Interesting day

[jk_and_dog]

I made a decision today to go out and start the MH, take it for a short ride and just let it roll around, get the propane refilled, Pannel said it was at 1/3, (gage on tank said 3/4) but it had been in the drive way for three weeks, its been cold here (at least for SE Va) low 30 mid 20's.

A couple of weeks ago i had started the engine to let it run for 30 minutes so the air bags had refilled and the jacks were about 2 to 4 inches off the ground.

So mwe let the engine heater run for 30 minutes since it was about 28 degrees, started the diesel, started the diesel.

WHAT: no power to the auto jack pad. No lights no blinking no nothing. Press button....like the auto level....nothing....so press the bag deflate button....nothing....call dealer.

"look under the stair well for the motor and fuse panel....but first open the front driver slide and find clear box with lots of wires....controller for the auto jacks....under the slide or in that vicinity." So i unlock slide, start to open and about 3 inches later it abrutly stops. WOW! Ok lets close it....nope no power. Call back to dealer, ok I'll remove the interior stair and look at the hydralic motor. First I think I'll cut the engine off. OFF Well lets see what happens when I turn key to start.....WOW....lights on auto jack pad start to blink....GEE that's neet. I wonder if the bag deflate button will work....yes yes it works.....lights still blinking....raise jacks...yes yes ah ah no movement hit emergency stop.....oh no all lights go out! ok ok will slide come back in??? yes oh my yes it slides back in...lock it quick...done! Alright lets see if i turn key to aux position what happens...oh look at that, the lights on the jack auto pad comes on and there solid...no blinking. Lets raise the jacks...press button and wa la ther start to retrack, but wait where are the lights? there out again....oh no...turn key to off position. Turn key to aux position.....nothing, what do you mean nothing....they were on a minute ago...hey wait a minute, they're blinking again, woops there solid again, no blinking...wait solid. a minute later they are still solid. press auto store, i feel front of MH slowly going down, they nare moving yippee. Yes a light goes out then another jack light but the two in the back are still lit...wait....wait....wait a little more, come on wait....be patience, yes oh yes my oh my yes a third light goes out all is looking good. And then....and then...and then the fourth light goes out.....lets check....yes oh yess all jacks are up and stored........lets start the engine, it starts, lets put it in gear....release air break, hold onto stering wheel for we are about to move, ok we are about to move,,, a n y m i n u t e n o w t h e g e a r w i l l e n g a g e , maybe the gear will engage, try a little more gas but not too much since we are on a down hill slope, ok a little more gas....break break break STOP!!!!!. Wow that sudden lurch and the crashing noise in the rear. What was that? Lets look around MH inside and out....don't see anything unusall so I guess we'll set off down the road. An hour later we return with no unusall happening. We did put 8 gals of propane in our 1/3 full 40 gal propane tank to top it off???

Back in drive way, jacks up, air bags deflated, air break on......rehooked to 30 amp house power.....called dealer, answer....."GREMLINS"

All apears to be back to normal operations at the moment.......at the moment.

2007 Journey 36G 350 C-7 Cat

[jk_and_dog]

I made a decision today to go out and start the MH, take it for a short ride and just let it roll around, get the propane refilled, Pannel said it was at 1/3, (gage on tank said 3/4) but it had been in the drive way for three weeks, its been cold here (at least for SE Va) low 30 mid 20's.

A couple of weeks ago i had started the engine to let it run for 30 minutes so the air bags had refilled and the jacks were about 2 to 4 inches off the ground.

So mwe let the engine heater run for 30 minutes since it was about 28 degrees, started the diesel, started the diesel.

WHAT: no power to the auto jack pad. No lights no blinking no nothing. Press button....like the auto level....nothing....so press the bag deflate button....nothing....call dealer.

"look under the stair well for the motor and fuse panel....but first open the front driver slide and find clear box with lots of wires....controller for the auto jacks....under the slide or in that vicinity." So i unlock slide, start to open and about 3 inches later it abrutly stops. WOW! Ok lets close it....nope no power. Call back to dealer, ok I'll remove the interior stair and look at the hydralic motor. First I think I'll cut the engine off. OFF Well lets see what happens when I turn key to start.....WOW....lights on auto jack pad start to blink....GEE that's neet. I wonder if the bag deflate button will work....yes yes it works.....lights still blinking....raise jacks...yes yes ah ah no movement hit emergency stop.....oh no all lights go out! ok ok will slide come back in??? yes oh my yes it slides back in...lock it quick...done! Alright lets see if i turn key to aux position what happens...oh look at that, the lights on the jack auto pad comes on and there solid...no blinking. Lets raise the jacks...press button and wa la ther start to retrack, but wait where are the lights? there out again....oh no...turn key to off position. Turn key to aux position.....nothing, what do you mean nothing....they were on a minute ago...hey wait a minute, they're blinking again, woops there solid again, no blinking...wait solid. a minute later they are still solid. press auto store, i feel front of MH slowly going down, they nare moving yippee. Yes a light goes out then another jack light but the two in the back are still lit...wait....wait....wait a little more, come on wait....be patience, yes oh yes my oh my yes a third light goes out all is looking good. And then....and then...and then the fourth light goes out.....lets check....yes oh yess all jacks are up and stored........lets start the engine, it starts, lets put it in gear....release air break, hold onto stering wheel for we are about to move, ok we are about to move,,, a n y m i n u t e n o w t h e g e a r w i l l e n g a g e , maybe the gear will engage, try a little more gas but not too much since we are on a down hill slope, ok a little more gas....break break break STOP!!!!!. Wow that sudden lurch and the crashing noise in the rear. What was that? Lets look around MH inside and out....don't see anything unusall so I guess we'll set off down the road. An hour later we return with no unusall happening. We did put 8 gals of propane in our 1/3 full 40 gal propane tank to top it off???

Back in drive way, jacks up, air bags deflated, air break on......rehooked to 30 amp house power.....called dealer, answer....."GREMLINS"

All apears to be back to normal operations at the moment.......at the moment.

2007 Journey 36G 350 C-7 Cat

[GG1]

Does this stuff happen only with Winnebago or are similar occurrences listed on other owner sites? So far I haven't seen anything like the wierd things that go on here on the other sites.

[jk_and_dog]

My guess would be that Winnie has these special Gremlins that they place in the rigs as presents to the new owners. It keeps RV'ing interesting and exciting. Never a boring moment.

[smlranger]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by GG1:
Does this stuff happen only with Winnebago or are similar occurrences listed on other owner sites? So far I haven't seen anything like the wierd things that go on here on the other sites. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can assure you that if you read other RV-related sites, you will quickly realize that gremlins are not unique to Winnebago. Winnebago is one of the largest motorhome manufacturers in the US with thousands of rigs on the road. We only hear about a few.

[diesellabs]

don't know about your other gremlins, but the loud noise and lurch experienced was probably the results of your parking brake having been "frozen" -- maybe literally -- until you applied sufficient torque to break loose...

[ichn2go]

Just read the Newmar forum and the adventures of Rebelbeach if you think other manufacturers have no gremlins.
Most of my gremlins are caused by me. Tried to put the slides out on my diesel, no luck, put the emergency brake on and they worked just fine. Lots of built in safeguards to keep me from hurting myself..

Safe Miles and a Happy 2008

[skigramp]

jk ...

I have had some intermittent "slide-out" not wanting to work problems ...

A friend told me to tighten my switch as it was probably not tight and losing ground ... I checked and I could turn the face with my hand ... I went to my shop and made a small gizmo that I used along with a screwdriver to tighten the switch more ...

The intermittent slide problem has disappeared ...

I had also been experiencing wild fluctuations on my fuel gauge ... they also have gone away.

You could possilby be having a similiar problem since the behavior changed after manipulating your ignition key ...

[SCVJeff]

I'm kinda hoping I have an experience like this when out camping just so there's something to do...

[jk_and_dog]

I taking a wild guess here but it sure does appear to have something to do with the cold. This morning the weather was in the 30's again so i started the engine and again no power to the HWH auto leveler. Called HWH and they said to remove inside step to see the clear plastic controller cover. They wanted to know which LED's were lit. Call Snyders service center to find out how to remove steps. Theyn said there would be a step with screws, remove screws and remove ster. Well my steps have no screws. I'm out of town at the moment, I'm on west coast, MH is on east. (Sorry, I could not justify the MH on this trip...sorry i let everyone down...I flew.) I'll start the investigation over again when i get home and let everyone know the out come.

thanks
jk