Catastrophic Engine Failure

[VegasDogMan]

My neighbor bought a 2007 Country Coach Lexa last year and had numerous problems with it and got quite frustrated so he decided to dump it and buy a Prevost.

He negotiated a trade with Marathon this summer where he got a chunk of cash plus a 1998 Marathon 45' Prevost.

He was driving down the road last week about 8 miles from home when his Detroilt Diesel 60 series engine blew up! Yes, it just exploded with parts flying all over and oil slick on the road. His wife was following in their car and spun out on the oil slick when the engine blew.

Upon examination of engine they found the block was "sliced in half" due to bolt falling out of Wrist Pin on one of the pistons and connecting rod went through the block at several locations.

This was a low mileage engine and had no problems or warnings up to the time it blew.

Needless to say he's quite upset and has decided to give up motorhoming. Two lemons in one year! Ugh!. I guess he told Marathon to take the coach back and give him a full refund... don't know any more info.

[Ray Davis]

Wow! Hopefully Detroit Diesel will make good on the engine? Although if he's getting out, it probably won't matter.

Sorry to hear about that.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

There was a vintage of Series 60 engines that had problems with the pistons separating at the wrist pin. From my understanding defective pistons from a supplier were the problem and at the time this was occurring Detroit would rebuild or replace the engine.

The problem as described to me would show up in the early life of the engine. If the engine survived past 250,000 miles it was unlikely it had defective pistons.

I don't know from the description if that engine failure was the result of a defective piston, but it is worth trying to find out. The owner should go direct to Prevost to try to enlist their support in determining if that was the cause and if it was to influence Detroit to stand behind the repairs.

[VegasDogMan]

Jon:

I'll pass your comments on to Bill.

Thanks.

[jack14r]

I thought Marathon had a 6 month warranty on any used coach they sold.

[VegasDogMan]

That's what I understand also.

Coach is currently at Detroit Diesel service facility awaiting decision as to who's going to pay for repairs. $25K +

My neighbor is so frustrated he's asked Marathon to take bus back and give him a refund.

[wrongagain]

Marathon does a 6 month warranty.
After I took delivery of the coach there was a lot of stuff I found I didnt like, and since I am a billion miles away from marathon they agreed to let me get stuff done locally.
I know they stand behind it, as I am currently having a bunch of work done on mine at a local prevost authorized shop and marathon has paid for it all so far.
so far they have paid to have my,...
4 chassis batteries
pinion seal
pull air bleeds on all tanks
both rear wheel seals
both tag brake lines
all 8 air bags
front leveling valve
a dozen light bulbs
fan hub and bearing
fan belts
air slide belt adjuster
Granted this is hardly the cost of an engine, but they could have told me to get bent, bring it here to marathon or pay for it yourself.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Lee,

Your friend may miss having the pleasure of owning a great coach once he puts this behind him. Sometimes stuff happens.

This is not the case of Marathon dumping a bad coach on him, but of a catastrophic and unanticipated engine failure through no fault of him, Marathon or anybody else. In fact, the good news is he bought a coach with some miles on the engine, and when the dust settles he is going to end up with a new engine and likely little or no out of pocket expense.

I would say he made a good deal although it doesn't seem like it now.

[truk4u]

Ed,

What Marathon store did you buy from? So much for the PDI provided as part of the sale...

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Tom,

In defense of Marathon and whoever pulled the codes on the engine prior to the sale this is something that likely was an internal physical failure of something and it would not have given any warning. Remember the fellow that posted about the engine gear box that burst apart in the area around the water pump and took the whole engine with it at less than 30,000 miles?

When the piston failures were occurring the DD dealer showed me several engine blocks being returned to DD. The damage was extensive and is not something that would have occurred with any warning. In those instances the top half of the piston separated from the skirt right at the wrist pin. Either half of the piston could cock sideways in the cylinder, and the connecting rod soon separated from the two halves and literally smashed a hole through the engine block, the oil pan, and anything else it got punched into before the engine quit.