lousy service at prevost mira loma

[0533]

Thanks for the suggestions boys!

Mine ran all day no prob, just drips a bit... Its on the short list, but I hope to find it cheaper than 300 whatever!

I have a PowerTech 20KW, and it runs great. Here is the website for them in Florida. I suspect that you can find this part online for less.

Here is a California Powertech outfit, see link.

http://www.powertech-gen.com/parts_service.php
http://www.powertech-gen.com/

[phorner]

Jerry Winchester should have some input on this idea. Boots and Coots has a program like this for their clients. I am guessing most of their clients are stationary which is a little different from most Prevost owners. If I recall this was a good profit center for B&C in the last fiscal year and the program has been expanding so obviously it works. If something like that could be adapted to a Prevost is another thing. Some great POG members might be interested in such a venture. Jon has some great ideas and Joe C. has a lot to offer. Maybe they will dream up something to make life better for the rest of us and while becoming the 'T. Boone Pickens' of the Prevost world.

I was thinking that participants would "pre-pay" for a block of labor, say 8 or 16 hours. Then, the owner of the bus would have to schedule his time with the roving or stationary technician.

The only expense during your scheduled time would be parts, which, hopefully, could be purchased somewhat in bulk to realize some savings.

It wouldn't take too many participants to make this arrangement work.

So, the question is, how many hours does the average bus require for routine maintenance (Prevost systems only, nothing converter-specific) and what hourly rate would provide a good income for the tech while offering savings to bus owners?

[truk4u]

All my experience has been in Nashville and the service has been excellent, but I never left the bus unattended while work was being done and they have no problem with that. Additionally, I inspect everything while the bus is still in the air.

[0533]

I have a PowerTech 20KW, and it runs great. Here is the website for them in Florida. I suspect that you can find this part online for less.

Here is a California Powertech outfit, see link.

http://www.powertech-gen.com/parts_service.php
http://www.powertech-gen.com/

Powertech service Ca.

California
Bay City Electric
12208 Industry Rd
Lakeside, CA 92040
Ph(619)938-8200
Fx(619)938-8202
Service Manager: Ron Jones
ztooker@bcew.com

California Diesel & Power
150 Nardi Lane
Martinez, CA 94553
Ph(925)229-2700
Fx(925)229-2702
Attn:Rob Nanney
Robnanney@gotpower.com

[Alan__]

My six experiences with TX have all been good. I stay and bird-dog the entire process.

[jello_jeep]

Thanks for the part numbers ya'll.

I will check into it next week.

[jello_jeep]

Sheesh Truk, we are talking about service facilities, not comfort stations!

All my experience has been in Nashville and the service has been excellent, but I never left the bus unattended while work was being done and they have no problem with that. Additionally, I inspect everything while the bus is still in the air.

[rahangman]

Being a newbie I haven't had much experience ... with much of anything, yet. But, I did stop into Jacksonville,PSC and yes, very congenial and courteous and they seemed knowledgeable, but, they load tested my 7month old chassis batteries and pronounced them 1 bad, 3 marginal, after putting a quick charge on them to start the bus. I wound up shelling out $640+ for that, also they were unable to fix my "leans" telling me the Prevost level low checked ok, except that I cannot raise the bus. The only way the bus rises is in Drive . The rocker switch for Up/Down allows bus to lower even using the UP button. HUH? They told me that is why the system is called Level Low..... I am currently disputing the charges through higher ups than in Jacksonville. I will be hard pressed to return to them. Maybe Nashville or Dallas.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Hangman.........the art of vacuuming money from one's wallet has been perfected and it takes everyone of us working together to minimize that event. Few here have gotten away unscathed so welcome to the club.

You will need to develop an understanding of your coach, its systems, and either how to do your own work, or who to have do the work. Further, when you engage someone to do the work arm yourself with the knowledge of what is involved.

To address your two specific issues, it is possible to ruin batteries in your coach quickly. For example, if you have a charger running continuously and it is not the kind that has 3 stages or some current sensing capability you can "cook" the batteries. Letting batteries go dead and then recharging them significantly shortens their life. The care and feeding of batteries is important because they are not cheap. But if you want to avoid surprises, learn your charging systems and how to properly charge and maintain your batteries. There have been many discussions on this forum that a search will turn up.

As to the leans and trouble with the leveling system, this tends to be an area in which the less knowledgiable will end up spending thousands (not kidding) if they just turn their coach over to a service facility and tell them to fix it. Our leveling systems vary from year to year and converter to converter, but they all share a basic operating principle that is not that difficult to comprehend. The problem is that if as an owner you do not develop a little understanding you have just opened your wallet and given it the man with the vacuum.

Simply stated your suspension needs to be maintained. If it is not or has not been maintained it needs to be brought up to a good condition or you will be chasing problems forever. Leaks are the primary problem and no amount of soapy water squirted on fittings is going to identify the problems. It is easier and cheaper to isolate the problems and then methodically replace the components in question. You do not have a single suspension system, but three separate systems that share an auxiliary air supply source. You have a front, left rear and right rear system.

As to why it does not respond to commands, that could be as simple as a failed solenoid valve located in the steer compartment, or an incorrect air bag. If nobody has recently replaced the air bags I would start investigating the solenoids. As silly as it sounds you can do almost all the diagnosis, one step at a time with help here to isolate probable causes. If the problems regarding raising the front are what seems like a failed solenoid valve you can fix the problem with the removal of two screws, the replacement of a valve and restoring the two screws.

What you do not want to do is pay for on the job training of a service tech.

[phorner]

All good advice from Jon...... I know from first-hand experience!!

So, how did you make out with the solenoid? Was that ever confirmed as the problem?