Tomorrow afternoon, my wife and I will be taking a short drive to look at a 1988 30T Barth Regal. As I understand from the owner, the Barth has new tires, and new house/coach batteries. The pictures show a very beautiful Barth, both on the outside and the inside and with many upgrades, some factory installed It has the binders and/or goodies that came with the motorhome from the factory. The maintenance records indicates the owner(s) have taken care of the motorhome as it has had regular and routine maintenance.

The questions is, making the assumption the engine and transmission have been serviced regularly, how many miles is “to many miles” on a 454 without having to replace the engine. I expect 250000 plus miles from my car engines but I am not sure about a motorhome engine. I have little experience with motorhome engines to make a good judgment call on this. 75,000 miles? 100,000 miles? 125,000 miles? 150,000 miles? The budget will forecast for a new crate engine, but I’d rather defer the crate engine expense for one year – and have some fun with the Barth this summer and fall, but at the same time I want to make sure the Barth comes home with me rather than being left somewhere to have “major” engine repairs.

My boating experience tells me that the engines usually need attention - replaced - after other major components have been repaired or relaced such as water pumps, headers, carburetors, alternators, distributors, and the outdrive units. More money and time was spent on repairing/replacing engine components than was spent on the engine. I was very lucky not to suffer a major breakdown while underway. Hard to find a tow back to port when the boat is 75 - 100 miles off the coast.

I will take the Barth checklist, the digital camera, flash light and a few miscellaneous tools – rags too - that will be useful during the inspection.

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by Inland Empire Bill:
how many miles is “to many miles” on a 454 without having to replace the engine.

The budget will forecast for a new crate engine, but I’d rather defer the crate engine expense for one year

Oil psi? Smoke from the exhaust? Motor noise?

I would think 150,000 would be the upper limits of a 30T. You could get 200,000+ but I wouldn't count on it. Now if your talking Cummins (most) Cat or Detroit diesels 150k is ready for it's second valve adjustment.

The thing with a motorhome is it's loaded all the time and the engine is always reved up. I would stay away from anything over 135,000 if your looking for another 10,000 without major problems.

This of course is not written in stone. There are people who have taken care of there coach.

Does it have a gear vendor? Tack on a little more miles.

Are they the slowest drivers on the road? Tack on some more.

Has it been taken real good care of and sounds real sweet? More

Your going at this the right way. Think motor right off the bat. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best! You got good bones in a Barth so it should be worth it.

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I bought my 85 454 Regal with 75000 miles on it. The last owner had paid a lot of attention to the engine, Amsoil everything, and I think I can get a good 25000 more out of it. Maybe more because I added a Gear Vendors and still only drive 60mph. There was an identical coach in Texas that had 125000 miles on it and it looked much better. But who cares what it looks like if you're strande in the middle of nowhere? How many miles are on the 30T?
Jim

quote:

Originally posted by humbojb:
who cares what it looks like if you're stranded in the middle of nowhere?
Jim

My post on this earlier got me 2 private emails about how one coach blew up at 58k and another that has 190k on it and how he expects to go another 50-60k without problems.

It's not a great quote but an owl once said...
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll tootsie pop?

It's the same answer. It depends on how you chew/use it.

Look at the records. See how they treat there coach and the passion in describing it to you. If your not qualified, have a mechanic check it out.

Most anything can last a long time with proper maintenance...A Barth should last a lifetime.

Amen, Bro'. Better maintenance should provide more optimism (but no assurances); buying a used coach of any brand, any year, will surely provide opportunities to denude the Money Tree.

With a Barth, one can rest assured that its carcass isn't going to fall apart shortly after that new crate engine is installed. (BTW, with all that new power did you notice the transmission is acting a bit sluggish? )