Marathon In The Garage - Yippee

Hey boys, this is a pain in the butt putting posts on two boards, wish they could all come over to this side!:cool:

Three days of little sleep, 900 miles of rain and the little voice in my gord saying, "Geez, did I do the right thing", it's home... Yep, coming to the POG Rally in style (instead of plastic). Providing of course I still have fuel money, after reading some to the Prevost service records, I wonder. I will be wrenching this bad boy myself unless I can find a way to gather Mango Bucks.

OK, here's the punch list::mad:


Howard Steering - Leak at the steering post, builds pressure, but steady air leaking.

Windshield Washer - Shorted out in multi function switch and has taken out all dash lights. Can't find any cb's tripped.

Brake Noise - Every time you depress the brake, when air exhausts the valve, sounds like horns blowing.

Prevost Dash Heat - Worked for awhile, now will not come off heat by rotating the temp knob.

Idler Pulleys - I think the pulleys are too noisy and in need of replacement or bearings. Had one come off a Cummins once, this is a preventative measure.

Day/Night shades - Sounds like a Winnebago going down the road, either up or down, lots of rattles.

Fantastic Fan - Cover opens, but fan in-op.

Overall, this is an awesome bus.. Prevost caught the wiper short, but due to time restraints and their schedule, I had to head home. What tire pressure is everyone running on 315's Mich? This had new steer tires, the front was 130 and the rest at 125. I dropped them all to 100 to get home, the ride was real rough in front. The book says 100 front, 70 rear tag and drive.

Thanks to everyone for the pre-buy words of encouragement and support, this board and POG is great. Looking forward to the POG Rally in April.
Now the work begins....:)

Tom, Just address the issues one at a time as Ellen & I do. It is part of the fun of ownership. Good luck. I thought my Fantastic Fan was broken, but it was the rain sensor was wet! Once it was dry the fan came back on.:o See you at the rally. Ken& Ellen

Tom,

Congrats to you and I know this is an exciting time. We went thru the same kind of deal with a long drive from San Diego to Houston and our OTR air quit as we were pulling into town. The Cruisairs laid down somewhere around Phoenix and the turn signal was jacked from about the time I hit I-10. I thought the coach had been parked over an indian burial ground. But it all worked out.

About the fan, I had a similar problem, but it turned out to be a stupid operator. The fan was theromostatically controlled and I didn't know it. First I couldn't get the fan door to open then the fan wouldn't work. Then I got the thermostat figured out and it works like a champ. Hopefully yours is not difficult.

Looking forward to seeing the coach at the rally.

JW

Tom, Posted some answers on the other site. Did not respond to multi function switch because i assume the seller will take care of that. That is a Prevost item.

Tom,

I also agree that I wish more of the other folks were here on this board. It is light years ahead of the other one. I don't post any questions on the other board but I do respond to them. This board will slowly gain momentum and hopefully the need to post on both will be minimal.

And my coach also has the honking sound when you take your foot off the brake, especially if you do it slowly. But I have driven plent of trucks that did the same thing. It doesn't bother me and I don't think it indicates a problem with the brake valve.

Tom,

Thats not a bad list. I'd say you've done well.

Check the weight on your coach and air the tires according to weight, for the best and safest ride. My "guess" is your a little soft (nothing personal) at current pressure. Under inflated tires cause most of the "blow outs" we read about.

If its a Fantastic Fan, parts are warranted for life, call them up, describe the problem and they'll ship what you need, free. Great company. My rain sensor closes the vent and turns off the fan, as I think yours should. There is a thermostat associated with some of them, that will open and close automatically or lock it open and ignore the rain sensor or temperature sensor.

Air brakes do honk at times, just the sound of air leaving the bellows.

There will always be something to fix, thats just the nature of the beast.

Your going to love it!

Mike,
Tire pressures are a real issue these days, the last two CC rally's I attended with tire seminars were insistent about not using the TOYO charts and the only acceptable pressure for 12R's was 120 lbs as placarded on the CC data plates. That way, they all had CYA in case some bozo overloaded his coach while using the charts.

My Marathon has specific Prevost instructions for air pressure as follows:
Normal Loading - 95, 70, 70
Maximum Load - 100, 80, 80

Seems a little low to me, but I will weigh it and compare to the Mich charts. I had Smartire on my CC and you would be amazed at how the pressure increases with heat

Thanks for the advice...:)

Tom, You are right those pressures appear low. My Goodyear chart for the 12R 22.5 , depending on weight, would indicate 90-95 range for my coach. I have not found a scale in my area that weighs each wheel. At the two FMCA rallys, which had individual weighing availabe, I attended I did not sign up in time and the waiting times were very long. On Prevost-Stuff I have seen individuals list many air pressures and no two have been the same based on tire manufacturer as well as the weight factor. Maybe a portable scale could be brought to the POG rally? Ken

Aha! There is a Love's truck stop literally kiddy-corner from the rally site with full scales. Alas, there is no 10-cent diesel there, however. You may be surprised to see what you will find at the POG rally.

This IS one of those deals that is worth wrangling others to attend.

I'm sure Jon has a set of portable scales as I know he checks his tire pressure semi daily and with his weight / temperature / relative humidity / wind chill chart, he has to have all the tools to get this done. Heck, I hear that his tire pressure guage posts to .001 psi......:eek:

Jon so good at reading the pressure he doesn't even need a gauge, he just wraps his lips around the stem. :cool:

Nice avatar Jerry... wait till POG. Ever had a bus TP'd.

Did you get up on the wrong side of the mango this morning? I just spent an hour cleaning all the coach windows last night, so the thought of TP is out.

A new Avatar is in place and the old one is keeping grackles from the dumpster.

Jon, I have to see the adapter for that trick..........

Our Liberty automatically monitors tire pressure, weight at each wheel, ambient temperture and tire temperature and then makes constant minute tire pressure adjustments 60 times a second.

Doesn't yours?

No, we have the much less astute Royale conversion. There are reflective devices on each side of the coach that let you look to see if the tires are still on the coach, but we have to SWAG the tire pressure until we stop.

I do have a laser thermometer..........:rolleyes:

Jerry, Is that Avatar representative of the campfire you're gonna build us at POG? I'll be bringing plenty of marshmellows.

Side note: Mrs. Mango thought I joined this forum to help me maintain the bus, she claims it's just another men's club.:rolleyes:

No, I figure between you and Jon I will be putting fires out, not lighting them.

I think you need to register Ms. Mango (heck, it's just another $100 MangoBucks) so we can show our diversity. My wife drives the coach, but I have not let her loose on the POG board. I'm sure that whole "farting" thing wouldn't play well with her, but hey what do you have buddies for?

And my wife is an accountant and you know how anal they are? :eek:

Oh...Mrs MAAAAAAAANNNNGOOOOOOO

This board is for geeks. You partnered up with Geek # 1.

Jerry, Are you going to bring that cigar lighter you feature in your AVatar to the POG rally? :D
Ken

Ken,

No you have to use the optional cigar lighter holder you see here....:)

http://jdub.smugmug.com/photos/58203615-M.jpg

If not, you get a mess that looks like this.....:(

http://jdub.smugmug.com/photos/58203618-M.jpg