Q. I can start my gas motorhome, and it seems to run just fine, but I cannot get the gear shift to move from park. What could be wrong?
A. Most gas chassis vehicles have a built-in safety feature where a solenoid releases a lock pin on the shifter when the brake pedal is engaged. It sounds like this solenoid may have gone bad or the fuse that supplies its power has blown or is bad. If you’re not near a service facility where you can get either repaired, try this: With the ignition off and your foot on the brake, put the steering wheel in the unlock position and move the shift lever into “neutral”. Start the vehicle. You should be able to shift into “drive” or “reverse” but as soon as you put the vehicle back into park you will have to restart using the same process because the solenoid will lock the shifter again until the solenoid or fuse is repaired.
Q. I found an “all-in-one” antifreeze and the label says it’s designed to work in all vehicles. Would it be OK to run it in my RV?
A. Using an all-in-one coolant is not recommended, especially if your coach is still under warranty because using something besides what the manufacturer recommends could void your warranty. There are a variety of coolants on the market today, some with corrosion prohibitors…others with detergents or non-detergents. Stick with the one your manufacturer recommends. Also, the days of just topping your radiator off with water…these too are over. Only when in dire need or emergency situations should you use a different type of coolant or water to top off your radiator.
Q. My roof A/C system has stopped working—completely. I’ve checked the breaker and I have 120-volts out of the breaker box so it appears to be good. The green light is on in the A/C unit so it appears to be getting power. Please help…this summer is a scorcher!
A. It could be from one of three things. If you have a Carrier roof A/C with wireless remote, it can occasionally lock up due to voltage changes or RF interference and, although it appears as if it should work, it won’t because its signals become mixed up. The best and quickest way to fix this is to kill the 12-volt power to the coach, including the converter 12-volt and the battery 12-volt. Wait about one minute and turn everything back on. This resets the circuit board or brain and unlocks the system. Keep in mind, this can happen again and if it does, just reset the system again the same way.
If your coach is equipped with a load management system that monitors the amount of power the coach is using vs. the amount available, you may be experiencing excessive amp draw. This occurs when you have too many things turned on at one time. When you are approaching an excessive draw on the system, the first thing the load management system does is drop out the A/C units until enough power is available to run them again. Try turning some 110-volt items off and see if the A/C comes back on.
Finally, if you have 110-volt running to the coach and everything appears to be as it should you might want to check for 12-volt, maybe your disconnect is off. Even though your A/C runs on 110-volt, it has a 12-volt brain or circuit board that tells it what to do. If the brain isn’t receiving power, it will not function unless you have the type of unit with the controls on the ceiling shroud.
Q. I read in my manual that I have to drain the air tanks on my coach to get the water out of the system. I have an air dryer on my RV so do I still need to do this or is it just for RVs without air dryers?
A. Although there is usually a dryer built into the system, it typically does not rid the tanks of all of the moisture. To prevent a future safety risk down the road, you should drain your air tanks at the recommended intervals stated in your owner’s manual. What you are doing is draining the collected condensation that forms from creating compressed air out of the air tank. If any amount of moisture remains in your system for long periods of time it can cause the bottom of the air tank to corrode, eventually resulting in tank failure.
Q. My TV remote works fine in the daytime but once it gets dark out I can’t seem to get it to work. The TV operates fine manually so I’m certain the remote is the issue. It’s the strangest thing…any idea on what could be going on?
A. Believe it or not, this is a common problem. If you have fluorescent lighting in your coach, your remotes will work fine during the day and not so well at night because you probably have the lights on at night. Some fluorescent lights put out a signal that interferes with the RF signal of a remote. It’s usually the type of bulb that causes this problem, and some will even interfere with infrared signals as well. If your remotes are not working your electronic appliances, and you have already checked the batteries, turn off all of the lights and see if the remotes start working again. If so, you know where the interference is coming from. You can alleviate the situation by replacing the fluorescent bulbs with the ones that have a green band around them. These don’t put out the interfering frequency that affect the remotes. You should be able to find these bulbs in any RV supply store or possibly Home Depot, Lowes or Ace Hardware. Be sure and take a sample of one of your existing bulbs with you.