[steve]

I don’t know this for a fact, but I would be surprised if they were sealed at the factory. I watched the Prevost Service Center folks several times install XL windshields and I don’t believe I ever saw any of them that needed sealant cut to remove the glass, and for certain I never saw any that were replaced and sealed with any kind of sealant.

[steve]

Yahoo and Firefox

[steve]

Thanks for the offer Tom. I will buy whatever you will send. We won’t be home until 3/31, but daughter is house sitting. I will check here every day. We arrive at destination tomorrow. An inop washer/dryer this trip is no problem. At minimum I would need about a two foot piece of line and one of those half olive or compression rings. The threaded collar that goes around the ring is reusable.

Thanks for the pex idea Gil. I’m familiar with it but didn’t think of it for this. We used it for a radiant heat in concrete floor project.

Wanted to keep our rig as oem as possible, so the grey stuff would be my first choice Thanks guys.

[steve]

Jon, after more than 24hrs coach has settled slightly to the right and level front to backn I did hear the aux air “blowout” in the steering bay & whem WX breaks I`ll diagnose using your & Hector`s advice knowing it`s a long education process with safety foremost.

It`s sad that Prevost doesn`t have trained & experienced tech`s to diagnose these problems instead of a witch hunt. My experience with Jacksonville Prevost was not impressive in this arena, but with other repairs it was very satisfactory.

Thanks guys!

[steve]

Mark

Your posts are interesting as I believe to have the same problem. I had an ’01 Thompson with a small delamination problem that Prevost NJ took care of for me years ago. My experience with Prevost NJ has been very good as I have used them exclusively for most everything I need from service to tires. I always feel like they go out of their way to take care of me, hopefully that won’t change. Honestly, it was the reason for my remaining a Prevost customer as we looked for a newer coach. A little over a month ago I traded my Thompson for an ’07 Marathon with 47k miles, a few small gliches but nothing really problematic. My understanding was that Prevost had recently replaced the rear slide bladder. My first rainstorm I had water (wet carpet) next to the bed in the rear slide lower front corner. Upon further inspection I realized that in the 3rd bay drivers side (where my inverters are housed), the carpet covered wood panel that covers the inverters was rotted all along the bottom. Which indicated to me that there is a slow leak that kept the wood in a constant wet state. Its also my understanding that the prior owner also used Prevost and Marathon for service. So last night we had some rain here in Southern Florida and I got water in the 3rd bay and another wet carpet. So it seems that we have similar problems, I find it interesting that your coach is an ’06 production as is mine. Spent some time around the coach today and realized that I have a few loose panels, I’m also concerned with the integrity of the stainless steel molding that runs along the length of the coach as I think one of the leaks is coming from that. I’m starting to miss my Thompson.

[steve]

Steve,

Locating and isolating leaks is a long term process.

Based on how quickly you responded and outlined the performance I would guess you did not allow sufficient time to allow things to happen.

If a coach leans in an hour the chances are you might be able to actually hear the leak. But if it starts to lean overnight you still have a leak, but it will take some effort to find it.

I would temporarily disable the HWH. Turn it off or pull a fuse or breaker or do whatever it takes to prevent it from operating until you have learned how your suspension and aux air are functioning.

I would start with airing up the coach and with it at the driving or ride height, the aux system at normal max pressure I would turn off the key and measure from the bottom of the bay doors the distance to the ground at that time.

Then at each hour I would record the aux system pressure (aux pump off) and the height measurements originally taken.

Those records will tell you if you have aux system leaks and if your suspension suffers from the leans. Remember at this point with the key off you are measuring two different things since your suspension could leak without affecting the aux pressure, and conversely your aux pressure could be leaking without affecting the suspension.

Once you have the results you will know two things for sure. You will know the relative health of your aux air system and if it has leaks you have to fix or if it is acceptable, and you will learn if the front suspension, left rear suspension, or right rear suispension have leaks. While I agree with Hector about fittings, especially push in fittings being a major source of leaks I know air bags and Norgren valves also leak over time.

As to questions regarding where to drain the wet, primary, secondary, or aux tanks, each has a petcock at the low point accessible from beneath the coach.

[steve]

First, I strongly suspect the HWH is masking problems. If there is a way to turn it off, do that and leave it off until you are done chasing problems. When it comes to pneumatic problems such as leaks I cannot think of anything else on our coaches that equals that as far as giving us fits while allowing others to vacuum our wallets.

Once you have turned off the HWH so it is out of the equation then it becomes easier to determine if your coach has serious leaks or if the HWH is taking air trying to level the coach.

One thing everyone absolutely has to understand: (HWH OFF!) With the key off the aux air system can drop to zero pressure and the air should still be locked in the suspension. With the key off air from the aux system should be locked out of the suspension. The 5 port Norgren valves at each of the suspensions (front, LH rear, RH rear) block the flow of air into or out of the suspension system with the key off. The suspension is receiving air from the aux system only, and only with the key on AND THE HWH IS LEFT ON IT CONFUSES ANY EFFORTS TO ISOLATE ISSUES.

As to where to service and drain the pneumatic system, there are air tanks beneath the coach. A typical coach has a “wet” tank, primary and secondary brake tanks, and an auxiliary air tank. If the air dryer element is changed routinely and the tanks are drained at every service interval (6200 miles) you should expect a bit of moisture from the wet tank, maybe a spoonful, but no moisture from any of the tanks downstream. If you run the aux compressor often you can expect to remove moisture from the water trap or separator(s), and possibly the aux air tank.

If more moisture is removed than descibed above make every effort to get the system serviced and as necessary dry out the system before moisture does any damage. Moisture in any part of the pneumatic system is bad and if allowed to remain can corrode valves or even prevent working components from functioning.

The tanks in the wheel wells should be bone dry. They are essentially adding volume to the air bags (for lack of a better way to describe their purpose) and if any moisture shows up while draining them you can bet the entire pneumatic system has moisture in it. Those tanks can be drained, but keep in mind when you drain them the bus will settle down. Never ever get any part of your body beneath a bus that has not been supported when you drain those tanks unless it is supported at the chassis support points

[steve]

Does the Aux air supply to the HWH or just items like seat,louvers,air slide ,etc?

Jacksonville prevost inspected all bags, leaks ,etc back in warm WX and found & replaced a few misc leaking push-in fittings with compressed type. Have always noticed that when stopping engine AUX air begins to bleed off from 120 psi to 0 fairly rapidly and the HWH immediately lifts the left side out of level. When I reset the HWH it will level up & a few minutes later it will begin lifting the left side even though it`s level. I`ll level up today and do as Jon suggested.

I`m planning to replace all norgen valves soon & bags ASAP. I`m trying to get educated on how the system works, been under & all around looking for those darn leaks.

[steve]

From observation over the years I believe in order of impact on mileage I have found the following:

Speed (or headwind). Go fast or drive into a strong sustained headwind and mileage drops.

Hills. You never gain by coasting downhill what is lost climbing the hill.

Weight. Bus or toad, the more the engine has to work the worse the mileage.

OTR. This seems to be a couple of tenths of MPG. But keep in mind if a non OTR coach is kept at the same temps while running the generator or alternator (for inverter run AC units) the impact is likely to be the same.

That is the order of things that impact fuel consumption based on my observation. As to speed I used to do that when I was employed, but now I drive slow because it is so much more relaxing to be able to leave the cruise control on and not have to turn it on or off as I run up on slower drivers and have to wait before changing lanes to pass. The side benefit is a little better mileage but in the overall scheme of things what we pay for fuel is inconsequential compared to depreciation.

[steve]

After checking some resources, here is a better solution. This provides standard windows cut, copy and paste functions

Use the Shift key in combination with the right click. As defined in the “Mouse click/keyboard modifier combinations for shell objects” of the table of shortcuts referenced below. This is like using the right click in any standard windows app.

Try it, you’ll like it!

——————————————————————————

FOR REFERENCE:

——————————————————————————

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449

[steve]

i went to the diagnostic site in the articles section but it talks about some dial that controls the leveling system.

my bus does not have this dial.

petar

[steve]

Mr. Finch, by chance, any relation to James? We visit with him twice a year in the 500 club above pit road. For us, we are on our forth Prevost using them for travel to and from races, motorcycle trips, and back and forth Florida / Colorado. Nice web site Jon.How is Fast Roger and the Big Nuts?