Stranded in New Hampshire - Help!

[Georgia_Biker]

We have been through 4 campgrounds in a week working our way to New Hampshire to see h leaves change through October. We arrived t our campground in Strafford, NH around none. Got to our site and ready to unhook and "silence".

The landing legs would not come down, we have an auto leveling system. I also discovered the slides won't work which leads me to believe it's the hydraulic system. I checked all the fuse and circuit breakers - nothing.

I called my trusty Good Sam Elite help guy. He said a technician would have to see it.

Luckily we were only 26 miles away from a Camping World in Chichester, NH - we got there at 2:00PM and sorry we cannot see you today - come back tomorrow-

We did find a camp ground a mile away (cash only) so we are there tonight making the best of a bad situation.

Anyone ever have hydraulic problems like ours? Should we just plan to head back to Georgia?

Just venting - my wife is ready to sell this thing-

 

[For20hunter]

Probably your relay. Look for your relay block (a series of relays all hooked to a bus bar) and feel on the sides of the relays for the one that has a tiny little button on the side. Press that and hopefully that was the problem and you will be back in business.

Rod Ditrich

 

[cookie]

When you say you checked the breakers and fuse-nothing, do you mean no problem found or no power?

Somewhere in the bank of 12 volt breakers, one of them has a tiny reset button on the side of it.
Look for it and press it to reset. Actually feel for it.

If no results there, check all other 12 volt wire connections.

Let us know what is found.

Peace
Dave

 

[danemayer]

The hydraulics motor is powered primarily from the battery. So the first question is: is your battery charged? One easy way to tell is to see if you have lights inside when shore power is disconnected. If they're all LED, you might have to try the furnace to get a good test. If you don't have 12V getting to the inside of the coach, the battery is probably discharged, or the aforementioned mini-circuit breaker near the battery has tripped and needs to be reset. Here's a pic.

The 2nd picture is what the typical collection of mini-breakers/buss bar near the battery looks like.

Also, you might want to look through our 12V Block Diagram and Diagnostic Guide. If you have a voltmeter, it'll step you through a diagnostic that may help get to the bottom of your problem.

 

[Georgia_Biker]

Dan-

I am familiar with that "mini breaker" from a previous charging problem and that fixed it. I just now went out and rechecked it and it seems ok. I even disconnected shore power and I have plenty of battery lights, appliances, etc.work.

Maybe the breaker itself is bad.

All other connections look good

 

[Georgia_Biker]

Dave-

See my reply to Dan - the mini breaker seems fine - I pressed t a number of times

 

[Jim.Allison]

Do you have a multimeter?

 

[Georgia_Biker]

Ha Ha - Sure I have all kind of troubleshooting stuff back in my shop in Georgia. Lesson learned - guess I'll add one to my toolbox for the road

 

[danemayer]

Ha Ha - Sure I have all kind of troubleshooting stuff back in my shop in Georgia. Lesson learned - guess I'll add one to my toolbox for the road

Larry, it's going to be hard to get any further on your own without a meter to see whether the pump is getting power. The only other thing I can suggest is to check the wiring connections at the mini-circuit breaker and at the pump.

 

[Georgia_Biker]

Dan and Ann-

Thanks for the reply. We are down for the night. Luckily the bedroom goes out on electric power. The cable doesn't work (not surprised) and we are till hooked to the Dodge Ram but everything is pretty level. JuJu, our little dog is keeping us entertained. We will be sitting at the door of Camping World at 8:30 AM - will let you know what happens

 

[iowaone]

When I had a similar problem the cables were kinda of loose at the battery. Run most things but not the pump. You probably checked that. I didn't till someone suggested that I check.

 

[porthole]

Few days earlier and we could have helped, we were just in the area.
Good luck with CW.
I'd still call Lippert and see if they can walk you through the issue.

 

[Rodbuster]

As porthole mentioned, I also would call Lippert. I had a hydraulic problem a few months ago while we were in California. I called Lippert and spoke with their technician. He walked me through a few test and diagnosed the problem.

Wonderful people to deal with.

Dick

 

[Georgia_Biker]

Happy Ending!

Camping World - Chichester,NH was not able to see us when we arrived on Thursday afternoon. Our young service writer - Sarah was very apologetic but said we would have to come back in the morning and she suggested a campground just down the road.

Great Meadows Campground took us right in - They only take cash and the cigarette smoke in the office was so thick I could hardly breathe. Very tough pull in to maneuver but, had no choice. The night was an adventure since we could not disconnect from the truck and the slides would not go out. The bedroom slide is electric - so we had good access to the bedroom and bath.

Next morning we are at CW at 8:15 and Sarah was already there to meet us and expedite our check in. We were on our way at 2:00 PM!

Hydraulic Problem: Very good technician Jim found loose battery connection causing landing gear problem ( my bad - I missed it ) - also a terminal on the slide solenoid had broken off and the wire had fell behind a wire bundle which was hard to find. Jim performed some rerouting of the wiring to head off future problems from vibration. He showed me some more things to do when I return home.

Refrigerator LP problem: LP line was being pinched closed when the slides come in. Line needs replacing but a 3 day wait for parts -will make do until I get back to Georgia.


Jim also repaired a cracking molding seal on the right front.

KUDOS for this CW dealer and I will be sending them a note.

Lesson learned: Pack a volt meter, inspect all wiring and connections better and reposition for less chafing and vibration, inspect all seals

 

[Garypowell]

Thanks for letting us know. We all learn from others experiences. And really glad it turned out not to be too bad.

Now....put it behind you and go enjoy those leaves!

 

[clayhud]

Great to hear you are back on the road and also sounds like your experience at CW was positive! Enjoy the rest of your trip and come home before it snows.......LOL