Warning Chime

[dwilson787]

I'm fairly new to motorhoming. I was driving our recently purchased 2005 Holiday Rambler Endeavor back from a weekend out and it was raining. About 5 miles from home I noticed a warning chime, like you get when you leave the keys in your car, was going off. I checked all the gauges, and the dash and had no warning lights or unusual gauge readings. I pulled in the driveway and it continued until it got very faint and then I couldn't hear it anymore. I have driven on dry road a few miles since with no warning chime. Anyone have any ideas? The engine is the Cummins ISL 400-horsepower pusher.

[juanclem1@msn.com]

Hi dwilson,

I have had the same chime alarm go off in my '04 Monaco Cayman during a heavy rain storm, then get fainter as the pavement got drier. So, I spent an hour's worth of shop time, $105/hour, for them to tell me they didn't know what it was. My suspicion is that it is an alarm sensor that is giving a false reading that your levelers are down or not all the way up. Check it out - as for me the next time it happens I will attempt to disconnect the levelers alarm and see if that solves the problem. Ken

[tbutler]

We have a similar alarm without any message as to cause. Ours occurs when we start out and after some distance it will stop. I suspect it is a brake warning but haven't been able to duplicate it or get any indicator of any problem on my engine monitor (Silverleaf). Sometimes these systems are so smart they forget to tell us what is wrong. I recently noticed a ticking noise when the engine is running - traced it to an alarm module. Don't know what that means. I plan to replace that module when we get on the road this spring. Maybe then I'll have more music to drive by...

[dwilson787]

Thanks for any advice. Have any of you heard about water splashing up onto oil sending unit causing alarm. I have heard that and the fact that it normally won't show up on diagnostics, which the Cummins people want to do. Friend of mine had this on different engine and covered sending unit terminals with silicone and went away. Anyone else had this?

[wolfe10]

Have any of you heard about water splashing up onto oil sending unit causing alarm.

YES. Oil pressure sending unit, coolant temp sending unit, etc. Water (with dirt) conducts just enough electricity to cause a false alarm. Dismantle, clean to bare metal and lightly coat with a di-electric grease (auto parts store, Radio Shack, etc). Same for roof top "antenna up" alarm.

[chucknewman]

In addition to possible short circuit conditions due to contaminated water, another source of the chime is low fluid level in the jack reservoir, if you have hydraulic jacks. This problem won't be rain sensitive, but it will start chiming with bumpy roads, then stop with smooth pavement.

[mclavey]

I have a 2003 Monaco diplomat and have the same warning noise when driving in rain and it goes away when the pavement dries.

I have had the problem since I purchased the unit used three years ago .

I called Monaco technical department before the went into bankruptcy and they suggested it was the low air warning . There are sensors on the back of each air tank that are not covered. I cleaned and coated the front one with silicone and did not realize there is another in the rear .... so I still have the same problem.

I will do the same to the rear one and post back what happened.

[coarsegoldgg]

We recently had a similiar problem on our 2003 Windsor and Monaco told us it was most likely the "low air sensor" on the emergancy brake switch. We were not able to confirm because it stopped doing it after a couple of days while we were in the wilds of Alaska. Good luck. coarsegoldgg

[wkaighn]

I have a 2006 HR and have solved the intermittent chime problem in my coach. In my case and that of many othes as discussed on another forum was a low fluid level in the hyd. jacks tank that are used for leveling. As most of us do, we scan the dashboard for other signs of a problem when we hear the chime going off. We fail to look at the Jacks panel to our left. If the chime is coming from the jacks system you should see lights flashing on that panel.

In the case that it is the jacks system you may have the same problem that most of the Monaco coaches have in that the hyd. tank is not properly supported in the rear and it comes loose or even fractures. If it just comes loose at the front mounting it is easy to solve. You need to tighten the bolts that hold it and supply a support for the rear of the tank. When it comes loose some fluid will leak out the overflow hole in the top rear of the tank and/or the fluid sensor will detect a low level while traveling. The alarm is more pronounced in cold/rainy weather and seems to go away when everything gets warmed up. If you need more on the subject I have a writeup and pictures of the problem and the support bracket that is needed.

[jdemas@gate.net]

We have 2008 HR Endeavor and have experienced the same chime. I have found it to be a "false reading" of the automatic leveling system. It seems that occasionally, the control module on the window console will flash all the LEDs, and chime incessantly, either in wet weather, or sometimes when stopping or turning.

I had my dealer check the system, and some adjustments were made to the sensor(s) that determine a jack is partially extended. This seems to be the root cause of the problem with HR and all Monaco products.

I was told to ensure that the shiny exposed part of the jack pistons were clean and should be sprayed with a good grade (I use food grade) silicone spray prior to raising the jacks. This has seemed to minimize or eliminate the problem. Do not use WD-40 or any petroleum based lubricants on the jacks as it may damage the hydraulic seals. Also, check the hydraulic fluid reservior frequently to ensure it is full, as a miniscule amount may leak out with every jack leveling evolution.

[dwilson787]

As the originator of this topic I can tell you it wasn't low air, it wasn't leveling system. I got some dielectric grease and coated the terminations of

the oil pressure sensor on the side of the engine. I have driven in rain a couple of times since with no reoccurance of the chime. Might have fixed it?

[mscamping]

I would check the sensors on the air tank, engine oil, levelers, water in fuel, and so fourth, if you get my drift.. I have sealed all of these up and we don't get any chimes in the rain anymore.. Trouble is, I did them all at once and now I don't know which one it was, but I guess I don't care since we got it stopped.. Good luck with your hunt..

Mike..

[cdnrambler]

Hi all:

My wife and I have a 2005 HR, Endeavor with a 400 Cummins. We have experienced the same problem in the first year. I stopped in a parking area and called the 1-800 number at Monaco and spoke with a technician. I explained the problem and before I finished he asked if I was driving in the rain to which I replied yes. He said not to worry and that once I would be on dry roads the sound would stop and no harm would be done to the engine. He suggested to once I have a chance or go for servicing to have the tech spray some Die-Electric Grease (now they use Lithium Grease) on the oil sensor which is located about one third up on the left side of the engine. I had this done on my next oil change at Cummins Canada and sure enough it rectified the problem. Now I have it done at every oil change or once a year.

Hope this info is useful for you. Happy roads ahead.

Paul & Sue (Canadian Ramblers F393962)