Success or Horror stories with older DP?

[docj]

Originally Posted by RedT

If you recall, 2003-2004 was a period of introduction of transynd in motorhomes. My coach was delivered with ATF-3 and I verified that at time of delivery

No question but that you've kept to a strict maintenance schedule. Given how often you've changed the fluid, you might have saved money by having switched to Transynd. I assume that after your recent rebuild the new fluid is probably a TES-295 compatible one since I doubt many shops would put Dexron back in a newly rebuilt Allison.

[Dick in Wisc]

We bought our 1999 Liberty Prevost in 2014 with 72,000 miles from a private party in Tennessee. We had a PPI done by a 25 year Prevost expert who had actually worked on this coach when taken back to the original dealer for periodic service. I bought from the second owner who'd owned it for six months (he had a MountainAire with slides, the Prevost didn't have slides, wife didn't like it, so he quickly resold it). I was able to talk to the original owner, but he didn't have any maintenance records; coach was owned by his business, he'd sold the business in the last year, the records went with business, and new owners had pitched them.

Immediately after buying the coach (and before I actually drove the coach) I spent $30,000 on it with the Prevost expert. The tires (Michelins) and all batteries were aged out (that was about $10,000). The rest was spent on all new fluids, new belts on everything, new filters, new hoses, some chassis A/C, new brake chambers, some Norgren air valves, new air bags, and some little work on a couple of the Cruise-Airs.

Subsequent to that I've spent another $25K. New shocks all around, replaced the tie rods, three axle alignment (made a big difference), refrigerator quit, I froze up the water pump, the water heater started to leak, the huge Carrier A/C compressor on the OTR/bus air needed to be replaced, one of the 1999 technology inverters (MSW) quit so I bit the bullet and replaced both with new (FSW), higher capacity inverters.

This was our first motorhome of any kind, so I didn't know what to expect. If I were to do this all over again, I'd be more aggressive on the initial purchase price. Although the Prevost expert who did the PPI was very accurate in his assessment, I should have pushed the seller to discount the price more. But he had it in his head that the original seller took very good care of the coach (kept it inside during 100% of its life), kept it clean as a whistle, and had it "serviced" (change oil/filters on the big engine and the generator) on a regular basis; but couldn't accept that some of these other things just aged out. I bought the coach knowing I'd be putting money into it and that there would be some expenses as time went on.

We're very happy with the motorhome. Made a 78 day/7,700 mile Wisconsin, TN, FL, to CA to Salt Lake City to Cheyenne back to Wisconsin this winter. No problems, except for the less than four year old Interstate chassis batteries needing to be replaced (with NAPA).

[KI6TAM]

2 Years ago I bought a 1998 Country Coach Intrigue. Looked for a long time and found one that was in excellent shape and had literally binders of repair records done since it was new. The owner was selling it because it had intermittent power issues he had taken it to several shops and they threw thousands of dollars of parts at it and achieved nothing. I got it cheap expecting to have to rebuild the engine (per the previous owner). I am a mechanic so once I got it home I diagnosed that instead of a motor issue we had a remote throttle issue. This rig has a mechanical engine and a electric throttle pedal that transmits a signal to a box that has a spool in it that winds up a cable to pull the throttle linkage back. I was able to send that King Systems box off and get rebuilt for $600 and have had Zero issues since. Thankfully the previous owner had taken exceptional care of the coach, he just couldn’t find the right mechanic to fix it. All in all as long as it took me to find one that wasn’t run down from being lived in and met my budget it was definitely worth it. My experiences with a majority of dealerships in my area was bad, they have crappy rigs on their lot for premium money and they all claim they will make it as good as new before you pick it up, I’m sorry I just don’t want to play that game. So many of these dealerships wouldn’t let me go through all the systems to see what worked and what didn’t.

[Dick in Wisc]

Originally Posted by KI6TAM

2 Years ago I bought a 1998 Country Coach Intrigue. Looked for a long time and found one that was in excellent shape and had literally binders of repair records done since it was new.

Sad that shops that the seller took it to couldn't figure out what to a layperson like seems like a simple issue. Congratulations on getting what appears to be a great deal!

[dmurdock]

Had the '84 BlueBird - replaced the airbags (as maintenance..I figured 30yrs was good enough!) and had to chase a generator problem which turned out to be bad grounding - I added some additional ground cables and that was it - no other issues for the 2yrs I owned it.

Bought the '95 BlueBird I have and replaced the airbags as maintenance. Only two problems I've had in the 4 yrs I've had it is: 1 - the alternator went out but I just joined the house/chassis system and made it to destination and back home; 2- the voltage regulator for the generator went out - not a horribly expensive fix but driving from the coast back home in Tx heat with that little dash a/c providing the only cooling was NOT fun

Overall both of the "vintage" diesels I've owned have been very reliable but I am very picky about what I buy and I honestly shop owners more than vehicles. Both owners I purchased from were wealthy, handy, and very anal. Both RV's had lived their lives in enclosed shops..the first was parked next to the owner's plane and the current was parked next to the owner's racecar. Buying from people who have the money and expertise to keep equipment maintained and up to date mechanically is way more important to me than shopping brands. Keeping up maintenance on a well maintained unit is not much of a stretch, catching up on 10/20/30 yrs of non-maintenance is basically impossible or extremely cost prohibitive.

[Dick in Wisc]

Originally Posted by RedT

The last date was after re-purchase, thinking it might change transmission performance. The transmission shop showed me the cracked pressure plate (attached photo) and said it was probably caused by rocking the transmission. I can only theorize that the former owner had been stuck and rocked the transmission.

WOW! I cannot envision trying to "rock" something more than a 1 ton dually pickup … and even then I would think twice about it. That is the height of stupidity and/or naiveté.

[Poppy01]

Last year we bought a 1994 Newmar Kountry Aire with 97000 miles on it and are more than happy with the purchase. We picked it up in Pensacola, FL and drove it back to Washington State. We ran into 2 problems. The shuttle walve for the Jack's stuck in AZ, and lost the alternator in CA. Both repairs waited until we got home. Spent about $1k fixing it up. Since then, most of the money we've spent has been for upgrades like new TVs, and accessories. We take it out about every other weekend and plan a trip through Jasper National Park this summer.