kaypsmith

With a very low flow situation anyway in warmer weather, a black hosepipe can be laid out in the sunlight, attached to the hot water heater input, pump cold tank water to the hose and then the inverter will not use as much 12V for warming the water. I use a 100 foot hose for this purpose, just leave the hose coiled up, no need to uncoil.

Many coaches have a circuit breaker very close to the house battery bank or a fuse circuit. If the salesman switch is not the issue, start at the battery bank with a VOM, checking each terminal downstream from the battery bank against a chassis ground for 12 +V, first failure will be the culprit in most cases.

Just want to add a note here concerning battery amps versus AC amperage and trying to figure the amp draw on the DC side. While inverting DC to AC an inverter has a built in overhead for making the inversion. The most streamlined inverter that I have tested used 10% overhead, while the worst tested used 35%, which means that while calculating the amperage being pulled from the batteries, you must add the overhead to the DC draw to be accurate in your calculations. So glad that the OP has resolved your mystery.

Welcome to FMCA and thanks for the great pictures.

Great news and glad that it is working to your liking now. A simple fix would be to program the ECM to delay the start cycle (maybe), or at least send out a bulletin letting others know what to do until a permanent fix is available.

See if this helps! https://www.manta.com/c/mmdfxyg/lexington-corporation

See if this helps! https://www.manta.com/c/mmdfxyg/lexington-corporation

I completely built my coach with purchases on ebay, was very happy with the results and shipping was never a problem because I used a commercial shipping address, Worth looking at! https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=rv+furniture&_sacat=0&_pgn=1

Here is some good reading about the Montana LLC, that most people trying to avoid state taxes need to read. https://rvtailgatelife.com/2019/montana-llc-registering-rv Not exactly on topic but worth sharing since the subject has come up. Oh yes, I agree with Joe and his assessment. In Alabama, even a passenger car owned by a corporation "Limited Liability Corporation"must display an "X tag", this the CMV designation on the tag. A private vehicle over 26,001# must be driven by a CDL driver unless an Alabama registered RV or used as a Farm to market carrier.

Most air brake vehicles that I have owned in the past and present uses an air activated brake light switch not a pedal switch. My current coach brake light switch is activated anytime the parking brake is applied as well, this very handy while checking the brake lights on the coach and the toad. Also there is a brake light that illuminates on the dash when the brake lights are on.

Welcome to the forum. And a diesel cummings/cat engine the age that you are asking about in most cases is a good choice. 100,000 miles is miniscule IF the previous owners were good tenders of their equipment, meaning oil changes, proper coolant care was taken and several other things come to mind. An oil and coolant analysis would be my recommend to determine how well the engine was maintained, and driving the rig to check the shifting of the transmission. While test driving be sure to test from a stopped position, a nice drive down an interstate at normal speeds, and be sure to find some hills to climb. Pretty much a standard routine drive test. Also almost forgot to include a transmission fluid analysis, this will help a potential for a tranny problem. Good luck hunting.

Is this your system? https://www.manualslib.com/manual/255713/Firestone-Intelli-Ride-2230.html#manual Here is another link that I just found that might be helpful. https://www.driveriteair.com/catalog/product/Monaco-318

Just thought of a similar situation that I had with my system several years ago, worth checking on your end. You said that you checked the ride height valves and tried them by hand, nothing happened in any direction. If the front is up, if you try to lower the front end, it should go down if it doesn't then the relief port on the check valve may be stopped up. That happened on my coach a few years back, I removed the check valve and checked, a mud dauber had built a mud nest in the exhaust port, a little WD40 sprayed into the port and a tooth pick was able to remove that nest. My leveling system was confused because of this and the bus would not level because of the excessive air in the front bags. Not likely your problem but one more thing to look at. If needing to move your rig, you can use a makeshift manifold to overcome the Firestone system. The solenoid on the far right appears to be the intake for your leveling system, the gauge on the left is showing pressure, appears to be about 45, about the right pressure to lift most any coach. If you remove the two yellow hoses and use an inline sleeve between the two, I would be willing to bet your back bags will air up. Those other three are probably no more than air releases for your system attached to the intelligent leveling system and for lowering the coach.

No not normal if receiving air, but I suspect that there is no air going to those valves, if already at the bottom, then there will be no drop. Your system looks like there three electrically activated air control valves (solenoid type), has anyone tested to see if they are receiving current to cause activation? If they have current, then suspect that the two going to rear of coach are bad. If no (12) volts try touching a 12 volt lead to each one to see if anything happen. But first try using a temporary ground to these solenoids, maybe that the ground is too badly corroded or a broken wire somewhere.

I'm not familiar with the Firestone intelerride system. But most air ride systems have ride height valves which are manual valves, not manual so that you adjust them but most of them use a simple control arm with an adjustable link. I have seen many of these links break or just get out of adjustment. Most coaches have one on the front and one for each rear tires including one for each tag (trail) axel. And as rich pointed out in his post if any or all are not working properly will cause the air pressure to drop more rapidly than usual. Most truck or bus/rv shops could disable the Firestone system and go to a manual system if the system is non repairable, or if you are handy you could do the swap out. The ride height valves will be near each rear air bag with a short hose coupling to the bag if you have any, the front is usually only one in the center of the front axel.

The good thing about a Kia Soul being towed is that it is a nice light weight car. I towed a 2014 for a couple of years with auto tranny on tow dolly and was always a joy to tow due to weight. So to answer your question, yes I would highly recommend it. Only thing that I didn't like about the Soul was because of it's light weight, it didn't handle well on a wet road, so if you get one, be extra cautious on wet pavement.

A little more info to get good answers. What are you trying to raise the back with? The leveling jacks, air bags, or some other type of jack?

Thanks, Herman and Brett. Once they are covered I'll take a couple more pictures. They should remain below the sliding floor. The results are that are half the height of a regular step which keeps from the need of lifting the legs the full height of a regular step which in turn causes only half of the exertion making for less giving out while climbing, The outside can use a simple platform type step carried either in the coach or in a bay. It only takes one or two climbs by the user to learn how to best maneuver.

As promised, I am attaching pictures of my stair cheater blocks. You can actually stack books for a trial run to accomplish the same results, but please do not use them too many times for safety sake. First pic, is without, stairs are 26 inches wide and the blocks are 7.25", leaving 16.75". I will cover these with stainless steel and aluminum diamond plate on the top to match the stainless surrounding them. Google chair lift for RV to find them. But if the DW isn't too bad yet, you may want to just try the stair cheaters, amazing how well they work. God bless, and good luck.

The 4" stair option is very simple, you should measure how tall the stairs are now, then divide by two. I was planning on making some blocks to take picture of today but didn't doe to bad weather here. My stairs in my coach are 9" tall so I will be making 4.5". Measure the width of the stair tread and you can use 2X8 lumber cut several pieces to the length that the stairs are wide, then stack enough blocks together and use drywall screws to hold them together. You can now place these blocks on either left or right side nest to the wall going up the stairs. It takes only a few tries for the stair climber to get used to using this arrangement, if the block is on the right side, the climber simply side steps the right foot up and onto the block,, holding onto the stair rail simply lift the left leg up and onto the next step, this actually cuts the stair height in half for climbing purposes. This method has helped many in the past to navigate those high stairs in the past. My wife has been a caregiver for elderly people for many years causing me to try help in making them more comfortable with stair situations in homes as well as RV's. I will try to make a couple up tomorrow for pictures. Oh yes, the blocks can be covered with carpet or any other materials for a more pleasing look, and stick on Velcro makes a good source to make sure they stay in place. The lift systems are mounted on a pole mounted just inside the door and use a chair to sit in similar to a stair climber in a home, get in touch with a mobility dealer, these are hard to find on the internet but are available. Good luck, and I will try to post pictures tomorrow. Here is a youtube video for one version of a chair lift.

Have you done a continuity test on the coax? disconnect both ends and use an ohm meter on either end and test between the inside wire and the outside braid (the part that screws on will do fine), if zero or very low ohms, the coax is shorted, possibly a screw through the coax or a sharp bend in the coax. If high ohm resistance, this what you want to see. Next short the other end wire to braid and look for same results, you will want to see zero to 1 or 2, otherwise the cable is broken. Try putting on new F connectors both ends before replacing the cable, Walmart, lowes, Home depot and other fine retailers carry a screw on version. Many times the braid will break away from the connectors and give bad results, seldom does the coax itself go bad unless hit by lightening, or someone drives a screw or nail through it.

Agree with Brett, need more coach info. But my first thought would be to check the rear leveling valves for broken or missing linkage or maybe as simple as some debris causing them to not work correctly.

Also list them on ebay and craigs list.

Why not move the receivers into the house so it will be a permanent address? That was my solution and has worked well so far. I have the Genie system and it works very well, can record 5 different channels with my setup. And also I don't like the ATT webpage either, nearly as well as Direct old website, but you can navigate to makeshift look alike from the ATT account, and is much easier to navigate than trying to do so on the ATT my account page.

Use an ohm meter between the engine and chassis, should read 0 or very close to it. Have someone try to start engine while it is hot and don't want, same test with ohm meter if the reading goes up that means poor ground, hot situations tend to weaken the ground conductivity.