There is a lot of joy in RV life. Your house on wheels gives you the freedom to explore and spend time in nature. It can also give you headaches if you don’t pay close attention to its many, many moving parts.
RVs are complicated machines that are not simply a combination of a house and a car. They require a significantly greater amount of maintenance than a car. And they require a very different kind of maintenance than a house.
You are also going to, inevitably, need some RV repair. Things break, accidents happen, and sometimes parts just wear out.
You can avoid some of that (often expensive) RV repair with good, regular maintenance habits. Your vehicle and your wallet will thank you for setting up a regular preventive maintenance schedule for your motorhome or trailer.
Preventive RV Maintenance
So what should you be doing to maintain your RV so you can get out on the road and enjoy RV life to the fullest?
The first thing to do is check your owner’s manual. There will be checklists of necessary maintenance similar to what you might find for a car or truck. Oil changes, break and tire checks, fluid replacement, and other basic maintenance may not be exciting, but it’s all important.
If you’re handy with cars and engines you might be able to do some of this work yourself. But beware of getting in over your head. Saving a little money by changing your own oil is not worth missing potential problems a good RV shop will find.
RV repair and maintenance requires a special set of skills.
If you decide to learn them, make sure you have a good teacher. A lot of small RV repairs are done during regular maintenance before they become larger problems.
If you’re like most people, that level of DIY is out of reach. The best way to avoid unnecessary RV repair is with regularly scheduled maintenance from a reliable shop with experienced mechanics and technicians.
Your RV is a big investment. It’s important to find a shop you trust for maintenance that can handle your RV repair work.
Let’s take a look at some ways good maintenance can help you avoid costly and time-consuming RV repair.
Sealants
Your RV has sealants everywhere, of different types. You have roof sealants, window sealants, slide out sealants, and more. Keeping all those sealants in good condition is an important part of your routine maintenance.
The first part of sealant maintenance is something you can, and should, do yourself. Learn where the seals are on your coach or trailer and check them regularly for cracks or other signs of wear.
Those seals should also be checked during regular maintenance at your RV shop.
Taking these preventive steps helps you avoid a common and costly RV repair—water damage. Your vehicle is going to see some weather and it’s crucial to keep the wet stuff on the outside where it belongs.
Filters
You’re familiar with filters. They’re in every car and every house. They are also in every RV. Checking and changing filters regularly helps your RV function efficiently.
RVs have engine filters, air conditioning filters, furnace filters, water filters, and more. Those filters make every system function smoothly. When they’re dirty, systems have to work harder, and they wear out faster.
By maintaining your filters, you can extend the life of major parts and avoid early (and expensive) RV repair.
Slide Outs
What is one of the most common, and dreaded, RV repairs? Broken slide outs. Slide outs are great, but without proper maintenance they can break in a lot of ways and lead to costly repairs.
Your slide outs have lots of seals. As we know, seals need to be checked and maintained to avoid water damage.
Slide out mechanisms, gears, and motors also need to be checked regularly. A little bit of wear or moisture can be dealt with before it becomes corrosion that destroys the entire mechanism.
Slide out maintenance is an excellent example of an ounce of prevention being preferable to a very expensive pound of RV repair cure.
The Bottom Line
These are just a few examples of the many ways you can maintain your camper or trailer and reduce your RV repair bills.
RV maintenance keeps your coach in proper working order and catches issues when they are small and repairs are easy. RV repair can’t be avoided altogether, but you can save yourself some headaches by keeping a good maintenance schedule.
