Country Coach control board Needed ....

I dropped my coach off at Prevost Mira Loma last week to have air conditioning checked before I head out on a couple of different trips. At that time I was there I asked that they also check the jake brake.

They found a control board issue which prevents the OTR air from working when the key is turned on. While checking back in the engine area for the jake, they noticed some sparking of wires, and brake lines that were almost worn through from these wires (why this wasn't caught on an inspection last January is another mystery).

Anyway, I've been out of town, getting partial reports from the service people, and today I learn that the main control board, the one which controls jake brake, cruise control transmission etc, may be in needed of repair/replacement, however CC doesn't have any of these boards. It's probably going to be remove my board, and send it back for repair. In the meantime, I'm scheduled out this Saturday for 1 week, back one week, and then gone for 8. Not much time in there to pull out a control board, and not have a moving bus.

On to my question. Does anyone have a spare Country Coach control board, the one which controls jake etc? This is a 93 Vintage CC. I'd be happy to purchase one, purchase now-replace later, whatever might work. I'm just concerned that weeks of planning that cannot be easily changed might be in jeapardy.

Unfortunately, I don't know the number of the board but will tomorrow when I go out to Prevost in the morning.

I hope someone here may be able to help out.

Thanks in advance,
Ray

Sorry, this probably should have been in the Want/Need Parts forum. Moderator, please move as you see fit.

ray

Ray,

Are you sure the board you need is a CC part?

The things you described are typically Prevost systems, assuming the OTR air is the Prevost system and not a CC installed system.

Also, I may be wrong so verify this, but the OTR air and the Jake are two distinct systems that have no common point such as a control board that I am aware of regardless of whether the AC is Prevost or CC.

This is a comment to all: Nobody will do an underside coach inspection as good as necessary because they don't own the coach and they and their families do not ride in the coach. Anytime you get an opportunity to look under your coach, whether you intend to work on it or not, look, feel and listen. Look for wet spots or leaks, listen for air, look for things rubbing or pinched or loose, and feel around for all of the above if you cannot see in a given area.

If you are able to inspect your undercoach side and a mechanic is available do not hesitate to ask questions.

Ray....at POGII we will cover your entire brake system and you will totally understand it. We have an "operating" brake set up.

Ray,

I believe Bill & Jody have about the same vintage CC as yours, maybe Bill can shed some light on what your up against. They haven't posted in awhile, but hopefully they still have internet access. If you can get the part number, try to google the information and you might get lucky. If you can get Doug Rutherford on the phone at CC and explain your situation, he is usually real good about going the extra mile to help out and maybe can point you to the original control board vendor. It does sound more like a Prevost setup than CC.:rolleyes:

Ray, I believe we have the same year CC (93). I have two spare cards, but been awhile since i've looked at them. I'll do so today and let you know if I can loan you one until yours is repaired. I'm not sure which cards I have spares of.

It will depend on whats wrong with the card as the need to replace or send it back to the factory. If its just a component failure and its obvious (black item with burnt smell or bad relay) you may be able to locate a local technician to repair it for you. If the circuit card is burnt or heavily damaged, a different story. Its possible to build new cards, but costly without a good template to work from.

Again, I'll check on what I have available.

Yes, this is a Country Coach item. State of the art in 93 and used up till 2002, I believe.

Buddy Gregg in Lakeland (when he was in Lakeland) had a technician working for him that worked on the design team at CC during those years and was very familiar with the cards. In fact his iniatials are on some of the schematics as the "artist"/designer. Cant think of his name, but he may have moved to Knoxville Tn. and still be with Buddy. I'll see what i can find on him.

Mike

Ray / Mike,

And these are CC boards? I was thinking like Jon that they sounded like Prevost parts as I can't see CC building anything that would interfere / interface with a coach system or function.

However, if they are Prevost parts and the board is common to them, you can use mine if you can get yours fixed before mid July when I need to use my coach.

Made it out to Prevost today to check the state of "repairs". Definately saw some of the issues. This coach is suppose to have an over-the-road air system, but not the Prevost system. Something which I believe is called a Frigi-cool OTR. The tech showed me where when the ignition key was off, the fans in the back and bedroom kicked in as expected. The second the ignition key was turned on, the switch lights went off, and the fans ceased to function.

Voice alarm system works, but seems to repeat every 20 seconds. CC seems to think this is a timer relay that has gone south.

Cruise control is stuck in resume mode. (I found it to be intermittent), and although jake buttons light up, there is no indication when the diagnostic terminal is plugged in that the jake is operational. This confirms what I've suspected, as I haven't been able to "tell" when I press the jake brake. No increase in pyro temps when jake is in use, as several had mentioned would happen.

All in all, it turns out that the CC people say there are several boards which need to be inspected/repaired. I'm trying to work an appointment where my neighbor will drive from CA to OR for me next week. But, CC says they are booked up until September with repairs! So, I'm waiting to hear from the bus-conversion manager, Doug Wheeler for approval to schedule an early appointment.

And if that weren't bad enough, when I got ready to take the coach from Prevost today to finally get tires, the front of the coach wouldn't stay up. Using the manual controls it would go up, but sink down when put on drive mode. After 3 hours of trouble shooting, air lines were found to have some kind of oily residue in them, from who knows where! This was working fine before I took the coach in.

Jeesh! I'm not looking forward to seeing this repair bill. And I'm supposed to be leaving for Salt Lake City on Saturday morning. :o

Ray

ps: I'm hoping to make it to POG2, however vacation time is a real issue this year.

Ray, I am sitting here almost 4000 miles away and know that you gotta be pretty frustrated by now. I have been thinking about how to help you and have a suggestion.

Here it is: Call Lester Burgess at Ken Robertson RV Center in Lakeland, FL, and 'buy' an hour of his time if you have to. Lester has extensive experience with West Coast and East Coast converters, facilities, systems, etc. He was all over POG I, and is a very helpful guy in general. Perhaps he can help you narrow down some of the things that are happening so that you can get on the road and have some fun.

Being mindful that he is on EDT, his personal cell number is, (got a pencil everyone) 863-581-9414. I just spoke with him and he suggested that if you call him at 5:30 pm EDT, he will do his best to help you out.

BTW: POGI attendees: Lester says hi to everybody! (He did complain a bit about the heat, however).

Ray,

I hope you can keep up with this because it is making me dizzy. Not to grind this into grist but there are a couple of things amiss. Or maybe I am off base.

The Jacobs engine compression brake on the 8V92 functions by basically turning the engine into a giant air compressor while at the same time "shorting" the fuel injector so no fuel is injected during the power cycle.

The effect should be that the pyro temps drop substantially while the brake is in effect. Additionally the brake function should operate when you let off the throttle, not push on the service brake.

I would also suspect that the cruise is a function of the DDEC system, so that must be the reader you mention. Did they say what the issue was?

Sorry you are having a rough time, but every trip to Prevost costs me about $5000, so maybe you weren't to the minimum yet :eek:

Quote:

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so maybe you weren't to the minimum yet

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Maybe that is the whole issue! :eek:


I think I can summarize (hopefully I am correct). The Country Coach switches (throughout the whole coach) are all tied into logic boards in the first bay. They do not directly switch lights, or anything else. I guess the same is true of the cruise control, and jake brake etc. They go through the logic boards, and then the "proper" signal is sent off to the device that is supposed to be controlled. (jake, cruise control etc)

Evidently, according to the Prevost tech, they should be able to read the state of the jake and cruise control switches via the DDEC diagnostic port? That's what he told me. He indicated when they put the computer on the port, that it indicated my cruise control was stuck in resume mode, AND that although the jake lights were showing proper function in the cockpit, it wasn't registering on their reader.



Perhaps the Prevost tech is confused on this? For sure we can see the cruise control issue, because if you hit the "on" button, almost immediately you get an engine fault light. Occassionally I found if I hit the cruise on button, and immediately hit "set" then, the cruise control would engage without an error light.

I don't know, perhaps because he could "read" about the cruise control at the DDEC port, that he assumed he should see some indication of jake operation?