2007 Newmar Mountain Aire

[Golferdave78]

Tomorrow morning Inwill be looking at a 2007 Mountain Aire 4523 with 75 k miles
I semi new to rv 'ing
Any current owners have any advice on this model and year
Thanks

[DGBPokes]

I bought a '07 KSDP 3915 this spring. The most important thing to check, with a Cummins engine, is the engine serial number and date of manufacture. There was a MAJOR recall, due to piston pins failing causing total engine failure. And failures were occurring at 40K or higher miles. Very, very expensive to repair. My coach is an '07 ; the engine was manufactured in July '06. Two months after the last recall and 2000 engines after the last recall serial number. Get the engine serial number call Cummins...good customer service will tell you the engine status. As will Spartan on the chassis

I would recommend transmission and oil lab analysis too. Real cheap, and pretty good to know on a rig with 75K miles.

And for us, I didn't do a thorough enough inspection of the roof......got it back from Newmar service center today with new roof $7K mistake.

[vonkamp]

Check the mfg date on the tires. It will look something like picture below:

This one reads 29th week of 2013

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[smlranger]

DP is a complicated and expensive to maintain beast. If you are semi new to RVing, I would strongly suggest you pay a qualified mechanic to inspect the chassis and perhaps a good RV technician to inspect the house. The Mountain Aire is a fully featured coach and while Newmar has a great reputation for build quality, there is a lot of stuff that can be troublesome. How well it was maintained is the key.

[Steve Ownby]

Originally Posted by smlranger

DP is a complicated and expensive to maintain beast. If you are semi new to RVing, I would strongly suggest you pay a qualified mechanic to inspect the chassis and perhaps a good RV technician to inspect the house. The Mountain Aire is a fully featured coach and while Newmar has a great reputation for build quality, there is a lot of stuff that can be troublesome. How well it was maintained is the key.

Very good advise. The Spartan chassis had an issue with the protective boots on the IFS ball joints. The boot would fail which led to failure of the ball joint. About $2000 issue. Not sure what year this was finally put to rest.

The advise to get samples analyzed of the engine oil & transmission fluid is good advise also. I have used both JG Lube Services and Blackstone.

http://www.jglubricantservices.com/

http://m.blackstone-labs.com/

JG is especially good for transmission fluid testing. Tom Johnson is the retired Allison engineer who wrote Allison's fluid specs. He is active on the IRV2 Allison forum and will give you a personal interpretation of your test results.

The advise to check the engine serial # for the wrist pin defect was good also. Here is the recall info with the serial# range.

Defect Summary: CERTAIN ISL CUMMINS CM850 DIESEL ENGINES PRODUCED FOR RECREATIONAL VEHICLE APPLICATIONS BETWEEN OCTOBER 17, 2005, AND APRIL 18, 2006, WITH ENGINE SERIAL NUMBER RANGE FROM 46543077 TO 46603939. THE CONNECTING ROD CONTAINS A MACHINING DEFECT IN THE WRIST PIN BUSHING OF THE ROD THAT COULD CAUSE SEIZURE OF THE PISTON PIN.

Consequence Summary: IF ALLOWED TO PROGRESS, THIS COULD LEAD TO ENGINE FAILURE WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF THE ROD RUPTURING THE BLOCK CAVITY. OIL AND DEBRIS ON THE ROADWAY COULD RESULT IN A VEHICLE CRASH.

Newmar is a quality builder. You can expect an '07 coach to provide excellent service far into the future with one caveat.

Past and future maintenance is critical.




Steve Ownby
Full time since '07

[Scottybdivin]

Golferdave, I hope it works out for you. Went through the same drill last Dec on our 07 4528. His 2007 will have the Cummins ISM instead of the ISL, and it is a beast. I took oil samples from the Cummins, Allison, and Onan, with a contingency on their results. Check the Hydro Hot thoroughly on both diesel and electric. It is a big $$ item. Also check HWH jacks for proper leveling and retraction. There is a Newmar PDI checklist on this forum. Ask a lot of questions on this site. You can gain an amazing amount of information.

[Steve Ownby]

Originally Posted by Scottybdivin

Golferdave, I hope it works out for you. Went through the same drill last Dec on our 07 4528. His 2007 will have the Cummins ISM instead of the ISL, and it is a beast. I took oil samples from the Cummins, Allison, and Onan, with a contingency on their results. Check the Hydro Hot thoroughly on both diesel and electric. It is a big $$ item. Also check HWH jacks for proper leveling and retraction. There is a Newmar PDI checklist on this forum. Ask a lot of questions on this site. You can gain an amazing amount of information.

Obvious that I'm as SOB driver! I didn't realize this coach had the ISM. The ISM is a spectacular engine in a motorhome. It was discontinued in 2010 in favor of the ISX lite. The only systemic issue the ISM ever had was with the EGR valve which was put on the ISM to meet the 2004 EPA requirements. See if you can pull the engine repair history & see if the EGR was ever replaced.


Steve Ownby
Full time since '07

[Golferdave78]

Took a pass on the MA

[Golferdave78]

Thanks for the advice

[HavingABlast]

Originally Posted by Golferdave78

Took a pass on the MA

Do you still have the DS on order?


2015 Newmar Ventana 3636, Cummins ISB
2014 JKU Wrangler, SMI AF1, Blue Ox Baseplate and Tow Bar

[judatt]

We took our 2008 Mountain Aire to a diesel repair facility yesterday to have it checked out prior to buying. They took about 3 hours - don't know how much of that time was actually working but they hooked it up to all the diagnostics and also put the generator under a load and tested it. Got a clean bill of health and cost about $290. We are not consummating the transaction and looking forward to hitting the road.

[Jager]

Originally Posted by Steve Ownby

. . . .
The advise to check the engine serial # for the wrist pin defect was good also. Here is the recall info with the serial# range.

Defect Summary: CERTAIN ISL CUMMINS CM850 DIESEL ENGINES PRODUCED FOR RECREATIONAL VEHICLE APPLICATIONS BETWEEN OCTOBER 17, 2005, AND APRIL 18, 2006, WITH ENGINE SERIAL NUMBER RANGE FROM 46543077 TO 46603939. THE CONNECTING ROD CONTAINS A MACHINING DEFECT IN THE WRIST PIN BUSHING OF THE ROD THAT COULD CAUSE SEIZURE OF THE PISTON PIN.

Consequence Summary: IF ALLOWED TO PROGRESS, THIS COULD LEAD TO ENGINE FAILURE WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF THE ROD RUPTURING THE BLOCK CAVITY. OIL AND DEBRIS ON THE ROADWAY COULD RESULT IN A VEHICLE CRASH. . . .

So this is an issue with the ISL motor only? I have never heard of this but I have an 07 Essex with a Cummins engine. However mine is an ISM engine I believe. Is this a potential issue for my engine?

[Scottybdivin]

Originally Posted by judatt

We took our 2008 Mountain Aire to a diesel repair facility yesterday to have it checked out prior to buying. They took about 3 hours - don't know how much of that time was actually working but they hooked it up to all the diagnostics and also put the generator under a load and tested it. Got a clean bill of health and cost about $290. We are not consummating the transaction and looking forward to hitting the road.

Great news. Look forward to seeing some photos. Does your 08 have adjustable Comfort Drive? I'm not clear on when it became adjustable.

[judatt]

Originally Posted by Scottybdivin

Great news. Look forward to seeing some photos. Does your 08 have adjustable Comfort Drive? I'm not clear on when it became adjustable.

Obviously when I said "we are not consummating" I meant "we are now consummating". The comfort drive is not adjustable but it drives like a dream.