Allison Transmission issue ?

[gMw]

Yesterday, I'd almost completed a 280 mile trip to a campground in NY without any problems. We stopped at a traffic light after exiting the highway, once the light turned green, I tried to accelerate, the motorhome began to move, than a hard stop, engine still running normal. The transmission had jumped into neutral, 1st attempt to put the transmission back in drive had the same result. About the 3rd attempt, it worked and the motorhome accelerated normally. There were two more stopped we had to make before getting to our campsite, with the same problem each time, as we tried to accelerate, transmission had jumps into neutral, after several attempts, it will hold in drive.

Before getting to the exit for the campground, we'd stopped several times and had no issue.

Anyone else experience this kind of problem? Any clues?

I haven't started the engine today to check error codes, but tired checking yesterday and did see anything of value there.

BTW, the transmission filters and fluid was chanced about 5k mile ago..

TIA,

[Gary RVRoamer]

I had that experience about 1000 miles ago. Never re-occurred.

First thing to check is the transmission fluid level.

A intermittent power or ground for the transmission controller (TCM) or the shifter panel could have that effect too, I think. Tough to diagnose that until it fails solid.

I'll add a shortcut in the Allison Tranmission forum to try for some more input on this.

[gMw]

Gary,

Thanks for the reply. I contacted Freightliner, a local Freightliner dealer and an Allison service person. Basically Freightliner thought it was an Allison transmission problem, Allison thought it was an electrical problem.

Things got worse, or better, depending on how one looks at it, I went to start the engine, it promptly died, than lost all 12v power from the chassis batteries. Batteries were replaced 2 months go and read 12+v. After contacting Freightliner, they told me about a circuit breaker that's been known to fail (like this), after some searching, found the defective 130 amp 12v circuit breaker. Replaced the circuit breaker and have 12v power back, engine starts, lights work again, etc.... Hopefully this fixes everything.

[FrankT]

I had that same problem with the circuit breaker and a allison dealer charged me 10 Hr. labor for a cost of $1100 to repair it. It was the circuit breaker.

[Chief]

George/FrankT--Come-on guys, don't leave us hanging.

What fuse was it and where is it located?? If it failed on your coach it will probably fail on someone else(s). Sure would be nice to be able to check that fuse before incurring an expensive repair. Thanks

[FrankT]

The circuit breaked is mounted on the frame rail near the transmission. It is about 2"x2"x1/2" in size. It looks like a little box with 2 wires attached.

[gMw]

Yesterday I put in a temp. fix, installed a 40 amp fuse, just to see if it would hold, it did and there was enough power available to start the engine and test lights and such. Of course I didn't try running everything at one time. Once I knew there wasn't a short, I called the nearest Freightliner dealer, 45 miles away. They don't carry the part, which is Buss 181135P010. So I returned to the local parts store and found a 150 amp, reset able circuit breaker. I installed it morning, everything appears to work just fine.

Frank is right, it is about 2"x2"x1/2" in size, black (painted red on our coach), mounts with ¼ 20 nuts and bolts.

On our coach, this circuit breaker is mounted on the battery side, to a bracket that's mounted on top of the frame. Same bracket that holds the started motor replay and another circuit breaker. It's a bit of a challenge to change, but obviously do-able.

Once the job was done, I couldn't resist the urge to open the defective circuit breaker. There's a bi-metallic metal piece with two contacts mounted to it. One of the contacts looked great, the other a bit burnt and had fallen off the bi-metallic metal piece. Explains the rattle I heard shaking it prior to opening it up...

[SteveG]

Although my Allison problem was not the Circuit Breaker, I thought it might be helpful for someone who is looking for a solution to mention that our Allison computer failed. Symptoms: shuddering until warmed up; loss of power during initial take off; then after a few minutes everything returned to normal and ran normal all day. Overheating alert when transmission was running at 165 degrees. Took a while for mechanic to diagnoise it as initial codes indicated sensor failure. But since the gizzmo thzt monitored the sensor failed how would it know? Fixed now and we lucked out as or 2004 Journey was still under the 5 year unlimited Allison warranty.

[SteveG]

After we drove the "fixed"� transmission home it turns out that the take off shuddering we were experiencing is still taking place. Allison told me that once the engine problem is solved then the Allison computer will be able to correctly "learn"� the shift points and will stop banging into 1st gear. This has become quite a learning experience!

[gMw]

Steve, Thanks for the info.

We just returned from another trip to New York.

One symptom I failed to mention in my original posting was our dash board lights flashed when we hit a good size bump, the motorhome continued to run just fine, right up ˜til the time it failed completely.

We taken a couple of trips since replacing the circuit breaker and the flashing dash light problem hasn't returned.

[Elliott & Laurel]

George, Did replacing this fuse resolve the problem with the transmission slipping into nuetral? We have a 2003 Fleetwood Discovery 39J w/ a 330 Cat engine. When we hit a large bump (or when the rear of the coach goes over a speed bump at slow speeds) the engine lights on the dash come on, an audible chime sounds, and the transmission slips into nuetral. When this happened, I was able to put it back into '6' after stopping and it resumed with no problems. I am not sure if I can do this without bringing the unit to a complete stop without screwing up the transmission. I'd like to get this resolved prior to getting stuck somewhere. Thanks for the info!

[RWW]

I am having a similar problem with my 2003 Dutch Star on a Freightliner chassis.
The dash panel lights come on and the engine shuts down killing all the 12 volt chassis power. No horn, headlights, radio, etc. Funny thing is, after the coach sits several hours, everything seems to return to normal. The engine starts and everything works until you go to shift the transmission out of neutral. Then it's the same thing all over again. I can't even back it out of my storage spot to get it to the shop. Do you think this frame mounted circuit breaker could be my problem? Thanks for the help.

["007"]

I do not know if you have room to check your ground connections to chassis frame for batteries, engine ground strap to frame, computers grounds to frame just any ground locations you can find. Going over bumps and shaking things up, battery and ground sources would be a place to start.

[RWW]

Thanks for the quick response.
I think I have checked everything you mention here.
I am getting power to the dash area but everything on the ignition side is dead. What is really confusing here is that if it sits awhile the problem goes away until you try to shift the transmission out of neutral. All of this happens with the coach sitting still.
For example, I worked on the bus Thursday afternoon checking grounds, fuses, etc. No luck.
I went back this afternoon (Friday) and it started like normal and all controls worked like they should. No warning lights or any sign of a problem.
I put my foot on the brake and hit the "R" button on the shift panel and immediately the engine dies and everything is dead again. The gauges are frozen where they were when the engine was running (tach, fuel, temp, etc.)
I wonder if the circuit breaker discussed above will reset itself eventually?
I could have it towed to the shop but I hate to do that without knowing if it is a chassis problem or a transmission issue.
Frustrating for sure! But ... I ain't giving up.