A Touch O’ Maintenance – Annual Oil Changes
There’s all kinds of oils, seals, lubes and such in an RV, which can keep many a good man or woman (depending on your inclination) happily occupied for years. A portion of this menu, even the most hardened indoors-(wo)man can easily check themselves, but there’s a few where the professional touch comes in handy, at least for us lesser mechanically gifted. So, passing back through Denver on our way to Wyoming we stopped at Loveland, CO for a touch o’ maintenance, with the aim of changing the engine and generator oil.
Here’s the official low-down on both of these:
- Generator oil & filters should be changed after the 1st 50 hours of use, and then every 150 hours thereafter (or yearly). We’ve been boondocking/dry-camping a good amount, so our generator had hit the 1st 50-hour mark. We’ll keep it annual from now on.
- Engine oil in diesels is usually pegged for a change at every 15,000 miles, but we’ve heard it on good authority from a diesel engineer (another full-timer) who recommends every year, and that’s supported in the manual. Our oil had been sitting 2 years so it was time for that too.
This was all a new experience for us, especially as we live in the thing, so we had a bit to learn. As it turns out the place we chose, RV America (LazyDays) was excellent and I’m happy to give them a plug. They offered same-day service, had an ample waiting room (with big-screen TV, couch, coffee and cakes, no less), are completely dog-friendly and were also able to deal with the cats staying in the RV (closed-off in the back). So, we dropped off the monster at 8AM, walked around their enormous display lot ooo’ing and aaah’ing at new RV’s with the doggie and drove off at noon all re-lubed and happy.
The story, though doesn’t end here….
Given Murphy’s Law, as we’ve so tenderly covered previously, something had to happen after this, and it certainly did. But that will be the topic of another post and a little tease to keep you coming back. For now, just imagine us purring off along the highway, happily oblivious of all that was to come…
Glad to hear about them, as we’ll be home-based in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Will probably stop through on our travels. Like the pic of your RV. Looks happy. 🙂
Oh no..can’t wait to hear the rest of the story!!! Gotta ask…were the kitties still in the RV when it was being serviced?
Yup, kitties were in the back (with a closed door) during service. They did really well and were quite relaxed when we picked up the RV 🙂