No power to slide outs

On my slide outs they say to have the engine running so that the maximum voltage is present and never put the slides out without having the jacks down.

I had problems with my bedroom slide when I first bought the Fleetwood Southwind. It wouldn't come back in. So I got out the little Power Gear book and looked at how to trouble shoot. I finally took the cover off the mechanism and found that Fleetwood had cut all the holes in the ceiling for the air conditioners, the lights, and what ever else was worked on that would create wood chips, aluminum chips, and pieces of fiberglass and they had dumped them in the slide out mechanism. I vacuumed it out, wiped out all the remaining particles, and lubricated it with slide out lube. Still wouldn't work. Then I happened to look at the little control units and the one for the bedroom slide was in the front of the compartment and the one for the living room slide was mounted in the back of the compartment. Plus the Power Gear booklet did not say anything about a slow blow fuse. I switched the fuses and surprise, surprise, the slide out came in. The trash in the compartment has jammed the mechanism and caused the slo blow fuse to blow. So I took the screws out and mounted the front slide control in the front and the bedroom slide in the rear. Why couldn't Fleetwood have done that?

Then last summer my living room slide out stopped coming in. It would go out just fine but when it came in it would reach a point where it was raised up to come in, flat floor slide, and it would blow the relay. Not the fuse.

I had to climb under the slide out and use a 3/4" socket and a 1/2" drive ratchet while my wife jogged the switch and it would come in. I had the motor tested and a technician determined that it was not putting out enough torque. So I change the motor at a cost of over $700.00. Simple to fix, cost a lot to fix it. I lubed the slides with a good quality slide lube and it now works great. Keep your slides lubed and use a lubricant designed for that purpose. Not WD-40.

Have you had work done on them or the coach lately?? Is it all the slides or just one?? There are relies that operate the slides along with being fused..
The reason I'm asking these questions is because we are having problems with our living/kitchen slide not wanting to come in after being out for a time.. We had new flooring put in and they had the slides(kinda) out to work, now I think the stop is out of adjustment and it's going out too far.. I need to measure and reset the stop.. Mike Mathews..

Wade, since you haven't responded to the previous questions yet, I'll tell you my story. First, I'm not sure if you have the top of the line Holiday Rambler or not. So, my remedy may not work for you.

We have 4 slides, 3 hydraulic and 1 electric. I had a problem with the hydraulic slides not moving including the generator tray (hydraulic). Come to find out, there is a computer board under the belly at the top of our front storage bay. I had to unscrew the bay ceiling panel to find it.

Apparently, the vibrations from going down the road caused some of the connectors to 'lose-touch' with the control board (has happened twice).

And to top it off, there is no mention of this computer board in any of our manuals.

MM.

wade17,

As wildmanbaker states, we need some more info. Were they working until recently? Any warning symptoms (slow movement, noise, etc.) the last time the sides were used? On mine, the engine must be OFF to put the slides out (it can be running to bring them in) and certain exterior bay doors must be closed (so they won't interfere with the slide).

Do you know if your slides are electric or hydraulic? Do you hear anything when you try to open the slide(s)? How many slides do you have and are they both experiencing the same problem? Make sure the slide controller has a good, solid ground connection.

The more you can tell us, the more likely we'll be able to get your slides working! :)

~Rick

O.K... Is this New to you, or have you had this MH for a while? Did this just happen? Was their any signs of problems before the slides quit working? If this problem has just developed, it could be a bad connection to the switches, or the control box for the slides. After long periods of non use the switches can form corrosion on the contacts. Sometimes just using them a lot will clean them to allow them to work.

I know all slide out are operated differently. Mine are Power gear and to operate, parking brake set, gear shift in Park, motor running and then you can slide away. Dose your owners manual give instructions? ~If not what brand of slides do you have? Also give the directions you are using to try to operate your slide. Might help someone else trouble shoot. The reason power gear recommends having the motor running is then the alternator is putting at least 13.8 to 14.1 volts back into the battery while you are operating the slide. I know there will those that say they do not run their engine and if your manual says not to, then do what your manual says.