Welcome to RVForums.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Friendliest RV Community on the web
  • Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
  • Ask questions, help others, review campgrounds
  • Get the most out of the RV Lifestyle
  • Invite everyone to RVForums.com and let's have fun
  • Commercial/Vendors welcome

Air brake/leveler issue

Welcome to RVForums.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
  • Invite your friends and let's have fun
  • Commercial/Vendors welcome
  • Friendliest RV community on the web

Mr4aces

RVF Regular
Joined
Aug 3, 2021
Messages
5
I have a 2018 Pace Arrow diesel on a freightliner chassis. Its has an intermittent problem that causes big headaches- intermittently.

This is the scenario: Occasionally running down the highway the air brake alarm will starting beeping, which is the alarm that is supposed to tell me that the unit has the air brake released but not in gear, or conversely that the unit is in gear but with the air brake engaged. I can relieve this alarm by sounding my air horn, thus releasing some air and the alarm goes away.

Also- and more of a headache- sometimes the Powertrain leveling jacks do not recognize that the air brake is engaged, so the control board will not energize. More often than not this also can be relieved by hitting the air horn. Which my camping neighbors appreciate. However on one occasion I could not get the powertrain levelers to recognize the air brake, thus the slides would not retract and the levelers were stuck down. Even putting the unit in drive gear did not retract the jacks. After a lot of plugging, unplugging, hot wiring slides, etc, the jacks retracted. But the mobile service tech and myself are not sure what we did to get this to happen.

So- frustrated and scared of getting stuck again- I sent it to the freightliner service center. After $900 and a lot of troubleshooting, they determined it was a fleetwood problem, everything on the freightliner side checked out, Just for my own satisfaction I personally replaced the air brake switch under the dash for $ 40 but it did not change anything. So then I sent it to an authorized fleetwood rv service center, who in turn can not find the problem but say it must be on the freightliner side.

That is my dilemma. Has any fleetwood owners or freightliner owners had as similar problem? Does anyone have any suggestions what to troubleshoot next?

Thanks!
 
Does the alarm go off when the transmission is in gear and you release the park brake? Will it stop beeping if you put the transmission back in Neutral?

Mine did this. Had to drive 8 hours from Gulf Shores to Chattanooga with the alarm blaring!!! I was almost deaf by the time we got home. Turns out there is an air switch under all the buttons and switches on the driver's arm rest that went bad. It triggers an alarm that the park brakes are not set. I found the part on the internet for about $40. Took 3 minutes to swap it out once someone told me where to look! If you remove the switch panel you can see the switch. It's plumbed into the air brake knob.
 
I have a 2018 Pace Arrow diesel on a freightliner chassis. Its has an intermittent problem that causes big headaches- intermittently.

This is the scenario: Occasionally running down the highway the air brake alarm will starting beeping, which is the alarm that is supposed to tell me that the unit has the air brake released but not in gear, or conversely that the unit is in gear but with the air brake engaged. I can relieve this alarm by sounding my air horn, thus releasing some air and the alarm goes away.

Also- and more of a headache- sometimes the Powertrain leveling jacks do not recognize that the air brake is engaged, so the control board will not energize. More often than not this also can be relieved by hitting the air horn. Which my camping neighbors appreciate. However on one occasion I could not get the powertrain levelers to recognize the air brake, thus the slides would not retract and the levelers were stuck down. Even putting the unit in drive gear did not retract the jacks. After a lot of plugging, unplugging, hot wiring slides, etc, the jacks retracted. But the mobile service tech and myself are not sure what we did to get this to happen.

So- frustrated and scared of getting stuck again- I sent it to the freightliner service center. After $900 and a lot of troubleshooting, they determined it was a fleetwood problem, everything on the freightliner side checked out, Just for my own satisfaction I personally replaced the air brake switch under the dash for $ 40 but it did not change anything. So then I sent it to an authorized fleetwood rv service center, who in turn can not find the problem but say it must be on the freightliner side.

That is my dilemma. Has any fleetwood owners or freightliner owners had as similar problem? Does anyone have any suggestions what to troubleshoot next?

Thanks!
Does the alarm go off when the transmission is in gear and you release the park brake? Will it stop beeping if you put the transmission back in Neutral?

Mine did this. Had to drive 8 hours from Gulf Shores to Chattanooga with the alarm blaring!!! I was almost deaf by the time we got home. Turns out there is an air switch under all the buttons and switches on the driver's arm rest that went bad. It triggers an alarm that the park brakes are not set. I found the part on the internet for about $40. Took 3 minutes to swap it out once someone told me where to look! If you remove the switch panel you can see the switch. It's plumbed into the air brake knob.
Thanks EZ. I think you are referring to the air brake switch, which I had verified ok but replaced myself anyway. No help with my problem though. Thanks again for replying.
 
Ok! I'm not sure anyone cares but I will post this info in case some other poor soul encounters my problem and the ultimate fix.
As i said I went to REV in Oregon. This is a good service center with good staff. They never really identified the problem but unplugged and replugged my harnesses, did a hard reset on the leveler panel and the system worked as it should ..... until we moved about 30 miles to a new campsite. Then, it was the same problem: Powergear would not recognize my parking brake on until I tapped the air horn a couple times. Called back and the service advisor suggested the powergear control boards. Frustrated I said I'm heading 1000 miles home and I will have a local tech check that out.
But the RV gods intervened! (is there such a thing?) On the way home I got a radiator hose leak and took the unit to Freightliner for repair. I mentioned the air brake switch alarm, and during their repair the tech had to hit the horn to open the rear slide to access the radiator hose, This led the frieghtliner tech to run a diagnostic check and eventually found that an 80 pin communication connector located on the bulkhead(right under the air horn!) had not been seated properly and damaged pins were causing misreads. He unplugged, repaired and replugged. All is well! Evidently blasting the air horn either vibrated the connector enough to allow the electrical connection or perhaps sent some electrical charge thru the affected plugs.
What a blessing to use my jacks and slides without having to wake the whole campground up with an air blast. So far so good and it was worth the trip to finally solve this problem.

For folks with a freightliner chassis this connector plug is up under the dash behind the air brake switch. Accessed thru the inside of the coach. Not easy to get to but what is in a motorhome? If you took the time to read this- Thanks and happy motoring!
 
Ok! I'm not sure anyone cares but I will post this info in case some other poor soul encounters my problem and the ultimate fix.
As i said I went to REV in Oregon. This is a good service center with good staff. They never really identified the problem but unplugged and replugged my harnesses, did a hard reset on the leveler panel and the system worked as it should ..... until we moved about 30 miles to a new campsite. Then, it was the same problem: Powergear would not recognize my parking brake on until I tapped the air horn a couple times. Called back and the service advisor suggested the powergear control boards. Frustrated I said I'm heading 1000 miles home and I will have a local tech check that out.
But the RV gods intervened! (is there such a thing?) On the way home I got a radiator hose leak and took the unit to Freightliner for repair. I mentioned the air brake switch alarm, and during their repair the tech had to hit the horn to open the rear slide to access the radiator hose, This led the frieghtliner tech to run a diagnostic check and eventually found that an 80 pin communication connector located on the bulkhead(right under the air horn!) had not been seated properly and damaged pins were causing misreads. He unplugged, repaired and replugged. All is well! Evidently blasting the air horn either vibrated the connector enough to allow the electrical connection or perhaps sent some electrical charge thru the affected plugs.
What a blessing to use my jacks and slides without having to wake the whole campground up with an air blast. So far so good and it was worth the trip to finally solve this problem.

For folks with a freightliner chassis this connector plug is up under the dash behind the air brake switch. Accessed thru the inside of the coach. Not easy to get to but what is in a motorhome? If you took the time to read this- Thanks and happy motoring!
Thanks for sharing, things like these can be very frustrating. Glad you got it fixed and can travel peacefully.
 
I'm amazed that you found it.
 
I have a 2018 Pace Arrow diesel on a freightliner chassis. Its has an intermittent problem that causes big headaches- intermittently.

This is the scenario: Occasionally running down the highway the air brake alarm will starting beeping, which is the alarm that is supposed to tell me that the unit has the air brake released but not in gear, or conversely that the unit is in gear but with the air brake engaged. I can relieve this alarm by sounding my air horn, thus releasing some air and the alarm goes away.

Also- and more of a headache- sometimes the Powertrain leveling jacks do not recognize that the air brake is engaged, so the control board will not energize. More often than not this also can be relieved by hitting the air horn. Which my camping neighbors appreciate. However on one occasion I could not get the powertrain levelers to recognize the air brake, thus the slides would not retract and the levelers were stuck down. Even putting the unit in drive gear did not retract the jacks. After a lot of plugging, unplugging, hot wiring slides, etc, the jacks retracted. But the mobile service tech and myself are not sure what we did to get this to happen.

So- frustrated and scared of getting stuck again- I sent it to the freightliner service center. After $900 and a lot of troubleshooting, they determined it was a fleetwood problem, everything on the freightliner side checked out, Just for my own satisfaction I personally replaced the air brake switch under the dash for $ 40 but it did not change anything. So then I sent it to an authorized fleetwood rv service center, who in turn can not find the problem but say it must be on the freightliner side.

That is my dilemma. Has any fleetwood owners or freightliner owners had as similar problem? Does anyone have any suggestions what to troubleshoot next?

Thanks!
I own a 2016 pace arrow 38k. Have not experienced anything like that. No problems with levelers going down or back up. Wouldn't know where to begin looking for the remedy?? Keep after fleetwood warranty though. I had to threaten them with Indiana AG to pick up my warranty issue.
 

Latest posts

Latest resources

Back
Top