[Art]

The best thing you can do is to go through your recommended maintenance events for your coach which is not only the chassis, but the generator and the house.

We have required service based on miles and calendar times. Nothing lines up so if you haven’t tracked maintenance since the coach was new you don’t know what it due or when. There are items that require attention that aren’t listed anywhere, such as draining air tanks to check for moisture and the operation of the check and protection valves, and there are listed items that even Prevost ignores (with good reason in my opinion) such as annual replacement of brake chambers.

Then there are the preventive maintenance items that you as an owner decide when to do (or not) such as air bag, battery, or Norgren valve replacement.

Nobody is going to care as much about your coach’s maintenance as you and it concerns me that so many owners think an annual visit to a service facility for some routine maintenance has them covered. Not even close.

[Corey]

Another reason for Jeffs “overpriced” oil change. Geo.

[Archived]

I don’t think this has been discussed enought, but since Geo mentioned Jeff I will use him as an example.

If we don’t want to, or haven’t the ability to understand our coach needs we need someone to assist with the management of the coach. I’m sure if Prevost were asked to assume responsibility they could do it, but they might not be qualified to undertake the overall care because their expertise does not cover the house. Conversely, we could look to the converter to care for the conversion part of the coach, but their strength is not in chassis maintenance.

Jeff is one of the technicians (among others) who is familiar with both house and chassis maintenance needs. That means you can establish a schedule and he can track your coach and its maintenance. He can and has advised owners of what needs to be done now, and what maintenance will be due in the near future. With all the staggered required service needs such as coolant change, transmission fluid change, oil changes, air system service, generator service, AC filter changes or cleaning, etc. someone has to track what has been done and what is due.

I have times when I only have to do minimal service on my coach such as an oil and filter change and lubing the chassis. But there are times when a lot of service requirements seem to stack up all at once, such as recently I had coolant, transmission and normal chassis service all come together at once. I do preventive maintenance rather than waiting for something to fail, so I also can end up and did end up with the need for brake chamber replacement at the same time. My point is all of the work can be purposely staggered so the time and financial hit is not all at once, or it can be anticipated and scheduled to get it all done as needed, something working with an expert who knows the coach can help you with.

We have several advertisers who are capable of developing a comprehensive maintenance program if desired.

[Jimmy]

Jon,

Am I to undertand this post that you replace your brake chambers every year or am I mis understanding your post?

Bill

ON edit referring to your post at 5am this morning 🙂

[Gerald]

Prevost in their service manual calls for brake chamber replacement every year or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.

Until my current coach my practice was to replace them every 5 years. I have now extended that to every 10 years and I want everyone to know that is my decision and it is based on a sense that since the construction of the parking brake side of the chambers has changed to eliminate the diaphragm and instead use a piston with an O ring a failure will likely not be sudden as in a torn diaphragm.

As in all cases a pre-trip brake inspection will be the best early indication of a problem if you opt to not change brake chambers to a schedule.

[Tim]

It is truly remarkable to me how little any of the service advisors AT PREVOST know about the service intervals on our coaches. Out of 4 at the dealership I’m at, only one REALLY knew her stuff and still missed something important…the air dryer which I assumed was already on an L3 service. I think plenty of owners (myself included) assume that an L3 service is all you need and it is far from it. With how little miles most of us drive our coaches, it seems that an L1 and L2 service are almost useless as everything on the full L3 should be done based on time long before the miles come up.

So I ended up with an L3 service, air dryer cartridge change (the rest of the air dryer service is on the L3), a 50K transmission service, and some belts.

On a side note. While I am a big fan of Prevost service documents when buying a coach, I wonder if it is really that much of an asset when most good truck shops can perform the same service for less as long as you have the filters and parts with you. Probably for 20-30% less in fact.

[Will]

What we all need to realize is Prevost service can and will do a good job of service, but it is of a limited nature. Unless there is a specific understanding of responsibility, no service provider is going to do anything more than what is asked and that is the problem.

If the Prevost service schedule is followed in its entirety we as owners have to bring the coach for service every 6250 miles. Then we have to track and advise the service people what specifically has to be done at each service event. Look at the schedule and you will see someone has to track what service is required such as coolant change because the schedule gets all screwed up because some items revert to calendar time, while others remain tied to mileage.

https://techpub.prevostcar.com/en/download?id=399&type=manuals_operator_list&mode=view

As owner we also have to keep track of all the other routine maintenance. This applies to all the items that are silent such as air bags, or stated but not listed on the maintenance schedule above, such as brake chambers. If we lack the expertise or desire to get into the minutia we need to assign the responsibility to some one or some entity willing to assume that responsibility.

And that just covers the chassis. We have other devices and systems on our coaches associated with the conversion that also need routine service, ranging from simple housekeeping such as sanitizing the water tank or changing AC filters, to maintaining the generator.

With the purchase of a used coach the easiest way to get into a comprehensive maintenance program is to first create a list of all that is needed, and then see that it is done when required.

[Dave]

I just had the level three service done at Prevost Car Goodlettsville yesterday. (37,000 miles).

I’ve decided, I’m going to have the oil changed at every lube job (every 6,000 miles). The normal oil/filter changes do not line up with chassis lubes and I need an easier schedule. What I spend on fuel to get to a Prevost center and back home, just doesn’t make sense to make two trips so close together for two separate services and it will be easier on my brain.

Safe travels,

Mark