levelers not working, no power, where do I start?

[JerryPeck]

Trying to find wiring schematics for 1998 Tropi-I-Cal on Chevy chassis.

The parking brake on the transmission went out and the repair people messed up the wiring so that the levelers no longer work.

I'm not taking the motor home back to them again as they messed it up worse every time they touched it.

I was told they replaced some sensor switches in the braking system at the parking brake, I suspect they mixed up some of the wiring.

The normal previous sequence of actions was ass follows:
- With ignition on, in park, the 'Auto Park' light would come on, I could switch the 'Park Brake' switch and the 'Park Brake' light would come on, and the leveler control light would light when I pressed the on switch.

Now, with the ignition switch on, in park both the 'Auto Park' and 'Park Brake' lights come on, but there is no power going to the leveler controller.

Anyone had this happen or know where I should start tracing this down? I would like to find a wiring schematic to follow if possible.

[Richard S.]

The link below may help, page 16

http://support.powergearus.com/techdocs/82-L0051-00.pdf

[JerryPeck]

Richard,

Thank you, I will see if I can trace down what they mixed up.

[JerryPeck]

Richard,

I wanted to update you on my post and your link.

With that manual you linked to, I was able to find the problems, which were multiple in nature.

First, and I suspect this was caused by the company which did the brake work I referred to, I found that the conductor on pin 1 of the 8 pin connector which was supposed to go to chassis ground was at +12 volts. After failing to be able to trace this conductor (which changed colors a couple of times) simply cut the conductor about 6" or so from the control panel and spliced on a conductor which I took to chassis ground.

I found that fuse XF1 was blown, quite possibly because pin 1 was +12 volts instead of ground, so I had to order a set of fuses from the manufacturer through my local RV parts store.

Replacing fuse XF1 corrected the problem with the controller not coming on but did not correct the entire problem (the levelers still did not work).

I then used the trouble shooting checklists in the back of the manual to continue trouble shooting what was wrong. I found that the +12 volt conductor from the solenoid to the pump motor was bad - I had +12 volts on the solenoid end and 0 volts on the other end. I replaced that conductor and the levelers now work.

I spent quite some time trying to trace down what went where when I had no idea of what was supposed to go where (before you provided the link for that manual) - that manual allowed me to find and correct the problems.

Thank you,

Jerry

[Richard S.]

Jerry,
Sure glad it all worked out well. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

[Dmreese1]

Jerry,

I recommend you discuss this with the brake repair shope service manager. If nothing else he needs to be aware of the issues they caused. In my opinion, you should be due a refund to offset all the aggravation you went through.

I travel a bit and we are full time so each time I have a problem, I try to get some visibility out there to help others avoid similar issues. If somethong goes wrong with a repair, many times it is impractical to return to that dealer but I always contact them and let them know.

The manuals for all of these systems are readily available and there is no reason why the shop should be asked to step up to their responsibility.

Duane

[JerryPeck]

Duane,

I have talked with them and it is like talking to a brick wall.

I had to take it back 3 times and each time they found 'something else wrong' that supposedly was not there the previous time(s) and cost me even more.

It was after the second time I took it back just to make it safe to drive, that we went camping again and I discovered the levelers would not operate, at the third trip back for more corrective work when I told them about the levelers - their response was 'No way anything we did could have caused the levelers not to work.', not even considering that the levelers would not work without the parking brake working and that was all they were supposed to have repaired (rebuilt parking brake, replaced several solenoids, etc.).

The only thing they said was to bring it back after we've driven atleast 500 miles or more so they could re-adjust the parking brake - and by that time there was no way I was ever taking it back there.

There is no doubt in my mind that something in what they did crossed up the chassis ground from that pin 1 and that they made it +12 volts, which in turn blew fuse XF1 in the controller.

I do not blame them for the failure of the cable from the soleniod to the pump motor as that was, I am sure, just an unlucky coincidence in timing.

Before I took our motor home there I asked if they work on that Chevy chassis, they assured me they did, and all the time - but I suspect they either never worked on one or never worked on the parking brake system, let alone levelers.

The parking brake does work now, which is good (but at a great $$$$ cost).

The levelers do work now, which is also good, and at only about $60 in cost for fuses and the cable.