PLEASE HELP, STRANDED!! 97 Fleetwood DP

[sueperdave]

Hi all, I am in need of help here.
I parked my 97 Fleetwood Discovery DP with a 5.9 cummins and 6 speed allison auto (3000 I think) and all was well.
When I went to start it to leave...I turned on the key and the jacks retracted by themselves.  Normally I have to turn on the keypad and hit the retract all button.

Now...the powergear jack keypad and transmission control pad are both black (no power).
The RV will also not start, but all the dash, headlights, wipers, fans etc have power.

Everything else in/on the RV is working perfectly.

I checked a bunch of fuses but did not spend too much time on it.

Had to load my family in a friends van to get them home for other commitments.

My RV is now 350km from home near Bracebridge (Bala actually) Ontario and I am heading up with a friend to try and trouble shoot.

Any ideas!!!

Thanks, Dave.

 

[driftless shifter]

Disconnect ground cable from Batteries so the whole coach is dead. Twiddle thumbs for 5 minutes, reconnect grounds and see what happens. Kinda like taking the battery out of a cell phone to reset it.

Bill

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

You have lost power to the Allison ECU or its shifter control pad, which (among other things) means the coach cannot tell if it is in neutral or not. That's why the jacks went up - they auto-retract if the ignition is on and not in neutral. It won't start for the same reason - cannot verify it is in neutral gear.

If you can find the Allison controller, you should also see some relays nearby. It's probably in a rear compartment, more likely a storage bay than the engine area. Start wiggling wires there - Ihad one come loose last year. Also try to trace the power & comm wires to the shifter pad/lever, in case the connection has been lost at that end.

 

[Robert K]

On my 96 Safari the Allison ECU is under the dash.Just in case you can't find it elsewhere try there.Its about 6x6 with big Allison sticker on it

 

[Alfa38User]

Have you actually checked the engine and chassis batteries?? Voltage and water levels (where possible)!!

 

[sueperdave]

I have already did a battery disconnect...nothing.

Looked into the Allison control panel, which is at the front, and all the relays check out and both fuses have power.

Not sure what else to do based on list here.

I am not having much luck getting an Allison guy here right away either if we can not find it ourselves.

Myself and another guy have a way better than average diagnostic ability...we are not giving up yet.

 

[sueperdave]

FIXED!!!!!!!

Went back into the Allison control box for a second time and pushed on one of the fuses and got power.

Must be a poor connection there...at least I know to fix it.

Cost me $0.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Kim (skyking4ar2) Bertram]

Glad to hear that, Dave! Obviously some lessons about loose connections for all of us with Allisons - I am filing that one away!

 

[sueperdave]

Thanks to Gary's reply who said he had a loose connection...I decided to open up that box and try again...got real lucky.
Hit the right fuse the right way when someone was sitting in the drivers seat to see the control panel light up.

Got lucky for sure.

Lets face it...to find a loose connection on one of these things is a needle in a haystack for sure...took us 3 hours of trouble shooting before we found it.

For all you Ally owners out there...that is 2 owners that had the same problem...keep it in mind.

The RV will not crank, the powergear pad will not come on...all because the tranny is 'confused'.

Good to know.

Thanks again for the replies.

Dave.

PS...got a couple more days of fishing in due to the 'trouble'.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

When I had a loose wire last year, I wiggled wires for hours and a buddy tried too. No joy. A tech from a local truck shop came out Monday morning and the second wire he touched caused a flicker of the lights and the clunk of a relay engaging. Five minutes later he had the loose connector pin crimped tight again and we were ready to go. Exact same wires I had been wiggling the day before, but obviously his "wiggle" worked better than mine!