[Peter]

You can buy the GM clusters for around $190 exchange at Advance Auto Parts. That is my commercial account price. Easy to swap out. Just give them the mileage off the old one, and they will order in for you.

[Peter]

Yes Marathon did see the batteries when they did their inspection saying that it look like a good installation but wasn’t the norm. I wasn’t big on the idea but thought I might be able to live with it since the last owner had. The other items Marathon found, was that the jump start feature had been disconnected and the previous owner had some wiring put in, to charge the engine batteries when the bus was plug into shore power. Since the batteries were not being temp compensated for, they were cooking themselves and boiling off the water. This was all corrected before we bought the coach, and the jump start feature as well as the other wiring items was put back to factory, at quite an expense to the previous owner. I think that we will be ok after this fix, just at my expense. I won’t try to run the cruise air’s of the batteries even thought the manual says it can be done. All of this will have a steep learning curve, but with help of the experience and thoughtful people here, we are going to figure all this out.

Thanks for all the input.

Mark

[Peter]

Mark,

I am afraid for you. If I found 2 batterys under my bed I would be asking myself what did I do. The previous owner had to jimmy rig the system to even do that and the result is 2 charred batteries that could of exploded and you could of been hurt.

I worry what else did the idiot do to the bus? What else is wired wrong. I am not trying to bring you down but you need help with this.

Also if Marathon DFW did the PDI I would get in a room with Bob and ask him who did it? What did they check.

I know what some people are trying to unload out there and you have to do your homework. BA looked at 5 or 6 buses and spent probably 4k in air fare before he found something even exeptable in the 12 plus year range and had the seller put a ton of money in it before it was even ready to go out the door.

I wish you luck, there are many people on here that will help you.

Later

bv

[Peter]

Don’t get fooled, the dog bowl is Jeff’s..

[Peter]

Man gunner, I don’t know. After all these operations and medical issues, sometimes I get confused. And then there is the matter of “mixing my own prescriptions” which can lead to complications.

One thing that has been bothering me is the last time I was in the hosp. they gave me 2.5 pints of blood. I really think it was “woman’s blood Tom.” Every twenty-eight days or so, I get really confused and moody.

Real booger getting old. And believe me, I’ve sure gotten old! I’ve had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement, new knees, fought prostate cancer and diabetes.

I’m half blind, can’t hear anything half the time, take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. I am breaking my Viagra in half (cause all I want to do is cuddle) and have forgotten who it is that gets tied up … I am a mess.

Have bouts with dementia, poor circulation, hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Can’t remember if I’m 68 or 82. Often I truly think I have lost all my friends.

But, thank God,I still have my Old Bus and my valid Oklahoma driver’s license. Which is pretty good, as I am sure they wouldn’t like me too much at the home and Jon says “no way” he is taking me in or allowing me to sleep in his garage.

Just thought I might have offended the Big Al and did not want to do that, he is after all, a good guy.

DS

[Peter]

Hey Peter, I see you’re based out of Wheatland, we have a vacation home in the Snowy’s just outside of Centennial. We spend the winters here snowmobiling and part of the summer when we’re not farming back in Iowa.

[Peter]

Sure look forward to seeing you and Mary Kay Alan.

[Peter]

Good post Pres, I was just told a similar nightmare just a week ago. Last time we were in NO, a week before Katrina, we stayed at the KOA west and it wasn’t much either..

[Peter]

Here is the pricing on Standard vs Koni Shocks from Prevost Jacksonville:

Standard

2 front shocks @ 59.97 each: 119.94

6 drive & tag @ 39.24 each: 235.44

Total: 355.38

Koni

2 front shocks @ 171.75 each 343.50

6 drive and tag @ 208.38 each 1250.28

Total: 1593.78

[Peter]

I have Koni on the steer and drive and oem on tag , I would do it again , I do about 60,000 a year with a trailer I like the ride , but like Jon said the noise over bumps and joints in road are there would like that to go away I just turn up the music

[Peter]

I think any questions we might ask the Detroit or Volvo engineers would be out of context for them.

They design engines that are built to run long hours at a time (we likely meet that criteria) that are rarely turned off, and when they are turned off, they are likely to be started and run within a short time period. We fail on those two points.

Like others I flew, and on my last plane which I had for almost 25 years and in which I ran 3 engines to TBO I wasn’t always able to get a pre-heat, never could circulate oil through it prior to start, but never had issues. All of the TSIO-520 engines went the whole way to TBO. But one rule I followed was what Continental said in the owners manual. I waited until I got some warmth to the engine before going above a low idle, and I never jammed the throttle from idle to take-off power, but applied full power briskly.

I think the same practice is also good for our coaches. When we start let it run at low idle for a while. Give it a chance to get some heat in it and to get oil moving around in the engine. Then after a few minutes step it up to high idle. Letting it show heat on the temperature gauge takes forever, so after it has run a while, warm it up by driving at moderate engine speeds.

I am sure pre-oiling and warming the engine with the Webasto before starting is going to extend the engine life, but I have my doubts we will ever have any way of quantifying the benefit. I think the same applies to synthetic versus conventional oil. It is likely better for the engine, but how will we know.

[Peter]

I once parked by a guy that had a PT35 Bluebird with a Cat, I think a 3208. He was reaching into the engine compartment (pusher) pushing a button. Said he was pre oiling the engine before the cold start.

So, has anyone installed a pre oiler pump on one of these S60s?

[Peter]

Interesting… I have a CDL, but what happens when someone from another state shows up with a 45 footer with a license to drive a pickup and gets stopped for a traffic violation or accident?

[Peter]

Put a Gast in and fix all the leaks that’s the best bet , hope that helps

[Peter]

Hi Bryan,

Still collecting my thoughts on which compressor to go with. Spent several more hours this morning locating
and correcting two tiny leaks, because …….. even tiny leaks add up over time.

More to follow.

Eric