Slides not going in after sitting too long

[jaxpoet]

Hi, newbie here, and fairly new to camping in our 06 Mountaineer. After reading a bit I see that I should have been working my slides once a month to keep them working. Hindsight. They're hydraulic slides. I've had issues with my slides before the first time they were stuck open I added some fluid and everything worked fine. The second time they were stuck in my wife hit the switch and I wiggled the wires and found a loose nut tightened it and they worked fine. This time they've been sitting open for several months and when I hit the switch I hear a clicking, guessing that's the solenoid, the fluid level is just below full line but they're not going in. I haven't checked the voltage on the wires underneath yet hopefully we'll do that tomorrow as well as removing the nuts and cleaning up contacts and checking to make sure there are no frayed wires. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance! Tim & Ro

[jimcol]

Couple of observations from your posted issue. Are you hearing a click or repeated clicking? Are you connected to shore power? Is your battery in good shape and fully charged? You're going to need a volt/ohm meter to trouble shoot your issue. In most cases the battery alone will struggle to operate your slides unless it is in a fully charged state. Between your battery and the hydraulic pump there is an auto reset breaker. These have been known to go bad or operate sporadically. You need to check that voltage is getting through this breaker. Not sure on the Mountaineer but on other Montana's it is located on the wall of the battery compartment between the battery and the pump. Search the forum for "auto reset breaker" and you will get many threads involving this issue.
When your slides are out/open the fluid level in the reservoir should be down more than just below the full line because when the slides start coming in fluid is going to return to the reservoir. Don't think this is your problem retracting the slides, but it will create a mess once you get the system to operate. To prevent the mess just observe the fluid level as the slides are retracting. One person operates the switch as the other observes the fluid rise. If it starts to get above the full line use a turkey baster or something similar to remove some fluid before it overflows.
Hope this gives you a starting point. Good luck and let us know what you find.

[dhuhn]

As said above. Check to make sure you batteries are charged. If they are fully charged and still not working do as Jim said above.

[ChuckS]

Since you are hearing a click sound then the dual polarity solenoid on the hyd pump is getting the retract/extend signal to run the pump..

Either you have dirty battery connections, low battery, and or issues with the OEM 50 amp resettable breaker that sends power to the dual polarity solenoid..

Here is how to quickly test both pump motor and solenoid...
https://lci-support-doc.s3.amazonaws...cd_0001894.pdf

my money is on either the 50 amp resettable breaker or loose dirty cables located right inside that hyd pump door

[jaxpoet]

Thank you for all the responses! I'm going to have a look here in just a few minutes and see if I can't figure it all out! I do have a battery tender but it hasn't been plugged in unfortunately for about a week will check that first and get back and let you know!

[Daryles]

If your batteries are too weak, I have removed the batteries from my truck and used them to run the jacks and slides.

I have also done vice versa one time when my truck batteries were dead. I used the house batteries to start the truck.

You can put your house batteries in your truck to charge them. If they are dead, make sure the truck is running first and be careful of the +ve cable not to let it touch anything (put a sock over it). I've done that before too lol.

If it's cold, run your furnace for 30 minutes and put a hair dryer blowing on your hydraulic reservoir to warm the hydraulic fluid. It will flow better when warm.
If you remove the panel in the corner under the kitchen island where the plumbing is, you will find a hole that goes all the way underneath. If you put a hair dryer blowing down the hole it will help warm thr hydraulic fluid in the hoses.

[jaxpoet]

Hi thanks for all the support and help! It ended up being the solenoid and a seal two separate issues