Excalibur Coach in Sanford FL

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Excalibur Coach in Sanford FL

Posted by Larry on July 20, 2014 at 12:00 am

Excalibur Coach in Sanford Fl

I recently took my Prevost to Excalibur for service to the galley AC, oil change, lube, replace end of power cord, and transmission service. I had spoke with Marathon Coach and Excalibur regarding the AC, both said it needed a new PCM power control module. When I went into my coach, the mechanic was taking apart the lounge AC. I told him your working in the wrong AC. I was still charged 3 hours of trouble shooting for this mistake. Excalibur then raised up the rear of the coach to service the engine and transmission. The coach was on a down hill slope. With most of the weight on the front tires they turned the wheels full left and right to get in to the wheel well to put on new mud flaps. One mechanic was walking around with a air gauge. I asked him what pressure he was putting in the tires? He said 90, 100, and 110 in the rear. They then lubed the coach. When it was all completed. The power steering would not work. The mechanic said the fluid was low. I said it wasn’t low when I left my home north of Tampa. He proceeded to add 16 quarts of fluid to the power steering. I found that hard to believe and asked how much fluid the system held? He did not know. They said I was good to good. I departed for home, 5 minutes later the power steering when out. I went back to Excalibur of which was now closed. The next day Excalibur said my power steering pump was out and the 16 quarts of steering fluid had been pumped into the engine oil crankcase.They replaced the power steering pump, drained the engine oil for the second time and I headed for home.
I parked the coach in my garage. I could not get any shore power to the coach. I later found that Excalibur had not tightened the white ring that stops the cord from retracting to far after they had put a new plug on the end of my power cord. Due to this, 2 wires had been pulled loose out of the plug. The next day I got the coach out to give it a bath. At this time I noticed a puddle of transmission fluid on my floor. Looking under the coach I noticed oil dripping from one of the transmission filters. I thought maybe the bolts to the filter cover were not tight. When I checked, 2 of the 6 bolts on the transmission filter cover were stripped. I started checking all the work Excalibur had just completed at this time. I found several grease fittings had not been greased, the tire pressures were all 100 psi on every tire (which is what it was when I brought it in), the transmission was leaking at the filter cover, wires had been pulled loose from the powers cord. I then called Excalibur and spoke with Dough the owner. He said they were the last to touch the coach and he would refund the fee for the transmission fluid change of $750. (Still waiting on that check). I called Detroit/Allison and made a appointment to fix the transmission leak. Estimate for that $1500.00. I feel Excalibur should pay to repair the transmission, since they stripped the bolts. I feel my power steering went out at there shop because the coach had most of the weight on the front tires and proceeded to to turn the wheels full left and right. I feel they should pay me because I had to repair the power cord due to there neglect to tighten the stop ring. I feel the should only charge for half a chassis lube since that’s all they did. Note: they also charge way more than other service facilities.
Oil change and lube at Excalibur $650.00. At Detroit/ Allison Ocala $250.00
Transmission Service at Excalibur $750.00. At Detroit/AllisonOcala $450.00
Power Steering Pump at Excalibur $450.00. At Detroit/ Allison Ocala. $250.00
Install power steering pump at Excalibur $300.00. At Detroit/ Allison. $100.00
I have had coaches now for 25 years and the quality of service and workmanship I received at Excalibur Coach is the worst I have ever had. Never again will I do business with Excalibur Coach.
If you use them I strongly recommend you thoroughly check their work and compare prices with other facilities.

Chuck replied 12 years ago 19 Members · 51 Replies
51 Replies

Hector

Member
July 21, 2014 at 6:14 am

Sir, verify that when the transmission is repaired they will do inserts on all the filter bolts not just the damaged ones….
Archived

Member
July 21, 2014 at 6:50 am

Jeff is talking about a known problem when the bolts that hold the tranmission filters in place are not torqued to the values specified by Allison. When the bolts have been excessively tightened the threads will strip out. The problem has been so widespread a special tool is available to repair the damaged threads.

Jeff has the correct tool so be aware there is no shortcut, such as the use of glue or sealers. All Allison dealers and properly equipped shops will have the tool.
Peter

Member
July 21, 2014 at 7:51 am

Yes, you are correct. Allison stated to me they have a fix for this by dropping the transmission module and installing all new steel sleeves. I’m getting this done on my coach tomorrow at Allison. Cost $1500.
Chas

Member
July 21, 2014 at 7:52 am

Did you pay by credit card? If so, you could dispute the transaction for workmanship. If not, you may want to drive over there by car in person. I had a situation about two years ago where a converter just south of me did poor quality work and charged me multiples of their estimate. I’ll admit my anger showed (in person) and they fixed some of it and cut my bill in half. Still highway robbery, and I now always drive the 4 hours down to Liberty in Stuart when I need something done.
Ronald

Member
July 21, 2014 at 2:45 pm

Paid by check 2 weeks ago.
Darrell

Member
July 21, 2014 at 2:49 pm

Sorry to hear Larry…hope it all works out!

Sawbonz, care to share the dealer you had a bad issue with?
Archived

Member
July 22, 2014 at 1:52 am

Sorry for the trouble you’ve had with Excalibur and thank you for the warning. We are presently looking for a coach and Excalibur has one coach that made our list of possibles. We have now scratched that coach and Excalibur from our list. I want nothing to do with a shop that provides poor service and then doesn’t pay for their damages. I’m sure they won’t miss our business, but we will gladly miss their poor service.
Archived

Member
July 22, 2014 at 7:36 am

“Sawbonz, care to share the dealer you had a bad issue with? “

I can respond to the question with an observation. If Bonz wishes to add specifics that is up to him.

As I understand the issue Bonz took his Liberty to a converter other than Liberty for a list of work he wanted done. The decision in part was due to the proximity of the converter to his home.

What he ran into was undoubtedly in part a problem with someone not familiar with his conversion trying to do work on his coach. Anytime we bring our coaches to someone for service or repairs we have to be aware of the fact that if they are not experts in our conversion or with the Prevost we end up with problems relating to that lack of specifc expertise. We pay for on the job training, and we run the risk of having errors.

By and large as owners we have to recognize that if you have a Millennium for example, the best place to have the house portion of your coach serviced is going to be at Millennium. Nobody knows or possesses as much expertise on that conversion as they do. The same holds true for the Prevost chassis. If you are having issues related to the chassis it needs to be taken to either a Prevost service center or a shop certified by Prevost. Often convenience becomes a deciding factor about where to have your coach serviced. I get that because it costs money and valuable time to get to an expert especially when there is a shop that does similar work nearby. But the consequences of going where it is convenient instead of where the expertise is becomes economic. You often end up paying for the time spent for the shop to learn your coach.

There are exceptions and you see posts about them. Ben and Rick at Coach Worx / Parliament are generalists whose expertise covers a broad range of conversions. Jeff Rowe at East Tennessee Luxury Coach has expertise specific to the Liberty conversion, but he also has a considerable knowledge of other conversions because of his previous work at Buddy Gregg. Vantare / Featherlite expertise is available from Donny Meyers. The point being if you have work you need done and don’t know where to take the coach ask for advice from members of this site. They can vouch for the various service providers for your specific conversion or needs.
Archived

Member
July 22, 2014 at 8:47 pm

Update to Excalibur Coach saga:

I took my coach to Detroit/Allison today to have my transmission filter bolts repaired and my engine oil changed after being damaged by Excalibur. As I stated earlier when I arrived home I found my transmission dripping oil and 2 transmission filter bolts stripped after being serviced by Excalibur. Detroit/ Allison found another 2 transmission bolts stripped and the other 8 bolts over torqued. The bolts were so tight the mechanic had to use a cheater bar to get them loose. When the bolts finally came loose, the treads on 6 of the 8 bolts stripped off. (Now more to repair) Allison then tried to remove the transmission drain plug. Once again Excalibur had it so over tight they had to use a cheater bar again to break it loose. The filters Excalibur installed were a cheap after market filter, not Allison filters. Bolts were repaired, filters changed and the transmission put back together. Also, transmission was 4 gallons low after being serviced at Excalibur. I had the engine oil changed again (twice) just to make sure all the power steering fluid was out of the crankcase after Excalibur broke my power steering pump, which in turn pumped all the power steering fluid into the engine crankcase. ( oil and fuel filters Excalibur used were also cheap after market filters) I called Doug, owner of Excalibur tonight and told him what Detroit/Allison found. Doug said ” his torque wrench must need to be re calibrated and that his mechanic did get in a hurry to finish my coach.” He then said “he thought the first 4 stripped bolts must have vibrated loose on my drive home”. ( Give me a break)! To sum it up, after all this information Excalibur Coach took NO responsibility and offered me NO compensation, this after basically admitting that they did not put my power cord back together properly, that they over tighten the transmission filter bolts, and added 16 quarts of power steering fluid which was pumped into my engine crankcase.
Larry Sturm
Archived

Member
July 22, 2014 at 9:10 pm

Not sure what your next move is Larry but you sure have my sympathy! Sorry to hear this!
Paula

Member
July 22, 2014 at 9:47 pm

I’m just glad to back up and running! Have been introduced to several other reputable facilities by PC and POG members .

Excalibur is just a bad memory from this point on and obviously will never do business with them again.
Corey

Member
July 22, 2014 at 9:48 pm

Excaliber is entitled to post a response here and we would encourage them to do so if they have information contrary to what Larry has posted.

But in the meantime our over 1400 visitors per day have now formed an opinion.

Thanks Larry. You have helped a lot of people that otherwise may have gotten in trouble.
Larry & Diane

Member
July 22, 2014 at 9:56 pm

G-man,

Jon explained most of my problems with that converter, but honestly some of them were not just OJT (on the job training). There were several items reported fixed that didn’t work when I tested them in the presence of the service tech, grease boots that were filled to overflowing, and a quoted $50 spray foam application to the wheel well for which they actually charged me $300.

I suspect you are all to familiar with them.
Archived

Member
July 22, 2014 at 9:58 pm

Jon,

I have text messages from Doug coroberating what I have stated, I have photos, I have their invoice charging me for the work I have stated, and I have photos and invoices from Detroit/ Allison showing what they had to do to repair Excaliburs work. I wish Excalibur would respond. I would love to post these texts and documents and show what a crook the owner of Excalibur really is. Out of Doug’s mouth in a text to me ” we were the last to work on your coach”. Enough said!
Larry & Diane

Member
July 22, 2014 at 10:03 pm

I forgot to say what a great job Detorit/ Allison in Ocala did on my coach. It was completed earlier than promised and the bill was $300 under the estimate they had given me.. The coach was covered up in the areas they worked in to keep it clean and returned to me without a finger print on it. Also, they told me if i had any problem to bring it back and they would take care of it. That’s the way a business should be!

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Excalibur Coach in Sanford Fl