Thanks glamisorbust for your reaction to what my friend told me this afternoon.
I wondered if the years and units I'm looking at are the same ballpark as what he had. He purchased his unit new in I'm thinking somewhere around 2010 +/-, and his was a Mercedes diesel in the class B high van that is used (or was used) by several manufacturers for delivery/service vans as well as class B's. I think I remember him saying it was a more modern "clean diesel" but I'm not positive about that.
If I can be led through filter changes like you describe, then that would be no sweat. If other routine maintenance can be performed easily then I don't think I'd have a problem with that either. If it becomes heavy stuff requiring a lift and/or many special tools, then that would be a different matter.
Thanks for the interest and I'll report back on what we see and learn on Saturday (if he still has the unit). Thanks for the good report on Tiffin. I had heard the same from around here. We're only a couple hours away from Red Bay and one friend told me just the other day that I should call one of the dealers down that way that gets a lot of trades when folks buy new Tiffin units. The dealer name is Sherman I believe.
Many thanks for the tips. If DP is the smart way to go then I do want to investigate this option thoroughly before nixing it on incomplete evidence for the specific units and years in our price range.
I just found out this evening that the 2001 8.1L Workhorse I was eying has issues beyond what we want to deal with, so it will be a pass.
