[Walter]

Alvie,

Your batteries were manufactured April 2011.

[Walter]

Sid,

5 years is still a good timeframe to replace the batteries taking a proactive approach. Many times the owner hasn’t owned the bus more than a few years and no way to tell what kind of abuse the batteries got in the past. If you bought the batteries new and have had them 5 years, then you pretty much know what you have and nothing wrong with stretching out the replacement time if they are still performing.

Usually the the first sign of batteries aging out is the time between full charge and discharge while dry camping. As an example, when the batteries were new, you could go 8 – 10 hrs with just minimal electric use, then it goes to 6 hrs, then on down to 3 hrs and lower. If you’re using auto-start, pretty easy to tell the batteries are fading by more frequent starts. Charles has exactly that going on now, but he may have other issues.

As to date codes, there will be a small round white sticker on the batteries with 2 letters. I can tell you the age with those letters. Prior to 2008, Lifeline branded the side of the case with 5 letters, so if you don’t have a white sticker, the batteries could be 8 years old or older.

Call me if you need anything Sid.

[Walter]

You’re gonna love it. It even surprises me how much we love our bus. Congratulations!!

[Walter]

Had PCs forever. Always upgraded. Always had problems. Finally gave up and I am very computer literate.

Bought a Mac 2 years ago and have not had a single problem. Very intuitive. Awesome software. Light years ahead of a PC!!! Will never go back to the PC dark ages.

[Walter]

My two cents worth FWIW…

We started rving in a 26′ GMC with 3 kids in the 70s…love, love, loved it… kids loved it too. Then we upgraded to a 33′ Bluebird… thought we had died and gone to heaven !! Then we upgraded to a Newell Coach 35′ then to another Newell 38’… none of these had slides and we “thought” who needs stinkin’ slides (sound familiar?).

We got away from rving for some 20 years since the kids were growing into other things in their lives… then one day Larry wants another RV so we started looking… (he too always wanted a Prevost)… but since we hadn’t had an rv in so long we chose a 42′ Holliday Rambler with one slide and loved it but it wasn’t too long before Larry wanted a bigger more slide model so we bought an almost new 2005 Holliday Rambler 45′ all electric coach with 4 slides…. it was dropdead gorgeous meeting the eye… had every option available at the time plus a seris 60 engine… we were set to go!!

Wasn’t too long before Larry’s eye was back on Prevosts… he just wanted one pure and simple… I kinda thought he was “nuts” and I wasn’t sure about giving up so much and “trading down” at least in my opinion…there were NO 4 slide Prevosts out there and only a couple of 3 slide coaches and 2 of those slides were in the bedroom and only one in the living room…. anyway the search continued… wasn’t too long before Larry found a 1998 45′ Vantare H3-45 with two slides… I am thinking this is one heck of a downgrade… he assured me it wasn’t… you’ll see he said.

Well we drive to Florida to pick it up and is was everything and more than he told me it was… it was superb… solid as a rock no body roll at all just so different… If you haven’t driven one you just have NO idea. Also to my surprise the two slides felt as big inside the H as the 4 slides in the old coach and way more space for storage especially outside. The H feels much bigger inside than the XL does too… its all a matter of what pushes your buttons.

I hope this helps you… but the final word is NO COMPARISON !!

Cheers, Diane

[Walter]

I think maybe Jakes seem ineffective because they sort of are at lower RPMs. In slow traffic it doesn’t appear to do that much. But on a downhill it is super effective at about 2300 rpm. I think too if you have the transmission in economy or performance would change your shift points thus the felt effectiveness of the Jake.

On our bus – over a cross country trip I tried to see if you really got better economy in economy. Didn’t seem like it for me so I always have it in performance now. The Jake works like a Tesla in traffic on our bus. Pretty well.

I do wonder though – would Prevost design a braking system that couldn’t lock up the brakes? If they can lock um up – and we assume in a panic you would apply enough foot pressure – the Jake would be unnecessary. Right? I’m not fighting here…. Just saying I don’t believe the Jake is make or break in a panic stop. I think the brake braking power would overrule the Jake braking power if you slowed down at a rate faster than the Jake system does. This is the kinda thing that would be cool to figure out on Myth Busters…

mine really does bang the transmission hard at low speeds (5-10 mph.) I will have to get that checked out. See bout the 1st gear engagement.

[Walter]

Sheesh, even Alan is picking one me, no respect…

[Walter]

Five years ago a year after buying our previous coach, 1992 XL 40 converted by Beaver Coach equipped with 8V-92. The jake brake was on the weak side. Remembering how strong our Yellowstone Park MCI-5B with manual four speed had dragging anchor slowing capability.

Took our Beaver Bus into the shop, and had our jake brake solenoids replaced, and Voila. Anchor dragging slowing, even in first gear

[Walter]

Don’t lift the tag and was running recommended tire pressure…have now upped 10#….we’ll see. Geo.

[Walter]

The CBS Evening News aired this story:

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/feds-propose-speed-limiting-devices-on-trucks-and-buses/

[Walter]

Is that in the connection in the bay where cord goes in? Just boggles me that it works fine on 20 amp and generator…..but thank you so much for answering…..

[Walter]

George,

It is not the SMX that is the problem. We jumped power to connections on the condensing unit in the spare tire compartment, and got power to the SMX, and the unit ran. Somewhere between the circuit breaker in the panel and the condensing unit is a short

[Walter]

George and Reese,

You guys realize you can just click on your screen name (if your email is open) to send an e-mail, right?

[Walter]

I would say your decision was very wise. The premature replacement of a tire is very cheap compared to the potential risk. Michelin should be contacted and given the opportunity to pro-rate the cost of the replacement tire, Yours were well within the age range they support.

[Walter]

For some reason, it seems like weird things always happen when we leave Prevost/Marathon in Ft Worth. Stopped to fuel up in Abilene, and when I got out of the seat, the button for the steering wheel did not work. After finishing the fueling, looked at the switch, and the collar nut had worked itself off, so it was a simple matter of putting the collar nut on, and tightening it. The down the road, all of a sudden the generator starting making a racket. I had heard the sound before, and knew it was deflated air bags. I figured I had a bad air leak on the Marathon side (it’s isolated from the coach aux system), but when I checked, I found the adjustement knob for the generator air bags had shut off air flow. Simple matter of twisting the knob to get air back in the bags, so no big problem.

I’m starting to think Jon has arranged for some gremlins to harass us Marathon owners. If other Marathon owners have problems like this, maybe we can uncover a conspiracy!;)