When tranny issues are not tyranny issues

[Joe Mann]

Sharing this in case anyone else may have this issue...We have a 2000 Marquis Tourmaline with Cat C-12. Had a mechanical breakdown in Charlevoix MI. Transmission kept popping out of gear then finally quit after I had pulled to the side of the road. Emergency flashers would not work and could not crank engine. Warranty roadside service delivered a tow within two hours. Took tow truck driver over an hour to hookup and disengage drive shaft. 65 mile tow to a diesel shop. We arrived just before closing so they towed our coach inside. Spent the night in a motel with our three cats staying in our Jeep.
Next day they discovered the alternator had failed. Not enough electricity to the tranny so it cannot shift.  Ordered new alternator overnighted and allowed us to stay in the coach with a 50 amp connection.  Installed the next day and ready to go by noon. Unfortunately front air shocks would not come up to "travel". Technician got under the 8 in clearance and found the rubber air valve had been severed during the tow. They replaced it at no charge. I highly recommend Grand Traverse Diesel in Traverse City.  They were efficient and everyone there kept asking about our welfare.

[Joel Ashley]

Just in case you hadn't read it here or were aware, Joe, the most common cause of alternator failure on our coaches is that owners break dry camps without first charging up their batteries with their generators. 

Our basic alternators were built to put out relatively brief spurts of initial charging at startup, to replace lost battery surface charge, and then maintain batteries with comparably low amperage output as we drive.  When we don't recharge with the genset after dry camping, the poor alternator has to do that job instead, one it wasn't built to handle well.  It gets stressed from the high current draw required and overheats, shortening its life considerably.

I usually run the genset until reaching at least the Absorb Cycle, a phase of charging between heavy Bulk Charge Cycle (14.2v - 14.6v) and the 95-100% charged level of Float Charge Cycle.  Getting the system all the way down to Float Cycle (13.3v - 13.7v) is better, but at around 14 volts and dropping in Absorb phase, at least your alternator won't have to work so hard.

As you discovered, alternators for these rigs ain't cheap.


-Joel

[Marty and Suzie Schenck]

I was  told (can't remember by whom) that if your alternator fails and you have an echo charger, you can drive the coach with the generator running. With an echo charger, the generator will keep the voltage up in the chassis batteries. Marty

[Roy Warren Co-Admin]

To add to Marty's reply.  Yes you can run your generator to charge batteries.  However, the only way I have heard of this being done is to hold the boost switch on.  I ran about 300 miles with a toothpick holding the boost switch on and the generator running.  It does work.
Roy

[Carol Moffett]

   A couple years ago, while heading to a KOA, Keith noticed the battery charge on the Silverleaf was very low and suspected we had lost our alternator.  He was right.  After arriving at the park he immediately got on the forum to ask advice on what to do and, as always, had a response within a few minutes!  (Gotta love the folks on this forum  :-D
   To the best of Keith's memory, the advice was to make a jumper wire, with alligator clips on each end, to jumper from one side of the emergency start solenoid to the other, bypassing the alternator and allowing him to run the generator to charge the batteries while we drove home.  It worked great and we had no problems.  We were able to stay the whole weekend and didn't have to fret about getting a tow!
Carol
:^3=~
   

[LaMonte Monnell]

Now, for goodness sakes, where is the emergency start solenoid? Just in case I lose an alternator down the road.

[Bill Sprague]

Now, for goodness sakes, where is the emergency start solenoid? Just in case I lose an alternator down the road.

Roy and Keith are doing the same thing but with different tools.   They are causing the soleinoid that combines the engine batteries and the house batteries. 

The solenoid in question will be very near the batteries.  In mine, it was in a cabinet directly above them.  To identify it, you can have someone press and release the emergency start button or "Boost" button in the front while you listen for the clicking in the back.  You should be able to feel it open and close as well.

To Marty's post, his method should work as well.  In other words, with a functioning echo charge or "BIRD" system, it will sense low voltage on the engine batteries and with Onan power, will charge them after it senses that the house batteries are "full".   Note that if the house batteries are low, the Onan is supposed to charge them first before any current can flow to the engine batteries.   So, if that is the case, Keith's jumper or Roy's toothpick will be needed to close the "Boost" solenoid.

[Mike Groves]

To add to Marty's reply.  Yes you can run your generator to charge batteries.  However, the only way I have heard of this being done is to hold the boost switch on.  I ran about 300 miles with a toothpick holding the boost switch on and the generator running.  It does work.
Roy

When my alternator failed, or actually, when the affects of that failure were noticed during a supper break at Yellow Stone in May 2014, my coach failed to start, and the generator failed to start.  I used the coach battery switch to get the generator started, ran that for a while, maybe 1/2 hour before attempting to start the coach.  Coach started and we simply ran the generator (no toothpicks in the switch) and all was well.  We parked in that little town to the north in Yellow Stone (name escapes me but its the one with the travertine falls), shutdown everything for the night, got up the next morning, generator started, coach started, travelled counter clockwise to west entrance, then travelled to Twin Falls (generator running at all times) before we got the alternator fixed.  Our "echo charger" is the older "Heart" version.  Doesn't make sense to me that it could have been doing the charging because its a trickle charger, rather I believe our generator was directly charging the chassis batteries without the need to push that coach assist button. 

Mike

[Edward Buker]

If you wanted to be ready for the eventuality of an alternator fail you could measure between the house bank 12V plus terminal and the chassis 12V plus terminal and buy a premade battery cable with lugs on it and stow it in the bay tie wrapped to some existing wiring or metal support beam. Just cut the tie wraps and use it to couple the banks when you find you need it.

I like this better then any temporary cable with alligator clamps. Those are dangerous if one was to come lose and land on ground while traveling. It could cause a fire, or possibly a battery explosion. These clamps are meant for temporary stationary use.

With the generator running and the house charger on you could travel safely as far as you needed to. As far as creating a jumper to couple the two sides of the emergency start solenoid, mine is all coated with red sealer and if I had a choice I would leave that sealed wiring undisturbed. The other option, if your solenoid is a continuous duty one, you could replace the momentary rocker switch with a standard on off version and use that to couple the banks. If you get the PN off the solenoid label and look it up it will state continuous or intermittent duty in the specs. May also tell you on the unit label.

Later Ed

[Carol Moffett]

Ed,
   You are right about using alligator clips on the batteries, bad news...that is why, to clarify, Keith put them on the SOLENOID and NOT the batteries.  Thank you for pointing that out!  He also taped them as an extra precaution.  Your idea of a pre-made cable is a great one!  We are definitely doing that!   
Carol
:^3=~