RV Upkeep

Because of money issues; and some procrastination, we had put some repairs on the back burner. The things needed to keep us running took priority too. Maintaining an RV, especially a diesel pusher can get expensive. I maintain that if you take care of it it won't eat you alive. Still, there is a mystique out there that a diesel pusher is expensive to take care of. Now that we have a little more income we are starting down the repair trail. I thought we'd share some of the problems we have had. Keep in mind the coach is 16 years old. We had put off a main seal leak on the engine-count on  spending $300-500 if you run into that. Before we came south we replaced the air filter-around $75-and changed the engine oil and filters-around $80--100 if you do it your self. We also changed the desiccant filter for the air compressor-another $100. When you have air suspension and brakes you don't want to skimp on that. The rear air cost us a little less than a $1000 to repair. We have basement air/heat pumps (unlike most RVs which have them on the roof) and they are similar to a home unit. Ours are no longer made and finding parts and techs to work on them is difficult. The control board(s) for the refrigerator and the water heater went out-they're around $100 each. Still to come, the front end needs checked and aligned and a minor oil leak needs addressed on the engine. We have had the coach for almost four years and, given its age, we are satisfied with the upkeep expense. For those of you wanting to take advantage of the soft RV market, have a reliable RV tech look the prospective coach over along with a chassis guy (they are two different things on an RV) and you will avoid a lot of expense. We should be down to an annual oil and lube before too long!