Author Topic: Slide room slippage and leveler alarm  (Read 3925 times)

Lawrence Tarnoff

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Slide room slippage and leveler alarm
« on: June 30, 2018, 05:50:53 PM »
Heading home yesterday and noticed the driver's side slide slipped out a couple of inches.  Stopped and brought it in.  At the same time, started getting warning beeps on the leveler  control.  No levelers extended at all during this trip.  Could both be attributed to low level hydraulic fluid?  Or?

After reading a previous post on the slide out issue, I tried recycling the slide-out several times, but still kept coming out those couple of inches.  Any ideas?

Thanks,

Larry

Bill Sprague

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Re: Slide room slippage and leveler alarm
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2018, 06:17:36 PM »
My experience with an '04 Monterey was that the beeps would start sounding when going through a dip causing the front jack to barely trigger the alarm.   I think I added a little fluid twice.  The system should not leak.

Slide creep happened once in awhile, but not often.  It was probably a combination of a valve leaking a little and certain road vibrations. 

Gerald Farris

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Re: Slide room slippage and leveler alarm
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2018, 06:17:51 PM »
Larry,
If you are talking about the hydraulic living room slide, it is held in by hydraulic pressure, and if it is not staying closed, you have a leak. There can be 2 different types of leaks. If you have a solenoid valve leaking, it will normally just let the pressure required to hold the slide leak back into the hydraulic reservoir. However, is you are also getting a jack down warning, I would expect an external leak that is resulting in a low fluid level and turning on the jack down warning. Check carefully for an external leak, and low fluid level.

Gerald

John Fearnow

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Re: Slide room slippage and leveler alarm
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2018, 05:40:45 AM »
This morning after retracting the jacks I noticed a small hydraulic fluid leak from then outer edge of the coach just behind the water bay. Since the left rear jack had been extended to its limit in levelling and did its normal "earthquake" routine when the jacks retracted I suspected a possible leaking jack but couldn't see anything to verify that.  After driving for a couple of hours and stopping for a break, the main (hydraulic) slide was extended about an inch.  Hitting the retract switch brought it in but at the end of the drive for the day it was again extended so as Gerald said, the hydraulic pressure is not holding the slide fully closed.  I obviously have a leak and would like to verify the status of the fluid in the slide/leveler reservoir.  I believe I know where it is, just in front of the leveler manifold in the right rear of the coach.  It is a tank about a foot long but only accessible from under the coach unfortunately. I have identified at least one hose leading to it from the jack manifold so it has to be for hydraulic fluid.  There is a black screw-on cap on the top that I can just barely reach but couldn't open by hand.  My question is, if that cap is the correct fill location how do I determine if the fluid is at the correct level?  If it has a dip stick attached that will be easy but if not should the fluid be at the top so that if I can get my finger in it I will feel it?  There must be at least some fluid in it as I put the slide out this evening w/o problem.  I did not extend the jacks.  Haven't seen any evidence of new leaking from the area I saw this morning. This is the IDS levelling system.

John Fearnow
2002 Patriot-Thunder

John Fearnow

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Re: Slide room slippage and leveler alarm
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2018, 04:53:56 AM »
Added about 3 qts of atf to the reservoir this morning before driving. Slide still came out about an inch. No visible leaking apparent. Will a leak in the leveler system cause the slide to extend or does the leak have to be in the hoses servicing the slide?

John Fearnow
2002 P-T

Gerald Farris

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Re: Slide room slippage and leveler alarm
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2018, 07:14:16 AM »
John,
If the solenoid valve that controls the pressure to hold the slide closed leaks fluid back into the reservoir, the slide can move out as you drive. If there are no external leaks, you have either a internal leak in the cylinder that moves the slide (uncommon) or in the solenoid valve that controls the pressure to close the slide.

Gerald

John Fearnow

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Re: Slide room slippage and leveler alarm
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2018, 09:30:47 PM »
Thanks Gerald. We are back home and today I removed the water bay panel. There is atf residue on the floor and on the rear sidewall that looks like it is coming from the frame rail. I assume that is where the hose is that runs to the slide and it is leaking. Or possibly it is the retract hose to the left rear jack. The only time I saw liquid dripping was after the pump ran for a long time bringing the jack up from full extension. I think I have some qualified repair sources here in Tucson. I understand the common fix is to run a new hose.

John Fearnow
2002 P-T

Gerald Farris

  • Guest
Re: Slide room slippage and leveler alarm
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2018, 03:06:15 PM »
John,
Yes, the fix for a leaking hose is hose replacement, and in most cases, you do not even need to remove the old hose, you just determine a easier routing path for the new hose, measure the needed length, run the new hose, cap the old hose and leave it in place.

Gerald