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richard44 · 05-25-2014, 11:32 AM

We had this slide out replaced at the Winnebago factory less than 2 weeks ago....have been using it with no problems for about 10 days. Last Thursday it would not come in, I contacted Winnebago and Schwinteck help and have an appointment for repair set up on Thursday in Shreveport. Tech support had me reset slide and it came in. I set up in Nashville on Thursday and today it will not work to come in. I have tried the instructions they gave me on Thursday and it does not work. Diagnosis is short which is the same diagnosis before I got to Winnebago. Can anybody give me some help to get the thing in so we can get to Shreveport next week.

Help gratefully appreciated
Richard

94-Newmar · 05-25-2014, 05:07 PM

In the top header piece you can remove both electric motors. They're very small, about the diameter of a hoe handle and about 6" long They're simply held in place with 1 small 8mm screw and a very very small wiring connector - it's just behind the slide seal. Once you remove the center screw the motor lifts straight out. I'd bet that the room has smashed the connector flat and pinched the wires. You may be able to seperate them out at the connector and wrap them with electrical tape to get you by until you can get it back in for service. This is the #1 repair that I see on these schwinjun.... I mean schwinteks.

richard44 · 05-28-2014, 08:50 AM

Thank you very much for the reply. We removed the screw and pushed the slide out in and braced for travel. We are now in Shreveport and due at repair facility at 8am tomorrow. I will give tech the notes I have amassed about this slide problem and the note about the connector and pinched wires. I would have thought they would have checked this at Winnebago since we were there for 9 days and this was the first repair they did. They are suppose to have an expert from Schwintek onsite and he oversaw our repair.
There is another thing that is bothering me. The wires run down the sidewall, under the closet and up the sidewall on the other side to connect to the other motor I am assuming. So there are a lot of places the slide can pinch wires. The wires on the sides are covered, but not under the closet...they are in some places under the carpet. Seems like this might be poor design. I am hoping we will find out tomorrow where exactly the pinch or short is and be on our way.
We really love this motorhome, but it is only 9 months old and slide out problems should not be occurring at this point.
If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.
Thanks again for your help.

94-Newmar · 05-28-2014, 04:38 PM

Glad you got it retracted ok. The wiring running within the slide seal is the problem in most cases. The room pushes out hard against the seals. There are no mechanical or electrical limit switches on this setup - it's all based purely on torque (amp draw) that the controller sees coming from the little electric motors that drive the slide. Since those tiny little connectors are behind the weatherseal it doesn't take many cycles for it to smash and wear down the wiring outer shielding and eventually either break a few wires off or cause them to short against each other. I've lost count of the number of wiring harnesses that I've repaired right at the motor... some twice. If the customer doesnt mind I am leaving the connector harness outside of the inner seal and mounting it on the wall out of the way - this prevents it from getting smashed and rubbed.

A coincidental issue arises from the harnesses being chafed, which I see/repair a lot. If one motor quits due to wiring becoming chafed the end user hasn't realized the room is cocking to one side or the other as the other motor is still driving normally and they continue to hold the button down - this causes it to wedge in the opening, strip the aluminum track that is mounted to the top/bottom of the room on each side - then when they try to retract it it generally breaks either of the drive gears from the drive shaft that runs vertically in the side jambs that connects the top/bottom gears.

Ive also seen units come in for repair that have ingested most of the slide seal down the side as well. That seal gets into the aluminum track that the gear runs in and ends up binding so badly that either the aluminum splits or the gear on the shaft breaks. I had one come in with a set of string lights that the drive ingested - room stuck about 1/4 of the way out... I guess the customer had the lights mounted or taped on the roof line and they must've not noticed they fell in the way of the slide travel.

I'm honestly surprised that those little motors along with that small 24 or 26 ga wire are heavy enough to move the room. Old telephone wire is of a heavier gauge.... I totally understand why manufacturers use the schwintek system - the room is shipped to the manufacturers pre-built (prehung if you will) already in their frames, motors installed with wiring connectors, plus they allow for different floor plan layouts since you don't have all the normal mechanicals in the way for a conventional slide unit. On the assembly lines they simply slide the whole room and it's frame in one piece in place and screw it from the outside, hook up 2 connectors and voila.

I can only imagine the service disaster these things could be once they get a few years on them and things start "loosening up". The worst thing for these is too much clearance between the sides and along the rails - add a few years of moving along down the road coupled with the lightweight construction of them.. oh my...

richard44 · 05-29-2014, 04:46 PM

Well it seems the diagnosis is a pinch in the harness wire where it goes into the floor substructure..apparently from the original factory installation.
It is not fixed only diagnosed. Winnebago could not overnight the harness to Shreveport we did not want to wait until Monday or Tuesday to get back home. We had already extended our trip to this Thursday to have it looked at. So we will head for home and try and get it fixed there as soon as we can there.

At the moment since the kink is gone it is working....don't know for how long

I am very disappointed to learn that something that a worker did not make sure was not kinked could cause so much havoc...not to mention cost and most of all a waste of time.

Where is the pride of workmanship that used to be the American way...
Maybe I am being too hard as I know things do happen even with the best of workmanship.
I drove to the factory hoping for them to fix the problem, it did not happen.

I really don't put all the blame on the worker. He has to make his installment while the assembly line just keeps moving and maybe he did not have time to check out the wire to make sure it was not kinked. This is now our American way....too bad it has come to this.

I am going home tomorrow and enjoy my grandson's graduation from high school and I hope to get this repair finished there.

I learned so much from your post.

Thanks so much for your very informative postings.