Mr4aces
Aug 03, 2021Explorer
Fleetwood air brake/jack leveler issue
I have a 2018 Pace Arrow diesel on a freightliner chassis. Its has an intermittent problem that causes big headaches- intermittently.
This is the scenario: Occasionally running down the highway the air brake alarm will starting beeping, which is the alarm that is supposed to tell me that the unit has the air brake released but not in gear, or conversely that the unit is in gear but with the air brake engaged. I can relieve this alarm by sounding my air horn, thus releasing some air and the alarm goes away.
Also- and more of a headache- sometimes the Powertrain leveling jacks do not recognize that the air brake is engaged, so the control board will not energize. More often than not this also can be relieved by hitting the air horn. Which my camping neighbors appreciate. However on one occasion I could not get the powertrain levelers to recognize the air brake, thus the slides would not retract and the levelers were stuck down. Even putting the unit in drive gear did not retract the jacks. After a lot of plugging, unplugging, hot wiring slides, etc, the jacks retracted. But the mobile service tech and myself are not sure what we did to get this to happen.
So- frustrated and scared of getting stuck again- I sent it to the freightliner service center. After $900 and a lot of troubleshooting, they determined it was a fleetwood problem, everything on the freightliner side checked out, Just for my own satisfaction I personally replaced the air brake switch under the dash for $ 40 but it did not change anything. So then I sent it to an authorized fleetwood rv service center, who in turn can not find the problem but say it must be on the freightliner side.
That is my dilemma. Has any fleetwood owners or freightliner owners had as similar problem? Does anyone have any suggestions what to troubleshoot next?
Thanks!
This is the scenario: Occasionally running down the highway the air brake alarm will starting beeping, which is the alarm that is supposed to tell me that the unit has the air brake released but not in gear, or conversely that the unit is in gear but with the air brake engaged. I can relieve this alarm by sounding my air horn, thus releasing some air and the alarm goes away.
Also- and more of a headache- sometimes the Powertrain leveling jacks do not recognize that the air brake is engaged, so the control board will not energize. More often than not this also can be relieved by hitting the air horn. Which my camping neighbors appreciate. However on one occasion I could not get the powertrain levelers to recognize the air brake, thus the slides would not retract and the levelers were stuck down. Even putting the unit in drive gear did not retract the jacks. After a lot of plugging, unplugging, hot wiring slides, etc, the jacks retracted. But the mobile service tech and myself are not sure what we did to get this to happen.
So- frustrated and scared of getting stuck again- I sent it to the freightliner service center. After $900 and a lot of troubleshooting, they determined it was a fleetwood problem, everything on the freightliner side checked out, Just for my own satisfaction I personally replaced the air brake switch under the dash for $ 40 but it did not change anything. So then I sent it to an authorized fleetwood rv service center, who in turn can not find the problem but say it must be on the freightliner side.
That is my dilemma. Has any fleetwood owners or freightliner owners had as similar problem? Does anyone have any suggestions what to troubleshoot next?
Thanks!