Pac Brake Question
Hello All,
I’ve got a question on the Pac Brake. When we bought our 1996 Dynasty years ago, (it was used) the vehicle already had a Pac Brake installed. It’s activated by a foot pedal and when you are driving and activate the Pac Brake 2 things happen. First, the butterfly valve in the exhaust stream closes and secondly the transmission begins downshifting (as the governor allows) with a target of second gear. When parked and activating the Pac Brake the only thing that would happen would be the butterfly valve in the exhaust stream closes and so affects the engines idle. Now 10 years into owning the coach the Pac Brake has started blowing fuses. After replacing many of the components, (solenoid, relay, 36 foot wire run to the rear, etc.) I finally swallowed my pride and the took the rig to a reputable shop for trouble shooting. They got back with me 2 weeks later and told me the whole thing was wired incorrectly to start with. I paid them big money to fix it and sure enough the Pac Brake works fine now and no longer blows fuses. What’s peculiar is that it basically no longer works idling in neutral. As you recall it used to be that when parked and activating the Pac Brake the butterfly valve in the exhaust stream would close and so affect the engines idle. Now the unit only works when in gear and rolling. So, with all that said was it just a fluke that the Pac Brake worked while parked before? Should it always have been the way it is now? I don’t want to just barge back into the shop and yell, “Hey, my Pac Brake no longer works in park!”. Then have the service manager tell me that’s the way they are SUPPOSED to work. You know what I mean? Does anyone have any thoughts or advice? - Tom
I’ve got a question on the Pac Brake. When we bought our 1996 Dynasty years ago, (it was used) the vehicle already had a Pac Brake installed. It’s activated by a foot pedal and when you are driving and activate the Pac Brake 2 things happen. First, the butterfly valve in the exhaust stream closes and secondly the transmission begins downshifting (as the governor allows) with a target of second gear. When parked and activating the Pac Brake the only thing that would happen would be the butterfly valve in the exhaust stream closes and so affects the engines idle. Now 10 years into owning the coach the Pac Brake has started blowing fuses. After replacing many of the components, (solenoid, relay, 36 foot wire run to the rear, etc.) I finally swallowed my pride and the took the rig to a reputable shop for trouble shooting. They got back with me 2 weeks later and told me the whole thing was wired incorrectly to start with. I paid them big money to fix it and sure enough the Pac Brake works fine now and no longer blows fuses. What’s peculiar is that it basically no longer works idling in neutral. As you recall it used to be that when parked and activating the Pac Brake the butterfly valve in the exhaust stream would close and so affect the engines idle. Now the unit only works when in gear and rolling. So, with all that said was it just a fluke that the Pac Brake worked while parked before? Should it always have been the way it is now? I don’t want to just barge back into the shop and yell, “Hey, my Pac Brake no longer works in park!”. Then have the service manager tell me that’s the way they are SUPPOSED to work. You know what I mean? Does anyone have any thoughts or advice? - Tom
