Trip Coburg Or.To San Antonio Fl.

[0533]

Hello All,

I finally picked up my new coach ( 99 Marathon) in Coburg and headed back to Florida. I want to thank the POG memebers who wanted to help me get started, especially Jim and Gary. I left the Marathon Factory after a 3 month upgrade on March 14th. The trip went pretty smoothly with a few mouments of complete stupity along the way. I might have faired better if I had taken notes about the operation of the coach before heading out on the road. On my first night I stayed in Grants Pass. Hooked up the coach to the 50 amp power and relaxed feeling pretty good about the first day on the road. I woke up in the middle of the night to the generator running, decided to let it go as the Wx outside was pretty nasty. The next morning I investigated the problem to find that I had never turned the main breaker to the coach on. It took me about two days to figure out where the windshield washer button was. I was blinking my way across America instead of using the inner button. Even looked in the bay door to see what was wrong before I finally figured it out.

The trip took me about 3600 miles, averaged almost 7 MPG (6.97 Avg.) at 70 mph, used the cruise control a lot. never used any oil, I mean none at all (30,600 miles on coach) . The Prevost side ran great. I did make a few conclusions about dry camping at Wallmarts etc. I decided that it was cheaper to stay at a RV park, rates in the BIG RIG guide book for campgrounds where about $22 to $37 and in many cases never saw anyone at these fine locations. The reason for this decison was based on the amount of diesell fuel that was needed to operate the Genset when it came on in the early hours of the am. to charge up the house batteries. At $4 plus X's the hourly burn rate X's the total hours did not make sense after a while verses a campground.

I used my Pro Drivers computer to log my trip, fuel comsumption etc. and noticed that I was adding a fair amount of extra fuel beyond the total fuel burn that The Pro Drivers Computer was showing and assumed it was the Genset.

Fuel Prices: The least expensive was in the West, with Florida topping out at $4.11, I decidecd it best to lock the fuel doors after a few $650 fuel stops. While I was driving I liked to calculate the saving and distance covered in my Prevost vereses my boat. If I could cover 70 mph on 7 gallons verses 12 mph on 10 gallons, not bad.

Travel: I hit some interesting wx. Hail in Salt Lake, snow storms in Wyoming, saw some neat country sides, took some back roads, made some hairy U-turns to head in the right direction, but overall very satisfied with the Prevost lifestyle.

Had a few questions about the operation of the coach, both from the Marathon and the Prevost side of things.

1. Prevost: After a full day of running and when I was entering the RV park I noticed that the steering would get a little stiff a slow speeds, and made a squeeking noise when I turned the wheel, it did not do this in the morning when I started out on the road. There are no leaks and nothing looks out of the ordinary inside the D/S bay door where the steering box is.

2 Had a few mysteries with equipment: My spotlight/camera did not work even after it had been tested and was operational at the factory. It is both a camera and spotlight, original equipment that was used to see both forward and backward and to view the obstructions above the coach. have a small problem with my slide out, but think I have figured this out and it is being solved as we speak.

3. One of my invertor readout displays would somtimes display an odd series of numbers and letters when I would either unhook or hookup to shore power. I would reset the buttons and the problem would be solved. It never interfered with the operation of the invertors, Genset.

4. The frig was cold at the factory when I tested it in November, made ice and looked a good as new. It was cold when I left Coburg , but as the days passed it seemed to be getting less cold, no ice but water in the door. I had a lot done inside the coach, floors sanded, headliner replaced and think the coils might be dirty or possibly a leak in the refrigerant. I'm betting on dirty coils.

All in all it was a good trip. The coach is in San Antonio Fl. with Joe Stefanczuk the service manager having a few odds and end addressed.

Regards,

Bruce

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Bruce, looks like your first outing was very successful with Not Many issues, and mostly minor at that. Isn't this BUS STUFF the greatest.

I too found out after the first two days of driving, the button at the end of the turn signal stalk, IS NOT THE WASHER OR CRUISE SET BUTTON, it flashes the lights to those helpful truckers along the road. I guess Peg can quit flashing the truckers as we pass by them now, cause I found the Flash lights button.

I told Tuga that everyday I am in the bus, I find new things I need to do, or maintenance that I need to take care of, as well as New Nooks and crannies that I can store stuff in.

I guess this excitement stuff sounds funny from Jon's point of view, but when I get 80 years worth of experience like he's got, all this stuff will be real simple and then I will know everything too .

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Gary, Every one of us gets experience just after we really need it.

How do you think I got to be hands-on with all these things?

[0533]

Bruce, looks like your first outing was very successful with Not Many issues, and mostly minor at that. Isn't this BUS STUFF the greatest.

I too found out after the first two days of driving, the button at the end of the turn signal stalk, IS NOT THE WASHER OR CRUISE SET BUTTON, it flashes the lights to those helpful truckers along the road. I guess Peg can quit flashing the truckers as we pass by them now, cause I found the Flash lights button.

I told Tuga that everyday I am in the bus, I find new things I need to do, or maintenance that I need to take care of, as well as New Nooks and crannies that I can store stuff in.

I guess this excitement stuff sounds funny from Jon's point of view, but when I get 80 years worth of experience like he's got, all this stuff will be real simple and then I will know everything too .

I just about wore out that dam button, even made the assembly loose from trying to make the sprayer work. Truckers started honking their horns at me after a while. I pressed it so hard the drivers air seat gave out. Actually the seat had been removed to do the floor and someone had crimped the quarter inch lines when they reinstalled the drivers seat. I used my significant skills and trouble shot this problem without the need for POG intervention, in other words it was an easy fix.

By the way, Texas is one long state, and the trip across 287 from Amarillo to Dallas was interesting.

I learning something everyday and its been great so far.

Thanks,

Bruce

[0533]

Bruce,

I have only some guesses about the power steering. First, check the fluid and make sure it is OK, pink and at the right level. The noise may be as simple as the sound hydraulic fluid makes as it passes through the various internal components. Others may experience the noise. I may even have the noise but just have blocked it out of my mind because it is normal. If the wheel seems sluggish it relates to the RPMs. A little higher RPM and it should be less sluggish. It is not a good practice to turn the wheel while sitting still. If you have to do that, help the coach a little by picking up the tag. I suspect you have a very heavy front end and your steering is really working.

After driving all day I do question why your genset would even start. I don't know the loads on your coach and it may be OK, but it just seems your house is using a lot of power or the house batteries may be puking.

You may have dirty coils, but all they are likely to cause is the refrigerator compressor to run longer between cycles.

You do not say what type refrigerator you have, but before I started worrying about freon levels, I would check for the proper operation of the condenser fan and the evaporator fan. I would make certain the refrigerator is running. I am not trying to be a smart aleck, but the control may be getting hung up in the defrost cycle. That might be tied in with the loss of battery power so I would not rule that out.

Buy tools. You will need them. Either that, or start developing a list of preferred service personnel for every device and system. Treat them well.

Congratulations. Once you get past the few problems you are really going to enjoy your coach.
__________________
Jon
1997 Liberty XLV Elegant Lady / 2005 H2 Hummer with round tires for now

Jon thanks for the post. I had to square away this thread and get the two together.

first. I tried to use the tag axle lift as often as possible, and did try to be on the move when turning the wheel. I have not checked the oil level and will do so.

There is not to much weight in the front I think. There are no Air conditioning units up front ( RVAC units in the two back bays, wonder how much power these use??) there is however a large slideout tray with a stainless box under the front bumper and the Howard active steering gear.

Frig. It is an Amana side by side. i will check into these excellent thoughts on this subject.

Genset: It comes on after about eight hours of dry camping. I do however have everything on, testing the systems etc. I mean everything, from the air/heat to the lights, no conservation on this trip. The batteries are all new AGM's and they worked well based on the invertor bulk verses charge info on the main screen for each invertor.

Tools: I got a big red tool box with the coach, lots of spare parts, but they forgot to give me the skills to go with each tool. I like your idea of having someone along, or a pit stop crew.

Thanks again for your great ideas.

Bruce

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Aaah, an Amana.

I know more about one of those suckers than I ever wanted.

In the following order are the things I needed to do to make mine work and to avoid having to get a new one and go through the agonizing grief of putting on new panels and refinishing one.

First I did have a freon leak. Take the cardboard off the back and look at the joint where the line goes into the evaporator coil. If you see traces of oil it has corroded and may have leaked. I ended up putting in a new evaporator coil.

Within a few weeks it was intermittently cooling and not cooling. I did a complete leak check and it was not the joints at the evaporator coil, but the evaporator fan that had quit working. I bought a new one and that made it work great.

About 2 months after that it was acting up again. By accident I realized the condenser fan, down the bottom rear was working only when jarred. That was likely happening when the evaporator fan was acting up and quitting. I found it only by accident because I was trying to check power at compressor connections and accidently hit the fan and it started running.

FWIW all parts are available on line or through a local appliance parts place. I don't remember the prices. I do have a spare condenser coil fan. If you are coming to TN rally I can let you have it if yours is bad. You can go on line and see the exploded views of the refrigerator and all the parts that are available. Maytag owns Amana and the service of it is fairly easy once you pull it from its location.

[Ray Davis]

Bruce,

If you're running your AC or heaters via batteries while dry camping, then I guess I would expect your batteries to not last more than 8 hours.

First thing I would check is how long does it last without AC/heating? With "normal" lighting and appliance use, you should easily go about 24 hours without needing the genset. There's been a few times I've parked for a couple of days, and generator didn't come on.

Ray

[0533]

I ran everything off the batteries, I guess they did well considering the load. I got about 8 hours off them under these conditions while camping. It was very cold and the heat was turned up, including adding the wabasto, the tv's the sat system, frig all of it.

Bruce

[Kevin Erion]

Bruce, We had a 99 Marathon, 545 and had the top invertor display scramble at times. Give me a call and I can tell you what I learned.
714-342-8588
Kevin

[0533]

Bruce, We had a 99 Marathon, 545 and had the top invertor display scramble at times. Give me a call and I can tell you what I learned.
714-342-8588
Kevin

Thanks Kevin for the info on how to get rid of this problem. Some marathon invertor screens displays inside the coaches would scramble when there was any type of transfer of power to and from shore, gen etc. Kevin said that he was told by Marathon to exchange the ribbon cables to the display on the offending invertor in the bay so that the ribbon that goes to the screen in the coach is going to the screen on the unit in the bay. This seems to solve the problem. He also warned to be sure to remove all power sources to and from the invertors before making the swap.

Bruce