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Old 06-17-2018, 09:56 AM   #1
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Leaking leveller

Was backing up the coach this morning getting ready to go on a practice ride and to fill up with fuel. I noticed a strange sound and that there was fluid trailing up the driveway. Looked underneath and there was an awful lot of fluid dripping from the front right leveller. Guess our maiden voyage next weekend is going to be delayed.
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Old 06-17-2018, 12:30 PM   #2
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If the leveler jack is a separate system from your slides, no need to delay your trip, just take blocks to level instead of jacks. It might be just a loose hose, clean up the mess and watch where the hydraulic fluid is coming from. When the leak is resolved, with all jacks and slides in, fill the tank to the full mark which is usually the fill hole.
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Old 06-17-2018, 06:11 PM   #3
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Word of warning.... do not make the mistake of putting the levelers down with a leak. Unlike some systems that have retract springs the Lippert leveler system uses hydraulic force to both raise and lower, and if your fluid level gets too low due to a leak and you get air in the system... it can be real pain to get those jacks up. How do I know this????


Right after we took delivery of our very slightly used 2014 33.2 (4500 miles on it) we were on our maiden trip. I backed into a space at an Escapees Coop park that will remain un-named. My wife who had been following me jumped out of the toad and told me it appeared we had a leak. Disregarding that I lowered the jacks.


Then next day I went to retract the jacks and nothing. Called the local branch of the selling dealer who sent out a tech... it took numerous calls to Lippert and Thor, 10 quarts of fluid into the system and then a large prybar to get the jacks retracted. I drove to the shop trailing hydraulic fluid and left it for the day. They determined a hose was mis-routed during the initial build and had worn through.



While waiting for the repair analysis we received a call from the Escapees park telling us we were not welcome to return because they had some spilled fluid on their road, even if our coach was repaired.



Two days in the shop, because they had to have a hose custom made and then their hydraulic lift failed... with our coach six feet in the air. That required a tech to be sent from 100 miles away to repair the lift... and they were concerned the whole time the lift would fail and they would be buying a new coach.


Unless you know this system I suggest you disregard the comments of posters who do NOT have a Palazzo and do not know the Lippert hydraulic system (a common problem on this forum with people who want to help but have no idea what the systems are on this brand). Take it to the dealer and let them sort it out.
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Old 06-17-2018, 06:19 PM   #4
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Sorry, appsol, but your RV might cost more but it is built from the same components of many other units on the road. It doesn't take a Palazzo owner to help with most problems.
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Old 06-17-2018, 06:37 PM   #5
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Sorry Bflinn181, this isn't a matter of price of the unit. Of course there are many rigs on the road using those same components, some of which are no different than those in your 1998 model. (And the unfortunate truth is many of those newer systems were chosen for cost, not reliability.)



But this person is a new owner and may not be aware of what systems he has so my comments were to give him a heads up about the potential risks of following generic trouble shooting if you don't understand the system.
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Old 06-17-2018, 06:52 PM   #6
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Sorry Bflinn181, this isn't a matter of price of the unit. Of course there are many rigs on the road using those same components, some of which are no different than those in your 1998 model. (And the unfortunate truth is many of those newer systems were chosen for cost, not reliability.)



But this person is a new owner and may not be aware of what systems he has so my comments were to give him a heads up about the potential risks of following generic trouble shooting if you don't understand the system.
So educate me, the only person who offered advice, what did I say was wrong?
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Old 06-17-2018, 07:09 PM   #7
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My question, to the OP, is what was the strange sound you heard? Did you activate the levelers before you backed out? If not, why the sound, and did it come from the hydraulic system?
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Old 06-17-2018, 07:11 PM   #8
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The question is why is the pump running or jack dragging ( Strange Sound ) while backing up the coach ?

Its possible that you didn't have the levelers all the way up, before moving the couch, and it went into auto retract mode. In that case you may have heard the pump running, if a double acting system.

Could that front jack have dragged and bent, before it cleared the ground while backing ? That too will cause a leak.
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Old 06-17-2018, 08:43 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ljwt330 View Post
My question, to the OP, is what was the strange sound you heard? Did you activate the levelers before you backed out? If not, why the sound, and did it come from the hydraulic system?
The levellers were up, in fact I never put them down the previous evening because I knew we were leaving early this morning. I pulled out of our RV garage then backed up. The noise started when I started backing I then noticed the fluid leak. I looked underneath and could tell that fluid had been spewing pretty bad. I couldn't get too far underneath the coach as the coach is pretty low, nothing like our old gasser. All we did the day before was take the coach in to get weighed. The sound seemed to come from the right front. Assuming it may have been the pump.
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Old 06-17-2018, 08:46 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by twinboat View Post
The question is why is the pump running or jack dragging ( Strange Sound ) while backing up the coach ?

Its possible that you didn't have the levelers all the way up, before moving the couch, and it went into auto retract mode. In that case you may have heard the pump running, if a double acting system.

Could that front jack have dragged and bent, before it cleared the ground while backing ? That too will cause a leak.
The Jack's were up since the previous morning.
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Old 06-18-2018, 10:23 AM   #11
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The levellers were up, in fact I never put them down the previous evening because I knew we were leaving early this morning. I pulled out of our RV garage then backed up. The noise started when I started backing I then noticed the fluid leak. I looked underneath and could tell that fluid had been spewing pretty bad. I couldn't get too far underneath the coach as the coach is pretty low, nothing like our old gasser. All we did the day before was take the coach in to get weighed. The sound seemed to come from the right front. Assuming it may have been the pump.

Time to take it to the dealer. From my understanding, there is no reason why the pump should be operating, let alone leaking. Just double check that the leak is from the leveler and not some other hydraulic component that affects safe driving.
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Old 06-18-2018, 10:30 AM   #12
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Time to take it to the dealer. From my understanding, there is no reason why the pump should be operating, let alone leaking. Just double check that the leak is from the leveler and not some other hydraulic component that affects safe driving.
DW is getting hold of the Warranty folks while I'm at work, My research of the system is that it is always under pressure so my thinking is that when fluid starting leaking the system tried to supply more fluid to that area.
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Old 06-18-2018, 10:41 AM   #13
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DW is getting hold of the Warranty folks while I'm at work, My research of the system is that it is always under pressure so my thinking is that when fluid starting leaking the system tried to supply more fluid to that area.

That sounds very logical as to the cause. Good luck, and keep us updated.
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Old 06-18-2018, 10:49 AM   #14
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Keep us posted, even though the system is always under pressure, it is not an on demand system like a water pump(at least ours isn't). On ours you can turn the system off, so there would be no way the pump could just run. It will be interesting to hear what the solution is.

Like BFlinn said if the system is not connected to other things, such as slides, no reason to cancel a trip as there are other ways to level the MH. Make sure all the lines are tight, clean up the oil and see where it is coming from. It could also be the ram, which can leak and a little oil looks like a lot. Also check your reservoir level, if still full, it could have been too much oil in the system.
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