Road relay

[Dougjpr]

We have a 05 DS, looking at some wiring drawings that I got from Spartan.
They show a drawing for a “road relay”. What does the road relay do? and where might it be?
Having a bit of a strange issue and just trying to become more familiar with some of the systems on the coach.

[Skip426]

Does the drawing , show wiring the attaches to this " road relay "
Possible that it's in the alternator or battery system to charge all batteries ; chassis and coach ; while driving, down the " road ".

Please describe your "strange issue " , could be that it's not so strange to someone here in the forums.

[Dougjpr]

Hi Skip, thanks for reply.

Don't have the drawing in front of me, it was more just a knowledge thing at this point. Will get the drawing back out and update you, or try to attach it.

As for the issue, its a bit long to describe, but here it is.

2 weeks ago when returning to storage, while slowing from approx 55 mph to turn into yard, exhaust brake turned on, when it engaged it down shifted so hard we thought something hit us.

Trans was doing some strange and hard shifting. couldn't get all of the details as to speed and gears etc as I was driving and it caught me completely off guard

When I got parked I checked trans level with dipstick (wasn't aware of keypad method at that time), level was in between hi and low marks on hot side with engine running.

Did not have time to check anything else.

Went home, did some research about Allison trans, learned about keypad fluid level and diagnostic function.

Went back next evening to take coach on a test drive to confirm what had happened previous day and to get it up to operating temp to perform the keypad fluid check and run a diagnostic check for stored codes.

Took coach out and same thing, very hard down shifts and a very lazy up shift from 3-4. Turned off exhaust brake so not to cause any undo stress on drive line. When I got back to yard I performed fluid check using keypad, came out "o. L. o. k.", performed the diagnostic check came out "d1-", checked all through d1 to d5 and got same "-" on each. From what I could fine in Allison literature, that means that there are no codes. One other strange issue that I noticed was that when I applied the service brake, the exhaust brake turned off. At first I thought I was touching the throttle, but I was not.

After shutting it down I was looking around at everything and I noticed that the flex pipe was broken, wondered if that could have anything to do with my issue. not being sure how much the computer monitored the back pressure of the engine, having a hole in the exhaust would certainly change that reading.

I have sent many emails to Spartan customer service and they have always been great in responding, so I thought why not try again. They mentioned to fix the exhaust first as the hole would put the coach out of spec and that could throw things off. They sent me a drawing of the exhaust system and I ordered parts. I also mentioned my issue with the service brake turning off the exhaust brake and they said to fix the exhaust first.

Did a temp fix and that helped a bit, parts came very quickly, so I changed them on Saturday. On road test, the exhaust brake seemed to work like we remember it, not sure if it is correct as I have nothing to compare it to. Most downshifts are firm, once in a while one will be harder than another, but this is sort of how I remember it.

Now for some more strangeness. When I applied the service brake while exhaust brake on, it stayed on, no problem and happy with that. We have a Silverleaf VMSpc, which gives me lots of info, trans gear selected and current gear have been most useful lately, but it also has a cruise status. will display "cruise off", "cruise ready" or "cruise on" depending on the state on the cruise. I noticed that since all of this started happening, my cruise indicator was non existent. It would be there with ignition on but engine not started, then when engine turned on it goes away. Last drive with the coach, the indicator would come back on when I removed throttle, stay on with service brake applied, much like the exhaust brake indicator.

Not sure why it is doing that, ha the Silverleaf all last year and cruise status was always there no matter what was happening.

Sorry to be so long winded.

Coach is a 2005 Dutchstar, ISL 370 on Spartan chassis with Allison 3000MH trans

Any help is appreciated

Thanks for reading all this

[Skip426]

Doug on the shifting part of the issue , I did have problems after I bought the coach with rough shift , that tracked down to a rusted throttle pedal hinge pin , from the dealer shampooing the carpet.
I'll re-read your post and see if I can offer any further ideas; a little later as the DW is sending me out to BBQ dinner.

[Dougjpr]

Thanks Skip

Is that hinge pin under dash at pedal?

Was going to check those connections next, due to the issue when throttle releases.

Next time out I’m going to see if my disappearng cruise status happens when exhaust brake switch is off.

It almost mimics the dash light for “aux brake”

Enjoy the BBQ

Doug

[Skip426]

Originally Posted by Dougjpr

Is that hinge pin under dash at pedal?

Was going to check those connections next, due to the issue when throttle releases.
Doug

No my throttle pedal is floor mount , if yours is firewall mounted , you'll want to check for interference with any wiring or other items under the dash .
Cleaning and re-seating connections is a good idea.

[Dougjpr]

Thanks Skip

[Skip426]

26C , I'm being kicked out to BBQ again , DW says too hot in the house for her to cook. Thank goodness the beer fridge is close to BBQ.

Honest , first rainy day I'll re-read you post .