[Darrell]

G-man………

Doing a coach inspection is tough. There are so many things to look at, so many things that can cost money to deal with, and so many things you will never know or find out except the hard way.

Prevost will do a detailed mechanical inspection. They have pages of things the mechanic has to look at and check. Nothing will benefit you more than to be there along side of him and have him tell you what he is looking at, why, and what he expects to see. Try to participate in that if you can.

There are some “gotchas” that are difficult if not impossible to detect unless you really dig deep. A couple for example would be an air system exposed to moisture. An engine that has not had routine coolant replacement and maintenance. Both have the potential to be exposing you to serious and costly repairs. I cannot think of any sure way to verify they were properly done without service records. Without records you are gambling the odds.

I am sure you know the obvious stuff like checking tire and battery dates. Not so obvious is the dates of the last full service including oil change, lube, air dryer, etc.

Look for hub seal leaks. In fact look for any leaks. A critical consideration is the hoses on older coaches. make sure they are in great shape. Depending on the converter there could be a lot of them associated with a Websto or AquaHot and they are nowhere near as durable as the ones used on the engine.

An 02 is right at the fringe as far as I am concerned regarding replacement of valves, air bags, maybe brake chambers, etc. If they are original give serious consideration to that. Shop for best price. Prevost might be a little on the expensive side.

I am not a big fan of the push in fittings used on the XLII so let the coach sit for a while and see if it leans or you lose a lot of air. If you are willing to do the work (such as air bags and fittings) the costs are not so bad, but it takes time and patience.

Don’t hesitate to ask questions. And be realistic. A 12 year old coach is going to show some wear and tear. You and the seller have to decide to buy it how you both will handle what shows up on the inspections. The items not to be ignored are the big ones and those that impact safety and your enjoyment of the coach.

Finally the converter portion also needs scrutiny, but regardless of who converted the coach I suspect you will not have any serious issues because most conversions were done pretty well. The area on the conversion I would take the time to inspect would be related to the AC units and the inverters and the electrical systems.

[Archived]

Thanks Jon, appreciate the thoughtful reply. Is it possbile to email you to get a copy of the checklist?

It is a Marathon and looks to be well kept with low miles, tires have super low miles and date codes are under 3 years, batteries the same. I would really like to pull an oil sample and pull data off the ECM (not sure if Prevost can do that or only a DD dealer).

The whole thing is kind of a gamble but am going for it…only live once and I ain’t getting any younger!!

[Bryan]

Keep in mind that Jon is ultra conservative when it comes to his replacement schedule. If money is no object, spend away. If spending now to possibly prevent a road side break down, then Jon’s schedule will help reduce the likelihood of being stuck on the side of the road. Just realize, some items can go well past Jon’s schedule without any problems.

Tires are the one item that you should take a good look at. I replace at 7 years unless they look like they need it sooner.

I hope you will soon be enjoying your new coach,

[Archived]

Go for it G-Man you will not regret the move we moved from
an 06 M450 3 slide Wanderlodge to an 04 XL2 2 slide Marathon.

If you are near any Marathon stores you will be well served
to have them go through the coach they are great they will walk you through the
system. I was very pleased with their
service. They have stores in FL, TX, and OR.

I have never seem
brinks truck behind a funeral precession.

[Archived]

G-man, Gil is correct about my ultra conservative pro-active maintenance. There are a lot of coaches running up and down the highways with air bags, brake chambers, batteries, etc. that are beyond the age at which I would replace them. And they are probably reliable and providing good service.

Every owner has a tolerance level for certain things. You and you alone have to decide what risks you are willing to assume with a coach, and when buying a coach you and you alone have to decide what you are willing to accept as-is and what has to be repaired or replaced. Just because you are mechanically adept it doesn’t necessarily mean you are willing to risk a failed air bag when you are on the road. Yes replacing one is no big deal, but until it is replaced the coach is sitting on the ground and undriveable unless you are willing to risk damage to the coach.

I will email the check list I used when I bought my coach from Liberty, but keep in mind this was not only specific to a particular coach, it was also used as my training guide so I only included some things I needed to learn and did not worry about other items I was familiar with. Additionally it does not include anything relating to skins, the engine or transmission, all items that should be part of the pre-purchase inspection. It also does not address a review of service records or coach history.

[Sid]

G Man email me I know that coach ,Touch my name on post top right to email me , I would like to talk to you about the coach

[Ronald]

G man

Whats the Marathon coach number of the one you are looking at. There were only 2 XLII 40 footers built for model year 2002. one is Coach 750 and other was Coach 741. We know the two owners of Coach 741, but not the one who bought it at a eastern Canada auction after it was totalled.

There are 7 XLII 40 footers for model year 2003, and 1, 2004.

Officially, there is but one 2002 Marathon XLII no slide remaining, that being Coach 750 which has been for sale in Palm Desert, Ca. We drove by that one in February after talking with a guy named Greg who has it advertised. The other 2002 40 ft XLII no slide built, now has a salvaged title and been struck from the Marathon Family history, for they will not support it or work on it, because of that fact. Coach 741 was stored in a hangar in chino Ca where another stored coach caught fire from the Lp frig fault and Marathon 741 suffered smoke damage and was totalled. It had Zipdee awnings all the way around.

Coach 750 is bluish tourquoise and has rooftop Girards, with a southwest scheme for interior. We first met this one in the Tetons at the KOA with the first owner, who later put it on consignment at Freedom RV Tucson. Don’t anything more about that one.

[Dale]

Thanks all, you guys are really helpful and giving people, hope to get to meet some of you on the road in the future!

It is Coach #750, two owners best I can tell, current owner has been very accomadating in trying to work around my schedule to go over everything. Have a DMI at Prevost planned soon and will also try and take it to Detroit to look over some things and I will probably spend another 6 hours or so crawling all over it.

This bus will become my new tow vehicle so will see some miles and use!

[Archived]

Gman. Might we recommend Valley Power Systems, the Detroit dealer in a California. Also highly recommend NOT going to the Valley shop near Mira Loma. But go to the one west of Mira Loma off the 60 hwy. Everyonevwe know who has gone to the Valley shop near Prevost has been unhappy

its located in the City of Industry, Calufornia, about 28 miles west of Prevost

Address is 626 S Hacienda Blvd., City of Industry, Ca

call and make appt since they are busy 626-333-1243

[Archived]

Hey all, well thought I would update now that I have this thing home.

DMI went well at Prevost, few things, mostly small stuff, got to talk to Luis who has done a lot of maint over the last few years as most was done at Mira Loma or Signature Coach in Beaumont. He said the coach was solid. Air system was in great shape, no water or sludge, recet dryer cartridge, some leaks but I knew that and will tackle them in time.

Had Prevost inspect for any delamination and it came back clean, but I had looked all over it and had kind of figured that out already, but good to have it in writing.

I only found a few things and I spent about 5-6 days in total going over the conversion stuff best i could as there are lots of things I am not familiar with yet.

Prior owner was not mechanical but spent a lot keeping it up, he did a few nice interior updates that freshened it up and it came with two new windshields done by Prevost. Remarkable how clean both the interior and exterior are, nearly new looking with hardly any signs of wear.

I have charging issue with the house alternator but other than that it went home nearly 600 miles and ran great with decent mileage (computer said 7.5) I had VMSpc hooked up and all works well, went over the Grapevine outta LA and over Donner Pass and it never got hot and pulled great!!

The Jake is very strontg and the Allison retarder is amazing!!

Need to pull an oil sample, replace all the belts (new ones came with it!) and will probably end up zero’ing all else out.

While I was not able to get much of anything in the way of history on the first owner other than the build order from Marathon which was informative the prior owner to me had pretty good records actually and it all started to come together, looks like overall it really has been looked after, lots of little things you would expect on a 12 year old bus have all been addressed over the last 2-3 years. I will have more to do but should not be anything major. Still have lots to check out and need to spend more road time with it but I think it will be alright, it is incredibly clean inside and out for its age!

[Peter]

Sounds great G-man.

Now is a great time for you to create your own blended maintenance schedule so you have one place to refer to for scheduled maintenance on all your various components and systems. It would be nice if everything had the same interval between services, but since that is not the case you will benefit from a master list of all required service events.

It is the only way I can keep track of everything from chassis lubes to air system service to oil changes to transmission service to generator service to AC filter changes, etc. etc.