Community Forums

bamaspiveys · 05-20-2018, 03:13 PM

Need a little help.

Heard an air leak when I was doing my walk around, shut it down and traced it to the device in picture #1
The air was coming out of the hose in picture #2

When I wiggle (technical term) the lever I am pointing to in picture 3 the air leak stops and starts.

What is this device?

The air leak starts back up as soon as I stop wiggling the lever, as long as the engine is running it is leaking.

Is it safe to drive to a shop?

Is this a device I could order and replace myself? It looks pretty straight forward.

Thanks guys, well in advance!

Skip426 · 05-20-2018, 03:20 PM

Air system " ride height control valve " contact chassis manufacturer re part number.

It would require that you bleed all the air from the coach systems, and have the coach safely lifted and supported so you can be underneath.

If the on board compressor will maintain PSI, above the low pressure warning levels in the air system the coach can be driven , short distances .

Skip426 · 05-20-2018, 03:26 PM

BTW: this valve may just be trying to do it's job .
Is the coach parked on the level ?
If the coach is on a slope , side to side / front /rear. Moving to level ground may be all that's required.
My front ride height vents every time I climb the steps. They are fairly sensitive.

backwater4 · 05-20-2018, 06:04 PM

Looks like it's your left side air control valve for the drive and tag axle. If air bags inflate and stay up even with air coming out of vent tube ,you can drive it . If they do not inflate Spartans advice is not to drive or be towed. Just replaced one due to inside duel blow out.

kevinantholt · 05-21-2018, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bamaspiveys

Need a little help.

Heard an air leak when I was doing my walk around, shut it down and traced it to the device in picture #1
The air was coming out of the hose in picture #2

When I wiggle (technical term) the lever I am pointing to in picture 3 the air leak stops and starts.

What is this device?

The air leak starts back up as soon as I stop wiggling the lever, as long as the engine is running it is leaking.

Is it safe to drive to a shop?

Is this a device I could order and replace myself? It looks pretty straight forward.

Thanks guys, well in advance!

The lever you are wiggling is the control arm for the ride height adjustment. It is normal for it to expel air for your height adjustment a little bit at a time.
If you don't touch it how long does the air come out for?
Basically they all work together to keep your coach level as you drive or park by allowing air in the suspension bags which raises or lowers the chassis.

bamaspiveys · 05-21-2018, 09:14 AM

Thanks for the information:

Here is a detail of the event:

Started the coach and walked outside to disconnect power and check the surroundings before backing out.
Heard the air leaking on the driver side rear axle area.
Heard the sneeze and and went inside to back her out into the drive way.
Killed the engine and walked outside to the rear axle heard the air leak but could not find it before it stopped.
Went back in side started the engine again and back outside to the axle.
I could hear the leak but the engine noise made it too difficult to locate.
Killed the engine and ran to the axle area and found the hose leaking air. It stopped 30 seconds after I found it.

Had a friend go in the coach and crank it again waited to hear the air leak and got him to kill the motor. As I wiggled the arm in the picture the air would stop and start leaking.

Took pictures and went to do the other work I had planned.

Parked the coach and extended the jacks for storage, just in case it leaks down....then found my step issue (another thread)

Will not be able to work on it again till this Saturday but I am hopeful it was operating as designed.

I do know the bags were fully inflated for the trip out of storage and back in. I manually dumped the rear air a few times trying to see if that was working properly during testing and the refilled and sneezed each time.

Thanks again for all the comments

kevinantholt · 05-22-2018, 07:49 AM

Sounds pretty Normal to me.
I can hear mine letting air out when I get out of the coach and step on/off the steps.
The only thing I would say is when you parked if your air tanks were full they should still be pretty full when you go back Saturday. If they are below 85 PSI then you may have a leak somewhere.

bamaspiveys · 05-26-2018, 08:05 PM

So I took the coach out for a ride today, it drove fine and does not feel like it is listing.....but it is!

I let the engine idle for a few mins after the sneeze and the air release did stop but I noticed the driver side was lower than the door side. I moved to coach to the road and walked out back to see if it was still leaning and it was, I decided to drive it a few miles down the road to see if it level out. Pulled in a parking lot that was level and went out back again, still leaning.

It is obviously a ride height adjuster issue, not something I want to work on any further. Going to call the local spartan dealer on Tuesday and see if I can get an appointment before we head south for two weeks.

bamaspiveys · 06-16-2018, 07:43 PM

Valve was frozen shut, and the height adjustment lever was GONE! Link Automotive in Nashville TN worked me in to the schedule and got us back on the road in less than a week. They are awesome!