I spend hours every week looking for a motorhome. One thing that stands out is the fact that so many lower milage MHs have had engine, transmission and differential rebuilds. I can't understand any rebuild under 100,00 miles unless you never did any preventive maintenance. I give my vehicles a lube, oil and filter every 3,000 miles. I change the radiator, transmission and brake fluid every 2 years. I realize that motorhomes are carrying a huge load, but so are trucks and I don't know of many rebuilt at 40,000 miles. What gives?

Doug, you took the words right out of my thoughts. I have wondered if it is due to out of sight out of mind maintenance schedules. Boats have the same engines, often detuned but even then may not be much different from the load 'em up applications for gassers. These engines will typically see ~1500+ hours prior to rebuild and boat engines are always going uphill, never coasting down hill, cooling may be better. A boat will be used between 50 and 100 hours during the season, equal to or greater than 2500 to 5000 loaded uphill miles and have the oil changed before being put to bed. The typical 1500 hour life expectancy would probably be equivalent to the 100,000 miles on the road. For diesels with the exception of a few problem engines the expectancy is closer to the life of the interest in ownership.
Whasup with this?

Lack of use will kill any engine once oil, water and humidity circulates through it. That is why your g'mint Cosmolene's the engine in vehicles it stores.

It's also hard to accumulate miles when sitting torn apart at the dealership all the time.

Unless you belong to Nick Cagle as he'll just tow you to where you were going anyway!

Diesel fuel is a lubricant. Gasoline is a solvent. Enough said.

Sitting unused is any machine's worst enemy, and unfortunately many RV's end up in that stage. Regular use and maintenance (even when an RV is not being used) would probably prevent a lot of the rebuilds you've seen on older, low mileage units.

quote:

Originally posted by scottydl:
Sitting unused is any machine's worst enemy, and unfortunately many RV's end up in that stage. Regular use and maintenance (even when an RV is not being used) would probably prevent a lot of the rebuilds you've seen on older, low mileage units.

Yup. A weekly drive to operating temperature and then back makes engines and tires last way longer.

So a person probably should steer clear of the MH that is 25 years old and only has 10,000 miles.

quote:

Originally posted by DougZ:
So a person probably should steer clear of the MH that is 25 years old and only has 10,000 miles.

Maybe... but not automatically. It may be okay if it's already had some upgrades & maintenance, or been used regularly over that period of time. That may be possible if someone owned an RV used mostly for local camping. A worse situation could be an RV that has sat vacant and unmoved for 5 years, regardless of age or mileage.

I agree with Scotty.

For example, the RVs we had before I retired were used for short trips very often. River, mountains, events, etc. Even sunset cocktails at the beach. We didn't rack up a lot of miles, but they were driven often. In between trips, the coaches were driven just for exercise.

Or to free up the church parking lot for Sunday services.

Many RVs sit all winter without good preparation, too.

Unfortunately, there is often no way of knowing. Our Barth was used by the previus owner for a trip up to Canada, then across, then down to
Florida, then back. Gave me a lot of confidence.

Of course, the trans ate itself on the way home, and put so much heat into the engine that I had to do a "There, I Fixed It" bodge to get home.

Another "feature" of front-engine motorhomes is that the engine is difficult to access, so things don't get checked/mantained as they should.

However, the main reason, IMHO, is too much sitting and too little running.

The competitive nature of the RV industry coupled with lack of any oversight or reason has lead to some pretty phenomenal disasters in design also. The same 454 that sits in a little pickup truck hauling very little for most of its life is then stuffed in a tiny, poorly vented, box; asked to haul a barn door of aerodynamic inefficiency, and as much weight as can be piled on - and we wonder why it won't last! I marvel sometimes at how they go 30,000 miles.

Then of course, many if not most RV owners expect the same performance as their Ford Taurus, so they mat the thing for miles on end. Ignoring gauges and buzzers as it is information overload. I realize the movie RV with Robin Williams was "supposed" to be a comedy, but I wonder sometimes if real life isn't funnier or sadder!

I'm having a vision of the guy at the latest GTG ripping his generator cover off after smacking into a huge downed tree, then yelling at his wife, then erratically turning and gunning the thing - almost hitting my rig in the process. The next day on leaving he would have wiped out the entire right side of his rig as he just turned hard right and gunned it out of his space with a huge tree right there on the corner of the site. He would have hit it if the roots didn't pitch the rig away enough for clearance.

This is the guy that owned the RV that got the new motor.

More money then common sense is a plague boaters are also very aware of....

I'm not rich, I own a boat.

You also probably have alot more common sense then someone who just writes the check....