Rear airbags not airing up after jacks retracted

[TUCSONRAIL]

More often than not when leaving a campsite, after starting the engine and retracting the jacks the rear will not air up. Only after releasing the brake putting it in gear moving a short distance will it come up. Has anybody else experienced this problem? The coach is a 2008 Kountry Star with a HWH computerized leveling system. It automatically dumps the air when extending the jacks. Can the jacks be extended manually with out dumping the air. Thank you in advance for any information.

[pilotspike]

Do you have full air pressure before retracting the jacks?

[LJowdy]

Not sure why the air bags aren't filling but as far as manual operation of the jacks, In most cases "YES" Look at the HWH panel. You should have an 'auto' feature that dumps air and extends the jacks. In addition you should have a manual "Dump" button to manually dump the air bags as well as a button to raise all 4 jacks at once. You should also have (4) sets of Arrows one each pointing up and one each pointing down. If you want to lower the jacks. press the "down" arrow button on the front position and the down arrow button on the rear position. The side button will raise or lower the appropriate side (left and right)

I've found that rather than use the auto leveling button for my coach, I manually dump the air bags then manually lower the jacks until they just touch the ground. In some cases I have to adjust the position of the coach to get it level but not always. I do this because the 'auto' feature raises the coach so high I have to use a collapsible step otherwise the first step is way too high for my wife.

[chuckster52]

Originally Posted by TUCSONRAIL

More often than not when leaving a campsite, after starting the engine and retracting the jacks the rear will not air up. Only after releasing the brake putting it in gear moving a short distance will it come up. Has anybody else experienced this problem? The coach is a 2008 Kountry Star with a HWH computerized leveling system. It automatically dumps the air when extending the jacks. Can the jacks be extended manually with out dumping the air. Thank you in advance for any information.

My AMERICAN TRADITION was like that...so I just Put in Gear and released the brake knob....then set the brake and put in neutral and it would air up...I never knew why it did this..Chuck

[bruceisla]

Originally Posted by TUCSONRAIL

More often than not when leaving a campsite, after starting the engine and retracting the jacks the rear will not air up. Only after releasing the brake putting it in gear moving a short distance will it come up. Has anybody else experienced this problem? The coach is a 2008 Kountry Star with a HWH computerized leveling system. It automatically dumps the air when extending the jacks. Can the jacks be extended manually with out dumping the air. Thank you in advance for any information.

Mine (HWH 2000 - Newmar version - Hydraulic Jacks/Air Suspension) works as follows:

To retract the jacks, start the engine and press "Store". The jacks warning light will flash and the buzzer will sound. The jacks will begin retracting and the compressor will begin building air pressure. At about 65 psi the 2 air gauge warning lights will extinguish. The jacks warning light and buzzer will extinguish at about 85 psi. The "Travel" light will come on somewhere between 85 psi and 100 psi. The vehicle is now aired up and can now be moved ... full pressure is about 120 psi.

This process takes between 3 and 5 minutes if the tanks are empty.

I can also level the vehicle using air but without jacks (overnight parking).

I am usually parked on a level lot and don't bother with hydraulic or air leveling .... I just dump the air.

[TUCSONRAIL]

Does anyone know if there are 2 dump valves, one for the front and one rear. If there are two, maybe the rear valve is not closing when the jacks are retracted. Also not sure if air pressure will build with jacks down. If it does then I can try building to full pressure before retracting the jacks. Is it possible I just have a bad ride height valve and it is just hanging up. This morning I could hear air release from the rear and it wouldn't air up all the way, but quit after driving a few hundred yards. Tonight I am not putting the jacks down, but then the front slowly leaks down. Maybe I will try putting the front jacks down manually without dumping, or just start the engine and air back up. Perhaps I can just electrically disable the dump feature and then extend the jacks. I am on the start of a 6000 mile 5 week trip and don.t want to get stranded at some remote campground.

[GaryKD]

Hi TUCSONRAIL,
On that vintage KSDP (I have one) you sometimes find yourself in the "dead zone". What I do is leave it aired up. Start the engine and let it idle for about 15 seconds. Then retract the jacks. The coach will lower moving the lever that tells the chassis the bags need air. If the jacks are retracted first the lever is not moved until the coach moves. It doesn't take much to get the lever to move. If that does not work, consider raising the rear about 6". Start the engine, let idle, then retract the jacks.

There is one lever for the front and one for the rear.

[palehorse89]

I had the same problem with the rear not airing up, if I put the jacks back down and moved the air ride valve, it would finally add air to the bags.......got worse over time. I ordered a new air control valve from Spartan, installed, problem gone.

[Ludmilla]

How do you know it is the rear? If you are looking at the "rear" air gauge, I was told that was the tank that was used for the air bags.

I had a problem where the air bags were not airing up. This is the process I use that works:
Bring up the jacks by hitting the "Store" button.
Turn the ignition key to off.
Turn the key to on and start the engine.
After the engine starts, hit the "Store" button again.

This has worked for me. The other issue may be the double solenoid valve may be bad, but I would try my procedure first. That is an expensive fix.