New Member Looking at a 1991 Marathon XL Prevost 40'

[PAULA938]

Hi Folks, we are new to the site. We are in process of checking out to buy a used 1991 Prevost XL 40' converted by Marathon. It is 1990 bus and a 1991 conversion. We definitely want a XL and we don't want anything longer than 40' because we are in Commiefornia and we definitely did not want anything with slide outs which this coach does not have so this coach looks to be what we want so far. Are there any major gotcha spots that we need to be aware of that need extra scrutiny? So far it looks pretty good for a used 1991 coach. Marathon in Oregon is doing a pre-delivery inspection (PDI) now but they are also the ones selling it so that is why we want to know of any danger spots to check out. It has 144,000 miles on it, there are no service records with it. It has cruise air and over the road air and Webasto. It has a DD 8V92 engine. First they said it was 5 speed, now they say it is a 4 speed, we have not driven it yet so we don't know.

We currently have a 2001 38' Travel Supreme with 2 slides that we will be selling. After reading all your posts comparing plastic motor homes to Prevosts has convinced us that we will be a lot happier with a Prevost which we are currently not with the Travel Supreme.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Thank you for all your help, this site has been very helpful to us already.

Paula

[dale farley]

Paula, Marathon is a very good converter. I had a 40' 1993 with 150K miles, and it was a great coach. I would try to get some service records if at all possible. If it was serviced at Marathon or Prevost, they should be able/willing to give you a copy of the records. If Marathon is doing the PDI, I would assume they will be willing to stand behind it for some period of time. I never got used to the 8V92 because it smokes a little more than the Series 60, but it is a good engine and has been in use for a long time. Other owners said their's never smoked, but mine did and Detroit Diesel said there was nothing wrong with it. As with everything, there are tradeoffs, but overall, Marathon provides excellent customer service and is a good company to deal with.

[jack14r]

From what I have read on here over the years I would take it up a mountain and make sure the radiator is not plugged,I think that 195 is the acceptable limit,I am sure someone else will correct me.

[Gil_J]

Besides major expensive routine items (batteries, tires, and bags), I too would want the engine cooling system checked. As I understand the 92s they can't survive over heating. It may be worth having the local Detroit shop check the engine. If the bus air is not a 134 refrigerant system, make sure it's leak free. I've heard the cost to do the conversion may be as high as $6K.

Best of luck,

[Joe Camper]

The early Marathons did not provide any cooling fans for the inverters that are located in the hottest place a rack at the top of the bay. If they are still the original Heart inverters Id like to see that at some point they had some repair or replacement or some cooling blowers are now present. Wouldnt be a deal breaker

I keep Lewpops old Marathon running and its one of my favorites. The webastos on the early Marathons are on a seporate loop from the engine. another different but not nessessarily bad thing.

See how long it is between auxilury air compressor cycles the bus has an air toilet and you will need to run it when camping.

Put the bus in level-low and see if the front of the bus can be lifted above ride height too. Unless it had some bad prior owners you cant go wrong with a Marathon

[Loc]

I agree with Jack on checking the radiator. Have a qualified mechanic visually inspect the radiator to make sure that it is in good condition. We had a 92 Angola that was a great coach except for a blown engine because of a plugged radiator.

[Dick in Wisconsin]

great coach except for a blown engine because of a plugged radiator.

What causes the radiator to be plugged?

I took my race car engine builder to do some work on the valve train with the motor in the car. While we were waiting for the engine to warm up so he could adjust the valves, he opened the radiator cap and saw a little brown stuff on the cap. He said, "Lots of iron in the water. You live in the country or in town." I said, "in the country". He said NOT to use the well water, too much bad stuff in it. He said one of his most successful customers (7 or 8 times series champ) has a rain barrel next to their shop and they use rain water in all the race cars. I suppose you can't get much cleaner water than that!

Does this make sense to the rest of you?

[garyde]

I changed my coolant last year. Its a 50-50 mix. Heavy Duty Diesel coolant. At this time, I don't remeber the name. The coolant is supposed to be changed every two years. If I remember correctly ,Prevost installed a longer life coolant , 50000 miles.

http://www.universallubes.com/about/lubetalk/detroit_diesel_coolant
http://universallubes.com/about/lubetalk/anitfreeze
http://www.demanddetroit.com/parts-service/supportbymodel/engines/series60.aspx

[PAULA938]

Thank you everybody for the advice, it has been very helpful and we have used the info in our questions to Marathon. Right now the galley cruise air and the over the road air are not working. I think this could potentially be really expensive to fix, Marathon is pricing the coach accordingly. I will let you know if we buy it and how it all turns out.

Thank you all again
Paula