Community Forums

Yahooligan · 03-09-2013, 05:57 PM

Well, the "potential" part of this thread can be removed, we pulled the trigger and pick it up on Tuesday. It's not perfect, but it has a lot of potential and the major mechanical parts are in good shape and it drives nice.

Now the fun begins...

Yahooligan · 03-09-2013, 06:11 PM

For anyone interested, here's a pic of it. It's a little rough, but not too bad. With a little work I think we can make it look really good.

ahicks · 03-10-2013, 08:23 AM

Looks great to me. I like this older stuff! Tell us more about it!

The pic looks like the bottom half has had the Red Max Pro trick done on it?

Gorlininc · 03-10-2013, 08:52 AM

Congrats on your new rig. I'm sure you will enjoy it. I spend time fixing up and updating mine. To me that's half the fun.
Enjoy!!!!

Yahooligan · 03-10-2013, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahicks

Looks great to me. I like this older stuff! Tell us more about it!

Hmmm, well I'm still learning about it so I don't know how much more I can say. It comes with both binders as well as a folder full of maintenance history and repairs, the previous owner installed an air throttle in place of the cable since the cable was getting stiff, it has a PacBrake but I'll need to troubleshoot it as it apparently doesn't work.

Floorplan has couch and 2 chairs with the flip-up table between them, dinette that turns into a bed in the kitchen, ice maker just rear of the dinette, good sized closet across from the bath, queen rear. LCD TV up front, DVD player in the rear. New porcelain tile in the kitchen and bath and a relatively new power entrance step.

Onan 6.5kw LP genset, hydraulic levelers, backup cam. Rides real nice going down the road, no rattles or squeaks (Except from the metal mini blinds, doh).

Quote:

The pic looks like the bottom half has had the Red Max Pro trick done on it?

I have no idea what that is.

Yahooligan · 03-10-2013, 02:35 PM

While it's on my mind, does anyone know what the tow capacity would be? Would it be able to tow a 4000lb car on an open trailer? Thinking this would be handy to use for track days.

ahicks · 03-10-2013, 06:29 PM

Red Max wax is instant shine/finish restorer in a jug. Makes an older coach (and some not so old?) look like a million bucks. It's actually a HD commercial floor wax that happens to work really well on our motor homes. Tons written on it here already so when you get caught up on your reading, do a search on Red Max Pro.

I would look at the hitch to see if there's a capacity posted on it anywhere. If nothing and you can't find anything in your paperwork I would say you'll be close to max or maybe slightly over? My 93 HR gasser was rated at 3500. The 97 DP we have now 5000?

avfordguy · 03-11-2013, 11:20 PM

MOnaco makes a great coach no doubt! We had a 99 Dip 38A with 275 hp ISB with 6speed allison, sold it with 80k+ miles on it. If you join the yahoo groups MONACOERS there are a lot of folks that have the older monaco coaches, and there is a ton of information available from the members.
Gordie Kaltz 04 Monaco Dip 38PST 330 ISC

sc3283 · 03-11-2013, 11:36 PM

looks great and best of all you didn't break the bank to own an RV!

kewag · 03-12-2013, 12:05 AM

Congrats!, looks like you made a good choice. Enjoy!!!

Yahooligan · 03-12-2013, 11:07 PM

Alright, got it home! Had a minor incident on the drive home (Turbo pipe coupler blew off up a hill, got it back on and tight, made it home no problem. Replacing the couplers is now on the to-do list).

So far the only questionable appliances are the roof A/C units and the stand-alone ice maker. I spent a while playing with everything, exploring under/behind things, etc. I'm amazed that everything works, honestly I was expecting to have to replace random things but both furnaces fire right up, the water heater fires right up, etc.

I'm also pretty impressed with the overall build and design of the coach, I can access everything with relative ease for inspection/repair/replacement, including the plumbing. Seems to be a very well planned-out coach, well built and designed to be serviceable.

One thing I haven't been able to figure out yet, there's an electric air compressor mounted on the frame just behind the rear axle. This compressor is on the entire time that the ignition is on whether or not the engine is running. Should it be running all the time? I wouldn't think so, but I haven't looked into it much.

Things that don't work/need to be fixed...

The clearance lights don't come on with the headlights. Previous owner says they work intermittently, so need to trace that down.

Need new coolant and oil pressure gauges in the dash. The rear gauges work fine, the coolant gauge is jumpy at random. The oil pressure gauge seems to be off by about 10psi compared to the rear. At idle and up to temp the front reads 7-10psi, the rear is solid at 20psi.

Need to replace all of the storage door locks and some of the lift arms

There's a relay that clicks under the dash every 10-15 seconds, every time it clicks the volt gauge dips slightly. Only happens with the engine running, no switches on the dash are on and everything seems to be working fine so I have no idea what it could be for.

The exhaust cross-over flex hose (Goes under the oil pan) has cracked at a couple of the seams and is blowing exhaust. Easy fix, just need to measure to get the right replacement.

Got the new tires on (Toyo M122) and it rides nice, they used bead balancing and I have no vibes. Score!

Seems to be happiest running about 60-65mph, drops down to 50-55 on some of our steeper local freeway grades. Boost peaks about 25psi under load at those speeds.

Yahooligan · 03-13-2013, 02:49 AM

Read through the receipts and manuals that came with the coach, the compressor is for the PacBrake. Need to determine if there is a leak in the line or what, I don't think it should be running constantly.

I also found out that the PacBrake was installed at 44k miles and they also installed the heavy duty exhaust valve springs at the same time, sweet!

Papa_Jim · 03-13-2013, 12:49 PM

Regarding the dash gauges not working properly. Before you spend money for new gauges, spend some time checking and working on ground wires in the dash. You'll probably find that all the gauges, etc in the dash are connected in series on one ground wire (some call it daisy chained), and that one ground wire goes to the ground buss on the front metal firewall. Check all ground connections at the buss, add more ground wires if you feel you need to, even consider connecting some directly to the metal firewall.

Yahooligan · 03-13-2013, 12:52 PM

Thanks, I'll give that a shot. The problem is only with these two gauges and when or how much they jump seems to depend on where they're reading. The oil pressure gauge isn't jumpy but seems off and the temp gauge seems to jump the most at 180F, which is where it spent most of its life while running. But, checking the grounds is easy enough and I like a simple fix.