jslupsky

Well I thought I would update everyone - on what I hope has fixed this once and for all. So as it turns out the problem became much worse. Had all the gauges going squirrelly - 0 psi oil, check engine, check transmission, and then dead on the side of the road. I could crank but no start. Towed coach to Freightliner. They had it for 2 weeks. Evidently they were taking the engine computer out to send over to Cummins and noticed a spark. On further investigation they found that a ground connection ( apparently there is a braided ground strap) had only a few strands left on it. (I would have thought the engine would ground through the mounting bolts). They replaced it and one other ground. I sure hope this has fixed that - 2 weeks at the Freightliner spa don't come cheap. Freightliner "threw in the new wire" for free. ?

Thanks Rich. I guess I have some work to do.

Rich The coach is a pusher and the alternator is on the same side as the turbo and exhaust. It was later in the day and last Sunday I think it was probably low 90's and humid. The alternator has never been changed. When this started last year I replaced the coach batteries and thought this was solved. Probably put a couple thousand miles on since then - course that was later on in the year and a bit cooler. I do believe this is temperature related. ........and if the alternator was actually mounted in a spot where I could actually touch it -probably going to have to see if it can be accessed from under the bed - I want to make darn sure this is the issue before I go down that road...... As noted last year, I also had this "Auto Idle" issue. That has gone away with the new batteries (when I would start the coach - it would always go into high idle - which I now realize was because the batteries were shot). Auto Idle can also kick in by itself if engine is at low idle but needs the extra RPM to get the alternator going. As I noted, I have logged a few thousand miles and have watched the voltage like a hawk. If the alternator was bad it should be non functioning all the time - or is my logic incorrect here and the heat has some effect? John

Well, the problem is back. Since this issue first started I have had the electronic display on the dashboard set to show the voltage constantly. The voltage displayed runs between 13.6V to 13.9V. Just the other day (about 5 miles out of Forest City, Iowa), having been on the road for quite a few hours, the alarm bells went off and "Low Voltage" was back up on the display. The alarm went away after a few seconds, and I started watching the display. What I noticed was that the voltage instead of being stable as noted above would occasionally drop as low as 10V and then return to normal values. I am not exactly sure why I was able to see the 10V but maybe in order for the display to indicate Low Voltage it needs to stay low for a certain period of time. Over the course of a couple of miles this problem was evident - and then just as quickly as it came about, it stopped and things went back to normal. The roads are good and smooth, so no bumping going on at the time. I have read some old posts on another site about a 125A circuit breaker located behind the wheel on the drivers side. I can't say that I have noticed one of those, but as I recall there are a couple of solenoids in that compartment as well as the trickle charger for the batteries. I think one of the solenoids is for the house batteries (activated with a switch inside the coach to turn the power on/off) and not exactly sure what the other one is for - maybe the starter. I could open up the panel and look around in it but before I went messing around in there I did I wanted to ask if anyone out there has had this issue and it was this bad circuit breaker. It is hard for me to believe that everything can work fine for thousands of miles - then act up for a few miles- then go back to behaving normal. Anybody got any ideas?

Does the KarGard protect from the Grime (oil and rubber) that gets onto the toad? I find that it takes a few miles of driving the toad once unhooked to burn off the smell. I was wondering if anyone had experience with the vertical mounted KarGard?

All Spent the last few weeks looking at wires in my coach and other discussion forums on this subject. Here is what I have done -some of this stuff has nothing directly to do with the problem - however indirectly I think it does. 1). Two years ago I replaced my house batteries with AGM's. When I did this I noticed that the cables where corroded at the lug to wire connection. I was meaning to replace them. I was hunting for someone that made cables like the ones that the chassis builder uses - all sealed. I never did find a cable like those so I finally made my own last week and used heat shrink tubing to seal the lug to the wire. I replaced all the house battery cables as well as the connection to the coach ground (That is the indirect part). 2). There is a lot of stuff out there regarding the "Battery Low Voltage". Seems like this happens to a lot of Freightliners. As mentioned previously I also just replaced the two Alliance chassis batteries with two new sealed batteries from Freightliner. (Those cables are in great shape because they are completly sealed at the battery). On Friday I started a 200 mile trip and the low voltage came on 3 or 4 times for maybe the first hour and a half. I noted the voltage from the alternator during the trip as 13.5 to 13.9. Basically the voltage would start out at 13.9 and as I drove it would decrease a little bit to settle out at 13.5 to 13.6 or so. I did another 200 miles today (102 heat) and the warning did not come on once. I am going to hope that the new batteries where not charged all the way and after driving (and being plugged in for a couple days) they are now fully charged. Perhaps this issue is fixed? I am also going to change out a ground to the chassis - I must admit - last year when I was under the coach doing some maintenance I noticed a ground that did not look so good. With all that has been going on I think I am going to go ahead and replace it. These ground connections I think tend to be forgotten about due to the location of them - while the house battery ground is in sight of the batteries, the chassis one is underneath the coach. I will crawl back under once I get some time and try and find the wire I noticed. If something else comes up or I discover anything I will let you know.

George Sounds like we have the same issue. Although in reverse since I had the "Low Voltage" show up first followed by "Auto Idle" later. I did check another forum and see that the "Auto Idle" appears to be a common issue. In my case I' am wondering if I "fixed" the problem when I replaced the chassis batteries - then perhaps they did not have a full charge on them and maybe they are low and need a charge - which is why the auto idle came up maybe? I will be moving again at the end of the month so will know if that was what it was. I did my best to find all the bat + connections throughout the coach and they all seem tight. I am going to check some of the grounds and see if maybe some of those are loose or maybe corroded. I will let you know what I find. John

Thanks. I also have a digital display of voltage in addition to the gauge. I will monitor the voltage and see what it does ( I have it as one of the three things you can keep on the display at all times). Thanks

Thanks Rich. Wow! Can't say those things are happening to me. Yesterday I forgot to mention that the coach is equipped with a Cummins ISB 350 that is mounted f/b rather than side to side. It also has basement air so I have no access from the sides to get at anything. Do you think dust could damage the alternator? We were at a campground a July where the road in and out was fine dust. I ended up sucking a lot of the dust up into the engine area and blowing it out the rad. If the issue is the alternator, getting to it will be a challenge. Any idea where I might find a shop manual that explains what I need to remove to get to the alternator? I thought about Freightliner but when this was just a chassis there was all kinds of access; they probably have no control over what the coach builder does with it. Unless I missed something Winnebago does not have a shop manual. The day this first happened we had the generator running and it was not overly hot outside (it was overcast and maybe 86 or so). Wouldn't the generator also be charging the batteries? On Friday when I had the Auto Idle alert the generator was not running. In reading the information you sent I take it the voltage regulator can work the way it is supposed to sometimes and then not work other times? Thanks John

I have a 2008 Itasca Meridian on a Frieghtliner Chassis. The other day I received a "Low Voltage" warning on the display as I was driving. I looked at the analog gage on the instrument cluster and all was normal where it usually is, about 14 V. Later in the trip as I was slowing on an exit ramp, all of the instrument lights started flashing, and the "Check Engine" warning came up in the display, as well as the symbol on the dash. I got the coach home, and since it had never had the chassis batteries changed, I changed both of them. I then took the coach to Cummins to check it out, and they could not find anything, other than to say that changing the batteries likely fixed the problem. I brought it home, and while parking it, another warning light came up. I got out to check if the garage door would close, and when I got back in, I noticed the warning "Auto Idle". And then underneath the warning was the system voltage displayed as 13.8V and then Theshold at 13.4V. After moving the coach forward, the warning went out. I called Cummins and they said this is an OEM issue. I called Freightliner and they said to check for loose connections at the alternator, starter, battery. I checked and all seemed good. I also started the unit and turned on all the lights, wiper, AC, et, and the digital voltage display was 13.8V. Is it possible that the voltage regulator in the alternator is working then not working? I would think it either works or it does not. And so if the alternator is fried, how in the world would I ever get this thing out? This coach is not easy to work on, and I am not even sure going in under the bed would allow access to remove the alternator. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.