New folks saying howdy!

[jello_jeep]

Hello all,

just joined up and thought we would say hello. Our story is that we are in our 40's and have always enjoyed camping and after years of tenting / off roading we bought a 5th wheel in 95 and have enjoyed using it since (other than living in it full time for two years while building a house), we had no electricity at that point so put a bunch of solar on the roof and an inverter a four big trojan batteries and did what we had to.

Soooo we decided to up grade to a coach, and after looking at all the plastic ones, then one day looking at a used Marathon, came to the conclusion that we would rather own the latter and the search was on.

Got a lesson in Prevost 101 from Steve at California Coach Company in Costa Mesa Ca, and if you ever have a chance to do business with them, I think you will be pleased as both he and his wife are good people and square shooters. We almost bought a coach from them, but needed to do a bit more research and wasn't quite sure it was good timing at that point.

Kept looking at ads and what not and keeping track of what Steve had in stock. Ended up flying to Bellingham Wa to look at a 45' 98, and then to Newnan Ga to look at a 96 40' Marathon.

Ended up pulling the trigger on the 96, and got a real lesson in driving it from Ga to Ca, with a stop in Dallas at Marathon to get some issues with the Webasto and a few other things worked out.

I will be taking it to Prevost Mira Loma this weekend for an inspection of the engine/trans chassis etc and hopefully clear up some coolant leaks etc.

All in all I really like the bus, it was garaged and kept in great shape from what I could tell. I made a stop at a friend's house in NM on the way home, and when he pulled up his comment was "wow, got a 2007 eh"?

At any rate that is the short story of our Marathon quest so far. I am sure I will have lots of dopey questions, but from what I have read so far, this looks like a friendly bunch to chat with.

To whomever runs this operation, thanks for your hard work, I know these things can be time consuming at best and be a real pain at worst.

Thanks for your help in advance.

[Coloradobus]

Congrats on adding to our Marathon Fleet. What coach number do you have



Jim and Chris
2000 Marathon "H"3-45 Coach 0586
now towing Land Rover Disco:D

[MangoMike]

I was going to make a smart remark about being young and owning a Prevo. But in the interest of not discouraging the new guys I'm just going to say - "Welcome to POG, we look forward to your participation. And you win a prize if you ask any question that either can't be answered by Jon or confused by Lew."

Mike

Congrats on your new Marathon.

[rfoster]

Welcome New Owner of Bus, Glad to have you, I 2nd what Mango the man Mike says, If you can come up with a question that Jon can't answer (he makes up answers too), or one the Lewster does not get confused, or JDUB can't make you laugh at- then you get the prize- or well- you will just enjoy this stuff like the rest of us.
Welcome!!:cool:

[jello_jeep]

Thanks for the welcome,,,

I have coach 0417.

And thanks Mango for taking it easy on the new-bees..

[lewpopp]

Don't worry Jeep. They'll wait until you ask an important question and then they'll baffle you with Bull$hit. Not really. They are a good bunch but I don't want them to think I have weakened.

Mango... Had a nice visit with you other girlfriend "Millennium Megan" and she told me not to tell everyone you had a girl in every port.

A few of us were given a exterior tour of every component on the 2007 by Nelson. I am again impressed with his abilities and knowledge. He has a lot of super ideas. Beautiful coaches on display. Great brats and sauerkraut too.

Lew

[jello_jeep]

Ok, here goes... In reading the thousand or so pages of docs that came with the bus, there seems to be two systems to control the automatic starting of generators... Mine has the standard 20KW genset that comes with the marathons.. .However the inverters are two 4kw traces 24v rigs...

Now there are settings in the inverter that controls auto gen start, and from reading the docs, I have another generator control devece somewhere (has it's own cut sheet) that is a gen controller, and has dipswitch settings to control the voltage/time required to start and stop the generator in auto mode...

Which one is active when you push "autogen" on the dash controls??

I am suspecting the dedicated control does the job, and the inverter settings are left to "off"

Any suggestions ????

[win42]

Warren: Welcome aboard the asylim for Prevost Owners. All the above remarks are close to the truth except Lew, he sleeps with the Aligators. I had to quick look up Menifee California. I was in hopes it would be in Northern CA. I'm the only one from up here so far. Read all the Forum posts and the main page topics and you'll get up to speed real quick or go screaming into the desert never to be seen again. Ask all the questions you want because there are guys chomping at the bit to help you.
Enjoy and make plans for POG3 in April.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Well the new guy did it right out of the gate. I can't answer his generator start question because I am not familiar with Marathon's systems. but I know a guy.....jump in here Tom. Tom is the resident Marathon inverter guru.

Welcome aboard.

BTW, what ever prompted you to hang with this bunch of misfits. I'm the only normal one here.

[truk4u]

Jeep,
Welcome aboard, my Marathon is 433, close to yours. You probably have what Marthon called the Genmate. If you do and it works, good for you, but if it is in-op, it will probably stay that way. I have been fighting this battle for a couple of months with no resolve.

Here's the deal:
The Genmate Controller is located on the aft wall of your second bay, the one that goes all the way through. There is a series of dip switches that allow you to control the start voltage, stop voltage and number of gen start tries. It's real easy to set up. Inside the electrical panel on your generator is another control board with 4 relay's and a seperate relay that is kind of clear in color and longer than the others. All of this is tied into the various gen start/stop switches in the bus and all has to work in harmony and mine does not. Genmate went out of business a long time ago and Marathon can't support any kind of repairs due to lack of parts. I have exhaused my search for parts and any kind of schematic for the wiring.

I can tell you how to give yours a try to see if it works, but probably should do so by e-mail so as not to bore everyone here to death. Your also welcome to call me if you want.

Now boys, before you blast me about replacing the Genmate with the new and best from Acme Generator Company (you know, the one with the roadrunner) this is a wiring nightmare!:eek:

Hope you have something different or yours works OK and any other questions, just let em fly, that's what we're here for.;)

[rmboies]

Welcome aboard.
BTW, what ever prompted you to hang with this bunch of misfits. I'm the only normal one here.

Hi there Warren and Kelly! The "constantly missing" Bob-00 and I are glad to have you join this outrageous group of POG'ers:D Jon is correct, he is the only normal one here, and I am usually the only woman who posts with a back-up from Ellen on occassion:cool: Maybe your wife would like to join me, does she type:confused:

[jello_jeep]

Thanks for all the kind welcomes..

I had to look up Menifee on the map too !!

As for why I joined, I don't have a straight answer for that, just a glutton for punishment I reckon :p

Thanks for the information Truck. It is a gen-mate device indeed, I would like to know how you test it and we can take it to private email if you wish, but if we leave it here, some other poor soul who is trying to fiugre it out might see it too! But its up to you.

I did see in the inverter book how to go to the gen menu and start it, and I am told that only inverter #1 is linked to the gen, so maybe I should see if that cranks my generator up or not... Is yours hooked up for autogen through via inverter too?

For what its worth, while at Marathon Dallas, the took the conver off the inverters and the control face of one of them was distorted, like it had gotten pretty hot at some point, however both seem to work just fine. I also noted that the control heads that are actually on the inverters have back lighting in the readouts, and I don't have that luxury on the control heads in the bus. Was thinking of swapping them but the one that is distorted would likely bother me to see all the time :mad:

I hate having to get a little flashlight to read the menus in the control heads in the bus!

Thanks again for all the howdies and help..

[jello_jeep]

Hi Win, Menifee is an obscure place indeed. I have family in Placerville right next door to Grass Valley. Love to go fishin with them up there, Ice House Lake, New Maloney's Res. etc.

Love that area, you are lucky!!

[jello_jeep]

Maybe your wife would like to join me, does she type:confused:

I will have to get her up to speed on vbulliten boards, once she gets the hang of it, I am sure you, like I, will find it difficult to get her to cease transmitting ;) (just kidding)

She can type like the wind too, almost as good as I am!!

Thanks for the welcome..

[merle&louise]

Warren & Kelly:

Welcome and congratulations on your new Marathon.

You have stumbled into the greatest group of guys you could ever want to meet. They are funny, knowledgable, and most of all helpful with any problems that you may encounter with you bus.

If at all possible, try to attend POG 3 in Kerrville, TX this April. You will have a ball. The Mechanic's Corner seminars are great.

Thanks for joining. Looking forward to meeting both of you.:)

[jello_jeep]

Thanks Gaidry's, we would like to make it to TX in April.. Will have to see how things shape up between now and then but it sure sounds like a good experience!

Looking forward to meeting everyone sooner or later.

[Kevin Erion]

Warren,
Just want to say welcome to the club, this group is a great place to learn some good and bad info all at the same time. I have a 99 XL45 Marathon #545, a little different from yours but I have learned a lot in the 1 1/2 years we have owned it. We are not to far from each other, I am in Orange. If you ever want to get together and discuss the unknown, let me know.
Kevin

[truk4u]

Jeep,
Let's take this over to Busted Knuckles so the thread police don't get there panties in a knot.:D

[jello_jeep]

I am in Orange. If you ever want to get together and discuss the unknown, let me know.
Kevin

Hi Kevin, thanks for the offer, sounds good.. Would like to see your bus and pick your brain sometime, perhaps after the holidays??

[Kevin Erion]

Warren,
send me an e-mail and we will hook up, I am picking the bus up from storage on Wednesday and plan on doing a little work over the Holiday weekend.
kevin@erionracing.com

[jello_jeep]

Ok Kevin, email on the way...

Thanks..