Big slide doesn't extend, leveling system inop.

[Nicholas Soldevere]

Hello Folks! New member here with a 2003 Patriot. New issue, the big slide doesn't extend and the leveling system faults out. The tank was low on oil so I serviced it with 2 qts and filled it. I can hear the power really clicking in the back but the pump doesn't come on. Any direction from the gurus here would be appreciated.

Edit: the tank I serviced is in the rear right corner when raising the servicing door there.

[Eric Maclean Co-Admin]

Nicholas
If the pump won't run there are a few possibilities related to power to the pump motor.
1) check for power at the motor solenoid supply.
2)!check for a proper ground to the motor pump
3) Try using a jumper cable to jump across the pump motor solenoid ( it's possible you just have a bad solenoid).

If you have a good source of power and ground to the pump motor and it still won't run you may have a bad motor or a seized pump .
If it is just the motor not working with power applied try tapping on the motor with a hammer ( not hard ) to see if the motor brushes are just sticking or not making contact .

Did you top up the reservoir with the leveling jacks up or down and slides in or out ( every thing should be retracted before a top up)


Hope this helps
Eric

[Zeb Severson]

Edit: the tank I serviced is in the rear right corner when raising the servicing door there.

I don't think you filled the hydraulic reservoir for the slides and leveling system. The pump (#22 in the diagram) is likely a gold cylinder on top, a thick square plate with 4 hoses connected then a black cylinder at the bottom which is the correct reservoir. There is a cap on the tank you can remove and fill with oil. I think it's 1.5" from the top of the fill port, but that is just my memory. There should be a sticker or a fill mark. You can get a 18" rod to stick into the reservoir to see the level like a dip stick.

[Nicholas Soldevere]

Nicholas
If the pump won't run there are a few possibilities related to power to the pump motor.
1) check for power at the motor solenoid supply.
2)!check for a proper ground to the motor pump
3) Try using a jumper cable to jump across the pump motor solenoid ( it's possible you just have a bad solenoid).

If you have a good source of power and ground to the pump motor and it still won't run you may have a bad motor or a seized pump .
If it is just the motor not working with power applied try tapping on the motor with a hammer ( not hard ) to see if the motor brushes are just sticking or not making contact .

Did you top up the reservoir with the leveling jacks up or down and slides in or out ( every thing should be retracted before a top up)


Hope this helps
Eric

Got It!!  Thankyou so much Eric!! The rigs at the storage lot, going out there to do some troubleshooting today. Ill report back. Thanks Again!!

[Nicholas Soldevere]

Edit: the tank I serviced is in the rear right corner when raising the servicing door there.

I don't think you filled the hydraulic reservoir for the slides and leveling system. The pump (#22 in the diagram) is likely a gold cylinder on top, a thick square plate with 4 hoses connected then a black cylinder at the bottom which is the correct reservoir. There is a cap on the tank you can remove and fill with oil. I think it's 1.5" from the top of the fill port, but that is just my memory. There should be a sticker or a fill mark. You can get a 18" rod to stick into the reservoir to see the level like a dip stick.

Thankyou so much Zeb, you are correct sir, I serviced the wrong reservoir. Im on my way to the rig to troubleshoot today, Ill report results here. Again, much appreciation.

[Nicholas Soldevere]

Here you go guys, the ground wire burnt and the solenoid toast. I replaced the relay and the ground wire and some terminal ends. I couldn't check it because all the batteries were dead due to weather taking power off the park and I had my inverter enabled so the refrigerator ran the bats down.

Couple questions here, how to get the cap off the reservoir? I'm letting the Xantrex charge it, is there a faster more logical way?

I'm a bit surprised the AGS didn't come on, it supposed to but apparently somethings awry there.

[Eric Maclean Co-Admin]

Nicholas
The reservoir is filled through the black cap you see in your picture below the solenoid, the cap screws off .
Its a bit of a pain to get to but it can be done with a transmission funnel or a suction gun,
Not sure about your location but the pump and tank on mine are located to the left rear corner of the battery bay just ahead of the service bay and is more readily accessed from the battery bay side.

The inverter should charge the batteries just fine inside of a day or two ( if they are lead acid this would be a good time to check the electrolyte level in each cell and top them up with distilled water if necessary.

Others here can speak more accurately on your AGS but my thought would be it is likely not turned on or setup properly .
Or in some of the Beaver coaches the AGS was wired incorrectly with its voltage sense wire connected to the chassis battery bank instead of the house battery bank.not sure yours would be one of those.

Hope this helps
Eric

[Zeb Severson]

Since this is a new coach to you, and if your house batteries are flooded lead acid, I would highly recommend checking the water level. You might already know this, but the specific gravity and water level is very important to keep at the proper full level. This doesn't apply to sealed, AGM or lithium batteries.

Recommendation follows:

• Start a spreadsheet to track the voltage and specific gravity of each battery and cell (see picture)
• Buy a hyrdometer to check the specific gravity of each cell
• Buy a gallon of distilled water
• Number each battery and cell (1A-C, 2A-C, etc)
• Test and record each battery voltage
• Test and record the specific gravity of each cell
• Fill any cell that might be low on water
• If you have several cells that need a lot of water and or the specific gravity is low in your opinion, and or there is a wide range in the specific gravity of all the cells (I was told a range of 30 is worth equalizing) then equalizing the batteries might be helpful to keep them in good condition (I have Trojan batteries and called there support about equalizing and the tech said anytime you add water to equalize the batteries, take that for what it is worth. Also, we might have the same inverter and I don't trust it equalizes to a high enough voltage. I measured about .8v or more lover than what Trojan recommended to equalize at. It would be prudent to take all four batteries to get equalized at the same time. That would get you a good starting point.
• Check and clean any of the battery connections.
• Re check and record the batteries periodically

By going through all this trouble I can see 1. my battery condition has improved over the first year 2. An issue developed with cell 1C and that I need to replace that battery 3. Cell 3B is doing well so I might want to check my connections to make sure that there isn't an issue causing the one cell to go bad.

I can imagine you are have a lot going on sorting these issues out so I don't mean to pile stuff on, but with the batteries, they are critical to a lot of the house size functioning correctly.

Separate from the battery info, you might want to check the fuse for that circuit. Im surprised to see that cable so badly burned. If you do run into an issue with the pump itself I have the contact info for the company that made the pump and they were helpful when I called in the past to troubleshoot  the pump.

[Nicholas Soldevere]

Since this is a new coach to you, and if your house batteries are flooded lead acid, I would highly recommend checking the water level. You might already know this, but the specific gravity and water level is very important to keep at the proper full level. This doesn't apply to sealed, AGM or lithium batteries.

Recommendation follows:

• Start a spreadsheet to track the voltage and specific gravity of each battery and cell (see picture)
• Buy a hyrdometer to check the specific gravity of each cell
• Buy a gallon of distilled water
• Number each battery and cell (1A-C, 2A-C, etc)
• Test and record each battery voltage
• Test and record the specific gravity of each cell
• Fill any cell that might be low on water
• If you have several cells that need a lot of water and or the specific gravity is low in your opinion, and or there is a wide range in the specific gravity of all the cells (I was told a range of 30 is worth equalizing) then equalizing the batteries might be helpful to keep them in good condition (I have Trojan batteries and called there support about equalizing and the tech said anytime you add water to equalize the batteries, take that for what it is worth. Also, we might have the same inverter and I don't trust it equalizes to a high enough voltage. I measured about .8v or more lover than what Trojan recommended to equalize at. It would be prudent to take all four batteries to get equalized at the same time. That would get you a good starting point.
• Check and clean any of the battery connections.
• Re check and record the batteries periodically

By going through all this trouble I can see 1. my battery condition has improved over the first year 2. An issue developed with cell 1C and that I need to replace that battery 3. Cell 3B is doing well so I might want to check my connections to make sure that there isn't an issue causing the one cell to go bad.

I can imagine you are have a lot going on sorting these issues out so I don't mean to pile stuff on, but with the batteries, they are critical to a lot of the house size functioning correctly.

Separate from the battery info, you might want to check the fuse for that circuit. Im surprised to see that cable so badly burned. If you do run into an issue with the pump itself I have the contact info for the company that made the pump and they were helpful when I called in the past to troubleshoot  the pump.

Thankyou Zeb, these Trojans are less then a year old and needed servicing, so I serviced them all up with fresh distilled. I have a charger coming that has an equalize function and start function, can be used for 6v or 12v batteries. I'm thinking before equalizing I should disconnect all draws and equalize each battery on its own. I haven't gone to the lengths of verifying specific gravity, I can see where this option makes good sense and allows a person to have a closer relationship with the battery system, which is a good thing since it seems batteries have extreme importance to the whole thing. The extent of my involvement to this point has been to keep them serviced. Interesting that the trojan guys recommend equalizing after every service.

Battery equalization is an intentional overcharge, primarily for flooded lead-acid batteries, that uses a higher-than-normal voltage to break down sulfate crystals and mix the electrolyte to restore capacity. It's a crucial maintenance step to prevent and reverse the damage caused by acid stratification and sulfation, which reduces the battery's lifespan and performance.

I'm wondering where the fuse would be for the hydraulic system, fuse box in the closet?

Nicholas
The reservoir is filled through the black cap you see in your picture below the solenoid, the cap screws off .
Its a bit of a pain to get to but it can be done with a transmission funnel or a suction gun,
Not sure about your location but the pump and tank on mine are located to the left rear corner of the battery bay just ahead of the service bay and is more readily accessed from the battery bay side.

The inverter should charge the batteries just fine inside of a day or two ( if they are lead acid this would be a good time to check the electrolyte level in each cell and top them up with distilled water if necessary.

Others here can speak more accurately on your AGS but my thought would be it is likely not turned on or setup properly .
Or in some of the Beaver coaches the AGS was wired incorrectly with its voltage sense wire connected to the chassis battery bank instead of the house battery bank, not sure yours would be one of those.

Hope this helps
Eric

Thankyou Eric, the cap wouldn't come off and is broken, Ill have to see if I can find a replacement. The cap goes on and covers the fill hole but it needs to be replaced.  Ill get down in there and check fluid level today.

I believe this is a battery issue, everything has been starting and running just fine all week. As I said the power was off at the storage lot for how long I don't know. The inverter was enabled and the domestic fridge runs off a receptacle with inverter power so, I believe the fridge ran the house batteries down. The chassis batteries on the other hand, there was a couple 12v draws I found that I believe pulled them down. I installed a Xantrex trickle charger that should keep the chassis up and has, but I don't think it could keep up with the amount of draw apparently.

All of these batteries house and chassis are new within the year, house being Trojans, chassis, Continentals.

[Nicholas Soldevere]

As a side note and providing just a bit more info. I had GoodSam roadside come out to do a jump. There was a solid 14vdc on the chassis batts and neither the engine or the gen would turn so, I'm confused in Dallas. I have a guy whos gets paid to work these kinds of issues. He's coming out to the rig on Tuesday. In the mean time I'm going to work on equalizing batteries. The house batts were pretty low on water so they might need a little help to get their "vigor" back.

[Zeb Severson]

The settings for the generator will be controlled by the inverter controller. I have the original Xantrex and the controller is RC7 GS (manual in coach assist), that is the manual that will guide you through the auto start config versus the manual for the inverter.

One of the reasons why I shared the info about the batteries is due to the inverter/charger being over 20 years old if yours is original. For my setup I have a concern that the charger isn't charging as it should either in volts or amps. All other indications of the inverter seem like its working fine. But... by tracking the condition of the batteries you can have a better sense of where the root of the issue is.

Good luck with everything.

[Eric Maclean Co-Admin]

Nicholas
If both the chassis power and gen set power are not present check the 250 amp chassis main ANL fuse at the power distribution/isolator board you will find the schematic on page 43 of the 2003 patriot wiring diagrams found in coach assist.


Eric