George
Forum Replies Created
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i always weigh coach depreciation vs. happiness and for some reason, happiness always wins out. You can’t take anything with you when you leave this earth, so just as soon be happy and get pleasure out of coach ownership and travels!!! Memories are priceless!!
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On my coaches instead of fuses CB #19,20 and 21 in the rear electric box keep constant power to the ECM’s.
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One thing I will never ever understand is the lack of retained value. First of all that is the elephant in the room. Nobody wants to talk about it, but every owner knows about depreciation.
It would be a reasonably close estimate that a new coach has a market value of around 50% of its purchase price in 3 or 4 years. While the second buyer is getting a virtually new coach at that time, a great deal of what was paid is lost in a 3 or 4 year period.
But even when the coach value loss slows down that loss of market value continues towards very low levels.
But that does not make sense. For discussion let’s presume a 15 year old Prevost conversion is worth perhaps 15% of the cost of a new replacement. Don’t nit pick my numbers because I am just guessing at them. That 15 year old coach if anywhere near typical will not have much more than 125,000 miles on it and in terms of the life of the chassis it has used up only about 10 or 15% of its life. It might therefore be safe to say for 15% of replacement cost a buyer is getting 85% of the chassis life.
The house portion is similarly used up. Converters do an excellent job of providing quality construction in everything from cabinetry to seating areas to systems, but those 15 year old furnishings and systems like the chassis will show some wear and soiling, but they continue to provide excellent service.
Spend $50,000 on a 15 year old coach and except for paint it can be brought into an almost new condition. And yet the market fails to value how much life remains on older coaches.
There are evolutionary changes that the marketplace has recognized as added value and they will definitely bring more money to the table. A coach with an 8V92 doesn’t command the price of a comparable coach with a Series 60. While some buyers go out of their way to try to find a 40 foot coach there was no question they placed a higher value on 45 foot coaches. Ditto with slides versus non-slide coaches.
We Prevost owners somehow are not able to get buyers to consider value as much as we would like buyers to do that. There are a lot of 20 to 30 year old Prevost coach conversions out there and most of them could not be duplicated to the quality level they have for anywhere near what some of them are selling for. Maybe the complex technology of newer coaches is so important to buyers they are not willing to pay fair prices for coaches without that technology.
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I think over the years I have had every issue possible with a Genny . Every post above is spot on as to areas to search . I did not see air filter listed . Look for a collapsed air hose . Remove the air filter for a moment and see if the problem goes away . Air or fuel just like most motors .
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Batteries fail over time, and the length of time is completely dependent upon how well they are maintained. I do not mean how much distilled water was added, but how deep they were discharged, the charging protocol and how often they were kept fully charged.
When a set of batteries fails it could be one bad battery or it could be an entire set that has just gotten tired. I kind of cringe when folks brag about getting a zillion years out of a set of batteries because often that means they have been nursed in their later years and the charging current from a charger or inverter or even the alternator is going to be very high and often when it reaches that point the charger will never get out of bulk charge and into float.
So trying to squeeze every last bit of current out of batteries is working the inverters, charger or alternators very hard, maybe to the point the heat generated by them during the heavy charging loads is damaging them.
I do know from hundreds of posts on bus forums over the years bad batteries can appear as other problems, sometimes resulting in a lot of stuff being replaced that was not the issue at all. The bottom line however is we each have a different tolerance level for the problems or inconveniences of bad batteries. I just hope avoiding the expense of replacing batteries does not end up with the cost of replacing the batteries, plus an inverter or alternator.
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I beleive the garmin comes with a nice magnetic windshield mount. I have mine mounted on the windshield and the camera works perfectly out of it. But I have the dezlcam 785 and not the RV version, but I think the are essentially one and the same.
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Thanks Jon. I will look for a machine shop
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I have an 05 Royale and I did get the original “Royale” manual. I don’t think it will help much because of the age difference. I do not remember anything about having to open the bay door while ruuning the generator. In fact, while boondocking near Quartzsite, AZ, we ran our generator all night with the bay door closed. I do clean the filter in the bay door.
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it would also be much louder and a nuisance to people around you for you to be parked with the generator bay open. .
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It’s my understanding that’s the only way they are designed to run for any amount of time. By opening the door your change the airflow and they can overheat. I could be wrong but I think I’m correct.
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Our bus is full of Bendix components. Here is a Bendix Quick Reference Catalog:
Bendix QRC link
And here is a link to the Bendix Parking Brake Push-Pull valves manual: -
That’s where I would check. I just noticed the same thing and the DW asked what the hissing sound was. Gonna have to tear that out and replace or re-plumb.
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Joe, The part number is DDV151B for a 115 volt unit, DDV152B for a 240 volt. Yes, drain the coolant and yes some coolant will still be in the pocket when you pull the heater free. I replaced mine a few years back, purchased from United Engines Little Rock, AR. If you can’t find one locally, call 501-562-5565 and they can ship you one.
Good Luck,
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We are bus only no tow vehicle
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Just so we are on the same page …..are we talking bus and / or plugged in tow car lighting issue ?
AL