I thought I would mention several items that came up with a visit to my local truck repair shop that I have used for a few years. It is a small locally owned shop and a family run enterprise. The good part is that I get under the coach with my mechanic and we get dirty together.....It is good for learning, he gets some help along the way, and I know what has been done and what I should watch for in the future.

What I wanted to pass along is two finds of what needed attention on my coach beyond what we had planned on for service. My coach is a 2002 Marquis with 34k miles. The surprises were the two smooth idlers for the C12 belt had bearing issues (did not rotate smoothly, could feel bearing grinding) along with one of the grooved idlers that was not on the tensioner, the tensioner one was fine. The other find was that one of my rear brake chambers was leaking air. These issues were probably related to age of the lubricant in the sealed idlers, and the aging rubber diaphragms. I was a bit surprised due to the low mileage and the idlers made no abnormal noise that I could hear with the engine running. If anyone has the PN for the rear air brake chambers it would be appreciated. They are made by MGM it appears. My literature did not include these PNs.

I'm sure others have dealt with these items in the past but thought that this was a good reminder if you have not done an air leakdown test or pulled the belt and rotated your idlers by hand recently. Hope this helps.

Later Ed

Ed, does your Missus know about your getting down and dirty with your mechanic?

She had to know, as dirty as I was when I got home from the shop, there was no way to keep it from her. Hell of a ride on a creeper with a grease gun in hand.....

Ed