Bedroom Slide-out Won't Deploy

[p00ches]

2003 Winnebago Journey DL 36GD, 330 Cat, 72000 miles.

My main slid-out works fine, but the rear one does nothing. Other electric's seem fine, as far as I checked. Can anyone tell me where to find the fuse/breaker that power the slides? I think the rear one is not fed from the coach battery's, because the main slide runs with the coach batteries off.
My manual says to look under the steering wheel, but I had no luck there.

Thanks, ....Doug

[smlranger]

Doug,

I lived with that intermittent problem for several years. Try starting your engine and see if the slide will deploy. That usually worked for me. Also, I had to occassionally get under the coach and tap on the automotive type solenoids that are clamped to the pump motor.

Last year we visited the Winnebago factory at Forest City, IA. They replaced my big slide nylon bushings and one of those solenoids and we've had no more problems with the rear slide....it works every time, big motor running or not.

Also, the hydraulic pump that deploys the slides and lowers the jacks is powered by your chassis batteries.

[CWHTRAINS]

I also found that occasionally one of the bundle of wires that plug into the back of the HWH control board wiggle a bit loose and by opening up the stair cover and pushing all the plugs in has worked on mine. It also appears to me that the more I open and close the bedroom slide, the better it seems to work over time for me.

[clarkgriswold]

Not familiar with the Journey but I had that exact problem on my Adventurer and it turned out to be low hydralic fluid. Just a thought.

[p00ches]

Thanks for the replies. I connected my battery charger to the engine batteries, at the 20 amp setting. for an hour. Now the slide works fine. Weak batteries.

Question : The two batteries are a year old and the maintenance-free type, with lots of wires attached. Do I need to disconnect the wires to charge? I didn't. Also, the current didn't drop off after an hour of charging like I expected. Are my batteries bad already?

Thanks, ....Doug

[smlranger]

Doug, if those batteries are only one year old and are the size specified (950 CCA for the CAT 330), they should not be giving you a problem. Suggest you disconnect them, charge them again, and check them with either a battery load tester or check each cell with a tester that will check specific gravity. Also, if you don't have a Trik L Charge or some other battery maintainer installed for the cranking batteries, it is well known that the Freightliner chassis will slowly discharge them over a period of several days due to many parasitic loads.