Annual Maintenance: Gasser vs Diesel Pusher

[JCGibson]

Another research question. What are the annual maintenance requirements and costs for your coach, be it gas or diesel powered? Also, do you perform the work yourself or have it performed by someone else?

We mainly want to know about the chassis/engine portion of the coach. We have a 5th Wheel and know about the "house" portion and those annual requirements.

Thanks again everyone!

John

[427435]

J-Rooster wrote:
My gasser the routine maintenance is once a year or 7,500 miles for a synthetic oil change. I go to a small local shop he greases my coach, changes oil & filter and tops off all fluids. My last maintenance cost was $50.00 plus tax. He said he gave me a break for being a good customer! He usually charges me $65.00 plus tax.

That's a great deal-----------if he's actually giving you a good synthetic oil.

[robertbenita]

Having a Diesel pusher Class A now after a Class C, my experience is that a diesel adds up quickly. I do most of my own work, but the quantities are much greater in a DP. The Class C was like working on a truck or van most of the time. I have had to go through the bed in back end of RV to access Cummins which was nice experience. Refilling gallons of oil into the DP was tedious as the fill is quite high and awkward. All in all, I miss the ease of the Class C set-up, but it may be just getting used to the DP set-up. My difference in price for just maintenance would be in neighborhood of $500-$1000, but maybe a little less doing it all yourself. I believe that when they see a DP coming into the shop, the price goes up, but that is just my opinion and YMMV. Good luck

[tinkerer]

It depends on the size of your coach. A bigger coach requires a bigger engine which usually use more fluids and filters. I have a coach with a C7 Cat which holds 5 gallons of oil but change it every 7000 miles. I use synthetic oil at $16.00 a gallon= $80.00 plus a Cat filter at $16.50, I grease the chassis myself, I usually figure about 15000 mile to change the fuel filter which is about $26.00. Then a diesel with air brakes have a air dryer filter which I run for 3 years, which is about $180.00 Some of these things probably could probably go longer but don't like to have problems on the road. tires are going to be higher for a DP as they generally are larger and have a higher rating. I couldn't tell for a gasser as I have never owned one.:)

[John_S_]

I change the oil on the BOrnfree every 5K miles. I change the oil on the Foretravel every 15K miles. I flush nd change the transmission fluid at 35K mile intervals on the born Free and 75K miles on the FT. It is not exactly the same but they add up to about the same over lots of miles.

[Executive45]

SpeedCo charges $288 for lube, oil change, filter change and both fuel filters. Done once a year, every February. I carry a spare set of fuel filters in case I get a batch of bad diesel and a spare serpentine belt, just cuz....other than that, I wash and wax it regularly and it gets me down the road....Dennis

[J-Rooster]

My gasser the routine maintenance is once a year or 7,500 miles for a synthetic oil change. I go to a small local shop he greases my coach, changes oil & filter and tops off all fluids. My last maintenance cost was $50.00 plus tax. He said he gave me a break for being a good customer! He usually charges me $65.00 plus tax.

[cochise49]

Just search diesel vs gas on these forums. Like a drink through a fire hose. You'll find justification for any way you want to go or not go. I think most of us make a decision and don't look back. I went from gas to diesel and back to gas again. It's all good!

[Ductape]

You are going to get answers all over the place because requirements have changed a lot over time and the different generations of emission control.

In general, newer gas engines require less frequent service than older gas engines, while newer diesels may have more frequent oil changes than older diesels as things like EGR and DPF were added.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

for our DP, we have the following: Oil change & lube - Speedco around $200-$250 per year. Onan Generator: 3 filters fuel, air, oil - about $100 per year.

[Dog_Trainer]

bluwtr49 wrote:
A simple way of looking at it is the difference in the amount of fluids used since the labor is essential the same. A diesel holds more oil and may require a larger tranny...almost always an Allison in either case, which than takes more oil.

Also, additional filter for the diesel fuel.

That should be about it for the differences in Chassis maintenance. I'm guessing a DP might cost an additional $400.00 over a gasser if both are serviced by a chassis dealer and maybe not even that much.

Not Quite. A gasser should have the oil changed every 3000 miles as it is considered heavy duty service my cummins says 10,000 so roughly 3 to 1 if you in fact travel enough to get to the intervals. 16 or more quarts for the diesel and about 10 for the gas. As far as the tranny on a diesel Allison is the main Yes it is more expensive but maybe not as much as it seems on the surface. transmission choice with new transend it is every 100,000 miles.

[joraz]

I would agree that it's mostly just a matter of quantities. My Cummins calls for an oil change at 10,000 miles. It holds about 10 gallons. It has an oil filter, of course, along with two fuel filters and a coolant filter. All need to be changed at regular intervals. The other chassis stuff is the same as a gasser (lube, etc.). I change my oil and filters and do a little here and there but big stuff all goes to a truck repair facility.
jor

[rgatijnet1]

On my gasser there are no annual maintenance requirements. I use my coach 15,000+ miles a year so I change the oil(5000 miles) and perform a grease job based on the normal mileage requirements. I change the air filter every 10,000 miles and the serpentine belt at 30,000. I usually put on new tires at 50,000. There is nothing that I do on an annual basis.

[bluwtr49]

A simple way of looking at it is the difference in the amount of fluids used since the labor is essential the same. A diesel holds more oil and may require a larger tranny...almost always an Allison in either case, which than takes more oil.

Also, additional filter for the diesel fuel.

That should be about it for the differences in Chassis maintenance. I'm guessing a DP might cost an additional $400.00 over a gasser if both are serviced by a chassis dealer and maybe not even that much.

[Gjac]

JCGibson wrote:
Another research question. What are the annual maintenance requirements and costs for your coach, be it gas or diesel powered? Also, do you perform the work yourself or have it performed by someone else?

We mainly want to know about the chassis/engine portion of the coach. We have a 5th Wheel and know about the "house" portion and those annual requirements.

Thanks again everyone!

John

It depends on what you want to include in "maintanance and costs". If I include mods and improvements as well as every dime spent to repair and maintain, it comes to $1200/year over 10 years. General maintenance if nothing breaks is less than $100/year. I do most of the work myself except for heavy chassis work like headers, suspension and front end work. House work like refer,HWH,levelers,etc and general chassis work like fluid changes, tuneups, eng timing etc I have done myself. To travel in the MH I average $70-$100/day depending on gas prices.