Community Forums

BoJango · 05-15-2022, 03:24 PM

Jinxtv, My now, probably you have found your power steering pump. I had a 1996 Winnebago P-30 with a 454 engine. The power steering pump was for the steering only. They made a change before mine was manufactured and the famous "Auto Park" had a hydraulic pump, motor and reservoir mounted underneath the motor home chassis on the passenger side.

dedobias · 05-15-2022, 03:26 PM

Be sure of what the coreect fluid is befoee adding any. Trans fluid can ruin a lot of powersteering uf it is the wrong fluid.

MrMark52 · 05-15-2022, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoJango

Jinxtv, My now, probably you have found your power steering pump. I had a 1996 Winnebago P-30 with a 454 engine. The power steering pump was for the steering only. They made a change before mine was manufactured and the famous "Auto Park" had a hydraulic pump, motor and reservoir mounted underneath the motor home chassis on the passenger side.

I know some P30 MoHo chassis (our ‘91 as noted below on a P30 chassis) with the 454 used the p/s pump for both p/s and the hydro-boost system (the hydro-boost was used in place of vacuum power assist for the power brakes).
Our coach didn’t have the “Auto-Park” feature so I can’t speak to whether that was a part of the system or not.

n2zon · 05-16-2022, 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrMark52

I know some P30 MoHo chassis (our ‘91 as noted below on a P30 chassis) with the 454 used the p/s pump for both p/s and the hydro-boost system (the hydro-boost was used in place of vacuum power assist for the power brakes).
Our coach didn’t have the “Auto-Park” feature so I can’t speak to whether that was a part of the system or not.

Auto Park doesn't use the engine-driven pump. It's got its own. Be happy you didn't have one (AP, I mean. not the pump in particular).

MrMark52 · 05-16-2022, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by n2zon

Auto Park doesn't use the engine-driven pump. It's got its own. Be happy you didn't have one (AP, I mean. not the pump in particular).

Thanks n2zon!

I was referring to BoJango’s post above that read to me like AutoPark may have been involved at some point.

tropical36 · 05-16-2022, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by n2zon

Auto Park doesn't use the engine-driven pump. It's got its own. Be happy you didn't have one (AP, I mean. not the pump in particular).

They did until version 3 came along sometime in the mid 90's, then it was pretty much a self contained unit, mounted on the passenger side frame rail.

n2zon · 05-16-2022, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tropical36

They did until version 3 came along sometime in the mid 90's, then it was pretty much a self contained unit, mounted on the passenger side frame rail.

I see. Ours was a '96, so it could well have been V3. Whatever version it may have been, we certainly don't miss it after it tried to "park" us on the highway twice. (Ever seen a brake drum glow bright red?) What a terrible design. Good riddance! Never again.

tropical36 · 05-17-2022, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by n2zon

I see. Ours was a '96, so it could well have been V3. Whatever version it may have been, we certainly don't miss it after it tried to "park" us on the highway twice. (Ever seen a brake drum glow bright red?) What a terrible design. Good riddance! Never again.

Actually not such a bad design, once you understood the workings of the system and for always having a few spare parts on board. I've fixed them and for temporarily disabling them while on the road and for more than once. I believe the last version did away with the rotten green switch as well, so that took care of most problems. Actually if one just changes that one pressure sw. out, every so often, most all their problems would disappear.
Having said all this, I do love my air brakes now and don't ever want to go back.

n2zon · 05-18-2022, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tropical36

Actually not such a bad design, once you understood the workings of the system and for always having a few spare parts on board. I've fixed them and for temporarily disabling them while on the road and for more than once. I believe the last version did away with the rotten green switch as well, so that took care of most problems. Actually if one just changes that one pressure sw. out, every so often, most all their problems would disappear.
Having said all this, I do love my air brakes now and don't ever want to go back.

I fear we will have to agree to disagree about whether a design that needs to be disabled while traveling more than once (each!) and for which one must carry spare parts as being "not such a bad design" (smile).

tropical36 · 05-18-2022, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by n2zon

I fear we will have to agree to disagree about whether a design that needs to be disabled while traveling more than once (each!) and for which one must carry spare parts as being "not such a bad design" (smile).

I do get where you're coming from, but at the same time, there's other things that require constant Maintenance as well. Last time we had a problem in our old coach, I just pulled over and disconnected it. Then for fixing it later. I must admit it was a PITA for awhile with DW having to get out and block the wheels when parking.
Again, if the main pressure sw. was changed out about every 15K miles or so, many would never experience a lockup.
All this because no one wanted to build a transmission heavy enough for a parking pawl to hold more than 15K GVW.

MrMark52 · 05-18-2022, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tropical36

All this because no one wanted to build a transmission heavy enough for a parking pawl to hold more than 15K GVW.

You mean that leftover stick brake from my old soap box derby days won’t work?

Unplanned Tourist · 05-18-2022, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tropical36

All this because no one wanted to build a transmission heavy enough for a parking pawl to hold more than 15K GVW.

Allison has parking pawls in a few of their transmissions ( 1000, 2200 and 2350 are all close-ratio with parking pawl) Our W24 has a parking pawl and 24,000 pound GVW.

SO glad I never had a problem other than a leaking apply/release chamber on our old 1993 P30 chassis.

Has the OP (Jinxtv) had any luck yet? Inquiring minds.........

Jinxtv · 05-22-2022, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dedobias

Be sure of what the coreect fluid is befoee adding any. Trans fluid can ruin a lot of powersteering uf it is the wrong fluid.

It's funny (I guess): the guy who gave me the Trans fluid told me a story a few months before that about how he accidentally added gas where diesel goes (or maybe vice versa) and almost ruined his truck.

Jinxtv · 05-22-2022, 04:17 PM

Sorry, got locked out of my Gmail account for almost a week so I wasn't seeing any updates for the thread.

I have an appointment at a mechanics tomorrow and I really hope they don't have to special order any parts.

Thanks for all the info and advice. The brakes are very soft and that happened in tandem with the steering issue so I'd guess they probably are connected. I read through all the posts and will probably go through them all again.

I will update when I have an update.