Air Loss, undriveable

[Terry Melot]

Traded for a 2005 Pat Thunder about a month ago. After a service job a Bend RV Service, travel to Newport and being parked for two days at Pac Shores, started the engine to move the coach a few inches. Had to jump house batts to start. Moved and shut down. Check date on chasis batts, 2008. Time to replace. Removed this morning and traded for new ones at Napa. Installed batts and started engine to check batts. Noticed both air needles at zero. Coach always held pressure for days before. Air pressure did not come up. Called BCS, spoke with Ken Carpenter. He said the batteries cannot affect the air system. He Asked where the air was going when the engine was running.  Went outside and investigated. Serious air blowing sound coming from generator area in nose. Crawled under, could hear it loudly but cannot locate.  Any suggestions? What could possibly be dumping all the air the compressor makes. Needles barely move, never getting to the first mark on the pressure gage.

[Gerald Farris]

Terry,
If it is in the dash area, it is probably the air line to the air brakes. You are going to have to locate it and repair the leak to move the coach.

Gerald

[Edward Buker]

If it is up front underneath are the air tanks in that location? Sometimes a small extension lighted mirror can help low where you cannot go.

later Ed

[Terry Melot]

The air tanks are on the side just behind the LP tank. Easy to get to.  No leaks around them. The leak is in the generator cavity. Gerald is probably right, it is the line to the air brakes. Just don't know how to access it.

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Could the air dump valve be stuck open?

[Terry Melot]

The air tanks are on the side just behind the LP tank. Easy to get to.  No leaks around them. The leak is in the generator cavity. Gerald is probably right, it is the line to the air brakes. Just don't know how to access it.

[Terry Melot]

Could the air dump valve be stuck open?

Richard, that was my hope.  When it first happened, I hit the air dump switch. There was stil some air left in the leveling system that promptly bled off.

[Joel Ashley]

On ours the 4 tank bleeder ports and auxilliary quick connect port are curbside rear.  But I understand that most rigs have them up front, accessible by opening the genset slide, so tow trucks can easily connect their air lines to keep the coach brakes off during tow.  I'd check that one of those bleeder ports isn't open for some reason, or a line damaged or popped off, and ditto for any quick connect that may be jammed open by debris.

More than likely Gerald is right.

Joel

[Terry Melot]

Found the bad leak. The 1/4" tube going to the air pressure gage rubbed a hole where passing thru the frame. Pulled a new tube along the same route and coupled it in. Leak fixed.
Whoops.  Air still bleading down. Now we can hear a second leak. Same area but cannot isolate it. The coach can be driven. This leak is slower than the compressor make up air. I've exhausted all ideas. Will let a professional try to isolate it.
Thanks so much for all suggestions.  Bill Sprague was a great help in fixing the bad leak.  Thanks so much, Bill.  I owe you one.

[Marty and Suzie Schenck]

Terry, how long you going to be there? Suzie and I will be back late Thursday afternoon. As you know I am quite small and can fit under your coach  and help find/repair your leak.
Marty

[Terry Melot]

Terry, how long you going to be there? Suzie and I will be back late Thursday afternoon. As you know I am quite small and can fit under your coach  and help find/repair your leak.
Marty

Marty, I'll be here till next Monday afternoon.  We have an appointment at Kaiser Brake and Alignment in Eugene, early Tuesday morning. Thanks for the offer. If you have any suggestions how to find the leak, I am open.
I have been under the coach where the two air tanks are. There are numerous lines that leave that area and go into the frame. There are more lines that join that big bundle going thru the frame.  Somewhere in that bundle within inches of where it comes out in the generator area, there is a leak.  I now believe I caused the two leaks by putting a small wire that should have been a ground onto a hot terminal when I changed the chassis batteries. The leak that Bill and I located and pulled out looks like the hole was melted into it and not chaffed. It just dawned on me, there may be more than one leak still in there at the hot spot. I searched as if it was one leak and never got the noise to stop.  There may be two or more still leaking.  I need more vice-grips to pinch off more than one line at a time.

[Edward Buker]

Terry,

There is an inexpensive mechanics stethoscope that you can get at Napa. I think the kit has a long and short metal tip/tube. If you can hear the leak normally I think it may be quite possible to isolate the location to a very small section of tube bundle. You could open an air tank drain enough to have a similar noise/leak and get a little practice with the stethoscope at the valve to see how well it works.

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx/Stethoscope-Mechanics/_/R-SER835_0006403480

Later Ed

[Roy C Tyler]

Terry
DeWaine had an air leak last year and he went to Source Engineering after talking to them at 7 Feathers.  They are located in Coburg, just north of Eugene 5 miles.  They found and fixed his air leak in 45 minutes. .

Sorry we missed you at Pacific Shores.

Chuck

[Terry Melot]

Terry
DeWaine had an air leak last year and he went to Source Engineering after talking to them at 7 Feathers.  They are located in Coburg, just north of Eugene 5 miles.  They found and fixed his air leak in 45 minutes. .

Sorry we missed you at Pacific Shores.

Chuck

Hi Chuck, also sorry we missed you and Karen at Pac Shores. If Kaiser Brake in Eugene can't fix the leak, we'll try Source Eng. Thanks for the info.  Marty and I have found the leak. We know exactly where it is with a few inches.  Problem is, it is back in the frame and we cannot identify which line it is. We know it is not coming from the tank area. We pinched off everything from that area.

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions.  Will let you know when it is fixed.

[Keith Moffett Co-Admin]

Terry
I believe I would be looking for a different root cause.  Doesnt seem right that a small wire hooked up wrong can provide enough power to the frame to melt plastic lines.  Wouldnt the line itself overheat first?
Also, if you located the second leak within a bundle.  Wouldnt the leak have to be on the outer part of the bundle where it is touching metal?
FYI we were at Kaiser just before BCS.  They are good people.
If you use a GPS to get to Kaiser be cautious.  Ours took us through small residential streets to Taylor street.
One street was posted "not a through street" and all the parked cars made it very tight.  The better way is to stay on Chambers to Second street and then Taylor.
Just a heads up!
Good luck
Keith