Chuck and Mark thanks for the reply. Chuck that's great information and helps me understand the slide better. Mark you're right, we took oil samples from the engine and transmission yesterday (Wednesday) and have sent them off, should have the results by Monday. I've put in a request to HWH to discuss the slide issue with their service department to see if they can give me a rought idea of the cost of a new bladder seal on the slide and trying to fix the issue of the slide is currently jammed in the "in" position. Counting blessings since that's better than jammed "out".

It's been three very busy and depressing days. On Monday "The Service Company" their actual name, agreed to work me in for an inspection at 7am Tuesday morning. By the way, after my interaction with them, I would highly recommend them in Dayton Ohio for basic chassis service. Jared is the service manager he is extremely honest. It's not cheap at $200 an hour for the shop rate, but again, he's honeest, so at least you're getting something for your money. They are primarily a heavy commercial diesel chassis shop, so they're great at the engine, transmission, and chassis, like air bags, shocks, but Jared tells you right up front they don't see many buses, so front end and suspension work should be done by a bus shop.

So the Dealer was kind enough to let me stay in the coach on Monday night because it needed to be at The Service Company at 7am Tuesday. So I run the coach 30 miles up the interstate then back again, to put a hundred gallons of diesel onboard. It's about 10 degrees by the way. The coach was in a warehouse and I wanted to see if it could keep itself heated with just the bus air since the Wabusto hasn't been used in the last couple of years and I didn't have time to see if it was working. The Dealer felt idling all night was using bus air was safer since he was concerned the 10 degree weather might make the coach hard to start to get to the inspection. Using the bus air and and one toe kick electric heater and the bus felt chilly by midnight, also the engine temperture needle was all the way to the left at less than160 degrees, I got up, did some research and saw everyone said long idling (like all night) required the fast idle switch to be on, which then turned on taking my rps to just over 1000. Within an hour or two the engine temperture was over 170 and the coach was warm.

At 6:30 I had 130 psi on all the air gauges. I poped the brake and pulled out of the parking lot. Within a fews seconds I heard a scaping sound and I stopped the coach about 200 from the dealership. Thankfully this street has very little traffic because I put the hazards on and for the next 12 hours, that's where the coach sat. We didn't want to tow it and the damage and cost that might involve. Turned out there are air leaks going to the front axle air bags. Normally the air system overcomes the leaks and keeps the frame of the coach 12 inches off the ground. However, because some water froze in the air lines or a valve, it kept air from getting to the front bags and because of the air air leak, they had deflated all the way down by morning, leaving the frame 6 inches off the ground, which created the scraping noise. So the Dealer is out town, the Service company can't do anything because the coach is too low for them to get a jack under it, and he doesn't have a road crew available at the moment anyway. The only good news was I wasn't marooned, since my truck was 200 feet away. So after talking to everyone, again, I'm out there by myself, the dealer calls and tells me a trick he used one time in a similiar situation, he told if I went to Home Depot and got 6 mil poly (what they put under houses for vapor barrier) and wrapped the wholee bottom of the coach and all vents and exhausts, it would trap enough hot air under the coach to thaw the frozen air line.

So it's 10 degrees, there's a decent breeze, I'm approaching 70 years old, and it's so cold the frog tape I'm using to tape the poly to the coach hardly sticks, I don't handle cold very well anymore and that kind of work you can't wear gloves, and I end up having to take a break every 10 minutes to keep feeling in my hands, with all that said, by the time I got it finished at 6pm, the coach sat 30 minutes and lifted back to ride height. By that time, the dealer was back in town and we hustled the coach back in the warehouse to keep it from freezing again and get the inspection a day late. That was a good trick to unthaw the lines, but unless we towed it, that was the only idea we had.

So finally the coach goes in for it's inspection and I told them to change the air dryer and let any water out of the many air tanks under the coach, The tech said he would add a little antifreeze to the main tank to hopefully help any valves that might have a little water in them. It takes about four hours to do the inspection and the air work, and to also add 5 quarts of oil to the engine because, surprise (not really), there's oil leaking around the oil filter area, around the oil pan, and around the cover where all the pulley's come off the engine. The sight glass in the bus air compressor doesn't have any oil in the window, so maybe that's wrecked ($8,000 maybe), the front end suspension bushings are shot so if Prevost rebuilds that $15,000, the shocks are passable, the transmission oil looks nice and red though, the air bags passable, a few bushings at the shocks are splitting, the broken slide of course, and if you don't like checking your oil level daily, a $50,000 engine rebuild. So it turns out repair and maintenance on a Prevost are expensive, I'm kidding of course because we all know that in spades. All that is depressing and makes you want to forget buying the coach, it was also a little overwhelming walking along the pit under the coach and seeing just how complex everything is and some of the filters and tanks probably can't even be reached without a pit, lift, or some kind of homemade ramp or pit you might build by using the side of a hill like the Youtube channel Bus Grease Monkey built.

After my little tour under the bus yesterday, and seeing how high up in the chassis a lot of the components aree, like the air dryer, air lines, and air dryer are, I think it would be difficult to chase air leaks or even service the coach without a pit and preferably a lift for even better access. Maybe you could get it up on a home made ramp system, but it looks it would really be hard to me and probably only the skinny need apply for that job. It's not going to be something I can do. I think i'd find a shop with a lift that would let me tag along with the tech to make sure doesn't miss any zerks, flushes all the air tanks, and let me put my eyes on the bushings, air bags, shocks, and any oil leaks in the drive train, not to mention chasing air leaks, which can be very time consuming. To do this right will be a lot of work for me to be involved at that level.

So now I have my choices and some rough idea about cost. The coach cost is down to 150k, about 80k less than any slide H3 in the US that I've seen. Of course a 230k coach is going to be in better condition than this coach, This coach has all the chassis issues I've described and while it's a handsome coach, to keep its nice paint job (it's starting to fray a little) it's going to need new clear coat. The interior furniture is worn and some of the windows have frosted because their seal broke, and the bedroom window got smacked by a limb and has an impact site with cracks going out over the whole piece of glass, The glass work in the coach is probably about 5k would be my guess.

Those are all the negatives. The pluses are it's exactly the interior layout I want (opposing couches), the glass in the saloon and kitchen are how it want, un-obstructed windshield glass (no cabinets and a drop down TV) and most of all I love how high up the kitchen and saloon are above the pavement and how when you're sitting on the couces there's a truly architectural feel to how the steps wrap up to the top level and the stadium feeling that comes from looking over the seats and heads of the pilot and co-pilot out the huge front window. My mother, sister, ex-wife, all of them are interior designers, so I've been exposed to architectural detail and design my whole life and the feeling sitting on that sofa overlooking everything around the coach is nothing like any other coach and I've looked at them all. This coach has no cabinets above the windows, the windshield has no cabinets, just glass, at seven feet above the pavement, you're approaching the view from a two story building, I've been in real estate development and sales my whole life, and in the end, studies show, almost all purchases are completely emotion driven (how something makes us feel) and logics role in the decision is to rationalize whatever our emotional choice is. So after all that this little post (Ok, big post) clearly demonstrates I'm looking at buying this coach almost entirely based on how it feels sitting in the saloon, way up in the air, surrounded by all that glass. Whether the coach is parked on the street curb at Smather's Beach in Key West or parked on a beach in Texas, or riding down the 100 miles through the Keys, or the Coast Highway in California, or Skyline drive in the mountains of Virginia, I just don't think any coach can even compare to what my kids, and grandkids are going to see and experience in this coach. Ok, so I just sold myself an H3, maybe this one, maybe another one, that's the only real question here. I'm definitely my own worst enemy. In my 40's I had a similar choice, I'd made some pretty good money, and I could make even more money or take the time to spend more time with my family traveling. I bought the Endeavor and we took a whole lot of cruises while the kids were young. I always figured I could make more money, but I couldn't make more time. Time has proved to me at least, I made the right choice because life is memories and wealth is children. At my age I don't like overhead and buying this coach between the cost, the maintenance, and lifestyle changes it's going to demand (fuel, repairs, insurance, food for guests and campground costs) are going to be significant. I could buy another commercial building in my town for what this is going to cost, but I work all the time and this about the only think I can do that i still actually like, and that my kids like, so if I'm gone in ten years, I don't think I'm better off with another building if I could have swapped it for memories with my kids and grandkids.


Oh, I forgot to rationalize my emotional decision. That way I can sleep at night. Here goes. The coach's Detroit Diesel 12.7 liter engine is pre Engine Gas Recirculating (EGR), it's pre Diesel Particulate Filer (DPF) and it's pre DEF. Of all those is the nighmare of the DPF shutting down the engine and leaving me on the side of the road. The coach is also so old, I don't think there's going to be much if any personal property tax on it, which on new coach where I live could easily be $12,000 per year or more. Ok the most pragmatic argument in favor of the coach is that it's better to throw away 150k than 250k to 350k (the cost of an H3 with a slide that's newer or in better condition.

You guys feel feel to chime in on this and the value.