - and did not have to add any oil.

Same here. I run Mobile synthetic and change it every 5000 miles and
have yet to need to add between changes. That's crossing the Rockies
towing the 4000 lb Vue and we've done that twice. Just got back from
upstate NY in the mountains and still no usage. I've just crossed 20K
miles and am about to do the next oil change. Not even half a qt low.

Take care,
Greg

Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #19
Yahoo Message Number: 5163
Tim
The Kodiak's have never had the same HP and Torque that the pickups have. They have always been the detuned 300 or 330 hp engines for durability.
Best
Ron Hall


Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #20
Yahoo Message Number: 5170
The good news would be if the power upgrade is something that could be easily retro-fitted to our older DM engines.

George


Re: 2011 Senecas?

Reply #21
Yahoo Message Number: 5174
To get the power up to the newer settings is not hard. Just add a tuner and a couple of other mods and you can have a 500 hp monster. The real problem is with the Allison trans. The 5 speeds had weak clutches between 4th and 5th gears. 6 speeds had better clutches but not up to the task of 500 hp and 800 torque. A custom trans and torque converter build capable of handling this kind of power is over $4000.
If you have not added a programmer to your Dmax engine yet. You will surprised how much of an improvement just 40-60 hp and 100 to 150 ft lbs of torque will make in performance. Diablosport Predator, PPE or a EFI Live custom tune will all work well. Be aware that adding a programmer to a engine still under warranty may void it.
Best
Ron Hall


Duramax Upgrade Issues. Overpower Issues

Reply #22
Yahoo Message Number: 5183
Ron . . . As much as I would like more HP and torque, changing the Duramax engine's factory tuning with an aftermarket device really worries me if it doesn't have G.M.'s blessings. My '07 Duramax comes with a 5 year, 100,000 mile warranty ($100 deduct after 2yr). I imagine many of us on the forum are still in warranty.

G.M. has had some major engine failures due to "over-powering." They have issued TSB's to dealers specifically on how to determine whether Duramax failures are due to "over-powering" tuning. Here's a quote from G.M., "When premature wear and breakdown is encountered due to an aftermarket power-up device, it has some very specific characteristics to the internal engine components. The following list will assist in identifying these characteristics as you tear down the engine."

Here's a copy of the GM TSB showing (with photos) how GM tecs can differentiate between normal and over-power failures with the Duramax: http://tinyurl.com/38dntyp


George





Re: Duramax Upgrade Issues. Overpower Issues

Reply #24
Yahoo Message Number: 5188
I use the PPE tuner and set for only 60 HP upgrade and the difference is amazing. I can reprogram back to orginal GM specs if I need to have the engine serviced by GM. Dane