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Stan&Jacquie · 08-24-2015, 02:33 PM

Just parked at our site and the Power Gear Levelers won't come down. The LED control panel has a flashing light by "Engage Park Brake" but the brake is engaged. Neither the "Auto"nor "Manual" features will engage while the engage brake light is flashing.

Does anyone have an idea as to how to rectify this? DW is not happy!

puttin · 08-24-2015, 02:38 PM

Is the transmission in Park? Did you dump your air before trying to engage the brakes? Maybe obvios but have to ask. Have you had this problem before?

**CLIFFTALL** · 08-24-2015, 02:39 PM

There is a switch that gets engaged when you depress the parking brake. It may be out of alignment and therefore not engaging giving you that error code ( engage park brake ). Try to wiggle the brake pedal.

Smitty77 · 08-24-2015, 02:42 PM

If you have not yet done so, try cycling thru starting the engine, put your foot on the brakes and put it in gear, take off the emergency brake (Foot still on brake pedal

!), then shift to either Park of Neutral (Park if appropriate, but probably Neutral as suspect you have the Alison 3000.), put on the emergency brake, and then turn off the engine.

Sometimes these electronics can get confused

! And a few cycles of full on/off can un-confuse them.

After that, I'll let others make suggestions on Power Gear, as my knowledge is from a decade ago with a Bounder

!

Sometimes the companies tech support, can walk you thru trouble shooting too.

Best of luck, and though not good that they won't go down, better then being down and not going up!
Smitty

Stan&Jacquie · 08-24-2015, 03:51 PM

We'll, no luck. Tried the following:

- wiggled the brake
- complete on and off sequence from dead start to shutdown.
- have NOT dumped air, since the terrain is not too bad.
- pulled electrical plugs apart and sprayed with elec. cleaner. Couldn't reach wires that were bolted to the motor but attempted to spray them.

This has happened once before but it self corrected with a few tries.

Mageksl · 08-24-2015, 04:37 PM

Is the red brake light coming on when you engage the parking brake? If not, I would suspect the switch on the parking brake. If that is the case either the switch is bad or a wire came loose. Maybe a fuse for the parking brake.

Sorry, but I don't know where the switch is on your coach.

lenjen · 08-24-2015, 04:59 PM

Sorry you are having this issue. A few weeks ago mine was the opposite with the jacks not coming on to retract. At least you can camp with no jacks, I was stuck... the RV does not move with jacks down, no coming home. I did all the steps, many times, opened the fuse area, wiggled wires and the next time I cranked up the jack lights came on and we were headed home. Good luck I hope you find the solution.

PCarnathan · 08-24-2015, 05:10 PM

Sometimes mine won't come down, either, until I "raise" them first. It seems I may have a slight leak. Hence, before I lower the jacks I have to raise them which seems to reset the system. Worth a shot, huh?

Pat in Menifee, CA
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epj · 08-24-2015, 05:35 PM

Not exactly the same problem, but sometimes my jacks won't come down without the engine running. Got to clean those battery terminals.

Stan&Jacquie · 08-24-2015, 06:12 PM

Gentlemen, thanks for hanging with me. Tried the system again and lo and behold the brake light went out and I was able to select auto to begin the leveling cycle. The first jack just started to move when the system faulted (all light flashing) and the jack retracted. I do believe there is a bad connection somewhere....the "engage park brake" light was flickering as opposes to blinking steadily suggesting to me that the connection (somewhere) is weak.

Tomorrow I will get into the fuse box and also look at the wiring directly under the switches in the drivers cockpit.

Keep those great ideas coming....thanks!

Stan&Jacquie · 08-24-2015, 06:14 PM

Also......yes there is a park brake light on the dashboard and it is on when the brake is engaged.

Stan&Jacquie · 08-28-2015, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stan&Jacquie

Also......yes there is a park brake light on the dashboard and it is on when the brake is engaged.

Case Solved!!! Ok guys , here's the scoop. After 5 tech hrs of troubleshooting with numerous tech support people, the problem was narrowed down to a bad pressure switch at the base of the air brakes mushroom button.

Apparently the leveling system wants to know that pressure was applied to the brakes before leveling. When the switch senses at least 65 psi it closes the grounding circuit to the leveler controller hidden on the roof of a central bay storage area.

While I am pleased the problem is solved ($35 part and $500+ labor), I am not pleased with Monaco's customer service process. The mobile tech I hired had to call Monaco and after getting a suggestion had to get off the phone and call back if necessary. Calling back put him at the end of the call que again and when he finally got through, got a rep different from the previous one. Hence, he had to explain the problem all over again.this went on for about 7 calls.....hence the high labor bill.

If Monaco is listening I would like to suggest:
1). When a tech calls for tech support, assign the case a job number. When the tech calls back, use the job number to route the call to the original tech .

2). ....and/or when a tech calls back, allow the Monaco tech to call up the job on his/her computer. That screen should contain the history of the problem and the most probable next step. No way should my tech have had to spend so much time on the phone and then bill me for Monaco's inefficiency.

Sorry for the rant......thanks to you all for your concerned support,

Stan&Jacquie · 08-28-2015, 07:20 PM

PS. In fairness to Monaco, they were able to guide my tech to the problem. I am most appreciative for that!

puttin · 08-29-2015, 08:51 AM

Glad you got this all done! The info you supplied should be useful to alot of people having the same issue. Also I liked your feedback to Monaco- sounds very good and constructive.