Won't air up (stuck shuttle valve)

[Neal]

I knew not to buy my tickets to the EAA AirVenture airshow until getting to my stop prior to the airshow in Wisconsin! I took my printer out for work so I said sure, I'll go ahead and buy the tickets and print them, a few days ago. This morning was departure for my final leg to WI where I'll sit 20mi from the airshow and move over on Thursday.

Crawfordsville, IN KOA site was quite unlevel and I couldn't get level with HWH Active Air so I used the jacks and then did final leveling manually due to excess slope, etc. etc. I really didn't want to use them, jacks are high risk IMHO and I prefer air leveling as it's a great system.

While in storage for 8 months I did cycle them at times, stored on jacks for a period of time, i.e. used them.

Sure enough this morning after raising the jacks I'm not airing up, getting to around 90 psi and then back to lower and cycling. I can hear it, oh just great. I cycled the jacks, twice, no luck. I knew what it likely was but I did have FL check for leaks and they replaced some fittings, line, etc. in November right after which I put the coach in storage.

I could hear the air in between the drive and tag axle, i.e. the rear of the coach. I figured I was going to have to get under and find the leak hoping a line came off and I could just cut it and put it back on.

I knew of one more trick I was going to try before I had to notify the campground and call coach-net, and yeah, it's Saturday so I'm likely not going anywhere but at least I have some time before the airshow starts a week from Monday.

The trick I learned as this very same thing happened to me on my first big RV trip right after getting the coach when I paid a ton of money to do a 34 day rockies tour with Passport America. It was a Sunday and I was in WV head to CO for the start of the event. I couldn't air up and called Newmar and Erica answered on Sunday, she's the best, and put FL on the line. The trick is to put it in drive and go forward just a few feet which triggers the shuttle valve to close. The equalizer jacks system sends a 12V signal to the shuttle valve to close so you can air up the airbags as it opens when leveling to deflate the airbags. It worked!

After that event I had my annual FL service and I was fortunate it happened right in front of the tech as it only happened 1-2 times after that first time. I put it on my list for this November but it likely gummed up from non use I'm guessing.

Moral is, if you have the equalizer jacks, not sure if others work the same, if you can't air up then putting it in drive and going slightly forward apparently triggers something else to close that valve.

I arrived in WI later this afternoon after a grueling drive of a road closure, not known by Garmin or Waze for whatever reason, that was easy to get around, then all kinds of construction and re-routing through the lovely Chicago area, and an accident. But I made it, then one of the most challenging parking jobs due to a cramped campground setup but I got in without taking any trees out only to get out of the coach and realize there was an easier path to make this happen but it's done.

Fun fun, the joys and adventures of RV life and the stories we (I) continually create!

 

[Richpatty]

Keep us posted on your expedition!

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

Thanks for the Equalizer trick, Neal. How is the a/c cooling?

 

[Neal]

Thanks for the Equalizer trick, Neal. How is the a/c cooling?

Still doing great but one concern is at times the air isn't blowing as hard as expected. I don't know if this is an engine load issue, under load less airflow, or somethings wrong with the "blower". I've noticed this a few times in various settings (1, 2, 3, etc.). The air is crazy cold though. I just wonder what the relation to the PDM is as that was replaced in Nov (a second recall) just prior to it going into storage.

 

[J&JD]

Just curious, did you try “stop” or “reset” on the AA system to see if that would activate the air up?

 

[Neal]

Just curious, did you try “stop” or “reset” on the AA system to see if that would activate the air up?

Probably in the process of manual dumping and travel mode, etc. It wasn't related to AA, it's an equalizer / shuttle valve situation. I could also look at the pressures page and no leaks apparent there.

 

[Neal]

One thing odd though with Active Air leveling is it seems to never end trying to level when it can't level in excess slope. Anyone know what the timeout value is? I've let it go for several minutes, probably 5+ and it just never stops.

 

[Neal]

After sleeping on this I need to do a little more testing as with Active Air the equalizer system no longer controls the airbags, or so I thought. I have to manually dump with Active Air and hit stop and then use equalizer jacks. I would have thought the shuttle valve was bypassed. It sounds like it's still doing what it was designed to do but I never noticed as I always dump from AA first. If I don't do that then AA will fight to put air in while equalizer jacks are deploying. If I verify the shuttle valve is still working as pre AA I may ask FL to disable it next visit as it's not used any longer. This will also prevent this from ever happening again. But still a good tip for others to know should it happen to them.

Edit: disabling the equalizer / shuttle valve could be a bad idea if HWH Active Air ever went out on me. Hmmmm

 

[J&JD]

I forgot that your AA is not totally integrated with your hydraulic system. My AA and all of my hydraulic jacks are controlled by my AA control panel as the entire system is HWH. Sorry about chiming in here.

 

[Neal]

I forgot that your AA is not totally integrated with your hydraulic system. My AA and all of my hydraulic jacks are controlled by my AA control panel as the entire system is HWH. Sorry about chiming in here.

No apologies, you got me thinking through the system which is good.