Exercise Engine w/o Inflating Air Bags..

[dennis45]

Originally Posted by barmcd

Nobody has really addressed the OPs question.

I cannot start the engine in my coach and not inflate the air bags. Once the air pressure reaches 65 lbs PSI, the valves on the air tanks open the lines to the suspension and the air bags will inflate.

Yes, that is the way the system is designed. The question to the OP was, why do you want to run the engine without moving it.

[Algoma]

You can run the engine without inflating the air bags by holding the "manual dump" button on the HWH panel. You could also open the valve in the generator compartment that you can use for inflating tires. This is what some people do to move their motorhome in to a garage with a low entrance doorway.
But the best way is, as many have said, do not start your engine unless you are going somewhere!

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by Algoma

You can run the engine without inflating the air bags by holding the "manual dump" button on the HWH panel. ...

Aside from the "exercise motor" issue...

Sorry...I have to totally disagree. There is no need to hold the manual dump button. The bags on the HWH systems will not inflate until you hit the STORE button. [EDIT - Just for clarification, this assumes the air bags were deflated either by auto leveling or a manual dump first. If there was some kind of leak down without a previously activated dump, then the bags would attempt to re-inflate.]

In fact, if you do a manual dump without putting the jacks down you still must use the STORE button to re-inflate the bags. Don't ask me how I learned that one.

[BFlinn181]

Originally Posted by WyoFree

Thanks for that Mr_D,

That's great information. When Cummins said;

"So probably the best answer to try to get both worlds to meet is to occasionally take the unit out for a drive during times of prolonged storage."

I wish they would have said what they consider "Prolonged Storage"? Could you go back and ask them? I'd love to know Cummins answer to that!

Thanks Mr_D,

Harry

I have a ranch owner friend in WY, at 7,900 ft. elevation. He has a number of diesel engined pieces of equipment parked in the sage brush that he uses for working mining rights around the region. I've seen equipment that hasn't been touched for a couple of years started and operated with a new(er) battery.

Seen the same in Alaska, mining equipment parked for a 9 month winter started the next summer with no issues. Parking a motor home for a few months is not prolonged storage. The biggest issue I'd be concerned with are brake rotors. They are bare steel that will rust, over long time disuse they could even pit. I know my disk brakes are noisy when applied after long parking, but I move the vehicle often enough it's just surface rust, not pitted steel rotors.

[CoCoDave]

Originally Posted by edaa53

I have a 2000 Newmar DP w/ a HWH Computerized Leveler. I position coach and use HWH in manual mode. That way I can dump all air (I have a slow leak in front bags). I then manually empty air bags and manually extend pads. If I start engine the bags will inflate and I'd rather not bring in slides, etc. Any way around this or must slides come in (based on mfg'er recommendation to level coach then extend slides). Thanks. Ed

We have HWH leveling in our coach too and I believe it would behave as yours does in the circumstances you describe - that is if the HWH system was not left turned on.

Our HWH will inflate the suspension if the key is turned on while the HWH is turned off providing it has the pressurized air to do so. If the engine is started, air pressure would quickly increase enough to inflate the suspension if there was not enough residual pressure to begin with.

However, if the HWH system is "On" as it would be when parked and auto leveling was desired, the suspension does not inflate. That said, even if the HWH is "On", if the parking brake is released the HWH transfers control of the suspension to the over-the-road or ride mode where the mechanically linked ride height control valves regulate bag inflation thus coach height.

If you can locate the parking brake indicator air pressure switch and ground the output it will prevent the ride mode from taking over even if the parking brake is released. Again the HWH system has to be "On".

This is a two-edged sword. If you defeat the ride height control and don't have the coach high enough on the bags, the tires could damage body parts around the wheel wells. Defeating the ride mode control is helpful if you have a ride height control valve fail and need to drive the coach. You can adjust the height of the coach manually with the HWH control panel, defeat the ride mode and the coach height will stay where you left it when you release the parking brake and get underway.

I drove our coach 2,000 miles this way before we got to a point where the ride height control valve was replaced.

FWIW

[twojayhawks]

Originally Posted by Sky_Boss

Aside from the "exercise motor" issue...

Sorry...I have to totally disagree. There is no need to hold the manual dump button. The bags on the HWH systems will not inflate until you hit the STORE button. [EDIT - Just for clarification, this assumes the air bags were deflated either by auto leveling or a manual dump first. If there was some kind of leak down without a previously activated dump, then the bags would attempt to re-inflate.]

In fact, if you do a manual dump without putting the jacks down you still must use the STORE button to re-inflate the bags. Don't ask me how I learned that one.

I have to disagree. For the first six months of ownership I never knew I needed to hit the "store" button when jacks are not deployed. I just assumed after starting engine suspension automatically fills. I complained to FL & Newmar my air bags take like 20 minutes to come up. I posted my issue on this board and that's where I learned what I was doing wrong. My experience was they will eventually fill with no action steps taken. By the time they come up on their own you may be flogged to death by your neighbors.

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by twojayhawks

I have to disagree. For the first six months of ownership I never knew I needed to hit the "store" button when jacks are not deployed. I just assumed after starting engine suspension automatically fills. I complained to FL & Newmar my air bags take like 20 minutes to come up. I posted my issue on this board and that's where I learned what I was doing wrong. My experience was they will eventually fill with no action steps taken. By the time they come up on their own you may be flogged to death by your neighbors.

So, on the first part it sounds like we had the same misunderstanding that with the jacks up the air bags would inflate. Yep...almost paid for that piece of misinformation. LOL

On the second part...I'm not certain that there isn't some kind of slow malfunction. Still...good to know that something might not work as expected. BTW...when I had my "almost" issue, my bags didn't raise at all after 15 minutes of combinations of fast and slow idle.

[RKins]

On my coach, with HWH, if I have the jacks down and turn the key to on there is an ear piercing alarm that goes off. I wouldn't try to sit through that as I ran the engine

[edaa53]

Thanks all. I contacted HWH on my Series 610 Computerized Leveling System - the response is:

"With the system that you have you can not start the engine and the bags stay deflated. What we do is put an air solenoid valve between the bag and the ride height valve and when it energizes it will dump the air and the tank, if you start the engine it will start filling up the tank and then the bags. The newer coaches starting in 2004 however will allow you to dump the air even with the engine running but that part of it is done thru what is called a pilot dump system.
The proper procedure for dumping air and leveling is to shut the engine off and go to acc on the ignition, then turn the system on and hit the button a second time, it will dump the air for about 30 seconds and then it will level you up.
Hopefully this was the information you were looking for?
Thank you
Joe Portelli
joe@hwhcorp.com"

The reason I go full manual leveling is the dump air process of 30 seconds is to short - leaving excess air in the bags - resulting in loss of leveling ability on a angled site.

Thanks again. Ed

[sunset4k]

Originally Posted by BentlyRV

That's good info, Mr_D!
I'm glad you shared this as it kinda validates our little exercise that we just did yesterday here in Colorado! The forecast said snow today even though yesterday it was in the 60's (only in Colorado)!! So, we "exercised" the ISB6.7 Cummins in our coach and drove her to the car wash! It was only about 20 miles 'round-trip, but I felt it was time to take 'er out since it had been sitting awhile....also, just did it's first oil change. How 'bout the generator, though? I think that needs to be run about once a month...can't recall if I read about that in the Cummins manual....but, I think the diesel generators need to be exercised more then the coach engine...?
Tim
___________________
17 Nexus Bentley ISB6.7 360hp

While we don't exercise our Cummins every month we do take it as often as we can even if it's just a short 50 mile round trip. We had it in to Cummins to have an engine code checked and they told us NOT to just start and idle it for a few minutes. Just as stated above it does not get the engine up to proper engine temps etc. But we do run the gen monthly if the coach is parked for an extended time. And I do run it under load-turn on the AC lights etc. usually30 min up to an hour.

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by edaa53

Thanks all. I contacted HWH on my Series 610 Computerized Leveling System - the response is:...

Thanks for that follow up. It certainly reminds us/me to take into consideration the year/make/model information. I was pretty firm in my belief that my explanation was "correct" and for 2006 it is. For your set up...it wasn't.

Sorry for any confusion my responses might have caused.