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Ted, I think you took the right evasive action with the dog. Holding steady in the bus is probably much better than trying to swerve to miss a small animal. Although, I feel sorry for the dog, that is much better than you and Jan going in the ditch, hitting a tree or another vehicle.
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OK boys, explain this.... The white button does cancel the cruise on mine, but does NOT light up the red brake light on the dash or turn on the rear brake lights. Yes, the dash light works when using the foot brake.
On the other buses, I always used the little white button after hooking up the toad to check brake lights instead of using the pedal.
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Here's the skinny
Thanks Jon for getting the word out.
Here are the details.
I was on the I30 headed for the I40 in Texas. We needed to make a stop and the ramp was coming up. I was running with cruise control set at 64 mph. I began braking and started toward the exit ramp. About 200 feet into the exit, I first noticed something was not right. I had the sensation that the brakes had "faded" and were not holding properly. I had only a short distance to the crossing traffic area and a stop light.
At this point, I unbuckled my seat belt and was standing on the brake At about 35 mph I knew I would get the coach stopped but I did not get it stopped before I was in the first lane of the intersection.:eek: Luckily, no one approaching.
After the stop, I began testing different things with the coach. That is when I detected that the stop light on the dash was not coming on with the brake. Further investigation confirmed that this failure was allowing the cruise control to remain engaged and there were no stopping lights on the coach or toad. The fading sensation was the result of my braking and the cruise control accelerating.
After discovering the extent of this condition, I stopped again and started looking at the relay sets. (O.K. O.K. so first I sat and whined "Why me?" and scratched my head for a while, and then went to lunch and thought about it.) Then I started looking at the relays. I only handled one. R49 ABS Brake Relay. I pulled it, wiped down the contacts with my fingers, respreading the dielectric grease and re-inserted the relay. It has worked fine since.
In regards to some of the other comments:
Right after I took possession of my coach, the disengage button (square white) for the cruise control stopped functioning. I replaced it. I did some testing of that failed switch and my initial conclusion was that if the light bulb in the switch fails, the switch fails to function. Now I won't swear to this, because all I did was some quick and dirty testing, nothing exhaustive or complete.
As a result of this event, My DDE has a new new category of stopping events entitled "You're shittin' me!" :D
I haven't completely digested this one. But I am thinking that a hard stopping routine has to now include a smack at the disengage button or the on/off for the cruise control.
I hope you all avoid this. I am not done with this one and I will be replacing the relay.
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Sawdust, We did the relay pulling and the such after our Auto-Cruise experience. Even swapped relays around and called TRUK4U in a panic since we were treating our new coach as an alien! Shame on us.
Anyway, with no brake indicator on the dash and of course no brake lights, and checking all relays and breakers, we were stumped. For we did have brake lights when the Jake came on. You could see the glow in camera after dark. So, the lights worked one way.
Upon arrival home with the Beaver Coach #34, recollecting past experiences with other coaches, a few quick bangs to head with the RV Bay wall, enlightenment!!! Brake Switch failure. We've had brake lights stick on in cold weather as well, causing the brake lights to remain lit.
For 38 dollars and 2 wires and a wrench, replace it, even just for piece of mind,.:cool: you will know its new.
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Why did the brake switch fail? Corrrosion, Normal age-related failure, damage, unknown?
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Who knows why it failed, or why the other coach's switch stuck on when it was cold. Since this switch operates with a bit of air,(4psi) maybe small amount of moisture corroded it. Afterall, this current coach is 17 years old and it has sat indoors for most of its life, and things age. Our other coach was 10 years old, so it maybe age related.
Simple fix and comparatively cheep in the scheme of Prevost parts..
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One thing I have found interesting in these posts is the mention of the "white switch". Maybe this is an XL thing? My coach (and previous) has Prevo rocker switches for all the cruise control stuff. No white switch anywhere.
My CC had CC supplied switches, so I don't believe it's standard in any way!
Ray
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On both my XL coaches in between the cruise control rocker switch to set the speed and the rocker switch to resume speed was a square white push button momentary contact switch, that when pressed disengaged the cruise control and simultaneously lit the red "brake" annunciator on the dash.
I thought everyone had those switches in addition to the main cruise control on-off switch.
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Jon,
In the Marathon there is a "Decel" rocker switch that matches the others. Works the same and is spring loaded.
Really doesn't stand out like the white square one on the Liberty.
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I'm with Ray, I don't have a white switch either. I just have the four rocker switches. On/Off, Set, Resume, Decel. That's it, no white switch, must be a Liberty thing:D.