power gear problems

[deedeeg]

We just bought a 96 Bounder 36'. On our second trip in it, the alarm (buzzer and light) on the hydraulic levelers started. The jacks were fully retracted, so the manual says the fluid is low. Are we just dumb? We cannot find anything that looks like the reservoir for the fluid. My husband crawled under the RV while parked at McD's, and couldn't find anything. Where is the thing? Is it one of those things where you have to be a contortionist to reach it? And, to make matters much worse, he got so annoyed with the beeping that he unscrewed the cover to the control pad, lifted it slightly (hoping to find a way to disconnect the buzzer). We smelled a burning smell, so he immediately put it back down. But now, the jacks won't go down, and the control pad says "low voltage". There appears to be a small copper strip on the circuit board that is not intact. Will we need a whole new board? Or maybe is a fuse just blown? Help!! Also, let me add that the RV does have a slide out; we found a reservoir near it, and we assume that it is the one that goes with the slide. It is full of fluid.

[Elkhartjim]

Burning smells are never a good thing.

You might contact Power Gear via e mail or they have a contact form on their website for their suggestions. Power Gear - Advanced Actuation Solutions for RVs or Contact - Power Gear

Good luck.

[BTBOY]

call Fleetwood at 1-800-322-8216 for the location of the reservoir

[garym114]

If the jacks are hydraulic the reservour is probably in front of the engine in the front compartment. Cyinider about 18 inches tall, 6 inch diameter.
Lifting the control pad will cost you. Calling power gear will just get you refered to the nearest service center, what you will probably have to do.

[JimM68]

I had a pace arrow, 1999 with power gear jacks that i had to rebuild. The pump was in the first passenger side compartment behind the front tire. It was burried in there behind the chassis battery. Here's 3 pics.
first one shows the pump and reservior installed, battery removed. Second is the whole pump out of the coach. Third is a closeup, I've pulled all the solenoid valves off. This one shows the level sensor (silver hex nut with 2 red wires) and fill plug (black hex with no wires) pretty clearly.

The alarm triggers if the level sensor is tripped. This happens if any jacks are down even a tiny bit, or if the fluid level is low. "Full" is running all over the floor if the plug is off.

Mine had a worn out pump. After some hassling with powergear and my dealer, I found one on ebay, brand new, which I scored for $500.

[YC1]

"There appears to be a small copper strip on the circuit board that is not intact. Will we need a whole new board?

If you know how to solder or know someone the trace can be replaced by a small wire.

[Coached]

Follow the line(s) from the jack cylinder back to its origin. Ours is in the engine bay, mounted on the Driver's side and clearly visible. I know this is not always the case however. It's easier (I think) to look for the manifold attached to the pump and the hoses coming out of it rather than the pump itself. The reservoir is almost always attached to the pump in some fashion.

[wa8yxm]

The nature of hydraulic tanks and pumps is they can go most anywhere.. On my Gasser that is "Front and center) it's the first active device behind the bumper, actually IN FRONT of the radiator. Open the hood and look down. as someone else said, his is off to one side.. No reason it can not be under steps or in a compartment.

The fluid tank is about the size of a modern not quite 3 pound coffee can Most likely lying on its side. , Black, with capped pipe sticking out of the top, there will also be thing on the top side with a pair of wires (The level sensor).

The instruction manual for mine says to remove the screw from he end of the tank (near top) and fill with the designated fluid (Which may be different than mine, but will be named on a sticker on the tank) till it drops out the hole, Replace screw.

If your cap has a dipstick attached whip clean, insert (Do not tighten) remove and use a vibrating marker or dremel or scribe to scribe a line at the "Full mark" then clean off, insert and tighten, remove and scribe a 2nd "Full" line for faster re-check.

Replace cap and job should be done.

NOTE: Only fill with jacks fully retracted.

[deedeeg]

Thanks for all the help from everyone! We did locate the reservoir, it is in the front passenger side wheel well (sort of), but it has a shield like plate in front of most of it, so you can only see the bottom 1/3 of it hanging down. I am thinking we might have to go through the top of the motor and remove some stuff to actually get to the fill hole. (You can't see any of this from the ground.) But we will eventually figure it out, I'm sure. We have also determined that one of the traces on the control board must have burnt, it is broken at one point, so we will try a solder fix on that before we spring for buying a new board. Can't hurt to try, right? Again, this forum is great for newbies like us, and we really appreciate the information you all provided.

[wa8yxm]

Considering the frequency with which that has to be refilled (The oil expands faster than the metal tank so if you fill it in say February in say Michigan.. Well, it's going to overflow in August anywhere short of Alaska, Then it will need another refill come Feb.)

I'm amazed it's not easy to get to. Mine sure is.