Smart Wheel

dengraham · 12-02-2006, 01:50 PM

Has anyone experienced any problems with their Smartwheel? My buttons for flashing the headlights or marker lights sometime work and sometime not?

dengraham · 12-02-2006, 01:50 PM

Has anyone experienced any problems with their Smartwheel? My buttons for flashing the headlights or marker lights sometime work and sometime not?

Cruzer · 12-04-2006, 11:11 AM

Wow, first the eMS and now the SmartWheel. You must be running on metric electricity or something.

I had a few problems with my SmartWheel on my 2004 Bus with Freightliner XC chassis. Mine got so that every time I touched the wipers, the headlights would go off. I could turn them on again with the flash button but every time I did I'd lose the marker/tail lights. I either had one or the other. So I pulled the marker light relay and jumped it to leave them on, ran with the headlights, and kept my fingers off the wipers for that night.

The SmartWheel itself only has 4 wires running to it via a clockspring in the wheel, and two of those are for backlighting the buttons. The other two are for communications to the SmartWheel controller module.

Each button you push sends a unique code to the controller module to tell it what you want to do. The controller module takes inputs from the headlamp switch and other devices and sends the outputs to the lights and wipers via relays. The controller module makes all the decisions and turns things on and off inteliigently. The buttons on the wheel only tell it's brain what you would like it to do. Sounds like your SmartWheel brain has a virtual tumor and needs to be replaced.

Incidentally, mine had to be replaced twice. The second one failed after a shoirt time and went goofy again too and Freightliner determined that the headlamp control module was causing it to fail. They replace both modules thesecond time and it worked fine ever since. That was in 2004 and the replacement headlamp module was larger and more robust than the original one so I would expect you already have the larger one on your 2007.

dengraham · 12-25-2006, 06:22 PM

DriVer,
My motor shut down for a low voltage fault code. They found the battery cable at the starter with a quarter inch more to go. This also fixed the Smartwheel and air horns which I guess were not getting enough voltage to work. Thanks for your response.

polkatronron · 01-31-2007, 03:42 PM

Smart Wheel problems...yes, started my Itasca Meridan 36G yesterday and boom...no wipers, no horns and no crise. Off to Freightliner and 3 hours later diagnosed as a bad Smart Wheel module. Parts ordered and will be in tomorrow. One thing to note: getting at the module is no easy task. Winebego has put mounds of electrical harnesses in front of it and you have to remove the drivers foot rest. The module is located at floor level directly in front of the front seat off to the left of the steering column slightly hidden by the foot rest. Anyone else had this experiance.

Cruzer · 02-01-2007, 08:01 AM

That's where my module was too but it wasn't covered up by wiring harnesses. It was easy to get to.

polkatronron · 04-15-2007, 08:46 AM

Itasca 36G Smart Wheel problems. Yes I have had one module replaced and we did not have to take the front seat out..the tech simply crawled in there and moved all the wire harness enought to access the module. Winnebego really burried it in there. My Smart Wheel now will not turn on the windshield washers. All other functions work but no power to the washer motor. I took the motor out and hooked it to a 12v battery and it runs like a clock. I also now have a very noisey power steering pump and after 3 hours travel the steering gets real hard so am off to FTL tomorrow for warranty. I will let you know how we make out.
Thanks
Ron

Sammie · 04-16-2007, 03:13 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by polkatronron:
Itasca 36G Smart Wheel problems. Yes I have had one module replaced and we did not have to take the front seat out..the tech simply crawled in there and moved all the wire harness enought to access the module. Winnebego really burried it in there. My Smart Wheel now will not turn on the windshield washers. All other functions work but no power to the washer motor. I took the motor out and hooked it to a 12v battery and it runs like a clock. I also now have a very noisey power steering pump and after 3 hours travel the steering gets real hard so am off to FTL tomorrow for warranty. I will let you know how we make out.
Thanks
Ron </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ron, I also have a noisey power steering pump on my 2006 Journey with Cat engine. It sounds like I'm low on fluid but I'm not. Please let us know how things work out after you go to frieghtliner.