Why The Slides Don't Work

[Guest Wayne77590]

This is very difficult to post.

We had our motorhome in the shop about a week ago because the street side slideout was making a screaming banshee sound when being retracted. It was fixed as nothing more than a broken bolt in a roller, and fortunately it was under warranty because they spent a good many hours pulling the slide bar out.

So, we stored it for a week, and a few days ago parked it in the driveway to get ready for a future excursion. So it's Saturday, and we decide to load some things into it. Now, to make it easier to get things to the back closet, we typically extend the 19-foot slide (curb side) about a foot to a foot so we can walk around the edge of the bed.

No go! The slide gives an error code, "park brake."

Never having that happen before I start the engine, release and reset the parking break.

No go! Slide will not extend. This is not good. We do want the slide out after we stop for the night. A call to Winnebago results in a phone message that they are open 9-5 Monday-Through Friday, or something like that.

A call to the local dealer resulted in the on duty technician not being able to identify the problem.

Okay! A call to Freightliner. They gave me an 800 number for after hours tech support. The technician called me back but he was at a loss. He was a mechanic and thought the call dealt with the parking brake light.

Oh! I did engage the transmission, with and without the parking brake on, both in reverse and forward, then neutral, and reset the brake. No Go!

I told Earlene, come on, I'm going to run up the road to make sure any moisture gets blown out. So off we go for about a 20-25 mile ride. We returned to home city and I took it to the city RV Dump station where I new I had a pretty flat area to check everything out. I pulled in, dropped the leveling jacks to make sure, unlocked the Street Side Slide, pushed the button, and blink, blink, blink blink - constantly and the light was for Park Brake. No Go.

Let me see what the street slide does, unlocked the slide, pushed the button, and blink, blink, blink. About this time Earlene is standing beside me. She points to this little device, just below the slide-out buttons that has a key in it. It is set to "off" and she said, "This may be a stupid question." To which I replied, "Go ahead."

And she says, pointing at the key, "Could that have anything to do with it?"

The key she is pointing to is the Master Slide Out Lock, and it is set to off, meaning that no matter what I do, the slides will not go out until that key is turned to on. The dealer set it that way before I picked it up. I never, never use that key.

Earlene said I owe her a very good dinner.

Problem solved. And, never underestimate the wisdom of a woman, even if they are wrong most of the time. (Hee hee!)

Now you know why it was difficult to post. I have to admit my own stupidity.

I am going to write in the manual supplement, a reference to the )*(&! key.

[NWJeeper]

Hey, thanks for the insight. I don't have such a contraption on ours but the slides will not operate with the ignition key on, they lock out. Best way to learn is by stupid mistakes. I do it all the time.. Boy you would think I would know it all by now, but stupidity seems to be endless sometimes.. LOL