Power Gear Airbag Leveling System

[accidental_tourist]

I recently purchased a new 2008 Monaco Camelot 42KFQ, on a Roadmaster chassis, with the Power Gear Airbag (10 airbags) Leveling System. After leveling (manual or auto) the compressor that maintains the level state cycles on and off intermittently, but many times in a 24 hour period. The problem is that the electric motor that runs on the compressor is very loud - loud enough to disturb neighbors, as well as my wife and I. After several service stops at Beaudrys in Tucson, an airbag celenoid was replaced, a compressor leak was found and fixed, and all other airbags were tested for leaks and found to be ok. After our last service visit for this problem I was told that Monaco says "this is normal" in terms of maintaining the level of the coach. In fact, the number of times the compressor cycles on and off has been reduced, but stilll occurs numerous times each day, on some days more times then on others.

I have a hard time believing that anyone would design a system that did this so frequently and loudly. I'm wondering if anyone else with this system has experienced the same problem and/or if anyone has any suggestions about how to reduce these occurences and how to reduce the noise.

Any help I can get on this would be a great.

Thanks...

accidental_tourist

[MonacoMama]

I have Happycarz here with us tonight. He and SacsTC both state that you need to find someone else who has air leveling and listen to their cycling and how loud it may be.
It sounds like you may need to replace the motor though.

Good Luck figuring out the problem...

[William Willard]

MM, SacsTC, & Happycarz togeather? What brain power in one place -- Mama must have baked a new batch of cookies--
Turn it off after you park -- If the coach gets out of level, then you have a leak somewhere -- I turn our`s off, & it will get out of level some, but not by much -- Bill Willard, in rainy, miserable, Gilbert AZ.

[LewF]

You have an air leak somewhere. Every joint in every air system on the coach needs to be soaped and checked for leaks. Our coach would settle to the rear left over time and when the air leveling system was put in Auto the coach would eventually settle and the small air pump would keep it level. We had the air system checked for leaks at Wildwood (they checked every possible place where air could leak) and they found a leak on the large air manifold located in the front centerline behind the generator. After they fixed that we have had not "leaning" problems. Our air pump (I assume you are talking about the one located on the passenger side of the generator compartment) is quiet and seldom runs. We level our coach in auto and then keep it on as suggested by the manual. It keeps the coach level and the pump runs very infrequently. Loud is relative but ours is not objectionable when it runs. I would find a different RV service point to get a different opinion.

Lew

[caymann]

How does one fix an air leak?

[LewF]

Several ways to fix air leaks and many depend on the joint where it leaks. In some cases the leak will be at a fitting that can be tightened to fix the leak. Be careful just tightening fittings however since they might be defective causing the leak or they might break. In the case of our coach the air leak on the manifold was fixed by replacing the fitting. In addition newer coaches have airlines that push into and lock in the fittings. If you have this type fitting then you may have to remove the airline and cut off the end to give a nice clean surface to seal in the fitting. In some cases you can have failed components or, as we have experienced in the past, you can have a failed airline, old and brittle, that have to be replaced.

My advice on finding leaks is to use a spray bottle with a soap solution and spray a generous amount on all air connections. If you use a large spray bottle you can squirt the solution a good distance which makes reaching out of the way fittings easier. You may be lucky and have a leak that you can hear but don't count on it. When we had the brittle airline fail we could hear that but recent leaks on our new coach were only found by soaping the joint.

My advice is also to soap every air joint, there are a lot of them. The air systems are complex on these coaches and I did not trust that any air system was truly isolated from the others. I guess you can feel comfortable that a system like the door seal air is separate but that was checked as well when we were tracking down a leak. Don't forget the air horns. Bottom line is that if your coach is settling or over time leaning to one side it is a sure sign you have an air leak somewhere.

Hope this is helpful - this is based on our experience chasing and fixing air leaks on two coaches, current Camelot and former 2007 Endeavor.

Lew

[William Willard]

accidential_tourist -- Didn`t mean to give you a short answer -- We have a 07, 42' Camelot with air leveling -- After parking & leveling, I turn off the leveling system, & for sure at night -- I don`t like the rude awakeing, that the jerking of the leveling system causes - Sounds like someone is breaking in -- If the motorhome gets so far out of level that it`s unconfortable, I turn the the system on -- Finding air leaks is a real bear, especially with a tag axle, & air leveling - Very close quarters, & "thousands" of air fittings -- The airlines are the push on type, & if your`re not familair with this type fitting, like me, that will pose a problem also -- Happycarz came to our place & fixed air leaks, & tried to teach me how to work on the air fittings, but his student is lacking in mechanical skills -- Good luck, & enjoy your new motorhome -- Bill Willard