New Owner - Now have more questions - :-)

[rcarriere]

First of all I would like to thank everyone for all their help in answering questions about Entegra and other coaches as we were making our decision on a new coach.

Second, I would like to thank Robin at RVOne for all his work and effort in trying to get a deal done....unfortunately we could not but he was very helpful and I just wanted to give kudos for the major effort. I am sure that we will be talking again soon!

We ended up buying a new 2014 Aspire RBQ.

Drove the coach home to FL from LA and now have some questions.

1. I did see a post on the air bags but cannot find it. We parked overnight as we got out of the dealer very late. I put the coach on the jacks for the night and then got up and started the coach for the air bags to raise before lifting the jacks. Both front and rear gauges showed that the bags were full so I raised the jacks and got on my way. I noticed that the coach felt very stiff and just did not feel right. I remembered reading a post about double checking to ensure that the coach actually lifted off the wheels so I stopped and checked and sure enough the coach was sitting on the wheels. I went back inside and noticed the front airbags were showing about half full. With the coach in Neutral I stepped on the accelerator and watched the airbags fill and lift the coach. I kept my eye on the bags as I traveled back to FL and noticed that the front air bags continued to drop and raise throughout the trip......is this normal? My old coach never did this.

2. While driving down the road both driver and passenger side seat areas have major squeaking going on and we cannot find where it is coming from. Has anyone else had these squeaks and how did you fix them?

3. I have read about the door wind noise and will check to see if we have the same issues as what has been posted. I have another question; noticed rattling coming from the little drawer that covers the entrance stairs....wife pulled in the drawer and the rattle stopped. When we came to a stop at a filling station, I noticed several screws and washers....are these from this drawer? How to you check to find out?

Thanks in advance for any advice or pointing me in the right direction.

Russ

[hdgoldie]

Congratulations on your new coach! I'm going to defer to 14 owners for most of your questions but I did want to say that, on our 13, the air stays up without any major fluctuations. The only qualification that I would make to that is in those situations where you are doing a lot of stop and go driving. If you were driving in heavy traffic and your bags had never fully inflated, that could have caused your difficulty. Again, congratulations. I hope you have many happy miles in your new baby!

[MS DELTA]

When you retract your jacks, always do a second retract to insure they are up and will activate the air bag valve to fill and not leak. The squeaking if probably the windows. The interior wall is rubbing against the inside frame of the window. You can remove the inside frame, apply electrical tape to the edge of the interior wall (or remove some of the wall) reinstall the frame, no squeak!!! I have some door wind noise when the wind is hard on the drivers side. Have not fixed that yet.
Enjoy your new coach and welcome to the family!!!!!

[Josh2129]

Congratulations on your purchase. Definitely try the retract all jacks again if the airbags don't raise the coach. Shut off the engine, turn on the jacks, and start the retract process again. I have had to do this a couple times before I get the airbags to inflate. I usually go outside an visually make sure I see the coach lifting off the front tires. As far as the air gauge dropping and going back up that should move when braking or inflating the airbags. The gauges should stay steady if no braking.
Can you give us a general area of the squeaking you are hearing? Some have windshields that squeak mine was the door and the wood trim around the door.
The step slide rattle in my case was caused by the airline and bracket that pushes the step out. These were not secure with screws and bounced causing the rattle. Pulled the step slide out and you can see under, reach in and see if you can easily move the cable (air line) in the center. Mine was loose so I used duct tape to secure it until get a permanent solution.
Hope this helps



John

[rcarriere]

Originally Posted by Josh2129

Congratulations on your purchase. Definitely try the retract all jacks again if the airbags don't raise the coach. Shut off the engine, turn on the jacks, and start the retract process again. I have had to do this a couple times before I get the airbags to inflate. I usually go outside an visually make sure I see the coach lifting off the front tires. As far as the air gauge dropping and going back up that should move when braking or inflating the airbags. The gauges should stay steady if no braking.
Can you give us a general area of the squeaking you are hearing? Some have windshields that squeak mine was the door and the wood trim around the door.
The step slide rattle in my case was caused by the airline and bracket that pushes the step out. These were not secure with screws and bounced causing the rattle. Pulled the step slide out and you can see under, reach in and see if you can easily move the cable (air line) in the center. Mine was loose so I used duct tape to secure it until get a permanent solution.
Hope this helps



John

John,

The rattle is just behind the head on both sides of the front chairs near the wall. Regarding the air bags, the front air bags are going up and down while cruising and not using the brakes. A little strange you have to hit the extract all button multiple times to get the air bags to lift. I am thinking that there is a leak...will more than likely have to take it in.


MS Delta - will look into the window frames and see if this is the issue on he rattle as well. Thank you for the information.

hdgoldie - the bags are not going down due to braking....the coach I just traded also had air bags and I never encountered this before.

[TXBart]

Congratulations on the new coach!

Even In urban traffic my air tends to stay above 100 psi. I've never noticed ride height changing once we were underway. If you turn on cruise control and hit Resume your engine idle will go to 1000 rpm and help air up the coach. You can retract jacks and slides with the engine running.

DW does a final light check and toad rolling check when we leave a park, I would often leave the coach in D when she got back in to drive away then learned the door air seal activates when you put it in D so the door should be opened or closed only in N. Lots of wind noise otherwise.

You can see our step slide bounce 1/4" or more sometimes. I chased that rattle for months. Let me know if you find a solution.

[roadrunning]

I have a 2013 Anthem and personally think the whole airing up problem is a serious issue that's not being dealt with. I like you have never experienced this with other coaches. In the RV park we're currently in it took me a a while to get into the spot pulling forward and back and applying brakes 3 times when I got out to check my position in the space the frame was on the front tires. I've taken it in and their authorized service centers say it's okay. I don't agree and will be contacting Spartan soon.
On the step cover we had a banging when we'd go over a slight bump. Precision did a side to side adjustment which didn't fix it but really tightened it up. I found that on corner of the plate with the carpet on it had popped loose I lifted the carpet a little drilled a hole and screwed it down fixed the problem. So check for side to side movement, when out, which can be adjusted and also check the plate by reaching under it and pushing up and releasing quickly a few times.

[Dutch Star David]

When we came to a stop at a filling station, I noticed several screws and washers....are these from this drawer? How to you check to find out?

I, too, noticed several screws and other construction debris at various places around the coach. This is an issue that was discussed at our rally in Paso Robles, CA in June. Our recommendation to Entegra was to buy a shop vac for each assembly station and require it's use at the end of each shift. I seems that if a worker dropped a screw or dropped debris, it just stayed where it dropped. Hopefully this issue has now been resolved.

[DSL417]

There can be another source of the squeaking...if you notice just inside the slide edge (coach side) there is a tape covering the end of the wall paper. That tape hides a set of metal screws up and down the wall. They should be at least every 16 inches; JMHO, preferable 12 inches. PJ plugged mine with extra screws and the squeak (really bad) went away immediately. I was missing a couple of screws. Might look at that or talk to them.

The advice on raising jacks and airing up process is on the mark and solved the problem for some folks that have been loosing air and thought they had leaks. Recommend you try that, and if not successful, start with Entegra CS and then Spartan CS.

[Twomed]

Air-brake Components in Trucks and Buses - HowStuffWorks

I constantly look for websites to use with driving students and this is my current favorite. Not over technical, but covers everything you need to know to operate your air brake equipped coach SAFELY.

Several comments about gauges and how full your air bags are struck me as a time to offer help here as they suggest a lack of knowledge of the systems. It is important that you know the correct operation and how to interpret warning signs/sounds of these systems in order to be a safe operator.

The link if read through the multiple pages will help you immensely as a new operator, or refresh you as an experienced operator.

A Google search of air brake systems will yield lots of info, mostly accurate,, but again this one is pretty complete, and for the newer operator.

Please realize also that not doing a final walk around after air AND suspension is up properly can cause $erious damage to your coach. Suspension/leveling systems vary from coach to coach in operation BUT all need to be fully inflated before moving. Turning a wheel on an underinflated suspension could take out fiberglass around the wheel very easily. Damage to driveline components is also possible. Adverse handling could even result in an accident should you manage to get up to speed without proper inflated suspension.

Congrats on the new coach Russ!!

[96 Wideglide]

[QUOTE=roadrunning;2269208] In the RV park we're currently in it took me a a while to get into the spot pulling forward and back and applying brakes 3 times when I got out to check my position in the space the frame was on the front tires. I've taken it in and their authorized service centers say it's okay. I don't agree and will be contacting Spartan soon.
QUOTE]

That's just crazy !
Using your service brakes should never drain air from your airbags! Whoever told you that was okay, needs to go back to school !!

[Finally]

Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the Entegra family.

!. We had this pap pen to us at delivery. We were told the incorrect sequence to inflate the bags and had a rough ride for a bit until my frantic calls were answered.

- start the engine (fast idle to build up air pressure)
- press "all retract" button to inflate the bags (may have to do this twice if your get a fast beep)
- check for bag inflation
- retract slides
- enjoy the ride......

2. We had major squeaks from the passengers seat. We had Entegra tighten all the bolts of the seat and the noises are gone. (lift up the toot rest and tighten any bolts/nuts you see)

3. We also had wind noise but it was intermittent. What I found was we had to shut the door with a good pull, then no wind noise.

There are some construction screws, washers and saw dust about after you drive a little.

If the step well cover is rattling, there is a fix. Some have adjusted it and some have had plastic or rubber installed for the rattle. You also may find a rattle from the generator slide. I installed rubber washers to the slide so the metal pull would hit the rubber, not the metal slide.

[hogdriver]

As for the squeaks. Next time you hear it try holding the roll down shade(s). If the squeak goes away when holding the shade it's probably loose mounting screws on one end of the shade or another. There are several posts about how to fix.

[brobox]

Russ, my coach had so many air leaks on delivery that it had to be sent back to Entegra and Spartan. When we walked up to the coach I could hear the air hissing from the P/S ride height valve. The dealer could not fix all of the air leaks in 30 days so we refused delivery.

After going back to Spartan, three ride height valves were leaking, the air solenoid between the front ride height valves was leaking along with all of the air lines coming form the engine air compressor. I could not hold air pressure for more than an hour when parked and was not holding air pressure on our test drive.....much like you are experiencing.

Pull your MH forward to close the tag axle dump valve, do not retract the jacks or anything outside of setting the parking brake. Air your MH up then turn the key on every 10 minutes and take reading on the gauges and see how much air is lost in an hour. If it's more that a few pounds, there is a problem.

This is the air lines that were defective on delivery. It does happen on new coaches and might be part of your not holding air problem, I hope not.

After all of the air leaks were fixed, I can now hold air for 3 week parked and not be on the tires.