Newbie wants an FC but worried about the Cat 3208 engine

[Jim Hutchings]

Let me echo that the 3208 is a good engine when properly driven and maintained.
Things that kill the engines are, not downshifting going uphill (lugging)
overheating (stupidity). Poor maintenance (lazy and cheap). In other words the
engine is fine it's just the nut that drives it that makes the difference.

Jim Hutchings
82 FC 3208 250 HP
Yorba Linda, CA

From: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com [mailto:WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Scott Forman
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 4:19 PM
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: Newbie wants an FC but worried about the Cat
3208 engine


Dan,

I am going to echo the "poor maintenance" explination and also throw
in a comment about these coaches not being used regularly. When you
have a 25 year old vehicle with only 75,000 miles on it, it has spent
much MUCH more of its life sitting still, probably outside, than it
has "working". This leads to deteroiation, which is different from
wear, but will still kill the engine. If you have two identical
3208's, put one in a motorhome that is driven 8-10,000 miles a year
and put the other one in a commercial application where it is run
nearly every day and maintained to support that use, the commercial
application will last much longer.

When you are looking, find a coach that has been "loved". When
people have meticulous records, great maintenance habits, clean
presentation, common upgrades installed, etc, you can tell that they
loved the coach. When you go look at it and it's just sort
of "there", looking haggard, covered in dirt, and with scant few
papers to review from an owner that can't answer your questions, that
coach was owned, not loved. There are plenty of Birds out there that
people really loved, find one of those.

Scott Forman
86 PT38
Memphis
Used to have an 82 FC with 3208, though it was a fine engine

--- In
WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com,
"ohiofancydancer"
wrote:
>
> I've been looking at early FC's on eBay, etc. What I hope to find
is
> a 'Bird with the Cat 3208NA and air suspension, which means 1981,
late
> 1980 or early 1982. I am concerned about the frequency of
these 'Birds
> having a new engine installed at 75K to 150K miles. Some of the
threads
> that I've read say that the 3208 "should" be good for 300K or more
> before an overhaul or replacement.
>
> Might most, or all, of these low mileage replacements be due to
poor
> maintenance? I'd really appreciate the advice of someone who has
had
> some experience!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dan Snyder - the Fancy Dancer
>



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