Airbag leak?

[gweedo295]

I have an 07 HR Endeavor, we are about to take it out (2800 mile round trip) for the first time. we purchased it three months ago and I have had everything I could think of serviced on it.

I have noticed after parking it for a period of time, the suspension air seems to leak. I noticed the rear mud/rock flap touching the ground and the air was at zero pounds.

I do not have a manual.

So a few questions: when I park the coach, I hit the Batt kill switch. I also turn off the main batt switch for the coach and chassis. I then plug it into electricity.

1. Any ideas as to the air leak
2. When I park for a long period of time, should I dump the air bags and use the levelers, or vise versa? or what should I do?
3. When I park at an RV camp, do I dump the airbags and then level?
4. Is there a auto leveler and if so, am I disabling this when I turn off the power
Thanks...

[K7JV]

I am assuming you have the HWH system for the control of the suspension in your coach. The system on our '06 Dynasty also leaks down over time, but thankfully only on the front left corner.

The battery kill switch by the door (the "salesman switch") is after the coach battery disconnect, so if you are disconnecting both battery disconnects, that is sufficient and switching the salesman switch is not required. We have never switched our "salesman switch" when we put our coach in storage for weeks at a time. So you do not need to operate that one.

Air leak? Could be any of the line fittings, one or more bags leaking, an air manifold leak, a solenoid operated valve leaking, or even a line or a tank leaking. It would require getting under the coach with a spray bottle filled with soapy water, maybe a mirror on a stick, and quite a bit of agility, dirt and head knocking to find it. I've chosen to live with ours, and it has been that way since new.

Parking? When we park our coach unattended for extended periods, I always dump the air before I shut down. That way one corner won't deplete and put a twisting force on the chassis and coach structure. I do not put the jacks down.

RV Camp? We normally level with air, but occasionally we will use the jacks. One good real reason to dump first versus dumping after would be to make sure the entry step will be ok if the coach settles. You don't want it to be able to come down onto a hard object. Replacement steps are very expensive! Also, if you dump first, you will minimize the extension of the jacks, thus adding to the stability of the coach. Finally, it is very likely that your leveling control system may dump the air automatically first, when you tell it to level the coach automatically.

Auto-leveler? You coach almost assuredly has an auto-leveler. Your keypad that operates the levelers will most likely have button for "MANUAL" and a button for "AUTO" operation. The HWH does not, however. On it, you press the top left button "AIR" twice, and the leveling will automatically take place. The system will check the slope of the coach automatically and add or expel air as needed to keep the coach level over time, even if leaks are present. One caveat, the HWH air compressor that is required to maintain this capability is a troublesome item, and may not be functioning on your coach due to contamination by dirt and water. If that is the case, come back to this forum with your issue.

Final thought - You may not have jacks, at all. If you have both, there will be a keypad for the HWH system and a keypad for the PowerGear or whatever system you may have for the jacks. The standard configuration during the mid-2000's was to level with air. The hydraulic leveling system was available as a $4,300 option, which we chose to include on our coach.

Good luck with your new coach! It should give you some truly great enjoyment and pride! Keep this forum at your fingertips, though. These coaches have issues from time to time, and you will most likely appreciate the resource. Also, go to the Monaco website and see if you might be able to download an owners manual for the coach. Or post a query to see if someone might have one that could be emailed to you, or mailed to you. And Monaco Tech is available to help you, by phone or by email, or even in person at Harrisburg, Oregon.

[gweedo295]

WOW... thank you for the info, that's a lot. very informative, I will certainly check for leaks. Our coach does have the leveling jacks as well, and it does have the manual/auto options. so, I'm thinking when I park within a site, I should dump the bags and then level with the jacks...sound correct?

if it is a bag leak it shouldn't matter too much if I use the jacks. I'd hate to see what those cost to replace. I had every fluid, belt, hose and filter replaced and a six new Michelin tires installed. You can imagine that cost, thankfully I was able to perform half the tasks myself.

This isn't our first RV, but it is our first pusher with only 40K miles on it. We recently retired and we are going to use it! Anyhow thanks again, I truly appreciate the info. I will definitely keep iRV2 handly.

[K7JV]

Very good, "Gweedo". I think you are right on with dumping and then leveling. It may be that when you select "AUTO" on your hydraulic leveling control it may dump the air for you. Some do, and some don't. As for air bag replacement, I have no clue what the cost might be, but I've never see any alarming posts about it to suggest that its too terrible of a job or cost. Again, though, I don't have any first hand experience with that.

Cheers for now, and do enjoy that "new to you" coach!

[Sheriffbubba]

Gwendo,

I have an 08 Endeavor so my systems are probably the same as yours... You have already been given excellent advice but since you don't have an owners manual, make sure that you open and close your slides at ride height... Air bags fully inflated.
My sequence is: park, put out slides, dump airbags, level with the jacks.
The Roadmaster chassis is different than most others that want to be leveled first, then open the slides. Hope this makes sense.

Brian.


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[Sheriffbubba]

Sorry, GWEEDO.... Not Gwendo.... Stupid auto correct.


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[Spaceball]

Similar issues with mine after I bought it. I do not have jacks however, it's air leveling only, which meant the auxiliary air pump would kick on way too often to my liking in re-leveling the coach when parked. The pump is not very loud but the "pssssss" when it's deflating one side is annoying and I hate to annoy my neighbors in the middle of the night.

In my case it was the solenoids on the HWH 6 pack manifolds leaking. The orings were old and shot. I ended up pulling and replacing the orings on every solenoid, even the one inside the solenoid itself just for peace of mind, and cleaning the mating surface on the manifold with a scotch brite pad.

It was a fairly easy job, the worst part however was safely getting under the coach with no air in the system.

There are pics of what the manifolds look like here HWH Leveling Six Pack Manifold Replace

and he was also kind enough in posting pics of the oring replacement process HWH Solenoid Valve Disassemble

The way to tell if they are leaking is to use a spray bottle with a dish soap and water mix, and just soak every bit of them when the system is aired up, you will see bubbles around the solenoids if they are leaking.

After I got mine addressed, it's held steady as far as 2 weeks now without the auto re-leveling system coming on which is better than the every 4 hours it was doing before

Hope that helps.

[gweedo295]

THANKS again everyone for the advice. I will try and figure things out with the info you have provided. In the event I run into any other issues or questions, I will certainly seek out your advice. Our first adventure in October is to California from Idaho. Safe travels to all!

Gweedo...

[gweedo295]

I apologize, I do have one other question. while traveling, what power source is recommended for the refrigerator. gas, converter battery? Thnx

[K7JV]

Many will automatically select the desirable energy source for the refrigerator. If AC is available, they will select the AC source. If it is not, it will defer to the propane source.

Whether you can run it on the inverter depends on how your coach is wired. I believe that they are normal NOT on the AC bus that is powered by the inverter, but on the AC bus that is fed by either shore power or your generator.

When you look at an AC load in amperes, you can roughly multiply that by 10 to get an approximation of what the load would be on your DC system via your inverter. So a 3 amp AC load for the refrigerator would result in roughly a 30 amp draw on the battery. (A 120 watt resistive load at 120 volts would draw 1 amp. A 120 watt resistive load at 12 volts would draw 10 amps. Hence the ten-to-one ratio.) That would take a 400 amp-hour battery to nothing in less than a half of a day. For the same reason, if your refrigerator has the DC option, the effect would be essentially the same as doing it thru the inverter.

So my choice would be to travel with the refrigerator on propane, or on AC if you are traveling with your generator running.

Be mindful of traveling with significant loads on your inverter, as that energy is ultimately being provided by the engine alternator while driving, and while they can produce very high levels of current for short times, demanding high currents for extended periods is going to take life out of your alternator.