kaypsmith

My old wore out coach is now showing 2,252,338 miles currently, hoping it will last as long as me. Like DD69, it's a hobby, I'm not in to make money, just for fun. First MH when purchased was a fixer upper, that I completely refurbished the inside, second was a delaminating sportscoach, completely reskinned her outside and in, plus roof rebuild, she has a Cummings bt6c with Allison ht740 trans. Have converted two complete busses, and now working on my first schoolie.

Hmmm, Hymer, Hummer, I'll take the latter, more room for four yorkies. It's a must for a six sleeper for us. LOL! Poorer fuel mileage also.

I was in Victoria Canada in 2007, saw my first Daimler (Italian made) Smart car, it was a 3 cylinder diesel, 70+ mpg, boy did I want one. So in 2008 MB started the Smart car was coming to the US. I put my name in the pot to be one of the first. Then MB sent me an email that the SC was to be 6 inches longer than Canadian version with a Mitsubishi 3 cyl gas, with expected 42 mpg "thank you EPA". I withdrew my name from the wanted list. I did also own a 1980 VW pickup with 4 cyl diesel, 50 mpg, problem with it was an aluminum head, new head every ten thousand miles, oh yes, no glow plugs on that model, probably a good thing, they probably would have melted the head every time they were used. LOL

There are many companies that do overlays and some that do an epoxy paint to make showers and tubs look better, as well as epoxy do it yourself repair. Some of the companies that come to mind are rebath, and bath fitters. Google for your area shower/tub repair. If you are DIY inclined, the epoxy is a very good repaint product, and will probably outlive your coach. As Herman pointed out, will need to follow prep instructions before just painting it on.

A diesel is a diesel is a diesel, as stated they do nothing more than make for an easier start, or a possible no start in really cold conditions without them. If one were cracked causing a low combustion condition, yes it would cause a problem with that cylinder. The only diesel motor that I have had contact with in over sixty years that used any form of electronics in the actual firing of the cylinder was a Galion motorgrader that was 20 years old in the mid 70's, it was six cylinder, had a two gallon gas tank, and an 80 gallon diesel tank. There was a compression release on that engine, 6 spark plugs "not glow plugs", it actually started on gasoline, we had to run the engine until the oil pressure came up to the minimum pressure, the engine sounded like a six cylinder Chevrolet at this point. Once everything was right for changeover, we moved the compression lever to high, diesel took over and gasoline went away. That beast sounded like a D8 Caterpillar running at that point. those were the days. By the way, I owned a 190D 1966 model Mercedes Benz, and put over three hundred thousand miles on that car. Four cylinder and got 30 miles per gallon, up hill down hill, town or country, running air conditioner or not, I had a little silver device on the dash with holes in it so you could see a wire that actually heated and turned a nice warm glow to tell when the glow plugs were ready to start the engine. And yes those were the days before all the new sensors that tell the engine and the mechanic whether to go or not.

Not really an opinion, glow plugs are still used in many of the smaller diesel engines, they are no more than a plug that preheats the cylinders to make the engine start in cool and cold conditions, no other function. Like anything mechanical/electrical, it is destined to fail someday, meaning that it is a wear item. If overused it will fail sooner, not knowing your exact vehicle, whether it is an automatic feature, or a human engaged feature, may contribute to the longevity of these items. We have a skid steer loader, and two commercial zero turn mowers with Kubota diesels on all three, all have glow plugs on them that are human engaged, if it's cool weather, we preheat always, if warmer weather, we allow the engine to turn over two times, if it doesn't start within the two turns, the glow plugs are engaged for 15 seconds. One of the mowers is 30 years old, one 18, and the loader is 18, all 4 cylinder, have not replaced a glow plug in any of these yet.

Mark, I know about German engineering pretty well also, Daimler has a plant 30 miles from where I live. I have many friends who work there, the training program is impeccable, no one is allowed to turn a bolt on the assembly line without having been thoroughly trained, most of them are flown to Germany for their training. The plant was first put opened to build the M class, then 15 years later doubled in size to start producing a pickup truck line, to date still no pickup trucks have rolled, several prototypes, but none have been able to cut the muster so far.

Mark, no problem with not knowing how, and not wanting to learn. I had a brother who died new year day 2017, 91 years young. He was a multi millionaire, and could not install a battery without blowing something up, he actually did things backwards in order to never have to work on anything. Que sera sera, and to each his own.

Closing the valve will most likely stop the battery drain also, pretty sure that it requires current to keep it open for safety sake. Also as Ross pointed out there probably is a switch near the LPG fill, will not hurt to leave this off unless you are depending on LP to keep the fridge running. I notice that this your first post, so welcome to the forum.

I think if you use tire manufacturer's load chart for tire inflation for the actual weight on either tire, would not make enough difference in the ride that it will really matter.

If you don't have a digital voltmeter and do not want to know how to use it, a 12 volt test light will help, simple to hold the positive lead to the large lug on the side of the solenoid, there should be two, one should be hot, the other not, then the negative lead to the generator frame. If the light comes on nice and bright, then you do have voltage. Remember that those two large lugs, one should always be hot the other only when the switch has been pushed. If you do have 12 volts, a simple jumper across the two lugs, remember to only touch them, this should cause the starter to at least try to engage. If you do not want to chance this, most any RV repair shop can test it, or Cummings diesel owns Onan, so most of their shops are equipped to troubleshoot for you, only thing is they are usually very expensive. I would trust a reputable RV repair shop or Cummings over Daimler for this type of trouble shoot, most Daimler shops are excellent for their products, but have not been trained at generator repair.

I replaced the front air bags on my MCI last winter, also the front shocks, parts 2 bags and 2 shocks from MCI was $682.00. I have a friend that helps out with those type repairs, paid him $400.00. The bags were original on 1988 model, this was second replacement of the shocks, unless someone failed to log any others, I have service logs that date back to original purchase of the bus.

Possibly a fuse, I'm thinking in terms of a wire may have been left disconnected, but as Herman said, sparks may have flown. This is why I don't have others "so called Professionals" doing my replacements. In the past, I used gummy labels and the numbering system before disconnecting anything, now days with a cell phone camera, I take pictures in addition to the labels. With the label system, I put a number where it is disconnected from, then a corresponding number (1 to1 and so on) on the wire that has been removed. Another must for checking your generator problem is to use a VOM "volt ohm meter" to determine if there is any battery connection to the generator itself.

When was the last time it cranked before having the batteries replaced?

I find that the fiberglass poles tend to be a little heavier than aluminum and are less flexible, for this reason I like fiberglass better. I have not looked at Walmart, but I have found the fiberglass ones at paint stores, and building supply stores.

Is it possible that window tint might help reduce the heat?

Joe, that is a great looking site. Herman, it's the "simple" things in life that makes us appreciative. After the last repair on my coach about 6 weeks ago, the bus would crank and run for 60 seconds then shut off, did that about 8 times, all kinds of bad thoughts went through my head. I started looking for loose wires, when I discovered the 12 volt feed wire to the ECM, that I could just touch it and the motor would run just a little longer. I took the nut off, cut the old ring terminal off and crimped a new back one back on, no more shut downs, fingers crossed now.

I used it as a no water wax, it is great for those times in a park that does not allow washing your coach with their water, I have only been to one so far that probably would complain if they saw you using it as a waterless solution. Actually the waterless washes work much better when no water is used, it actually uses the "dirt" to achieve better results. The after shine seems to last pretty well also, I bought a medium size supply, and still have at least half yet. In another thread, I posted that I used a local guy to wash the coach for $25.00, much simpler to use him when at home.

Selling our home in Myrtle Beach and then moving to TN in early spring. I understand I need to show two years of residency before selling the home to avoid taxes. I purchased the TN home of a 1031 land exchange to avoid taxes on another sale in Myrtle Beach. I thought if I could mail forward from TN for two years then we would sell the one. Thanks for responding, that now makes sense to me. The USPS will forward mail sent to a residential address for six months, meaning that you could have "some" mail sent to the address of the new to you TN home, then make for other arrangements. Here is an option also. http://www.themailboxstore.org/Home-Business/Digital-Mailbox-Rental

Herman, we'll just start saying SIMPLE HERMAN instead of simple simon. I also saw the 1 ohm, but not knowing his meter, and 1.9 volts just is not right, or southern talk "just ain't right", and I'm so red neck, don't have to wear a shirt.

Have you already left the home, and did you live in Tn., prior to selling it?

I used it a couple of times last year, worked well for me, I applied by the instructions, and although it stated that it was ok on windows, I never apply anything that has the word wax in the title directly to my windshield.

Sounds like great news, hope it fixes it.

The most reliable source is WW Williams, I also have a dead bus yard, I will PM you with that phone number. Quite a number of parts are also available on ebay, this engine was many produced and used for fire trucks and marine use. Also if BillA is still looking, the WW Williams in B"ham., Al still has a two stroke mechanic that has help me out with some tough questions, just call them and ask for the two stroke mechanic.

All lights in the overhead are 12 volt supplied from the house batteries, with this said, things are narrowing down to a house battery issue. The ground system to those batteries would my primary concern. The clunking sound that you are hearing is that relay dropping out and coming back on when the engine is starting. The battery voltage seems good based on what you have reported. As said earlier if voltage drops below a reasonable voltage level that relay should not be dropping. I would at this point disconnect each battery in the house battery compartment, taking pictures as you go, and marking each wire to make sure that they are reinstalled correctly. Check the voltage level on each one separately looking for any noticeable difference in voltage. One bad cell can cause strange things to happen. Another thing that I have seen happen is that the house battery bank should have a ground from the batteries to the metal shield if there is one around the batteries, and also to the chassis frame, one simple way to test if this is a problem is to use a jumper cable from the negative battery post directly to the frame rail of your coach, of course I'm speaking of the house batteries. My theory right now is that the house batteries are achieving their through the alternator while the coach is running or being backfed when the auxiliary start switch has been activated.