A Picture Tells 1,000 Words...

[Jon Wehrenberg]

AJ and Darrell,

My brain did not kick in when Darrell mentioned the fix that was made on his coach. Hector and I were PMing this AM and the light came on.

Some coaches have a circuit to engage the brake lights when the Jake or the retarder is in use. When you have either the retarder or the Jake Brake on, and you let off the gas, the retarder or Jake engages and that brings on the stop lights to warn drivers following that you are slowing down.

I have not looked up any electrical diagrams yet, but on my coach for example (a 96 XL shell) relay 76 would be the one to engage the brake lights. This occurs without any use of the foot brake, and Darrells description suggests to me he has an earlier shell than a 96 which uses the black Bosch relays and his uses the P&B style octagon base realys.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

AJ do not try to confuse by overcomplicating. Very simply something wore out and began to leak, chase it down and repair it

[Coloradobus]

AJ,

Our case of the left rear leans turned out to be a brass connection (cracked) from the drive axle air tank to the tag. Mira Loma searched and searched and said it was either the tag Norgren or the tag air bag since it didn't settle with the tag dumped. So we arragned for them to replace the airbag. Still leaned. So, I obtained a Norgren valve for later install in Quebec. Prevost Quebec found the leak almost immediately last October and it was NOT the Norgren.
We also have sticky brake lights when its cold ( below 50). It IS one of our brake switches. When we leave tomorrow for Tucson for a Country Coach rally, Chris will test it while I hit the brakes to see which one it is. If Tucson Beaudry's doesn't have one, maybe we will zoom over to Mira Loma when we get to Indio.
Our friends just don't understand RV's or busses. I tell them to put their houses on wheels and watch what shakes off.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Jim / Chris....I think on your bus you have what Prevost calls bladder tanks. They are tanks solely connected to the air bags, the purpose of which appears to be to provide additional volume to the air bag portion of the circuit.

AJ does not have any tanks between the Norgrens and the air bags. But your advice should be noted by all others with your vintage coach because if the problem happened once, it could happen again.

[ajhaig]

When it rains it pours...

If a coach is leaning, as ours is right now, could that affect the preformance of the refrigerator?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

If you have an ammonia refrigerator it needs to be level. If it uses LP gas it is ammonia.

If it is a regular freon refrigerator it just needs to be somewhat vertical, and only so the compressor oil will stay pretty much where it belongs.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

AJ it has been my experience that you would have to be a little more unlevel before the fridge reacts.

Find a level spot and dump all the air bags all the way down till you straighten it out.

Get out the squirt bottle with soapy water, bet you'll find the leak.

[MangoMike]

AJ,

I'm assuming it's runnning, but not cooling sufficiently.

If you've already haven't done so, check the air filter on the bottom of the refrigerator. Clogged it will really degrades the performance. This is the easy fix.

MIke

[ajhaig]

Thanks everyone... Mike - indeed, the refrigerator is running, just not cold.

I've put Sarah in charge of getting the refrigerator resolved, which should be interesting (I hope Marathon doesn't kick us out).

With respect to the leans, the tech now thinks we have a problem with the 5-way valve (as Jon already identified as the problem), but the service department wants to test all the air bags first.

AJ

P.S. Is it ok to use drano on the shower drain?

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

AJ
P.S. Is it ok to use drano on the shower drain?

AJ, I would say NO. I don't think you want to use any caustic products like Drano on your pipes or have it in your holding tanks?

But I am a newbie, so wait for someone more knowledgable to give you their advice.

Gary S.