What's too high of mileage and hours?????

Hi all, new here and currently have a 2000 Damen intruder349 but am looking at a 2000 newmar dutchstar 3865 motorhome.  Couple questions on one I'm looking at right now.  First off it's in excellent condition considering the mileage and age.  Everything works great as it should and has all records for it.  The motorhome has a 8.3 Cummins 300hp with 193000 miles on the clock with a spartin chassis, new injectors and pump and all.  I'm not too concerned about th is part cause I know these engines can go a ways.  What I am concerned about is the number of hours on the power tech generator.  They say it shows 9000 hours on it.  Is this possible!  They say it starts and runs perfect and has not done much of anything to it other than a bearing was replaced a bit ago.  I'm a pretty good mechanic on diesel engines and have worked on a lot of RVs.  What do you all think of the mileage and hours on this thing?  I think I can get it for$20000. Just need some advice on this.  I had a newmar Dutch star before an absolutely loved it that had about a hundred fifty thousand miles on it wish I would have never have sold it and I know the quality of these units are amazing.  what do y'all think out there is it something to go for or is it something I should stay away from?  apparently it was owned buy an older couple all those years.  Thanks for the info.

Welcome to the forum Mr Bitz

Sounds like a good deal...But I'm not the expert....They will be around at some point.

I think part of the big question is how will you use it, lets assume that generator is running well now, and is good for another 1,000 hours of life.  If you plan to run the generator less than 50 hours per year, chances are the rest of the coach will wear out before the generator does.  50 hours per year of generator use is fairly typical of many motorhome owners, particularly those that don't dry camp, or travel in hot climates where they need to run the coach roof top air conditioners while driving to stay cool.

We dry camp all the time, so generator usage will be often.  Usually end up putting roughly 200 hours a year on a generator.

It sounds pretty good, to me, but so much depends on your projected use. I don't know anything about a power tech generator, but if they're as good as Onans I'd think the main question would be about how well maintained it is. Onans are made to run for a long time. Ike suggests another 1,000 hours of life, but since that makes assumptions, it may well do longer than that. On a road vehicle at 60 mph that'd be something like 60,000 miles, while the 9000 hours on it would be like 540,000 miles at 60 mph.

Just to be clear that thousand hours was an arbitrary figure, and just meant to say that if it is running well, without excessive blow-by, etc. at 9,000 hours then chances are good it will last at least another thousand. It could run another 10,000 hours or it could die the next time you crank it up.

What got my attention is the: new pump, injectors,and all.. I have the same engine and at 125000 miles it needs nothing because it gets the best of maintenance. What would be the ALL part?. The house amenities are also 18 years old and obviously well used ( mine is 21) Well used also means nothing if maintained,,I would be slow and through when inspecting the "house" and its contents. A well kept set of logs would be golden.>>>Dan

A well-maintained coach will last a long, long time, so from that perspective I don't see much of any issue, especially since MtBitz is an experienced mechanic type.  However, I don't consider $20k to be great bargain for a 2000 Dutch Star with nigh 200k miles.  Somewhere in the $20k-$25k range is reasonable, in my opinion.  Personally, I'd rather spend another $5k-@10k up front and try to find something with less wear & tear.  On the other hand, MrBitz may be more willing to employ "sweat equity" than I am.  I have the skills and tools, but no longer much inclination to do major repairs, especially chassis stuff.  One of my concerns would be how often am I going to be faced with a fairly major repair that impacts my planned travel & enjoyment.  I'd want a coach to enjoy rather than being a constant challenge.

Much depends on the details of the condition, house as much or more than chassis.  At age 19, I would expect some of the major appliances and components to be at end of life.  Also, batteries and tires are a major cost item that need periodic replacement, roughly every 7-8 years.

9000 hours on the genset would worry me some. Gensets are difficult to work on, especially if not mounted on a sliding tray, and components are expensive.  Both the mechanical and the electrical parts have to be well worn at that point, even if properly maintained.

Some components have probably already been replaced at 193k miles. I'll bet that starter, alternator, a/c compressor, water pumps, etc. have already been replaced once and are probably due again soon. The diesel itself may be good for 500k miles, but most of the things that keep it going are much less, often 80k-100k.

I'm really not so concerned about the coach and the chassis as much as I am of the generator and the hours that it has.  The coaches ball joints were replaced new airbags new tires all around new water heater new toilet I'm suspecting going to need a new refrigerator not long from now but I'm prepared for that, carpet looks good on pictures tile looks good everything looks great, well-maintained coach from the looks and from what they told me.  I guess it comes down to going to the actual rig and doing an inspection myself on it possibly this weekend and we'll see.  Thank you so much for all the replies. 

Good luck Mr Blitz...thats too many miles for me.
But if you like the coach and your inspection goes well it's your choice. As far as the generator they might be cheaper to replace than the motor.

Sounds like the coach has been really well-cared for.  Consider the cost of a new genset as your worst case risk and decide if the coach purchase price makes that a reasonable gamble.  It's probably not that bad, but a new stator or other major component could easily run you a couple thou$and in shop repairs. Somewhat less if you would DYI.  Accessibility to the genset for repairs is a key element on repair cost.

The only OTHER consideration would crop up if you did NOT intend to keep the unit for very long.. Reselling would be problematic.>>>Dan

Very good point utclmjmpr.

You sure that wasn't 900.0?

Koodog said:

You sure that wasn't 900.0?

Click to expand...

X2. 9000 hours would be 500 per year. Highly unlikely, but possible I guess.

Ken

Not that unusual for certain types of use.  When I bought my used coach it had 1400 hours on a 3 year old genset. The previous owner was a NASCAR fan who parked in the infield at car races in the Southeast, so they ran the genset heavily for a/c.  Big coaches also use the genset frequently while traveling during the summer, again mostly for auxiliary air conditioning.  3-5 hours of genset time on every travel day adds up pretty fast.

I have 2650 on mine and don't consider it high.>>>D

I ended up with 2500 hours by the time we sold the coach and had very little concern about it, but that's a far cry from 9000.

An RV generator with 9000 hours on it, that's still running and producing power, tells me that it was regularly exercised and well maintained. It will probably keep running and producing power as long as it's maintained properly, and routinely exercised... until something finally gives out. On a 9000 hour generator, that could happen tomorrow, but with that many hours, it shouldn't be a surprise.

Regular exercise alone will prevent, or stave off a lot of generator problems. We just returned from a week of boondocking in the desert, where folks were regularly running their generators. Some friends of ours showed up in their four year old motorhome, which doesn't get much use, and they couldn't get their generator to run. It probably has less than 100 hours on it, and he said it hasn't been run in at least a year, so I'm quite sure varnish in the carb was the problem. We finally got it running, but it took awhile.

Kev

At least there are no carb varnish worries on that Powertech diesel genset.