Your diesel RV required a significant investment on your part. Obviously, you will want to take good care of this investment so that you can get as much use out of it as possible. In addition, nothing can spoil an RV road trip faster than mechanical problems on the road.
Providing proper and ongoing maintenance for your diesel engine is essential to keep it in tip-top shape. A great way to make sure you keep on top of the engine maintenance is to write out a maintenance schedule and keep it in the RV. Take it out and give it a look-over, every time you get ready to head out.
So what should that maintenance schedule look like? Here are some basics to get you started.
Daily: Check your oil levels daily when it’s in use.
Per trip: Check your coolant levels before you start out.
6 month checkup: Coolant concentration
1 year/15,000 miles: Oil change. Replace oil and fuel filters. Check your air filter and change as recommended in your RV manual.
1 year/30,000 miles: Inspection of Fan Idler Pulley, Hub and Belt Tension. Visual inspection of your entire engine.
2 year/60,000 miles: Drain and flush of coolant. Inspection of vibration damper.
This is a generic listing. Check your engine manual for the specifics of your diesel engine and write up your own schedule. Having it written out on one sheet of paper as a checklist is much simpler than having to look up the details in your manual each time you get ready to hit the road.