Cart before the horse

[MJ243]

I love this bus. I love traveling in this bus. It goes down the road straight as an arrow, it don’t shake or shimmy or rattle. I think Prevost and Marathon make a great bus. But here is my question. I bought this bus a year ago while I was still working and did not get it inspected by by an impartial third party. I don’t regret my purchase at all but I think I would have learned a lot from the inspection process. Now that I have owned this bus for a year and now that I am retired I’m thinking about doing the inspection now. I think if done right I will learn even more now. Here’s what I want.

Sit down with an impartial person (not a shop) and go through all the records for this bus.
Inspect the bus.
Develop a list of priorities along with a draft budget for repairs or services that should be done now and what can wait.
Develop a list of recommendations on where said repairs and services should be done. Should I go to Prevost or Marathon or another party?

I have spent hours reading this forum and have learned so much from all of you who have shared information but I would like some specific recommendations for my bus.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Mark
1998 Marathon XL

[dale farley]

We have many sharp individuals on the forum, but Gil is the best person for your job. He’s done more complete inspections than anyone I know and is super knowledgable about Prevosts in general.

[Joe Camper]

I'm putting a quote togeather with prevo today for a 2000 chassis that I'm preparing for. I've already inspected the chassis and it is about what I usually see on a chassis without major replacements on components to this point. If u like I could forward u the pdf of the quote from prevo when I get it.

I also just did Scott (SC17842) in Bloomsburg Pa. A 97 chassis. Went through all of it. Bags, norgrens, brake hoses, chambers and relays, calipers rebuilt shocks. I'm sure he would share the experiance with u. Reach out to him. I refer to this as a shotgun rebuild and normally when I do one it comes in around 10g parts and labor.

Have u ever removed the serpentine belt for the fan and spun the hub to listen for noise? Important, dont delay if not.

[Gil_J]

I do prepurchase inspections only on Prevost motorhomes. But your ask would be best accomplished by Camper Joe. There is no one better when it comes to the Prevost chassis. Given he has repeat customers across the country speaks volumes for his expertise. The wheels need to come off for the inspection.

Marathon subs out a lot of their mechanical work. If you want your house systems inspected I could do so or you could do so and ask a lot of questions. There's little doubt your Webasto needs servicing. That should be a CruiseAir coach, so those units should be cleaned and checked for operation and refrigerant levels. You should exercise your house batteries and inverters. Unless stored in an environmentally controlled facility, the NV heat can take its toll on batteries. Depending on how much outdoor time the coach has seen, the roof seams, penetrations, and rivets may need to be resealed.

[Joe Camper]

Regardless of if and when and who inevitably does the work if you want to give me the last 8 digits of your VIN number I'll put a quote together with prevost parts of all the pertinent things that age out overtime that I'm in the habit of seeing. They'll send it to me email in the form of a PDF file and I'll forward it to you. You can store it for future reference it'll have all the part numbers and prices on it for everything.