Exhaust Brake staying in 4th Gear

[Romeo]

I have a question on the operation of an exhaust brake.

I have the VmsPc so I have a display of the transmission gear selected as well as the gear the transmission is actually in.

Coming home from a weekend trip, I began my decent of a 5% grade from about 65mph. I applied the exhaust brake via the foot pedal and the Allison six speed shifted to down to 4th as normal. Once the speed was reduced to my satisfaction I released the exhaust brake. What happened, that I didnt expect, was that the transmission stayed in 4th grear when I released the exhaust brake. Once I reached the bottom of the hill the highway flattened out and I expected the transmission to upshift to 6th gear, but it stayed in 4th. I gave it some throttle to pick up speed thinking it would shift up, but it stayed in 4th. I noticed that the shift pad showed the gear selected was 6th but the actually gear was 4th (per VmsPc). In order to make it up shift I pushed 6 on the shift pad but it stayed in 4th. I am now far from the hill and increasing my speed via the throttle.. the transmission should now be shifting up. Now I am worrying that it is stuck in 4th. In an effort to get it to shift I pushed the MODE button. It finally began shifting up. At that point I dont know if my button pushing caused it to begin shifting or if the transmission finally did it on it own.

Not being that familiar with the Allison or exhaust brake operation, I dont know if this behavior is unusual.

Any thoughts?

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romeo Not being that familiar with the Allison or exhaust brake operation, I dont know if this behavior is unusual.

Romeo, Now that you have had the opportunity to shut the machine down, have you been back on the road again?

[Romeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriVer Romeo, Now that you have had the opportunity to shut the machine down, have you been back on the road again?

No I havent and won't take another trip for a week when I will be towing the Jeep.

[tommildren]

is it possible you were getting an incorrect reading on the VMSPC. what did the rpm's show, that would be the most accurate indicator

[Romeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommildren is it possible you were getting an incorrect reading on the VMSPC

Huhhhhh.... BITE YOUR TONGUE...! I'm going to tell SiverLeaf that you said that.

No it wasnt an incorrect reading. It was obvious that it stayed it the lower gear. I was also watching the RPM's (via VmsPc).

Now that I think about it, Norm4017 made a statement once that tells me it should not stay in 4th gear. He said the he had the foot pedal and installed a dash switch becasue he got tired of pushing the pedal on a downgrade. That would indicate that it should up shift when the pedal is released.

[Norm4015]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romeo Now that I think about it, Norm4017 made a statement once that tells me it should not stay in 4th gear. He said the he had the foot pedal and installed a dash switch becasue he got tired of pushing the pedal on a downgrade. That would indicate that it should up shift when the pedal is released.

If I remember correctly, only some 2000 Dutch Stars had a foot pedal to activate the exhaust brake and they were known to have problems. Mid year 2000 Newmar went back to putting the exhaust switch on the drivers side arm rest. The foot pedal contains a cheap (50 cent) micro-switch and is prone to failure.

There are two wires going to that switch and you can cut the wires and patch wires on them and run them up to the dash and install an On / Off switch there. When the foot pedal failed on my 2000 DSDP I installed a dash switch.

I hated the foot pedal from the beginning because I had to keep my foot firmly on it all the way down mountains. With the dash switch I could turn it on, enjoy the ride, then turn it off at the bottom of the mountain.

[tommildren]

I have a 2000 dutchstar with the foot pedal. when i release the pedal it does shift back to the gear it was in before the pedal was depressed. some times it seems it takes a few seconds longer than I like but it does shift back

[Romeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norm4015 The foot pedal contains a cheap (50 cent) micro-switch and is prone to failure.

I wonder if I am beginning to have micro-switch problems. Maybe it stuck closed this time. That would be pretty easy to check by replacing it with a switch.

Correction: it isnt Norm4017 it's Norm4015.