[Ken]

We also have the Love’s app for the smart phone. With the Love’s app open, we pull into the fueling lane and the app asks us what the pump # is. Enter it, and in a few seconds the pump is on and ready to pump. No entering information into the pump itself.

[Ken]

Fred-

Thanks for your imput. I agree 100%. I want to be able to load up the coach and head down the road with the confidence that everything to the best of my ability and knowledge is road ready and will get me where I’m going.

Also agree rubber needs to be used to keep its flexibility. Heat, UV, and lack of use are not friends of rubber.

Worry is what people do in the 2nd place, when they weren’t concerned enough to be careful in the 1st place.

[Ken]

Jon-

Thank you for your insights.

From the moment I stepped into a Prevost and then took it for a roll, I was really impressed with it’s quality of build. I would rather own an older high quality vehicle, than a new lower quality vehicle, in fact I have never owned a new vehicle. I am a value buyer, and more than willing to let the 1st owner have that momentary cache of buying new, and paying the huge depreciation costs that come with it. I’m not out to impress anyone, and couldn’t care less what most people think. I like what I like.

I want to keep the cost below 150K, hence looking at older coaches that have been well maintained and loved. Much prefer riveted coaches, like the look and the durability. Definitely no-slide, and a simpler interior, one that looks more like home, than a casino. I’m willing to do much of my own maintenance, especially being able to ask questions to all of the knowledgeable and helpful folks on this site for advice. I would like to be able to get the better mpg, but if it cost 30-40K more, that would buy a lot of diesel. I tend to buy what I really like and then hold on to it. So if the right coach came along, it may be my forever coach, as long as parts were available.

Previously I had been looking for a Country Coach, and in fact it was that the Prevost was a CC build that brought it into my search. I watched several videos and learned about the importance of length to wheelbase ratio for the safety of handling on the road. And it seemed the Country Coach, and a few other manufacturers always scored well in that regard. And Prevost pretty much sets the benchmark for ride stability.

I plan to take multiple 1-2 week long trips to start, then once I have a system and feel like the coach is dialed in, make longer trips.

[Ken]

Clean all top ac drain lines with compressed air only. All my leaks are gone.

[Ken]

I tackled the project today. Nothing was “broken”, so no replacement parts were needed.

The vent cover is moved up and down by a lever (see the picture). The gear teeth on the lever are held against a worm gear by a shaft that worked its way out of the gear box that contains the worm gear. This allowed the shaft to come loose and not raise the vent cover. Someone posted that the motor stops based on resistance, and that is what I concluded. Because the arm had become dislodged, there was no resistance and hence the motor that moves the vent cover wouldn’t stop running.

The fan motor is controlled by a micro switch which is actuated by the vent cover near its hinge. Open the vent cover, the fan motor starts and the fan spins. Close the vent cover, the fan motor stops. The Sunmullon switch apparently only controls a relay that simply opens and closes the vent cover.

All of the screws go into plastic. My plastic is almost 20 years old. It appears to still hold well. But be careful to not force or overtighten any of the screws otherwise the plastic holding them will be stripped and you’re in trouble, screws won’t hold. I used a long #2 Phillips screwdriver. Backed out the screws using a cordless driver with the ratchet set “loose”, screwed everything back in by hand. I didn’t have to unhook any wires; although a spade connector came apart that I put back together.

I started by removing the “cover” (about 12″x12″) that Liberty had installed under vent fan; four wood screws. Now you can see most of the vent fan mechanism. There is a Liberty installed “picture frame” that trims out the opening that is held in place by the four screws just removed. Easily pulled straight out.

Now you’re looking at the underside of the FanTastic unit. Three screws allow you to remove a last square cover with a large round hole for the air to flow through. A bunch of small screws (eight?) hold the screen to the main structure of the vent fan. Pull the screen down. Used compressed air to clean the screen.

Rather than repeat the captions of the pictures, go there for some more explanations.

Next remove two screws to loosen the motor assembly (which contains the manual/auto switch and the manual operation knob); one long screw and one short screw. Carefully pull the the assembly straight down.

Next remove the worm gear assembly; two screws. I used a hammer to move the shaft (piece of steel tubing with a slit down the side) back through the lifting lever and centered in the worm drive gear box. Now the vent cover lifting level was back where it should be.

(I don’t like the tubing with the slit down the side. I would have preferred a bolt with a split ring or a cotter pin to hold the shaft in place. If the thing comes apart again I’ll probably fire up the lathe and turn a better mousetrap.)

With the vent cover closed the lifting lever and worm gear assembly get installed from the bottom; turn the worm gear input shaft by hand to “extend” the lifting arm. You’ll notice that the plastic is cut out to make the install easy. Insert the free end of the arm into the long slide opening in the vent cover (the vent cover should open as you do this), and reinstall the two screws hot hold it in place.

Next reinstall the motor assembly. Once the motor assembly is in place you should test operation. It worked fine the ten times I tried it. Once in a while I would push the Sunmullon switch to cycle the vent cover/fan and it didn’t respond right away. I suspect the Sunmullon switch signals a relay and there might have been a lag in the relay running the cycle.

With the vent cover open and the fan running, I “tested” the rain sensor and it worked. I don’t think I got a picture of the rain sensor, but its probably obvious what it is when you’re looking down on the open vent/fan. If anyone wants a picture, let me know and I’ll post one.

Once I was satisfied the device was working properly again, I put everything back together; being careful not to over tighten the screws. Like so many projects I undertake on the coach, this was the first time I tackled the FanTastic vent fan so there was a learning curve to go through. Next time, if there is a future problem for this component, it will go quite a bit quicker. I think start to finish it was probably two hours.

Questions? Let me know.

[Ken]

Mr. Liberty, Bill Dougherty, told me to change relay number 18, which gets voltage from light 16 on the third output card from the right of the Allen-Bradley. Since I only have about 25 of these spares left, had it swapped in five minutes, and of course the pump runs.

In the past nine years, every time I call Bill with an issue, I have had success. So this is another example. Even when he is not sure, his guess has always been right, at least for me.

Thank you all for your input. Talked to Rudy first time today. Also talked to Tracey at Webasto Michigan first time today.