Do I have a problem?

fun time · 01-19-2008, 02:13 PM

For those of you who have the air hose hook up under your hood here is my question. I have an 06 Meridian. After you dump your air, does your guage still register air? Do you still have air at the connection?
When I dump my air my guage reads no air and I have no air to that connection. When the engine is running I then have air and it registers 120 at the guage. Just a clarification: I am only referring to the air guage under the hood and not the two inside air guages. I looked at three other Journeys in our campground and all of those have air at the connection after they dump. Does anyone know why mine would not? The coach airs up just fine and all systems work perfect. Any thoughts gang?

fun time · 01-19-2008, 02:13 PM

For those of you who have the air hose hook up under your hood here is my question. I have an 06 Meridian. After you dump your air, does your guage still register air? Do you still have air at the connection?
When I dump my air my guage reads no air and I have no air to that connection. When the engine is running I then have air and it registers 120 at the guage. Just a clarification: I am only referring to the air guage under the hood and not the two inside air guages. I looked at three other Journeys in our campground and all of those have air at the connection after they dump. Does anyone know why mine would not? The coach airs up just fine and all systems work perfect. Any thoughts gang?

AFChap · 01-19-2008, 02:39 PM

Immediately after dumping the air, I do have pressure showing on the gauge "under the hood" for a few days. It will eventually bleed off down to zero if the big diesel is not started. (I always dump the air and lower the levling jacks with the engine running ...your results may be different if you dump the air with the engine NOT running.) However, if I attempt to use that air via the connection, it will disappear very quickly unless the engine is running. You will only have usable air at the connection if you have the big diesel running, as that is the only time the compressor is running.

John_Canfield · 01-19-2008, 03:05 PM

We typically stop the engine once we are positioned in the campsite and then go through the jacks/slides/etc stuff.

After going through the dump air and level procedure, we still have air indicated in the gauge - at least for a few days.

W8RLM · 01-19-2008, 05:41 PM

Fun time,

I had the same problem on my 06 Journey. I had a Freightliner dealer check it out and they found that an air line was cross threaded into a fitting at the output of the air tank. When the fitting was replaced, everything worked as it was supposed to and we had pressure at the external gauge as John stated.

Good Luck

W8RLM - Bob

fun time · 01-20-2008, 07:13 AM

W8rlm-Bob
Thanks for the feedback and cross thread problem. This would make perfect sense. Do you know if before you had your problem fixed, was anything else (air related) effected? I would think if the tank was leaking air then you might have noticed the inside guages would loose air as well and the compressor would run more frequently?

John,
I am with you as to dumping after we turn off the engine otherwise I would think the compressor would continue to air the bags hence your coach would not fully settle down.

AFChap,
I will start the coach today and see what happens by dumping the air with the engine running.
Thanks guys for your help. I will let you know what I find out.

AFChap · 01-20-2008, 11:26 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">dumping after we turn off the engine otherwise I would think the compressor would continue to air the bags hence your coach would not fully settle down </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Our HWH system automatically dumps the air bags when you start the leveling system. I don't know the exact mechanics of it, but from what I can tell the bags are not getting inflated as long as the leveling system is in use. In reverse procedure, when preparing to hit the road, I start the big diesel, then retract the slides, then hit "Store" and the coach drops all the way down as the jacks begine to retract (indicating there is no air in the bags regardless of the engine having been running for a few minutes). I follow this order as it was recommended by an HWH tech in seminars at GNR as being much easier on the batteries to have the engine running when operating the jacks and the slides.

Seems to me that if the guages inside the coach are reading different from the outside guage, that would indicate a leak in the outside system. (my outside system does have a shut-off valve right behind where I hook into it ...does your systems have a shut-off valve there, and is it turned off except when using the outside hookup??) If we sit long enough for the air to totally bleed out of the system (and I have not used the outside hookup), the outside guage will be at zero and the inside guages will be low enough for the low air alarms to sound when I start the engine.

fun time · 01-20-2008, 03:28 PM

AFChap-
Yes, I have the shut off valve and it is always closed unless I want to use the air. Today I polled a few more coaches, all non Winny products and to my surprise, they all work like mine and none have air to that valve after dumping or very little. One was a Tiffin Allegro Bus, another was a American Tradition and the third was a Monaco product. I find that very interesting since only the Tiffin product was on a Freightliner chassis. Thanks Paul for your input on this. I will get to the bottom of it hopefully tomorrow. I will keep you posted.

KIX · 01-20-2008, 03:40 PM

I believe that the dash gauges only reflect what air pressure is in the brake systems. The leveling and air bags do not typically have a gauge.
Also, it would seem that the outside air chuck should be supplied by the air bag system and not the air brake system. They are totally separate systems.

Beabop · 01-20-2008, 05:46 PM

Our 04 Journey still has air for a few days after dumping.

AFChap · 01-20-2008, 06:10 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I find that very interesting since only the Tiffin product was on a Freightliner chassis. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
My coach is on a Spartan chassis, but I really don't think the chassis mfg make any difference in this case.