New (To Me) Diplomat Owner

[Dandick]

I am trading my Coachman Mirada for a 2012 Monaco Diplomat 43DFT. 21,000 Miles.

I will be traveling about 8 hours to look at the Diplomat and make the trade on Monday (27 Nov).

I’m wondering if anyone here has any tips or recommendations for me when I do the walkthrough inspection. I ordered a Scangauge D and will take it along and plug it in to check for codes. I’ve read both good and bad about the MaxxForce 10, so I’m wondering if there’s anything I should look for. The dealer I’m getting it from does not have any maintenance records. I do have the CarFax and it shows no damages and one owner.

Any and all info will be appreciated.

Thanks.

Dan

[JohnBoyToo]

Welcome !
We have an 11 Dip 43DFT with the Cummins and when I was looking to trade recently, the first thing they asked me was which engine I had....

Apparently the Maxforce does not have a stellar reputation... but have heard of some they have not had an issue with theirs...

Our ONE complaint about the coach is the placement of the main tv when we have guest over to watch football, etc... (so really no complaints )
Good luck on it !

[Traps90]

Good luck with this purchase, we have been happy with ours.

One thing I would do with this coach and any other coach i got serious about would be to get the engine serial no and check with Navistar as to the engine's history.

Most here myself included are really happy with them.

[windsorbill]

Without maintenance records I would take fluid samples and send them out for testing, including genny (engine, transmission, coolant) If tires are original, budget new as they could be 5 or 6 years old. Batteries? I would get an independent certified inspector to go through the coach as well. Some dealers feel if you have driven 8 hours they 'got you' and sometimes won't negotiate as much as if you were local. Sometimes you need to be prepared to 'walk away' if you feel that they are treating you that way.

[MSHappyCampers]

Hi Dan! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined the gang!

Congrats on the new rig! Keep her between the ditches!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

[Mr_D]

I don't know of anything specific, but I would check the "normal" things like tire dates and be sure EVERYTHING works.

BTW, Carfax is pretty much worthless as there's no requirement that anything be reported to them.

[8.3Oilbuner]

Good morning Dan; Lots of great ideas here from others on what to check. The information in your post kind of gives me the idea that you are ready to make the purchase if you are driving your currant coach to the dealer as a trade in. I have talked to owners of Monaco coaches that have the Maxxforce engine in their coaches and most say all they ever needed from Navistar was a software up grade for the ECM on the engine. As others have posted, they seem happy with the Navistar (Monaco) coach. One thing comes to mind as posted here by those who know. Monaco (Navistar) still had the same slide design, if I am wrong, please correct me, that Monaco used before Navistar bought them when Monaco was in bankruptcy. I would check all bottom corners of the slides on the outside for water intrusion into the slide floor. I understand that even the young age of the coach should not be ignored! If your not sure what I am talking about, in the top right of this forum page in the search box put, slide floor rot, and you will get what I have mentioned above. Along with tire age, batteries, coolant and oil condition as others have mentioned. I went from Seattle to Tucson to buy my first Monaco coach and I tried to go over it with a fine tooth comb. I am sure I drove the salesmen nuts as I took hours looking on top, underneath, in every cabinet and checking all the roof seams for integrity. Make sure all systems operate as they should and if they don't, get that in writing that the dealer will fix anything not to your satisfaction. Don't be afraid to walk away. I had a small deposit on my first Monaco coach and when I arrived at the dealer I made it clear that if things were not to my satisfaction, I was walking right back to the airport and grabbing a plane back to Seattle. Your the one spending the money, always demand better. Good luck in your purchase and welcome to the Monaco family. You will get lots of help here with your question from owners here on this forum. Have a great trip on Monday!

[veraken]

Once you find a MH you are interested in, get professional inspections done. If you don't do this BEFORE you purchase, you run the risk of spending significantly more AFTER the purchase. If something is found, the inspector should be able to give you an estimate to repair. You can then decide if you want to proceed and can use it to negotiate a better price. You will be going into it with your eyes open. IF nothing is found, GREAT!!

I would suggest that you get an independent certified RV mechanic to inspect all the RV systems, including the roof. In addition I would have the engine, transmission, frame, etc. inspected by a diesel service shop. Having a coolant and oil analysis by a lab (like JG Lubricants ) would reveal any hidden problems.

Make sure everything is in writing!! Any purchase should be contingent upon successfully passing these inspections/tests.

I would do this to any used MH I was looking to buy.

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[tmw188]

Tom from JG Lubricants will go over your test results with you in depth over the phone if you have any questions, he gives us some personal service for no extra charge. Highly recommended.

[Traps90]

You have gotten some great advice here, if it all checks out you should end up with a very nice coach.

[flamebuster]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALlhHRoE0Aw

Here is a link to Guardian plate which will show what to look for and the way to fix the slides if not to bad of condition.. This in reference to the slide floor rot mentioned above... One thing I learned in purchasing mine is make the dealer have all the tv's connected to and working in the compicated entertainment center I spent many hours figuring mine out and getting it working properly along with the radio and backup camera's...If they have the plastic carpet protector applied over the carpet. Make sure to remove it and look at the carpet before purchase. I removed the protector when I got home and found several grease spots in the rear bedroom that I had to spend a lot of time cleaning.. The dealer claimed they clean and check all equip and repair upon arrival and before pickup...sounds good but not true....

[Dennis_K]

Concerning the MaxxForce 10 engine. I don't think the Scangauge is going to give you much more information than the onboard LCD Controller system. If you want all the info get a OnCommand Link from Navistar. It will do ECM updates and send all data to Navistar where you can view it. (See the Navistar thread, especially this one: http://www.irv2.com/forums/f122/anyb...nk-350014.html )
Call your local International truck service center and give them the VIN number to see if the ECM needs an update.
I have about 45,000 miles on mine and it been a good engine.

[wooftexx]

I recently bought my Imperial from a small time dealer and demanded that I speak with the previous owner before I would commit to purchase. After speaking at length and asking a ton of questions...I knew this was the RV for me.
He told me all the good and bad. Luckily; the bad is all minor issues. Always try to speak with previous owner...who else knows more about the unit?

[Dandick]

Well, I made the trip and purchased the Diplomat. I really appreciate all the advice and recommendations you guys gave. I did not get a professional inspection, but I spent the entire day going over the coach doing what I considered to be a detailed inspection. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any info from the previous owner as it was bought at an auction. I was a little leery at first, but as I went over the coach I felt better about it.

As far as the slide rot problem, I checked every slide in detail and there was no evidence of water intrusion. In fact, this unit has a plastic rail on the side that channels water away from the bottom of the slide. This looks like a factory job, so maybe Monaco was aware of their design flaw and made these to correct it.

There were a few very minor issues as one would expect in a used coach. A chip in the tile, a few scratches, etc. I went over the entire coach and then took it for a test drive. After the test drive I wanted to test the holding tank meter accuracy and Sani con. Well, the Sani Con made noise, but didn’t pump. They offered to get the part and fix it, but that would mean another day or 2 at th dealer. Keep in mind that at this point I had been there for 7 hours. I told them I didn’t want to wait. They are sending me a check for a new Sanicon pump and I will install it myself.

On the way back, we stayed at an RV park for 2 nights. We lost a front hub cap center on the way and didn’t realize it until we got to the park. I know they took the coach to a truck center to get the wheels balanced, so someone didn’t put the hub cap on correctly.

I will probably be asking some questions about the aqua hot system. We ran it on diesel for a while, then I switched it to electric. The outside temperature went do to 30 at night and the aqua hot couldn’t keep the coach at 68 degrees.

When we pulled into the RV park, the DPF light illuminated. This was after about 100 miles of interstate driving. I was concerned, but the owners manual said this was normal and it was just indicating the exhaust temp was high. The DPF light was flashing as I was parking the coach last night when I got home (about 300 miles of driving). I need to read the manual and fully understand what is/was going on.

Overall, we are very happy with the purchase. We got over 10 MPG on a 300 mile trip of which 200 miles was in the Virginia mountains. I was ecstatic about that. When I refueled yesterday, the dash indicated I used 26 gallons of fuel, but it actually took 28 to fill it.

Again, thanks to everyone for your advice and recommendations.

Dan