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Mid June 2016 Adventure
Last week we went to Prevost Quebec via Milwaukee, Green Bay, Sault Ste Marie, Ottawa, Montreal, on our way to Vermont for a Porsche event. While staying in Saint Nicolas for service, we went to the factory in Saint Claire. Our tour was scheduled for 1:00, so we arrived at 12:45 to find the front door locked. Apparently they shut down for lunch. So, waiting on the front stoop to get in, started talking to another old guy. After while he introduced himself and gave me his card. It was Rene Prevost, the son of the founder. He did not have a key to the front door. After a bit, a group of tourists was carried to the front door in a Bluebird bus, and Rene was their factory tour guide.
Since 1980 the factory is located on top of a hill with farm land all around outside the town of Saint Claire, previously it was located down in the town. They crank out 2.5 units per day, nothing but 45 footers, have 50 in progress all the time. No longer paint the motorhomes, but do paint the entertainers and transits (one color), since they only have five paint bays.
Our service in Saint Nicolas wowed me. The tech assigned to mine was thirty-eight years at Prevost. And all the helpers had no less than twenty-five. Best crew in North America. They completed 15 fixes, none of which were routine maintenance.
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7 Replies
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Dan wrote: “They completed 15 fixes, none of which were routine maintenance.“. Tell us about them.
Where was the Porsche event?
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The Porsche event was at Jay Peak, Vermont, a ski resort located about five miles from the Canadian border. Nine hundred Porsches signed up,1800 people. This was the sixty-first annual Porsche Parade (1955). The longest continuous participant in attendance was fifty-one years. Mark Porsche, the youngest son of the 911 designer and grandson of the founder was one of the speakers.
Fixes subject to memory:
1) Replace screechy fan wheel under dash.
2) Replace RF air bag, the only one I had not replaced myself.
3) Remove drive axle hydraulic shocks that were designed to hold the back up when lifting tag axle (a system no longer in use).
4) Replace tag axle lift arms that were rubbing on air bags at road height, with shorter arms.
5) Replaced one tag axle lift chamber that was smaller than the other with one of equal size.
6) Remove and reinstall 208 gallon plastic fuel tank to replace leaking gasket on top and provide necessary access to do 7).
7) Replace one inch leaking aeroquip hose from condenser bay to evaporator bay that was not compatible with r134a.
8) Replace smaller aeroquip hose in condenser bay not compatible with r134a.
9) Replace expansion valve in condenser bay.
10) Replace expansion valve under dash.
11) Replace dryer filter in condenser bay.
12) Replace low side compressor hose not compatible with r134a.
13) Drain and replace compressor oil.
14) Charge with 24 pounds of r134a.
15) Replace coolant level sensor due to intermittent check engine light. -
Hmm. Aeroquip hoses. My first job out of college was with Aeroquip’s Aerospace division.. We mfg hoses, couplings, fuel ducts.. Interesting! I’ll have to check out the bus a bit more to find if we have Aeroquip hoses…
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If you do, and they are jacketed in red, they should be replaced with black to be compatible with r134a. Your vintage should be ok.
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How did the wrong Aeroquip hoses get on the coach?
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In 1994 they were not the wrong hoses.
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Dick,
Back in 94 they were using R12 and when changing over to 134a required a complete change out of the hoses to do it right. Some just changed the compressor and dryer and hoped for the best.
When installing a new compressor for R-12, you needed to use mineral oil instead of Pag.
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