In August of last year we started getting mass amounts of white smoke. We had the motorhome towed to the Cat dealer in Amarillo. Two days later I had a heart attack. Cat said we could leave the motorhome with them until I got better.
Quad bypass and two more surgeries for infection later, I contacted Cat and asked for some prices on repairs. The engine is shot and a replacement would cost $28,000.00. A re-build would cost $18,000.00.
Our Unit is a 1991 Unihome Grand Villa, 36 ft. long. We have done quite a bit to in the past 12 years, including a first class paint job,
an brand new tires (less than 1000 miles).
I would like to fix the engine and sell it due to my health problems. The cost of repairs is high enough to make our price too high.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Alan Dodson
214 415 2854
Wow, that is a tough situation. I think you will never get out the new engine in a sale. If working you are probably worth about 30 k give or take. The paint job is never going to be able to be recovered. I would consider parting it out.
Fix it and enjoy it yourself. Life is not done with you and your Foretravel motorhome will continue to give you years of pleasure that may not happen any other way.
Or sell it for a couple thousand as is. Never a good idea to spend big just to sell it.
Hello,
It seems that sometimes school buses may use your engine. I might try to find an old school bus that had a good engine and harvest the engine from that bus and use it to replace my engine. That might be a way to reduce the cost of the repair. I would probably not spend a lot of money fixing it just to sell it. You may be spending a lot of money just to try to break even (and consider it a loss if you also spend a lot of time getting the job done). If you get it fixed and use it, you will find the investment of time and money better spent. Best Wishes.
If you are not going to use it, sell it as is- for a project. Someone will buy it, fix/change the engine, and have a nice coach for a reasonable price. I agree with the others, don't spend big $$$ getting it ready to sell, you will never get them back.
Take care of your health and enjoy your family.
I second a used engine. We sold trucks out of our municipal fleets that the bodies were gone but the engines were good for 100s of thousands of miles. Good diesel engines outlast the coach normally. Find a reputable shop and explore that option. Or you could put it at a static park nearby and use it as "cabin".
Good luck with the recovery and the coach.
Keith
Please let us know what engine your coach has. Is it a Cat 3208? If so, what HP?
Agree that sinking big bucks in the coach would not be an economically wise decision, particularly if you are going to turn around and sell it!
Better to try to sell it "as is". Second choice would be to locate a good used or reman engine, but between cost of engine and cost of installation.....
I spoke with Alan earlier today. Yes, it is a Cat 3208T 250 HP with a cracked block. David
Check out Diesel Trader.com
A 3208 long block should be way under $10,000 (and I've been told in the boat world to figure $5-10k for a complete long block. They made tons of them. The prices you were quoted don't make sense.
This would seem to make sense to repair coach if correct motor
Caterpillar 3208T Engine For Sale - Fort Worth, TX - MyLittleSalesman.com (http://www.mylittlesalesman.com/caterpillar-3208t-engine-381166)
Might be real, might be the one that was recently auctioned, might be a scam.
Wild guess, 25 hours to switch out?
Try. heavytruckparts.net. It's the place most big truck salvage yards put their inventory on. You can search buy distance and price.