Another Newbie Intro

[Adam Hicklin]

Hi all,

My name as Adam Hicklin and I'm the proud owner of 1998 Marquis Diamante.  I have already gained a wealth of info perusing this forum as a guest, and have now taken the plunge as a new BAC member.  Hopefully at some point in the future, I will be able to give some back, as I have already received so much.  I'd like to give you all a little coach background and solicit some advice.  I'm sure there are things I haven't even thought about.  Nothing is off limits.  Freely give what you think I should know.

I bought this coach from a business associate in December of 2012.  He purchased it from the original owners in December of 2010.  The original owners bought it in June of 1998.  When my friend bought it in 12/10 the coach had 5600 miles (you read that right, 5600) on it and had been stored indoors.  My friend bought it, drove directly to BCS and had about $3000 worth of work done.  He had it for 2 years and put 2800 miles on it, but 1300 of those were driving it down from Oregon to So. California.  He wasn't using it and really wanted it out of his shop, so he begged me to buy it.  I made him a ridiculous offer and he took it.  So I became the proud owner of 15 year old coach with 8400 miles on it.

So far I have changed all the fluids.  It received 6 new tires (still had the ORIGINAL tires on it, only because Les Schwab in Oregon read the date code wrong) Had some work done on the HWH system in Lake Havasu, AZ (3 T's RV-Master HWH mechanics.  Highly recommend) and they also replaced a hydraulic line for the slide.  I've also had the windshield re-seated in the gasket.  

Now I'm throwing this out to the BAC brain trust.  What should I know?  What should I look out for?  What are some of the things you wished you had known before you bought your beaver?  What should I avoid?  What did you learn the hard way?  As I said, nothing is off limits.  I have found out, rather quickly, that everything is expensive on these coaches and any advice and/or knowledge you could give would be greatly appreciated and allow me to keep my two kids in college!

Thanks so much, and I look forward to getting to know you all in the years to come.

Adam

[Tom and Pam Brown]

Adam,

For me, I found that the suppliers of non beaver stuff are extremely helpful.  If you are mechanically inclined a lot of the work you can actually do yourself.  

Otherwise just let the coach be the coach and the issues will appear over time for their required repairs.

Keep looking at the forum for issue others have and it will pay dividends.

Enjoy the coach! Welcome to,the BAC.

[Gerald Farris]

Adam,
There are no items on the 98 Marquis that covers all coaches, with the exception of the hoses that run from the coolant filter to the engine. The reason that no items exist that cover all of the 98s is that there are really two different 98 Marquis coaches. The first production of the 98 Marquis (app 25 coaches) is more related to the 97 Marquis than the later models. These coaches were all built on a Gillig chassis, and they were really more trouble free than the later production coaches built on the Magnum chassis. So, without knowing which chassis you have, it is a little difficult to point out potential problems.

You said that you had the fluids changed, did you install ELC coolant, or ethylene glycol coolant? If you are running Cat ELC, you should remove the coolant filter hoses, since the filter is no longer needed, and plug them at the engine to avoid the most common cooling system leak on that coach. If you are still running ethylene glycol coolant, the filter is needed to maintain the SCA levels in the coolant, so you should check the coolant filter hoses often, especially the one that runs above the manifolds on the driver's side of the engine.

Gerald  

P.S. Welcome to the BAC. It is the best motorhome club there is. You will love it.  

[Adam Hicklin]

Thanks Tom.  I did the oil and filter change myself. Sticking with OEM filters.   Had the transmission serviced and watched them do it, so next year I'll do it myself and switch to Transynd.

Gerald, I did switch to Cat ELC. I had Cat do it because I wanted to make sure all the ethylene glycol was out and if there was a problem later, I could go after them.  They did not bypass the filter.  Instead they spun on what they said was a generic filter.  But your opinion is to bypass the whole thing?  This particular coach is built on the Magnum chassis. Good to know it is the one with more problems.

I expect to do as much as I can myself, but this first go around I wanted to see some of it done.  It's a learning process.  This is the first diesel anything I have owned and they seem so temperamental.

As always, thanks for the help and advice.  You guys are awesome!

[Keith Moffett]

Welcome to the club Adam.  Sounds like you have a nearly new 15 year old coach.  Congrats!

Keith

[Gerald Farris]

Adam,
The hose to the coolant filter fails primarily from heat, so I do not know how to predict the failure possibility of the hoses on a fifteen year old coach that has virtually never been driven. I do know that if the coach had been normally (8,000 to 10,000 miles a year) the hose would have failed years ago. I know of coaches that were younger than yours were the filter hoses failed twice before they were removed and plugged.

It is a little bit of a job to remove and plug the hoses, and since your coach is so low mileage, you may want to wait until you get a day with nothing to do. To remove and plug the hoses, you have to remove the alternator. and remove the filter hose and fitting that comes out of the water pump area and install a plug. I think that the plug is a 7/16 hydraulic plug with an "O" ring. The other hose goes into the intake manifold, and is accessible from under the coach. The plug for it is 1/2 inch pipe thread.    

Gerald