Dumping Air

[troyrice76]

I am new to the Diesel. At the campsite. I would assume I would dump the air and this would lower the coach. When I press the air dump button and watch the air gauges do not seem to go down. Is there something I am not doing right??

[dishonestjon]

air gauges indicate air pressure in tanks and do not decrease. when you dump the air, look out the window and sight on something and you will notice the coach should drop 2/3 inches. when you press the lever to raise the coach, the air gauges may show a decrease in pressure as you use air to raise the coach. If the low air alarm goes off, don't move until the air pressure is back to normal as a lack of air will lock up your brakes.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by dishonestjon

If the low air alarm goes off, don't move until the air pressure is back to normal as a lack of air will lock up your brakes.

Not a problem, you won't be able to move the rig as the brakes will be locked untill the air pressure gets high enough to release them when the parking brake "button" is pushed in.

[troyrice76]

Thank you. We are camping a few miles from the house for a couple of nights before we head up to Buffalo.

Trying to get some things ironed out.

[Norm Mac]

Hi Troy;
I am not real knowledgable on this subject myself but I have virtually the same coach as you.
The air dump is very slow and there is no "Up" button, as soon as I release the airdump switch it immediately starts filling again.
I have been shutting off the engine and then turning the key back to "on" to dump the air, this works faster and seems to be right.
I hope other Monaco owners can tell me if I am doing right or missing something.

[troyrice76]

Do I want to dump the air after I level the coach??

[docj]

Originally Posted by dishonestjon

air gauges indicate air pressure in tanks and do not decrease.

This may be true of your MH, but when I dump air the gauges do drop which is what you would expect since you are dumping the air in the storage tank and well as in the airbags and brake system.

BTW on my coach you can only dump air when the engine is off and I suspect that is the way it is designed to work on most MH's. How could you expect the compressor not to come on when you dump the air unless the engine and compressor are off?

[KIX]

Originally Posted by docj

This may be true of your MH, but when I dump air the gauges do drop which is what you would expect since you are dumping the air in the storage tank and well as in the airbags and brake system.

So if you blow the air horn and use your brakes at the same time are you in danger of reducing air pressure in your air brakes?
I would expect the air brakes to be divorced from the air suspension, etc. systems.

[ahicks]

Originally Posted by docj

This may be true of your MH, but when I dump air the gauges do drop which is what you would expect since you are dumping the air in the storage tank and well as in the airbags and brake system.

BTW on my coach you can only dump air when the engine is off and I suspect that is the way it is designed to work on most MH's. How could you expect the compressor not to come on when you dump the air unless the engine and compressor are off?

X2
I would suspect that if somebody can dump their air with the engine running that the leveling system has been jumped/is not wired properly. I agree that should not be possible. In order to keep the step height as low as possible for easy entry/exit, I would dump prior to leveling.

[troyrice76]

I can't dump prior to leveling. Motor has to be on to level.

[CJScepter]

Do you have Air Leveling, and Jacks? I had a 1999 Monaco with jacks, I would turn off motor, turn key back on but not start motor, dump air and level with jacks. I now have a 2003 H.R. with air leveling, no jacks, I don't dump air, I just activate autoleveling with motor running and wait for it to finish and turn motor off. Some will dump air to get steps closer to ground but if area is not very level it may take some time for system to level it.
Hope this covers it
John G,

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by CJScepter

Do you have Air Leveling, and Jacks? I had a 1999 Monaco with jacks, I would turn off motor, turn key back on but not start motor, dump air and level with jacks. I now have a 2003 H.R. with air leveling, no jacks, I don't dump air, I just activate autoleveling with motor running and wait for it to finish and turn motor off. Some will dump air to get steps closer to ground but if area is not very level it may take some time for system to level it.
Hope this covers it
John G,

On our DSDP on Spartan I turn off the engine, turn the key to ACC, turn on the HWH control and dump the air, then I level with the jacks. Yours may be different but follow your manufacturers instruction. Some say to level first, then deploy the slides (ours does) or deploy the slides and level.

[AGP]

Originally Posted by Norm Mac

Hi Troy;
I am not real knowledgable on this subject myself but I have virtually the same coach as you.
The air dump is very slow and there is no "Up" button, as soon as I release the airdump switch it immediately starts filling again.
I have been shutting off the engine and then turning the key back to "on" to dump the air, this works faster and seems to be right.
I hope other Monaco owners can tell me if I am doing right or missing something.

I pump the brakes a few times this helps dumping the air.

[AGP]

Originally Posted by ahicks

X2
I would suspect that if somebody can dump their air with the engine running that the leveling system has been jumped/is not wired properly. I agree that should not be possible. In order to keep the step height as low as possible for easy entry/exit, I would dump prior to leveling.

I had a 2001 Winnebago Journey,a 2206 Fleetwood Providence,and currently a 2011 Monaco Knight all coaches would dump air with engine running.