Non-Sponsor Participation

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Go to the Prevost Car site, and work your way through Parts and Service, and then Technical Publications or use this link....

http://www.prevostcar.com/cgi-bin/pa...blicationspage

It takes a little to get used to navigating this and you have to find the drawings specific to your coach, but this is a great resource.

[Ray Davis]

Thanks for the info!

[garyde]

It would be nice sometimes to have an authority on some of the issues discussed. But then we would be giving up our forum for another kind of Site. This is the PrevostOwnersGroup.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Gary,

Whenever one of our converters or suppliers or Prevost opts out of the opportunity to participate in the discussions we are forced to become the authorities. That doesn't mean we all know exactly what to do, or that we are going to start our own repairs or remodels, but our reliance on them becomes less, and other folks that are outside their "circle" like Nick and Doug to name two get our business.

We will always use the primary folks like Prevost and the converters, but as we get a lot more knowledgeable we begin to realize this stuff is not rocket science and we can better control how we want to deal with issues while protecting our wallets. Plus there is the sense of pride we get by doing or directing the work because we have learned about it.

I have never dealt with two companies like Liberty or Prevost. They are the absolute best that I have ever dealt with. But since I live miles from either I have to rely on myself or others that might be more convenient sometimes. If they participated I would be assured that whatever needs to be done is done to their standards.

[Denny]

It would be nice to have the added support of converters, manufacturers, suppliers, etc. for help, but it is ultimately us, the owners, who need to know how to fix and repair these complicated machines or to watch someone else repair and fix to make sure they know what they are doing and not selling us a bill of goods and taking our hard earned dollars.

When do you know a supplier, manufacturer or converter is lying? When there lips are moving.

Case in point: I know the above statement has ruffled a few feathers but hear me out. When I bought my 1999 Prevost Country Coach, last August, two new inverters and monitors had been installed. When I started the coach the red fault lights would come on and it showed a draw in excess of 15.5 volts on each monitor. This was checked out by service and I was told everything is ok. Here I am, a neophyte on Prevost, so I believed them. This happened every time I started the coach but would go back to normal after a couple hours of driving.

A year later my computer dash goes out. A call to Country Coach, we diagnose voltage and everything is within normal limits of the 12 volt system and checks out ok. The problem is with the computer dash. Contact the vendor, overnight it to South Carolina, comes back two days later, install it and bang, it fries a new circuit board on the dash - black screen again.

I keep getting this fault and now I fried another circuit board but everything checks out good. Since I'm having this problem upon start up, I start the engine and do a volt check and find I am getting 22 volts to the circuit board not 12. Contact Country Coach, do more checks and find a faulty voltage regulator. New regulator comes in, install it and everything is fine. Now I install the replacement circuit board and the dash is working fine. That has been a month ago, it is still working and the fault lights do not come on nor am I drawing 15.5 volts on the monitors. Again, this all happened after I questioned and believed the information I was given by the service manager was true.

At the same time, the ABS light was on and I questioned it also. Was told that means it is functioning properly; believed that lie also. After the voltage/dash situation, I did some further checking on the ABS and found a faulty sensor on the rear wheel.

Yes, we do need the suppliers, converters, manufacturers, etc. but we need to be better educated about our coaches. It is sometimes very difficult to analyze a situation over the phone and the person at the other end of the phone is at a great disadvantage listening to us describe the problem. We need to understand what we are being told.

We need all of these above resources, including POG, but we also need to be better mechanics ourselves. By using our resources, networking with others, POG, seminars, reading and asking questions, we can all gain more knowledge about our coaches and not be at someone elses mercy. At POG, it is said in JOKING "if we don't know the answer we make something up". Unfortunately, in the real world this motto does exist and we need to guard against it.

[garyde]

Jon , I call Liberty frequently and they are a great resource. Denny , what you have said is the best example of being a POG member. We always need to be able to verify the information we are given. This takes education and education comes from many different resources. I believe the input from vendors convertors and Prevost is valuable. I would be concerned however if the forum was a Q and A for them. It would take the Primary focus off of the Owners I believe.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Gary, Like you I don't hesitate to call Liberty or Prevost. Both have been beyond excellent in their support. However, when all is said and done I have been the sole recipient of the advice or information. Had I been able to ask my questions of them on this forum many could have benefitted from the same information.

If I were a converter, it would seem to me that by having the members of this forum know that they would get fast correct answers to technical questions (or even questions about products for sale) there would be a developing based of positive public opinion and a reduction in phone traffic because the issue encountered by one of us are likely encountered by others as well.

[win42]

Jon: In defense of the Converters not taking part in our forum and giving advice that goes to a multitude of owners opens them to great liability. Giving advice one on one only opens them up to dealing with one wrongly interpreted decision by an owner. Our members giving advice received from the converters on the forum puts a layer of responsibility between the converter and the owners. Blanket advice can go wrong in so many ways I really don't blame them for not giving it directly to our mob. Yes it would be nice to know they are reading about our problems and giving answers, but to them time is money and it would take a lot of time to separate the facts from the BS with this forum. Call them with our problems and relate the solutions to the rest of us.

[phorner]

BS??? This forum???

Say it ain't so !!!

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

I am in total agreement with Harry. The converters already have a way to be gotten in touch with, through their business network. Try to get a Doctor to give a diagnosis or advise over the phone. Never happen, even if you could get him on the phone. Try to get a trouble diagnosis for your car/truck from an auto dealer/service shop over the phone, never happen. They all say bring it in we'll have a look at it.

IMHO
The converters have established business that follow their original model for success and they are effected by the( if it ain't broke don't fix it maxim). For them to monitor this site to give us free advise would be expensive and counter productive to running a business for profit. I don't feel that they consider the secondary and tertiary market as a main part of their business. They want to sell new coaches and service them for the original purchaser. Anything else is secondary, and welcome, but not necessary. One might say, oh that's not so, there needs to be a place to sell all the coaches when the original owner is through with them. I say that is not as important as you might think. There are many that would still buy a bus if they knew they would get zero for it when they no longer wanted it.