[Fred F.]

Doug, simple answer is no…this happened over a considerable amount of time. Geo.

[Fred F.]

Reese, my Fellow Texan;

I live in Central Texas, so my summer temps and humidity is pretty close to yours. I bought my bus new in December 1998 and brought it home. It has “lived” outside the entire time I have had it home. There is a pecan tree on the east side of the coach that provides partial shade and a container on the west side providing a little late afternoon shade. But that’s it.

I rotate the coach so one side does not face west all summer. I drive the coach, a lot, and that helps out with not keeping the same side facing west all the time. I normally drive east and west so the nose and the tail take their turns at facing west. I keep all the windows and roof vents open in the summer and closed in the winter. The inside gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

We had over 90 days of 100 degree plus days a few years ago. The high was 112 degrees that summer. But as you know, we normally see 98 to 104 degrees during the summer. It is going to be cooler under a roof than outside in the sun.

After 16 years and 8 months of living outside, I have noticed the roof and roof trim paint is peeling and needs repainting. I feel that’s not too bad for being outside all these years.
I hope this helps your decision.

Michael

[Fred F.]

Our bus came to us with several manuals. One is from Liberty wherein it says to turn off the 12 and 24 volt master switches if the bus will sit for more than 24 hours. Another manual is from Prevost, and it says the same thing. So I have been doing just that the last nine years. The manuals say if you don’t shut them off, the batteries will become unequalized. And when we are traveling and overnight anywhere we are not plugged in, I do not shut off the master switches. Next morning traveling again, the battery balance light on the dash comes on a few times for a few seconds each time.

I installed new chassis batteries in May 2009. The bus sits in a shelter at our house all winter (November 1 through at least March 1). We have the oem built in 24 volt battery charger but have never had a need to use it since May 2009. The bus has started in March every year. The batteries are Sears diehard group 31 Platinum.They have stopped selling them though, so when it’s time, will go to the Deka group 31. So I wonder if our luck with batteries is correlated to shutting off the master switches?

Last week I installed two new Magnum inverters, having retired the 22 year old Hearts. The Magnum set up manual showed a charge schedule for each type of house battery, i.e. flooded, gel, agm 1, and agm 2. The agm 1 is for lifeline batteries, while agm 2 is for batteries made by East Penn, such as Deka (what we have for house). I noticed that the charge voltage for agm 2 was a little more than for agm 1 in the absorb and float modes. I mention this because it surprised me. Is more better?

[Fred F.]

We ran all the diagnostic tests today and found the motor to be not working… called Cablemaster and Charlie told us that they do just go out for no specific reason… our motor was stamped 2003… new motor will be here in the morning so hoping that is the answer !!

Removing the Radiator was a a PIA but was the ONLY way to get access.. I am still worried that “something else” may have caused the motor to die…. but then remembering the fuse blew a couple of years ago may have been the beginning of a slow death.. who knows !! Will keep you posted.

Cheers, Diane

[Fred F.]

I talked with the alignment tech at Prevost Nashville this morning. He told me that a lot of the H3s and XLs did not have the upper passenger side radius rod on the front axle and the fact it was missing the supports as well indicated it left the factory that way. He said it had to have both the lower rods but needed only one upper and would not effect the alignment.

[Fred F.]

I certainly would agree these should be checked. In my case the chambers were all just replaced. I also while on the road, and even at home have little to no way get regularly get under the bus. In the past do that the two times per year the bus is in the air at a facility.

Thanks for the advice everyone, this could have been a real problem without the tire monitoring system. Having a system where the sensor is as close to the hub and rotor as possible was certainly a plus. Seeing the temp start to rise without corresponding drop in pressure immediately gave me high level of concern. Even slowing down immediately and looking for safe place to pull over (around three miles) allowed things to get hot enough for smoke. I would imagine that without the monitoring system a fire would have been a real possibility. I am not sure how anyone would realize they had a problem without the monitors since there was NO change inthe perforance or other measures while driving prior to seeing the temps rise. I alarm did not go off since never reached the level the alarm is set for until I was just about ready to pull off of the road. If I had not stopped there the next safe spot (I pulld off there also to shoot the temp of the rotor/hub with the IR after brake caged) was over 40 miles away. Thsi was not on an interstate but rather US 40 through the rocky mountains of Colorado (think twisty turny and up and down one lane each way with little to no shoulder, and certainly no place to safely put the bus). Had Deb get onto Google Earth to find the pullout spot we used. Luckily had decent cell service there, and she always has an Ipad next o her seat for emergency look ups. She saw the pull out less than 1 mile before we were there on Google Earth. Worked well. We were totally off of the road. I immediately disconnected the Jeep in case fire did break out. Had Deb stay out of the coach until we knew no fire. If fire had started not a good location, if there is ever a good location. Also had 2 fire extingishers out of the bus and atthe ready if diaster happened (none did). As Jon has mentioned it is not enough to have all of these monitoring devices (I also use a Silverleaf system built one of the LCD screens), you also, like a pilot, have to continuously scan these items t owatch for changes that are not expected prior to getting to the alarm points.

Sorry for the long post

[Fred F.]

Thanks Tom, I did find the CB72 and R36. They were right where Prevost said they were on the door schematic.I just overlooked them. Both are good, so I suspect Jon is correct that the clutch is not engaging due to refigerant low pressure. R85 is for full air systems and R35 is for driver’s air systems. The compressor should still be under warranty. This didn’t act like a slow coolant leak as one day it was ice cold and the next day it wouldn’t cool. Maybe a big leak or a bad compressor.

Last October I paid $1692 at Prevost Ft Worth to have a new York compressor installed as the original one was leaking oil. I replaced the same compressor on my former Wanderlodge LXi for $395…. Crazy? I reckon!

[Fred F.]

The Little Giant came with my coach and it’s very sturdy, along with a number of different positions you can use it in.

[Fred F.]

I got ’em from Parliament…too old to put ’em myself. Geo. Ps. I’ll give you some tile.

[Fred F.]

Mark,

Doesn’t the noisy, stinky diesel running for such a long time piss off your campground neighbors?:)

[Fred F.]

Thanks Rudy!

I looked for a reset button last night and didn’t locate it on top of the black box which is on top off my burner. I saw green & red wires but not brown.

Im out for a few hours this morning but will te look at it during good light. May give you a call if you don’t mind.

Thanks again!

[Fred F.]

I would like to know what temp starts to cause issues…I have read at 240 the rubber will begin to fail and have belt failure in some major ways…

[Fred F.]

Have you checked out the vehicle restriction listed on the park website?

[Fred F.]

I am having some of the same issues with my SYM-2Q Headhunter monitor. It’s been recalibrated
several times and I can’t get it below 10% reading when I know its empty. Then
without explanation it will show 30-40 or even full.

My
question; is there anything on the end of the tube in the tank that would come
off or cause a catastrophic failure if compressed air be blown through the
line. I’m thinking there may be some debris or residue in the tube.

Thanks
for you input.

Ray

[Fred F.]

We like the Pilot/Flying J card, but will sign up for the Love’s checking card program when we get home. I was a little apprehensive about the automatic checking account deduction, but think I’m over it. So you’ll have one more participant when we get home for the trip.