slide out fluid level

[genecurp]

Learn from my mistake. My unit is 2.5 years old. The slides had begun to react a little sluggishly. It dawned on me perhaps the fluid level was low. It was.

I read the Keystone manual and glanced at the Lippart owners manual. It said to buy type A Automatic Transmission Fluid ATF and fill the tank to within 1 inch of the top. I took the unit to a dealer to have the bearings repacked, bought the fluid, and filled the tank to witnin 1 inch while the slides were in. I took it back to the campground.

After set up I found the partial bottle of fluid, and checked the tank. It was down a little. What the heck, I put it more fluid.

At 3.30 AM my eyes flew open. I bet I overfilled the tank with ATF fluid! Bet the fluid was out in the lines somewhere since the slides were now extended. I read in more detail the Lippart manual. I called Keystone later (during normal business hours) and confirmed my fears. I was advised nothing would break, but I'd have a mess if the tank overflowed when I brought the slides in. So now I intend to remove some of the fluid to avoid the mess.

BTW the fluid I bought didn't say Type A anywhere. In fact, no ATF at WalMart had that designation. It did say for multi vehicle use. Keystone advised that Type A was an old standard, and what I bought was fine.

And the Lippart manual clearly says to check the fluid level only when the slides are retracted.

Happy travels

[sreigle]

I hope you got that fluid out before retracting the slides! At least you caught your mistake before it created a problem. Many times it doesn't work that way! By the way, a Lippert rep (MIMF) told us at a rally that the cheapest ATF you can find is fine, regardless of color. So you are correct that yours is fine. Good story. Thanks.

[genecurp]

Wanted to let you know the fluid did not fix the hesitation problem.

I have a call into Lippert. Their trouble shooting guide says a slow movement could be ground wire or battery. My slow and stopping movement occurs both when the battery operates the slides and also when connected to shore power and thus power is from the converter (I assume). I looked at the ground wire and saw nothing, and checked for tightness, but that is all so far.

Gene

[capn chris]

After checking your electrical connections, try this:
Sounds like the classic "auto-reset breaker" problem that's been discussed here before. I replaced my 50A breaker and haven't had a problem since. The breaker is on the bulkhead in the front basement, between the pump and battery. Has a red plastic cover. Get a new one at RV store or Cabela's online. $5-7. Disconnect the battery ground, remove the old one, install the new one, and in 10 minutes you should be good to go! I bought 2, just to have a spare, but haven't needed the second in over two years's use! Good luck.

[genecurp]

Thanks Capn Chris
I spoke with lippard and you are correct, I need to replace my breaker. Keystone intalled as OEM a 50 amp breaker, with an automatic reset. That is what I intend to replace. Lippard suggested to increase the breaker to not more than a 100 amp breaker, but a manual reset, but only if the wire to the breaker was at least 6 guage. Mine is 6 guage. This is job one, to replace the breaker.

Lippard also suggested I test the batteries "under load" to make sure I have good power. If the reading is 11 volts I might need new
batteries, and if under 10.8 definitely need new batteries.

Thanks for the tip about disconnecting the ground wire before replacing the breaker. Since I have no knowledge of this stuff, I am going to let a tech do it. I will let the guy do this breaker who comes to fix my DOmetic refrigerator under that recall.

My batteries are 2.5 years old. I expect-hope they are OK and it is simply the breaker.

[Waynem]

I have a 2008 3400RL and my slides were sluggish to the point that When extending or retracting without trying to stop, the "main" slide would start to move and the the breaker would trip. Since it was under warranty< the dealer put another 50 AMP breaker in parallel with the existing one. What a difference it made in the much smoother operations of the slides and I don't have to pause and wait.

[genecurp]

Slide Out Issues: The Post Script

I finally got a service tech out to the RV. We found 2 quite weak cells in one battery, and both batteries were, well, at month 31 of a 30 month warranty. So I replaced them both (normal advice is to replace them all at once when wired together) and replaced the 50 amp auto reset circuit breaker. Then we slide in and slide out the slide rooms. On the in, there was rapid, smooth movement and no stopping (tripping that new breaker). On the out, however, the breaker did trip. The auto reset was faster and the entire process was faster.

While doing the sliding, the tech measured the amp draw from the new batteries by the slide motor. 80 amps. 80. No wonder the breaker trips.

Keystone tells me they still use 50 amp breakers on new units. And I had no problem for 2 years. Now the motor draws 80. Lippert told me many folks go up to a 100 amp breaker, and Keystone said they had heard of up to 80. I still don’t know if the techs I spoke with meant a 100 amp in-line fuse, or 100 amp manual reset breaker.

My on site tech, a very nice guy and knowledgeable, was outside his area of expertise. I decided, since I now know how to replace the 50 amp fuse, since there is a safety issue if my wiring is not beefy enough to handle a larger breaker-fuse, since carrying a bucket full of replacement in-line fuses was not appealing, since I have a spare 50 amp fuse, I would stick with the current configuration for now. My tech told me the frequent re-setting would cause the breaker to fail all at once. Perhaps I will notice the slowing of the slides, or more likely the longer recovery time of the breaker to re-set, and replace it proactively.

I have to conclude the motor of the Lippert slide room has aged and is drawing more amps than it did before to do the same work. Or some other Lippert component is out of original performance specs. It shouldn’t be such a mystery, and I have to believe the techs at Lippert are not allowed to tell the full, unvarnished story when I phone in so I have to make due with incomplete data. Replacing the 50 amp breaker with a 100 amp is like building a fire containment box in my Dometic refrigerator rather than replacing the coils that can crack and cause a fire a from the leaking refrigerant…a minimum cost response that compromises customer safety.

[sreigle]

Gene, this might be a longshot but might be a cheap fix if it fixes it. Since your unit is 2 1/2 years old, have you lubricated the slide rails? Whenever ours get sluggish or jumpy I know it's time to lube (about once per year for us) and that fixes it. So far, anyhow. According to MIMF you can use silicone spray if you don't have a dry teflon spray avaiable. The teflon sprays are available at hardware stores. The key is to use something that will truly dry and not collect dirt. The spray CW sells for slide lubrication collects dirt. It stays a bit tacky, not truly dry. You can test by spraying a piece of cardboard, wait a minute, throw dirt on it.

This might not help but it might be worth a try if you haven't already lubricated the slides. If they're in need of lube, there's more friction, increasing the amperage draw of the slide pump.

[genecurp]

Thanks steve,
I have lubed with the Camping World stuff, then read to avoid it and so stopped. Then read it was ok to use, but haven't. So it has been probably a year. I will clean off the old and go get some teflon spray. I will post my results.
Thanks again.
Gene

[genecurp]

My latest report:
I cleaned the Camping World slide out lube off the rails with denatured alcohol, rags and elbow grease. I found a teflon dry lube from Dupont that states it will not attract grit at Ace Hardware. So I lubed those rails and let it cure for a day.

I tested the slide in operation which was smooth but triping the braker occured on both larger slide rooms (but not on the bedroom slide). Total curcuit brakes about 4. When I slid out it was smooth and not curcuit breaker trips for bedroom or kitchen slide; however, breaker did trip on the large (dining-couch) slide. One breaker trip occurance.

I re-read my owners manual and it said lube was not needed and "could" cause problems. I plan to "exercise" they slides 2 or more times a month, up from my 1 per month for the last 2.5 years. I may clean off the current teflon lube, or gently brush the teeth on the rails (unintentional pun) to remove any excess lubricant.

Mostly, I expect I will live with it for a while.