I posted this in the Foretravel space and am new here. I figure that the motor was used in a variety of MH and anyone with knowledge could help answer the question..

Help please.

I have never owned a Foretravel up to this point and am really serious about a 1991 with a 3208 turbo Cat.

I live about a mile from a Cat dealer and thought a call to ask their opinion would be a good thing.

A tech in service said to stay away from the 3208 as the parts would be hard to find and some one to work on it would also be a difficult thing. He said to especially to stay away from the late model units.

Now they don't sell RV's so he wasn't trying to sell me on something he had. But now I am a bit freaked out. I believe this unit was professionally maintained.

It's also teamed with an Allison MT 643 transmission,

Does anyone have first hand experience with this engine and some true advice about the long term function of it?

It's only got about 130,000 miles on it.

It's a Grand Villa I'm looking at.

Check here http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/CATRVCLUB/msearch?query=3208&pos=10&cnt=10

I owned a 1991 Hawkins with the 3208T and 643 Allison and never had any problems. The coach had over 160K on it when I sold it.

I have also owned heavy trucks with the CAT 3208T and found they were the most reliable engines in our fleet. As for parts and repairs, a good CAT shop should have no problems. Some people don't like the 3208 because it can't be sleeved when a rebuild is needed (500K + miles) but you will probably never see that many miles on a motorhome. If you would need to replace the engine there are many companies out there with remanufatured 3208's for sale.

If the motorhome has been well maintained to include the engine, transmission and suspension you should have no problems. Take the coach to a reliable shop to have it checked out.

Good luck and happy motoring

Paul

I to ran a fleet of 3208 Cats. Very good engine if maintained properly. They demand proper maintenance. Parts abound for the 3208, the tech was probably trying to say they are obsolete and therefore parts MAY be hard to locate, not imposable.
If the coach checks out, go for it.