IDS - Bent Jack?

[Bruce Sieloff]

I pulled out of the site this morning and when I hit the first 4 inch speed bump it felt like the coach had no suspension..because I had forgotten to put the jacks up and we had no suspension. It hit pretty sharp but not that hard (but still pretty stiff), and before I could comprehend what the issue was I went over a 2nd one although not as hard. I put the system into retract but retained the sound of an overworked hydraulic motor. I had panic call to Bend before It stopped with a combination of retrack and SEMI level manipulations. I had put both slides in BEFORE pulling out, with the jacks down. Now when I try to actuate the hydraulic slides I get the high pitched howl immediately and no activation. I finally got the howl to disappear after another dance of retraction and AUTO leveling. My wife said she smelt burnt hydraulic fluid, the motor was working for about 30 minutes or more before I got everything quiet. But tonight we are sleeping with NO slides out. So, has anyone else experienced a similar problem? I am fearing that I bent a jack shaft or worse but I can't see the jacks from my vantage point outside the coach. It's looking like this may be a short vacation and a long trip to Bend.

[LarryNCarolynShirk]

Bruce,

I only have a suggestion to prevent this in the future.  Please follow the procedure of Air UP, Jacks UP, then Slides IN.  Always in that order.

Sorry you had that bad experience.  

Larry

[Joel Ashley]

I agree with Larry.  The rule of thumb I was taught at BCS is simple:  slides out first and in last.  Not wishing to open that controversial can of worms, but following that routine in this instance, it wouldn't have happened to you since you wouldn't drive off with your slides out.  

And yes, you likely fouled at least one jack, and sounds like more.  I'm no hydraulics expert, and don't have jacks, but grew up on a farm and I've never let a pump squeal more than a second or two, much less for 30 minutes.  Perhaps it couldn't be helped, but the pump may have been harmed too.

Joel

[Bruce Sieloff]

Good caveats. This may be an intermittent thing. Lovely. Time to believe in self healing mechanisims.
We are in Sisters, OR and I hit the sides this evening just for hope and they both promptly extended, although after the last slide I had a brief howl that was quelled by hitting the Auto level button. I guess the proof will be if they retract tomorrow.
I'm in spitting distance of Bend so anyone who can help is here.
This is sounding like a stuck valve rather than an electrical issue. No problem with any of the jacks, they are all retracting nicely. I'm not sure if the valve mech that governs the slides is part of the pump or a separate item.  
I can say that working under a Marquis is a good occupation for an inchworm, Man, things are tight under there!

[Steve Huber]

You don't know what "tight" is until you have to replace the heater core on a Marquis with a Magnum chassis.
Steve

[Joel Ashley]

For peace of mind at least, I'd give Ken a call and hop the 20 miles over to Bend for a professional inspection before the coming weekend weather downturn.

Joel

[John Hennessey]

I agree with Joel.  Take it to Bend and have Steve look at it because if it has a problem while you are on the road it's unlikely that you will find anyone that can fix it.  Steve has several times had to be flown to someplace where somebody has had a problem and no one in the area could fix it.

[Bruce Sieloff]

Joel/John, I assume you are talking about BCS?
I did call Tom at Advantge but did not receive a reply.
I'm heading back to be in Seattle on Sunday so I could limp home if necessary.
Sticky things bother me, anything that gets hot enough to sear some fluid and cause a valve to hang up isn't going to fix itself.
The hydraulic motor is new, so it should have a warranty.
Right now the IDS says the coach is level but I swear the left side feels low and looks a bit low on the outside of the coach. :-/

[John Hennessey]

Yes I was referring to BCS

[Joel Ashley]

Ditto.  But if you don't have them look at it today, you've missed your best opportunity to have the best look at it.

Joel

[Bruce Sieloff]

Well, I’m sitting back at my campsite at Bend/Sisters Garden RV Resort, a campground I can highly recommend, without slides.
I’m not sure what the secret handshake or code word is to contact Steve or Ken directly, but Sean ran a good interference, as is his right as the service manager, and I was stymied.
No one was available to help today but if I came back on Saturday, a half day, I might be lucky and they could pull someone off a job and diagnose my problem.
Their business, their choice.
Having spent most of one day unfixed, I wasn't up to rolling the dice on another.
I am aware of what it takes to run a business; I have one. I am also aware that people who show up with timelines are a fact of life.
Sometimes they can’t be helped, but I juggle my timeframes and my deliveries to make every effort to get their order out.
I am also aware of how difficult it is to get new customers and how much it costs to attract and retain them. About 40% of my business is return customers.
No customers, no business.  
I have read repeated posts here about how BCS bent over backward to help a traveler in trouble.
That is why I pulled up stakes blind and headed to Bend to try and resolve my problem. I felt it was that serious.
Apparently at BCS  they were busy prepping coaches for potential customers. Their choice who to serve; my choice as to where I spend my money. Fair enough.
I’m not sure how much pull you have to have to be seen on the spot, or just plain luck, but it wasn’t enough apparently.

I reconnected with Tom at Advantage at 2:30 and he told me to come back at 3:00pm and he would see what he could find.
He had other customer coaches in his queue.
Customer Service. On a Friday Afternoon.
So he went to work, spent several hours discovering that either a solenoid or the hydraulic pump motor had a short that was significant enough to blow a 250amp fuse.
So Tom disconnected the pump and I drove home with only the bedroom slide active.
But at least I wasn’t trapped with an open slide situation and a screaming pump.

On the bright side, I ran into Steve Humphries and Dave Edwards and their lovely roommates and had a lively discussion about things other than repair work. Gotta love the Beaver Gang.
 
And I know who I’m going to see when I need work in Bend.

[John Hennessey]

I would still go to BCS and have them work on it.  Steve knows that system like nobody else.  Some of the parts are no longer available and Steve and Dan have devised a re-design of the system in order to fix it.  Not sure anybody else can do the retrofit.

[Roy Warren Co-Admin]

Bruce,
I have yet to be at a shop where they would drop the work that day to look at my coach.  Some have told me they can have someone look at it later if they finish their jobs, but mostly I have been told we will try to get to you as soon as possible and hopefully we can look at it tomorrow to see what is wrong.  Can't guarantee when we will do the work, but will get you in as quickly as we can.  If you were in the shop having your coach worked on, I don't think you would appreciate someone driving in and your mechanic taken off your job to look at another coach.  Glad Tom could be of help and he is a great guy.  Good luck on the final repair.
Roy

[Bruce Sieloff]

Epilogue.
So it turns out that the folks who replaced my slide motor were part of the problem. When hooking it up, they fastened the ground wire to the power post. The result apparently was a manufactured short and an intermittent power situation because the motor could not shut itself off due to the solenoid being effectively disabled. There was also a worn and corroded ground wire in the system. After replacement, correct wiring and a new ground wire the slides zip in and out as expected.
I absolutely would not have expected the rewiring to go awry. Live and learn.
The good news is that the IDS system works fine. We leveled the coach right after the replacement and after the usual huffing and puffing, creaking and groaning and high pitched protests the green level light was on and no errant lights anywhere else. Whew!
I can hardly wait to see what’s next.
What I did learn, was why people saved up their travel time to have someone who KNOWS do the repairs. Other than aggravation, this cost an additional several hundred dollars in diesel and exploratory fees to get fixed correctly.
 So, if you think getting it fixed by the experts is expensive, try the in-experts.
Next stop, the cruise control, again… but this one’s on me.

[Richard Cooper]

It wasn't too many months ago I discovered that my cruise control would not work if the jake brake switch was turned on.  Stupid little things that I learned through trial and error.