Forum Discussion

luckydog3550's avatar
luckydog3550
Explorer
Jul 05, 2013

General Older RV Issues

I have a 97 Tiffin Allegro Bus with a Cat 3126. I have owned it since 2008 and have put approx. 40,000 miles. Back in 2010 I had a boost sensor go bad but other than that have been pretty incident free until lately. I am wondering if there are any common issues with older coaches that I could lookout for? I know......everyone tells me to watch out for electrical gremlins. What can I do to avoid them? I have had trouble with the head lights and running lights since I bought it. Installing a couple relays seemed to have helped that issue. A couple weeks ago I was traveling on the interstate and had a little hiccup of some sort. The coach seemed to downshift a couple gears suddenly. By the time I looked at all the gauges (looked good) and lifted off the throttle it was fine. I'm not even sure that is what happened but something made the engine RPM come up suddenly. The check engine light flashed a couple times and that was it.....back to normal. Have since put 900 miles on it with no problems until last weekend. In (I'm assuming) an unrelated issue. I started the coach to head home and the oil pressure gauge was spiking from side to side rapidly. After a little of investigation and talking to a couple people I was assured it was the sending unit and drove home. Any idea where the oil pressure sending unit is located on my coach? What are some other issues to look out for and what can I do to prevent them? I pull my race car with the coach and travel quite a ways from home. I need my coach to be reliable. Thanks! Damien
Class A
  • havasu's avatar
    havasu
    Explorer
    Jul 06, 2013
    One of the tricks that I pull with a new coach is to go through every electrical connection I can get to and pump them full of dilectric grease - it's kind of a religion of mine as I used to work for a telco company and that's what they taught us to do. Electrical gremlins are 90% corrosion and this will prevent it from occurring.

    The other thing is to buy some rolls of 4" eternabond and do every seam on the roof - I can't tell you how many rigs I have seen with stained ceilings caused by leaks - everyone could have been prevented with $100 of eternabond and a couple of hours. If they are not leaking yet, they will do one day.
  • UltraKen's avatar
    UltraKen
    Explorer
    Jul 05, 2013
    If you use the SilverLeaf VMSpc you'll get real readouts from the engine data stream and recorded error codes.

    VMSpc
  • ferndaleflyer's avatar
    ferndaleflyer
    Explorer III
    Jul 05, 2013
    I to pull my race car with my DP which is a 1997 that has about 100,000mi on it....Had a blow out once, injector line ruptured once, radiator hose came off once, and the inverter charger has about drove me nuts. I finally bypassed it after 3 trips back to the factory service facility. I have no use for it other than to charge my house batteries and I created a way to do that with out it. My oil pressure sending unit also failed, I put all of the lights on relays after a lights out at 70mph. I think the trailer lights overload the stock light switch. But change the oil regular and I change my Alison trans fluid once a year. Leaving for Bristol next Wend over the mountains.
  • wolfe10's avatar
    wolfe10
    Explorer
    Jul 05, 2013
    Check with your chassis maker for location of the oil pressure sending unit. Suspect it is on the passenger's side of the engine. But, oil pressure is not really something that you need to worry about with your engine. Oil pressure is used to inject the fuel. No/low oil pressure and the engine will not run-- kind of an automatic safety mechanism.

    With that transmission downshift, use the shift pad to check the Allison for "Diagnostic Codes". And with the check engine light on, swing by a Caterpillar dealer to find out what happened.

    An often overlooked item on your engine is the grease zirk on the fan hub (between engine head and fan). Access it only from above. Also, make sure that the water pump belt is properly tensioned. It is separate from the serpentine belt which is on an automatic tensioner.

    And, as with any rear radiator, be sure to clean the front of the CAC as well as radiator at least once a year.

    Other than that, just routine maintenance. Our last coach had 170,000 miles and was still in top condition when we sold it. But, it did get proper "care and feeding".

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