HWH Active Air issue - left front cycling up and down while air leveled

[J&JD]

I did lube the o-ring on my new solenoid prior to assembly. Unfortunately the new solenoid didn’t solve my problem. So, I’m back trying to find the leak at the right airbag or the myriad of lines leading to it. Two Freightliner shops + an independent were not able to locate a leak, sigh.

 

[Neal]

Today I went back to the coach for the routine exercise of dash AC, roof ac/heat pumps, GEN, and a drive. During the drive something was unusual, tank 2 air was not cycling like it did in the past which was always a concern and subsequent replacement of air bags. Hmmm, okay, is that good or bad? Then upon return I intended to extend all slides and do an air level test for an hour. Well, I didn't care to sit there so I parked it and did an air level test with slides in for 20 minutes. It did not budge. So it seems the tank 2 cycling could also have been an indicator of the bad solenoid. Always good to learn more about the system and I'm also happy to have discovered Joe at HWH that handles support and he was great to work with. Hope @J&JD can find the cure to his saga soon as well as his seems beyond the solenoid.

 

[J&JD]

Today I went back to the coach for the routine exercise of dash AC, roof ac/heat pumps, GEN, and a drive. During the drive something was unusual, tank 2 air was not cycling like it did in the past which was always a concern and subsequent replacement of air bags. Hmmm, okay, is that good or bad? Then upon return I intended to extend all slides and do an air level test for an hour. Well, I didn't care to sit there so I parked it and did an air level test with slides in for 20 minutes. It did not budge. So it seems the tank 2 cycling could also have been an indicator of the bad solenoid. Always good to learn more about the system and I'm also happy to have discovered Joe at HWH that handles support and he was great to work with. Hope @J&JD can find the cure to his saga soon as well as his seems beyond the solenoid.

Good for you you lucky dog. Very happy for you. I haven’t had time to figure mine out yet but I’m starting to believe that my problem is likely to be the right air bag or the lines leading to it as the AA controller seems to check out ok. Still a mystery as to why a leak as big as mine hasn’t been located by 3 repair facilities.

 

[J&JD]

I have recently been trying to find a replacement front airbag bag for my 2017 Dutch Star, part # ZFT 050122391001. Freightliner Gaffney parts said they are back ordered until perhaps mid May. They still are able to build new chassis as the front suspension is shipped to the factory pre assembled. No individual bags are available.
I did find a possible source on buyparts.online and am awaiting a response from them to see if they indeed have the correct part. Anyone have any other suggestions as I’m still trying to fix my right front airdown problem.I’m

 

[Neal]

Does Newmar parts carry them? What about your local FL service center, can they source any? The ones near me are Excel Truck Group in case you wanted to call them just for "fun"

Home - Excel Truck Group

Excel Truck Group offers the best quality New & Used Trucks for you. Discover your perfect Truck today. Click here to browse our selection.

www.exceltruckgroup.com

 

[J&JD]

Does Newmar parts carry them? What about your local FL service center, can they source any? The ones near me are Excel Truck Group in case you wanted to call them just for "fun"

Home - Excel Truck Group

Excel Truck Group offers the best quality New & Used Trucks for you. Discover your perfect Truck today. Click here to browse our selection.

www.exceltruckgroup.com

Newmar does not carry them & referred me to Gaffney and also gave me a DTNA 800 number to check. DTNA gave me two part numbers that they assured me if ordered together would get me the bag. Went back to Gaffney parts, gave them the two numbers and they laughed at me saying the second part number was for the nuts that hold the bag in place. They had those….many hahas later. They also said there are no bags in the entire Freightliner system so local Freightliner dealers are also out. Sure hard to believe. Gaffney said they have been back ordered since early March from Germany. Wonder if the new tariffs are having any interesting new affects on our parts system? Hmmm.

 

[Neal]

Something tells me if @GlampDaddy picks up the Showalter bat phone...something could happen.

 

[J&JD]

Finally was able to order two front airbags from Gaffney parts after a two month back order resolved. $1000 later (+ tax & shipping) I had them in hand. They were installed yesterday (another $1200). I parked the coach on its backyard pad, measured its exact height to the extended front stairs and left it alone at ride height for the night. 24 hours later the coach had not dropped even a 1/4 inch. Previously it would have dropped 2” in 20 minutes.The right front bag had been leaking through the hard plastic base of the bag that was not visible while still installed.
The next step is to see if the air leveling system is now in working order. I’ll be checking that out tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

 

[J&JD]

To hopefully finish up this thread……after installing two new front air bags and driving the coach less than 10 miles, the new left front bag started to dramatically begin leaking. It was so bad that you could watch the left front go up & down when parked. A local shop ordered and installed a new bag and fortunately Gaffney credited me for the bad bag (not for the labor however) after shipping it back to them. I have since driven the coach over 1000 miles and used air leveling several times with the AA system working perfectly. So, it would seem that my original problem with my right front leaking down was caused by the air bag leaking from a location that was not detectable after hours of checking.

 

[Neal]

Many of my air bags were leaking at 7 years age so paid the big penny to replace them due to HWH Active Air's dependency on good airbags. I wonder how many out there have leaking air bags and don't know it? Wouldn't hurt during your chassis service visits to ask for leak checks but beware it can melt some plastic!!!

 

[J&JD]

beware it can melt some plastic!!!

More like incinerate your plastic. Keeping these devils in top running condition is just a bit expensive for sure. But, well worth it for the wonderful life experiences they give us.

 

[Neal]

More like incinerate your plastic. Keeping these devils in top running condition is just a bit expensive for sure. But, well worth it for the wonderful life experiences they give us.

Remember, compare to buying new and all of the sudden your "fix it budget" quadruples

 

[DennisT]

Think the cab bag is leaking on our Superstar as well.

Couple things in play, there is a ram that sets the cab to locked or on the bag based on the brakes being set or off, also only one bag on the cab.

This past winter, while parked, the cab slowly settled causing the floor between the cab and house to be off. Didn’t do it the first two years.

Had the bag checked while at Gaffney for chassis service but they couldn’t find anything. Getting the ram checked when we are at Nappanee next month.

They work fine while driving and the real hassle is a couple cabinets we can’t get into (cab area) when the cab settles. Still need to get it corrected though as it should not be happening.