Motorhome mechanicals

Bus Maintenance and repairs

There is not much point is spending a fortune building a nice comfortable motorhome if you cannot drive the thing. While it is easy to get caught up in the glitz and glamour of owning your own motorhome, the shine can quickly disappear when mechanical things start to go wrong.

Generally, most buses are sold when they reach the 30 year mark, and often the engine has been rebuilt several times over, and may already have 400,000klms on it. Bearing in mind that this is not always a problem as it's only 20,000 or so odd kilometers to drive around Australia, and most older buses will handle this well. However, you can be unlucky as we were, and 600 klms later the engine blew to smithereenies! Not a problem if you have a spare 10 grand sitting in the bank!

Also don't expect to pop into K-Mart for new tyres, large truck or bus tyres are around the $400 mark each these days. If you have limited mechanical knowledge and fancy getting you oil changed and a professional service, then don't expect much change from a grand!

Things like new kingpins can cost thousands, as do clutches and other general maintenance issues. Remember, these old diesels have multiple fuel filters, huge air filters and often 2 oil filters, plus coolant filters etc and they all cost big bucks.

Your aim here should be to have your vehicle fully serviced before you depart on your first maiden trip, and to have a good cash reserve in case the unthinkable happens, and it does! Allow time away from your DIY build to attend to the mechanical side of things like greasing, brake adjusting etc.