How Often Do You Start and or Drive Your Motorhome?

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Ford considers repeatedly running a vehicle and not letting it fully warm up to be extreme duty, and should use an accelerated maintenance schedule similar to a police car or taxi. In other words, it’s not good for the drivetrain.

Our motorhome sits for 5 months every winter. The generator is exercised monthly, but the ignition key stays in my pocket.
 
Larry N. said:
Here in the Denver area, I winterized my rig in October, after the last trip I took in 2021. I will soon de-winterize and start it for our trip to Quartzsite, then likely will winterize it again when we return, to let it sit until we are ready for our next trip, probably in May.

So it sits after one trip until the next, except if I need to move it for some reason other than just to exercise it. I've been doing it this way since I've had a motorhome, and it does fine for both gas and diesel units.
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What do you mean by "winterize", Larry. I am newbie looking forward to getting my first RV.
 
Here's another senior moment. A couple of months ago my kid was packing out from the RV, loading up his Chev Cobalt about to make a run to Cincinnati. He likes to travel at night, make a rest stop sleep for a couple hours and arrive in the day.

At the "delayed" time of his departure he discovers the Cobalt won't start and that he left the lights on. I jump started him from my Jeep liberty, got distracted by a butterfly or something - more likely his departure.

I went inside and did my thing. The next day I wake up and hear an engine - yup! We disconnected the cables and I stowed them but I did not shut off the Jeep nor even close the driver door.

That thing idled for about 8 hours. No plug fouling, no overheating, nothing. I shut it down and restarted it and it fired up just like normal.

YMMV but idling modern vehicles is not the drama it used to be. In fact I would say that a lot of trucks bought for construction/commercial use spend a lot of time idling, much like police cars.

I do agree with the "extreme use" maintenance schedule if one does that often. I can't get my head wrapped around 10k mile oil changes recommended in my owner's manual. In fact I use a quickie lube place and they aren't comfortable making a sticker with a 5,000 mile interval much less a 10k interval. They even warned me that their warranty only runs 3k for what that's worth.

I guess that is for the free oil top up and tire inflation between visits.
 
sree said:
What do you mean by "winterize", Larry. I am newbie looking forward to getting my first RV.
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As Don indicated cold weather freezes water, so I drain the tanks and get the water out of the systems, using a combo method- combo because I blow the pipes and faucets out with air, then I run RV antifreeze (the pink stuff) though the hot water side.

On many rigs blowing out with air works fine, and the pink stuff works fine on most any rig, but though I prefer to just use air, the core of my hydronic system (Oasis, much like Aqua Hot) has such tiny, convoluted passages that air won't get all the water out and freezing likely would create expensive damage, so the hot side gets the antifreeze.
 
SeilerBird said:
I have owned my fifth wheel for five years and I have never driven it, rode in it or used it as a vehicle and I have never winterized it. I bought it and paid a service to move it to my site. It is permanently parked, I plan on staying here until I die.
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Why did you buy it for?
 
SeilerBird said:
To live in.
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Wow, yours is the kind of RV lifestyle I am looking for. Are you living on your own property or parked in an RV site? I am leaning towards the latter. What, in your mind, are the pros and cons? Your advice would be most helpful.
 
My winter routine is to change genny oil when winterizing, then visit the coach around once a month. Our coach is stored indoors, unheated but with power so the batteries are always full. If it's not up to my hindquarters in snow, I start her up, start the genny, and drive for 15 or 20 minutes to get everything good and hot.

If it's crummy outside, and I'm not comfortable driving it, I'll pull just out of the overhead door and let her idle with the genny running for 30 or 40 minutes. If I'm smart at the first visit (NO guarantees) I bring a small space heater to leave there for the winter, which heats up the interior pretty quickly while I hang around inside and give the engine and genny time to get hot.

Five years in without a lick of trouble, and everything just starts and works on our first camping trip.
 
sree said:
Wow, yours is the kind of RV lifestyle I am looking for. Are you living on your own property or parked in an RV site? I am leaning towards the latter. What, in your mind, are the pros and cons? Your advice would be most helpful.
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I have been living the RV lifestyle for twenty years. I enjoy every minute. I have been to 48 of the 50 states and all of the National Parks in the lower 48. I am parked in an RV park near Orlando. The perfect site in the perfect park in the wonderful state of Florida. I have frontage on the lagoon that is stunning. I feel like I am living in a dream. Here are some shots of my site:

photos.app.goo.gl

I love Florida

24 new items · Album by Tom Seiler
photos.app.goo.gl photos.app.goo.gl
 
Ex-Calif said:
YMMV but idling modern vehicles is not the drama it used to be. In fact I would say that a lot of trucks bought for construction/commercial use spend a lot of time idling, much like police cars.

I do agree with the "extreme use" maintenance schedule if one does that often. I can't get my head wrapped around 10k mile oil changes recommended in my owner's manual. In fact I use a quickie lube place and they aren't comfortable making a sticker with a 5,000 mile interval much less a 10k interval. They even warned me that their warranty only runs 3k for what that's worth.
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Story time. In 1950 my dad bought a brand new '50 Ford inline six to replace the '38 Buick Special he had suffered thru the war with. This was Port Arthur Texas and the guy across the street bought a '49 Mercury demonstrator from the dealer. The neighbor was a chemist for Shell Oil. After a few of the 2000 mile oil changes dad asked the neighbor if that was reasonable or not for the oil change with the bypass filter of the day (Ford introduced the full flow spin on oil filter in late 1954). Anyhow, they started taking samples and the neighbor started doing some lab work on them. They finally reached 5000 miles and the neighbor said the particle size was enough to call it quits and change the oil. From then till the day dad passed away in 1996, 5000 mile oil changes were the rule in our household.

Sometime in the very early '90's I started using Amsoil synthetic oil in my '88 Jeep Comanche. I had tried Mobil 1 in my Mustang earlier and it was so watery that I ceased using it. With the Amsoil I started doing oil changes at 10k miles and while I have never bothered to have an oil analysis done, I ran the Comanche till it got wrecked at about 160k miles, I ran a '99 Plymouth Breeze from 50K to 234K on Amsoil, I have run a '91 Ford Ranger that I bought in 2000 with only 18K on it and now has 313K, and a '04 Pontiac Vibe (Toyota Matrix in disguise) from 50K up to 250K it now has on it. And I have never had one oil related issue with the engines, and the oil gets dark, but not exceptionally so when I drain it.

The modern day EFI systems prevent all of the cylinder washdown and other carburetor related problems of the past and the removal of "lead" from the fuel was the best thing that ever happened to engines and exhaust systems.

I run my RAM Cummins on Rotella T6 and change it every year or 5000 miles, diesels are somewhat different, especially low use diesels.

Charles
 
DonTom said:
SeilerBird is the Birdman of the Floridan RV Park!

Those four-foot tall Sand Hill Cranes are not afraid of people at all. I walked right up to them.

-Don- Ladson, SC
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Two SHCs (Ozzie and Sharon) have lived in my yard for years. And I have been feeding them both for years.
 
CharlesinGA said:
The neighbor was a chemist for Shell Oil. After a few of the 2000 mile oil changes dad asked the neighbor if that was reasonable or not for the oil change with the bypass filter of the day (Ford introduced the full flow spin on oil filter in late 1954). Anyhow, they started taking samples and the neighbor started doing some lab work on them. They finally reached 5000 miles and the neighbor said the particle size was enough to call it quits and change the oil. From then till the day dad passed away in 1996, 5000 mile oil changes were the rule in our household.
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As a classic car enthusiast I am on more than one forum and the posts that create the most passion are the "What kind of oil" and how frequently to change it. I know better than to engage a well entrenched person in their view.

My dad, a lifelong A&P mech, basically said, "No engine has aver been harmed by changing the oil."

Of course being a superlative someone always chimes in with a story about leaving the plug out or a bad from the box oil filter but the sentiment is true in my book.

I used to do 3,000 mile changes. Now I do 5,000 mile changes on everything. Is oil better? Are filters better? I don't really know but I have engines from 1968, 1977, 1996, 2006, 2016 and 2019.

I don't treat the MG engines (1968 & 1977) the same as the 2019 Ram but I guess everyone gets to do what they want, right?
 
Just an observation. Usually the house portion of a motorhome is trashed and unserviceable before the engine ever dies. Transmissions are another story.

I'm in the no-start camp, store it with fresh oil and hooked to a battery tender. If the owner's manual or a Ford tech says start it, then do what you want. Fuel systems don't last forever, so it's a race against time no matter what you do.
 
Ex-Calif said:
No engine has aver been harmed by changing the oil."
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I would not be so sure on that. For an example, you get a professional oil change and the next day the oil filter falls off on the highway and all your oil drains out (happened to me).
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Is there "scientific fact" to the contrary?
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My Ford Mustang fuel pump crapping out after the car sat for around a year without being started is all the fact I need.

-Don- Ladson, SC
 
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SeilerBird said:
I have been living the RV lifestyle for twenty years. I enjoy every minute. I have been to 48 of the 50 states and all of the National Parks in the lower 48. I am parked in an RV park near Orlando. The perfect site in the perfect park in the wonderful state of Florida. I have frontage on the lagoon that is stunning. I feel like I am living in a dream. Here are some shots of my site:

photos.app.goo.gl

I love Florida

24 new items · Album by Tom Seiler
photos.app.goo.gl photos.app.goo.gl
Click to expand...
Great photos. And you have been living there for 5 years, you said. How much does it cost to rent your spot in that campsite?
 
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