Community Forums

skipjiru · 01-06-2014, 11:44 AM

Hi Monaco folks,
Just lost my Alpine Coach of 15 years in a fire(lucky to be alive)!! Looking at buying a 2004 Monaco Signature!! Looks really good inside and price is $150k!! Is this a good year/model Monaco, any problems or issues with same and any other things I should know??
Thanks to all that respond-Skip

Arch Hoagland · 01-06-2014, 11:55 AM

We have a 2004 Monaco LaPalma and everything that Monaco built has held up extremely well both inside and outside.

The chassis and appliances, etc. were where we had problems, although not a lot.

The Sharp microwave has a history of running 59 seconds and stopping.

The Norcold refrigerator has a recall that need to be done for safety.

Steve Ownby · 01-06-2014, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skipjiru

Hi Monaco folks, Just lost my Alpine Coach of 15 years in a fire(lucky to be alive)!! Looking at buying a 2004 Monaco Signature!! Looks really good inside and price is $150k!! Is this a good year/model Monaco, any problems or issues with same and any other things I should know?? Thanks to all that respond-Skip

My wife and I have lived full time in an '03 Sig for 7 years now. Can't imagine a better home or better ride. The '03 and '04 are nearly identical. Make sure the regular maintenance has been done. Have an oil and transmission fluid sample tested. Make sure the AquaHot and generator have been serviced.

Theses are wonderful coaches.

Mike Canter · 01-06-2014, 01:06 PM

Skip. What model and motor does it have. I have a 2004 Sig with the Detroit motor. I love it. Does the Sig you are looking at have the residential fridge with eight house batteries?

I fixed my Sharp microwave 59 second problem with $22 of parts from Sears.

There was one recall on the Detroit motor to prevent turbo fires which was done with a ECU software update. There was a recommended fix to the Detroit coolant tank level sensor and a recall on the Aqua Hot system

skipjiru · 01-07-2014, 08:41 AM

Hi Mike,
The coach has the Detroit 60, house fridge,etc! The problem is there are no service records!!

Mike Canter · 01-07-2014, 09:45 AM

How many miles on it? Before I bought mine I took it into WW Williams which is one of the biggest Detroit and Allison dealers and they checked the motor and ran a test on the Allison 4000 and gave me the thumbs up. Cost me $200. They also took oil and transmission fluid samples and had it tested. Now i would send the fluids off to Blackstone Labs and have them tested myself. That Detroit is a million mile motor and I am sure it hasn't been worn out in the Sig. Testing my oil shows that I can go 15,000 miles before it should be changed. Most everybody changes at 10,000 miles so you can't hurt it there. The Allison 4000 has Transyd synthetic in it from the factory so it doesn't need changing. It required a filter change at the first 5000 miles and most dealers that sold them did that. Even if missed it will not hurt it but should be changed to make sure. Pretty sure mine wasn't done because it had the old type filters in it but the Allison diagnostic test and fluid test showed it was OK. They also did the recall software update on the Detroit at the same time. The only other thing that is critical is the greasing of the u-joints. The book says every 5000 miles but Spicer says every 10,000. Any good mechanic can check the joints for damage and slack. So really the only thing that you could miss would be having the block freeze in cold weather. It probably still has the original coolant in it that is good down to -40 and that can be tested also. So in my opinion service records give you a warm feeling but not really required. In a Sig that costs a little over half a million used I seriously doubt that it was neglected. The battery boxes usually corrosion all over them. My biggest problem with mine was that the coolant level sensor was not changed as recommended by Monaco (but not recalled) that shorted out my engine ECU. If you by it I have a all the data on that for you. So for me if it appears to be in great condition and I took it into a factory Detroit dealer and he looked it over and gave me the thumb up then I would buy it. But that is my opinion based on what I know about MHs and Signatures.