Okay ladies and gentlemen, I need help, because I can't find technicians that can diagnose this. This Monaco runs beautiful, the engine purrs like a kitten, and it revs up quickly when it's in park like it's got more power than it needs. Once I drop it into drive, it barely crawls out of a parking place, the engine doesn't even sound like it's struggling, it just doesn't rev up at all, and the coach struggles to even get up to local street speeds, let alone highway speeds. It feels like when I would compare my car if I shifted into second gear and tried to start from a traffic light in second gear, because to gear ratio is too high and the torque required to move the vehicle is higher than the engine can muster. On the other hand, in second gear it also seems too make sense that it wouldn't be able to go above 40 miles an hour, because that could possibly be the maximum range of that gear ratio. When on the highway, with the pedal to the floor, 40 miles an hour is the maximum speed, unless I get the help of a gentle Hill where I might make it to as much as 44. This is with the engine revving steady at approximately 2,200 RPM. Some people have told me that 2,200 RPM in this type of rig is a high RPM, but I've read that these Cummins engines can rev to as much as 3,500 RPM without doing any damage, so I find it strange that I'm being warned about running at 2,200.p
The technician's first suspicion was that the engine was being starved for fuel and so they replaced both fuel filters, and their in bay testing while in park, and with no load applied lead them to believe that the engine would run beautifully. Unfortunately, the engine does run beautifully both at idle and when the accelerator is pressed down while in park or neutral, but that's the only time. Other symptoms, are that no matter what position I put the gear shifter in, first, second, drive or overdrive, I feel and hear no difference in either the torque, or the speed of the vehicle, and detect no shifting whatsoever, either while at a full stop, or at any speed up to and including 44mph. Also, don't know if this will be related or not but the speedometer is pegged at 0mph, and does not move off that position no matter how fast I go. Also, the odometer and trip meter are not counting miles.
When trying to accelerate from a dead stop, it doesn't even sound like the motor is trying to accelerate, it just pretty much sounds like a more aggressive hum then when it is idling, and the RPM just increases slowly
I took it first to a local minor repair, lube and filter shop where they replaced the fuel filters. Next I took it to an Allison transmission shop, but in their attempt to connect the computer to the RV, they couldn't find a port that would recognize the transmission. The only Port they could locate was to the top right of the radiators in the rear, and it's labeled engine. I understand there might be another Port somewhere on the rig, one technician said he's seen them sometimes on the frame rails underneath, but couldn't be sure if this vehicle had one there or not since they never crawled under.
Allison seems to think it's a motor problem, and a trying to say that the motor is losing power. They've said that if the motor didn't have enough torque, it would never let the transmission shift because the transmission will be looking at the motor's RPM and waiting for it to reach a certain number before it would let it move to the next gear.
It's sitting in the Allison's service center parking lot, and I hope to get it looked at again starting on Monday.
Diagonally across the street from Allison is Cummins, and I've spoken with them but they seem to think that the problem is not related to the motor, and they're pointing to either the transmission, or to the chassis as where to troubleshoot. Regarding the chassis, I'm not sure I understand that philosophy, other than perhaps that whoever makes the chassis is responsible for the linkage to the transmission and possibly that's what they're thinking?
Since this is a Freightliner chassis, I called them and described the problem. They're trying to Convince me that this is a transmission problem.
I'm wondering if it can't be that Morse control shifter which is being used as a mechanical control for the electronically-controlled Allison transmission. I've been told that that mechanical shifter would have to go to an actuator motor, which would then convert the mechanical action into the electronic actions of contacts closure that would tell the ECT what gear to put the transmission in. Could it be a fuse for that actuator motor?
Again gentlemen and ladies, I'm a novice so I'm only going on my limited amount of knowledge on a variety of subjects being a geek who likes to research and read and learn. I know a little bit about a lot of things but nothing at all about these rigs.
Monaco themselves told me they couldn't help me because they aren't the same Monaco that built this rig in 2000. So I'm stuck between four different rocks and hard places. Monaco, Allison, Cummins, and Freightliner all not knowing what to do.
I have spoken to Freightliner and they suggested I bring it in, but they also pointed to Allison since they believe this is a shifting issue.
Could this manual shifter be replaced by the standard button shifters that are on most Allison transmission vehicles that I've seen? Why would anyone have put a Morse Control shifter in and then "jerry-rigged" it with an actuator motor just to get to electronic control? Seems like the only purpose would be to create more failure points in my humble opinion.
Hopefully someone out there can help me make some sense of this, but more importantly help me get it actually correctly diagnosed and repaired as it is my only home at the moment. My house burned down and my family of three, my wife, son and I are technically homeless oh, and bought this rigged so that we can both travel and work in our positions as traveling sales people. Don't feel sorry for us, because our jobs, my wife's and mine are both very good jobs that pay very well, but we had very little money to start with after a long period of being jobless after the fire so we bought this used rig so that we can avoid paying the hotel expenses that we have to cover at each location where we work for two weeks at a time.
The technician's first suspicion was that the engine was being starved for fuel and so they replaced both fuel filters, and their in bay testing while in park, and with no load applied lead them to believe that the engine would run beautifully. Unfortunately, the engine does run beautifully both at idle and when the accelerator is pressed down while in park or neutral, but that's the only time. Other symptoms, are that no matter what position I put the gear shifter in, first, second, drive or overdrive, I feel and hear no difference in either the torque, or the speed of the vehicle, and detect no shifting whatsoever, either while at a full stop, or at any speed up to and including 44mph. Also, don't know if this will be related or not but the speedometer is pegged at 0mph, and does not move off that position no matter how fast I go. Also, the odometer and trip meter are not counting miles.
When trying to accelerate from a dead stop, it doesn't even sound like the motor is trying to accelerate, it just pretty much sounds like a more aggressive hum then when it is idling, and the RPM just increases slowly
I took it first to a local minor repair, lube and filter shop where they replaced the fuel filters. Next I took it to an Allison transmission shop, but in their attempt to connect the computer to the RV, they couldn't find a port that would recognize the transmission. The only Port they could locate was to the top right of the radiators in the rear, and it's labeled engine. I understand there might be another Port somewhere on the rig, one technician said he's seen them sometimes on the frame rails underneath, but couldn't be sure if this vehicle had one there or not since they never crawled under.
Allison seems to think it's a motor problem, and a trying to say that the motor is losing power. They've said that if the motor didn't have enough torque, it would never let the transmission shift because the transmission will be looking at the motor's RPM and waiting for it to reach a certain number before it would let it move to the next gear.
It's sitting in the Allison's service center parking lot, and I hope to get it looked at again starting on Monday.
Diagonally across the street from Allison is Cummins, and I've spoken with them but they seem to think that the problem is not related to the motor, and they're pointing to either the transmission, or to the chassis as where to troubleshoot. Regarding the chassis, I'm not sure I understand that philosophy, other than perhaps that whoever makes the chassis is responsible for the linkage to the transmission and possibly that's what they're thinking?
Since this is a Freightliner chassis, I called them and described the problem. They're trying to Convince me that this is a transmission problem.
I'm wondering if it can't be that Morse control shifter which is being used as a mechanical control for the electronically-controlled Allison transmission. I've been told that that mechanical shifter would have to go to an actuator motor, which would then convert the mechanical action into the electronic actions of contacts closure that would tell the ECT what gear to put the transmission in. Could it be a fuse for that actuator motor?
Again gentlemen and ladies, I'm a novice so I'm only going on my limited amount of knowledge on a variety of subjects being a geek who likes to research and read and learn. I know a little bit about a lot of things but nothing at all about these rigs.
Monaco themselves told me they couldn't help me because they aren't the same Monaco that built this rig in 2000. So I'm stuck between four different rocks and hard places. Monaco, Allison, Cummins, and Freightliner all not knowing what to do.
I have spoken to Freightliner and they suggested I bring it in, but they also pointed to Allison since they believe this is a shifting issue.
Could this manual shifter be replaced by the standard button shifters that are on most Allison transmission vehicles that I've seen? Why would anyone have put a Morse Control shifter in and then "jerry-rigged" it with an actuator motor just to get to electronic control? Seems like the only purpose would be to create more failure points in my humble opinion.
Hopefully someone out there can help me make some sense of this, but more importantly help me get it actually correctly diagnosed and repaired as it is my only home at the moment. My house burned down and my family of three, my wife, son and I are technically homeless oh, and bought this rigged so that we can both travel and work in our positions as traveling sales people. Don't feel sorry for us, because our jobs, my wife's and mine are both very good jobs that pay very well, but we had very little money to start with after a long period of being jobless after the fire so we bought this used rig so that we can avoid paying the hotel expenses that we have to cover at each location where we work for two weeks at a time.
