Air Brake Empty while parked?

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4ducksrus

4ducksrus

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Joined
Nov 17, 2010
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814
We are experiencing something new to us...we went home and found got our keys. Before getting back to our MH we had some spare keys made.  So, when getting back to our rig we decided to try out the keys that we had made.  We put the ignition key in and while it turned the MH would not start and we then got a message saying that the parking brake was not engaged.  We've been parked since March and are wondering if maybe we've been doing something wrong?  Now, the big question is how do we get air back into the brakes?  And, what would cause this?  Also, to get the beeping noise to stop we had to turn off the chassis battery...should this already have been turned off?  Sorry, I know its a lot of questions.  I'm kind of panicing here!  LOL  While we aren't planning on leaving until the 2nd week of July...it's still kind of bothers me to not know what to do or what is happening.

TIA for any and all help!
Mikie

Mikie
 
I suspect the "beeping noise" was the low air alarm ...to silence it just start the engine and set it on high idle for a few minutes. It is normal for air to leak off when parked for a week or longer.

As for the parking brake being "off", that sounds odd as when the air leaks off far enough the parking brake will go ON and cannot be set to OFF until you build up enough air pressure ...air keeps the parking brake off, and w/o air the parking brake will set on it's own.

I suggest you crank the ebgine and go to high idle for several minutes and see if all returns to normal ...oh! ...and before you do, reconnect power to  that alarm!
 
4ducksrus said:
We put the ignition key in and while it turned the MH would not start . . .
Click to expand...

Therein lies the problem ^^^.

Have you made sure the batteries are charged? It isn't out of the question that trying to crank an engine when the batteries are low could have a strange effect on the computer, and maybe set an erroneous warning light like that.
 
First, we can't start the engine, it doesn't turn over and second, there doesn't seem to be any air in the system or at least that what seems to be  what's happened.  The warning was a light and wording on the readout that said "parking brake not set" and when we pulled it there wasn't any noise.  Tried unsetting it and nothing.  Seems like there isn't any air in the system.

Mikie
 
If your house batteries can start your generator, try this to start the engine. Start the generator and run for about 5 minutes to load up the house batteries. Press and hold the aux start switch on the dash for about 60 seconds to add juice to the coach batteries. While stll holding the aux start switch, try to start the engine. You'll get a lot more juice flowing thru the starter to start the engine. After that, run the engine for a few minutes then rev on high; turn on cruise control and push set button, should run at 1,000 rpm. Cancel the cruise before putting the tranny in gear. Run the engine until the air pressure gauges pass 125 psi and you hear the spitters blow. You'll then have more than enough air in the brake system to release the parking brake and drive the coach.
 
No need to panic. Sounds like your chassis (engine start) batteries are dead, which is not all that unusual when parked for long term. And the air in the system will normally leak down to zero or near zero over a few weeks or months. Heck, mine leaks away in a couple days.

You need to get the chassis batteries charged up enough to start the engine. If Bernie's advice doesn't work, get somebody to bring a battery charger out to you or use another vehicle to jump start the coach. Once the engine is running, the air pressure will come up, the low air alarm will cease and after awhile the engine alternator will charge the batteries adequately.
 
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