Community Forums

mymyst · 04-06-2014, 07:20 PM

Fired up in CG yesterday afternoon and noticed the MIL ( malfunction indicator lamp) was lighted on dash cluster. No fault codes, no alarms, all gauges in the norm. As I was only 10 miles from my storage I proceeded to drive the coach to storage and park. Coach and engine seemed to run fine. Only reference I can find in Spartan/Cummins manuals is an obscure reference to this being an indication of a problem with the engine exhaust treatment system. Anybody see this before or know what it means? Coach only has 1100 miles.

BFlinn181 · 04-06-2014, 07:44 PM

Engine exhaust treatment system could mean you need DEF or something else in the converter needs attention.

757driver · 04-06-2014, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mymyst

Fired up in CG yesterday afternoon and noticed the MIL ( malfunction indicator lamp) was lighted on dash cluster. No fault codes, no alarms, all gauges in the norm. As I was only 10 miles from my storage I proceeded to drive the coach to storage and park. Coach and engine seemed to run fine. Only reference I can find in Spartan/Cummins manuals is an obscure reference to this being an indication of a problem with the engine exhaust treatment system. Anybody see this before or know what it means? Coach only has 1100 miles.

If the engine ran fine it is probably to do the emission system such as an O2 sensor or the like, but I would get it checked out sooner rather than later.

brobox · 04-07-2014, 05:25 AM

With all of the sensor on the new engines, it seems those are items that have been reported to be one of the biggest failures in the first 1,000. miles. The DEF heater failure happened to one of our forum members over the weekend and that one has a loud warning horn. A call to Spartan had to be made to clear the warning horn. I learned something on his situation....if the engine is not shut down before the problem is diagnosed and a clear code given, the engine will go into limp mode and have to be towed to be cleared, probably by a Cummins computer.

The program that connects a laptop or tablet to the engine, somebody help me with the name, that will read the waring codes is starting to look attractive to me.

loisjop · 04-07-2014, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobox

With all of the sensor on the new engines, it seems those are items that have been reported to be one of the biggest failures in the first 1,000. miles. The DEF heater failure happened to one of our forum members over the weekend and that one has a loud warning horn. A call to Spartan had to be made to clear the warning horn. I learned something on his situation....if the engine is not shut down before the problem is diagnosed and a clear code given, the engine will go into limp mode and have to be towed to be cleared, probably by a Cummins computer.

The program that connects a laptop or tablet to the engine, somebody help me with the name, that will read the waring codes is starting to look attractive to me.

Chuck, I think you're talking about the Silverleaf system. Noel

brobox · 04-07-2014, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loisjop

Chuck, I think you're talking about the Silverleaf system. Noel

Thanks Noel, that is it. This time I have bookmarked it. It would be nice to know when an engine light goes off, if it's safe to drive or must be shut down. I have had a few that would have been roadside fixes had I known the problem. It's a 100 bill at Cummins just to find out why the light came on once the warranty is up. Thankfully Cummins is 5 years.

DSL417 · 04-07-2014, 09:27 AM

While the Silverleaf System may be the cat's meow, having experienced extended chassis and engine fault modes for my first four months, and the troubleshooting that resulted from the checking...well, just because you know a fault mode is no guarantee that you really know what is wrong within the chassis or motor, particularly if it has electrical implications.

I know this sounds negative, and I know some of you work on your own rigs (and goodness knows, I've done a bunch of both troubleshooting and then fixing), the one thing I've learned is I couldn't do it without a tech from Spartan or Cummins, or both. The electical systems, the ECM, the symptoms from the diagnostic systems and how they interrelate, are extraordinarily complex. I find myself wondering how a commercial software package is going to help, when the electronics specialist had to develop his own proprietary software package to diagnose and understand what is happening with some of these problems. JMHO

brobox · 04-07-2014, 01:09 PM

Dave that is fine for a perfect situation, but does Spartan or Cummins answer the phone on Sundays? Luckily I haven''t had to call on a Sunday so I don't know. The OP's problem was on a Sunday before heading home. Not saying the Silverleaf System is perfect, by no means, but something that "might" give me a clue is better than being stuck until I can reach someone. If it's something complex and not "low coolant" or something simple then the Silverleaf System will not do any good. It looks like the Silverleaf System might just be another tool in the box.

DSL417 · 04-07-2014, 01:31 PM

Yes Spartan answers the phone after hours and on weekends. Yesterday I had a parking brake lamp and warning yelling at me when I put the coach into gear. Could get the air recycled to release, so called Entegra...Sabrina called Spartan...they came on and we got through the issue. He gave me the number, but I was driving. You can get it through Entegra.

So yes...it would appear that Spartan CS is just as responsive as Entegra. By the way...don't think they ever break in perfect situations. Thus far my favorites have been Rest Areas 100 miles from nowhere and on weekends.

brobox · 04-07-2014, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSL417

So yes...it would appear that Spartan CS is just as responsive as Entegra. By the way...don't think they ever break in perfect situations. Thus far my favorites have been Rest Areas 100 miles from nowhere and on weekends.

That is good to know of the Sunday responses. Your luck is like mine, Sundays a 100 miles from nowhere or in blinding rain storms. My last one was water drowning the computer in a blinding rain storm giving all kinds of error codes. That was a night spent at a Walmart waiting for Cummins to open in the moring and a $100. to have to computer cleared. I drove it 50 miles with the engine lights on as I had no choice, no place to pull over. It would have been nice if I would have had some kind of an idea and maybe the Silverleaf wouldn't have had a clue either.

johnnyreno · 04-11-2014, 08:34 PM

Spartan overnighted me a starter this Wednesday got it Thursday installed by a tech they sent Awesome mechanic too, only problem was getting him in the gate at las vegas motor coach resort.

MRUSA14 · 04-12-2014, 12:31 PM

Regarding Silverleaf, I just attempted to install their Bluetooth syetm, using a Dell Venue Pro 8 tablet running Windows 8. To make a long story short, it won't work with Windows 8. After spending hours on the phone with both Silverleaf and Dell., there appears to be an incompatibility between the Silveleaf Bluetooth JIB and Windows 8's Bluetooth system. I may try to do it next using a USB connection rather than Bluetooth, but that will require a different tablet as the Dell Venue Pro 8 can only use USB while operating on battery and not while charging or running off external power,as it uses the same port for both USB data and charging. The search is on for a small Windows tablet that can charge while using USB input. So far I have not found one.