Advice for a noob on prepping a bus for winter months?

[DrPattyCakes]

 
Well I have dont some reading around. Past ensuring fluid levels are correct..what else can I do to prep my MCI MC9 for winter up here in the north ? This is my first bus, and I plan on parking it at my friends yard where he parks his trucks. My first concern is the diesel itself..anything I should do or not do for gelling? Does the air system need any care? Sorry for the basic questioning...just dont want to make any mistakes

[richard5933]

If you're not going to drive the bus until the spring thaw, then the fuel gelling wouldn't be a concern to me. If you plan on starting it at all during the cold months, than you can add some anti-gelling additive. Best to have a full tank of fresh fuel if possible, and best to have it pumped from a station with winter fuel.

If you have water lines in the bus for the house systems, you'll need to properly winterize those. Lots of information on this subject online so I'll let you search it out.

Batteries should be properly topped off and charged. I kept mine in the bus last winter without problem, but I did connect a stand-alone charger to them every couple of weeks to be sure that they were charged. A fully charged battery won't freeze. This year I've got the on-board charger, so it will be left connected so that the batteries can be kept topped off all winter. Of course this means that I'll have to check on the water level a few times.

Windshield washer fluid - should have freeze-protected fluid in it.

I make sure to do my fluid changes prior to parking any vehicle. Mainly because I'm OCD about these things, but also so that the engine doesn't sit with any extra moisture in the oil or fluids. I also have the bus lubed prior to winter.

While I'm doing my pre-winter prep, I also lubricate any moving part that I can find. Same for locks - use a proper dry lubricant or one recommended for winter use. Last winter I had problems with a lock freezing - problem was weak springs in the tumblers. Had that fixed before winter so I don't need to use a hair dryer to unlock the bus.

Antifreeze needs to be checked for proper ratio of additives for winter.

Mouse bait or sticky traps anywhere you think mice might be, or any place where they could do damage. The generator on our previous bus was destroyed by mice damage prior to us getting it. Now I put sticky traps all over, both in the bays and in the living areas. I also use copper wool (like steel wool but made of copper) to be sure that there are no openings where they can get in. I also use it to block access to drain lines from the a/c units and the vent lines for the water tanks so that the bugs can't get in.

That's a brief summary of what I do. I'm sure that others will chime in with suggestions or corrections to my list.

[buswarrior]

Dr Patty Cakes,

Where in the "north" are you?

Freeze protection for coolant, water system and windshield washer are mission critical...

because ice expands and cracks what it was trapped in. Bottles, engine blocks, radiators, water tanks, water lines, hot water tanks, channels in toilets, even taps and facets...

Think really hard about pumping plumbing anti-freeze through the piping, and going a step further and yanking the connections on the pump and confirming that expensive bit is EMPTY. Dilution is the devil...

Off the critical list, a little battery charging once a month, keep batteries disconnected from coach when stored. The long, heavy duty extension cord will be a valuable asset for the coach when camping...

Leave nothing in the coach, food, cleaning supplies, paint, anything that can freeze will be ruined and make a mess if it bursts or leaks.

Run the vacuum cleaner, food crumbs attract mice.

There are mixed opinions on whether to run the engine.

My position is unless you have a Webasto to get it to operating temperature, or going for a drive, just leave it sit happily sleeping until spring. It will NOT warm up just idling in a yard by itself.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[Geoff]

Great advice has been given, except for how to deal with the fresh water.  You can put the pink stuff and run it out each faucet, but I have found that it is better to drain all the water out of your tanks and hot and cold lines and follow it up with an RV fitting that allows you to blow all the water out of your system with compressed air.