Frank McElroy

There was a period of time about when your coach was built when HWH had issues with machining debris not fully cleaned out of the extend/retract valve block. I also had exactly the same problem. After 12 years, I can't recall now whether it was the retract or extend valve but here is a picture, from 12 years ago, of what I found inside the valve sealing pintle. After I cleaned the valve - problem fixed. The slide stays in!

The silver leaf software I use on my dash computer display reads out total engine miles and hours. And trip engine miles and hours. I find this display very helpful in monitoring a number of engine parameters. The lower right is a real time display of all my tire pressures.

Gary, that's great news. My guess is that when they were doing all the troubleshooting, or during a software update, an ECM parameter got changed. Since any time a technician connects to your engine, all old parameters are stored on the Tech's computer, if there was an error made it would be really easy to go back to the original parameter settings. Keep an eye on how long it takes between DPF regen cycles. You should get about 100 hours of engine run time (6,000 miles if driving an average of 60 MPH).

Bob, you are very observant. After I took the picture I got to thinking that it actually made more sense to just unplug the control board. My thinking is why leave that board powered up when I'm not using it anyway. So I put the wire back on the big boy relay and below is a picture of the rear run bay board #6 unplugged. One other piece of information that most folks might not know is that those two small yellow colored push buttons perform the same function as the battery boost and salesman switches do up front. They can come in handy if you need battery boost when starting the engine from the rear.

Bill, I think we will respectfully agree to disagree. In contacts inside Big Boy, the only grease you want to use is a dielectric grease. Having an electrical conducting grease is the last thing you want to use. There is a debate that will rage on the term dielectric grease. But, silicon based greases and those petroleum based greases without metal additives (like the one you referenced) are inherently dielectric greases. There was so much confusion that many manufacturers removed the name dielectric because it was so confusing to people who thought why use a dielectric grease on electrical contacts - that doesn't make sense. The only real purpose of this grease is to inhibit corrosion, and not to conduct current especially when contacts are being made and broken. When contact is made, the grease is pushed aside and you actually have direct contact between the copper studs and the round copper disk. So that's why you use a dielectric grease.

You're welcome Ken. My coach also spends a lot of time in storage lately. That's why I decided to bypass the big boy relay while in storage. Saving about $10/month in wasted electric adds up after a few months.

Yes, likely your Big Boy needs to be cleaned. There is a circuit that controls when big boy is engaged to connect house and chassis batteries together. When running the engine and the chassis batteries get above about 13.1 volts, big boy will engage and the alternator will charge both the chassis and house batteries. When on generator or shore power, and your magnum battery charger is turned on, big boy will engage once the house batteries get above about 13.1 volts to also charge the chassis batteries. When the engine is off and you are not on generator or shore power, big boy will drop out once battery voltage gets below about 12.8 volts to isolate the chassis from house batteries. If big boy is not engaged and you need extra battery power to start the engine you can use the dash battery boost switch to engage big boy. That's the big picture without getting into more details on time delays. Bottom line - if big boy is humming and hot and your house and chassis batteries are not at the same voltage, it's time to clean the big boy contacts.

Gary - When I first had my engine hesitation problem after using the Jake brake or coasting down hill and hitting the accelerator, there were no codes. It drove me nuts. Yep - really nuts! So in desperation, I connected the Cummins Insite software to record real time. Duplicated the hesitation problem and when reviewing the data, I found when I had hesitation, turbo boost always dropped to zero. Hmm, that's odd. So, I did some digging and found that Cummins would not set a turbo actuator code unless it failed for more than about 12 seconds. So, back for another test drive again with Cummins Insite software recording in real time. This time when I had the hesitation I kept the accelerator pedal floored (I would take my foot off the accelerator when engine hesitated). Well sure enough the turbo actuator code showed up and yep, the DPF was filling up with soot. I put in a new Turbo actuator, drove on the highway, to do a DPF regen. Oh, I also changed the EGR and MAP sensor that was full of carbon but not yet giving a fault code just to be sure. When you have a failed turbo actuator, it generates lots of soot. That can cause EGR, MAP sensor, and DPF issues without showing codes. Another thing to check and I'm sure its on the Cummins check list is to be sure the shop does a cylinder balance test where the engine can run on any two cylinders. This will identify a bad fuel injector generating soot. Again - Very sorry for your loss. Put your family first over this holiday weekend.

Gary - Very sorry to hear about your loss. Family always comes first. Let me know if they gave you fault code numbers and I can try to help.

It turns out that about every 6 years, I need to clean the contacts inside big boy. The problem starts when I notice that either the chassis batteries aren't being charged when on shore power or the house batteries aren't being charged from the engine alternator. Cycling the battery switch a few times will clear the problem for the short term but the real solution is to clean the internal contacts. The procedure is already well documented in the download file. What I found interesting is the very small contact area on the studs and the edge of the ring making contact. Over time, the hardened carbonized dielectric grease is acting like an insulator preventing good electrical contact. Typically, the coach is plugged into shore power when stored in the garage. Instead of leaving big boy constantly engaged, this year I added a copper plate across the big boy battery posts and unplugged the circuit board. This modification will keep both house and chassis batteries charged without wasting energy keeping big boy energized. When I get back on the road it's easy to remove the copper plate and reconnect the control board. Pictures are always worth a thousand words.

It sure would be nice is someone that has a coach like yours with a Lippert pump could measure their pump current draw. That way we wound know if the high current draw is typical or something else on your coach is causing the problem. My thinking is that Monaco undersized the hydraulic pump system to cut corners and save money. In the meantime, always operate your slides when running the generator or connected to shore power so that batteries are under max voltage to keep the current draw as low as possible.

Gary, yep, a bad electronic VGT actuator will plug up a DPF with carbon. In my case I had a hesitation problem after coasting down hill and then there was a power loss when trying to accelerate. When that happened turbo boost would always drop to zero. Because no trouble codes were set, I had to use the cummins Insite software in a real time recording mode to sort it out. Turned out to be a bad electronic turbo actuator. BTW, these electronic actuators must be calibrated to the engine turbo using the Insite software. It is not just pull off the old actuator and bolt on a new one. For a while Cummins stopped selling just the actuator. You had to purchase both a new turbo with the actuator already installed. Luckily I was able to find just the electronic actuator without having to buy a new turbo.

Gary, A DPF regen every 100 engine run hours is very normal for a coach driven at highway speeds and no other issues that would generate soot like a bad injector a clogged egr or bad air flow sensor. In fact, if the delta pressures across the DPF are not high, a regen will be "normal" and done every 100 hours. The Cummins shop should have used the Insite software to view the last 10 DPF regen cycles. This will tell the technician how the DPF has been functioning in terms of soot loads, regen pressures and temps and whether past regens have all been "normal". Doing regens sooner than every 100 hours of engine run time, doing regens because of high delta pressures because of soot loading, or doing regens other than normal loadings are all RED FLAGS telling the tech that something else is wrong and needs to be found and fixed. See if the shop can give you the Cummins Insite printout of the last ten regen cycles stored on your engine ECM. This will tell you a huge amount of what is going on with the engine DPF. A copy of your engine ECM history is automatically stored on the shop computer so if they used this software they should be able to print out the DPF regen history report. One thing folks often don't realize is that when the dash regen light comes on it really means that the operator needs to drive the coach in a manner to do a regen. It does NOT mean that a regen is actually happening. To do a regen the coach needs to be driven at 60-65 mph with the jake brake off. A typical regen takes about 30 minutes. Regen WILL STOP at idle, when driving below about 30 MPH, when pulling full load grades and when the jakes brake is engaged EVEN THOUGH THE REGEN LIGHT IS ON. Monaco did not give us the option to do an idle forced regen. Because of the high heat generated and without auxiliary fans, to remove heat around the DPF, the fiberglass body could be damaged. To do a forced regen requires use of the Cummins Insite software and auxiliary cooling fans.

Thanks Wayne. The picture of the batteries is recent. Batteries were replaced about 4 years ago and what you see is basically road dust on them. The battery water miser caps do a great job of keeping the battery compartment corrosion free.

Steven, I just measured mine and the two long ones are 12" of cable and the short ones are 5" of cable. So a total of under 2' of red and 2' of black 2/0 cable. For the house you don't have high draw like you do on the starting batteries. So 2/0 cables are good. Yes, all copper.

This is the setup I have. I have 2 such banks for a total of 8 batteries. Note that the bank is balanced with one set of batteries in series connected to the positive 4/0 cable and the other set connected to the 4/0 ground. In between, 2/0 cables were used. For crimping, I used a 16 ton hydraulic crimper from Amazon. Cables, lugs, crimper and heat shrink tubing were all purchased from Amazon. Be sure to get the marine grade sealing heat shrink tubing for a water tight seal. I also included a picture of the 4/0 small connector cables I recently made for my chassis batteries to replace the 2/0 stock cables.

I use an old fashion truckers dial up clicker style torque wrench. I also use a series of wooden blocks to support the extension end of the wrench to keep it parallel to the stud. That way I can torque the lug nuts without a helper holding up the other end of the torque wrench or having the extension denting or scratching the chrome axle cover.

Dave, Thanks for the 2006 Windsor Camelot Sceptor wiring diagrams file. I'll add it as a new file to the downloads under wiring diagrams.

Since purchasing my coach new in 2007, I always thought my coach ISL engine cranked slower than I expected using the starter batteries. I chaulked it up to that's the way it is until a while back I noticed other ISL engines cranked over much faster than mine. Well, I found the problem. Actually two problems. First, I upgraded the small chassis battery cables connecting the two chassis batteries from 2/0 to 4/0 cables. One was getting hot, because of a poor crimp so I made two 4/0 cables. The other issue was at the starter ground lug. On mine, access is extremely limited because of an engine hydraulic pump bracket. A standard box wrench won't fit. To solve this problem, I used a thin wall 3/4" deep well impact socket with a 3/8 to 1/2" drive adapter. I found 4 wires connected to that starter ground lug. Two 4/0 cables (one from battery ground and the other to the chassis frame rail) and 2 smaller lugs going to starter related relays. One of those small lugs got caught in the stud threads next to the nut preventing a tight ground cable connection to the starter. So, I repositioned both small lugs against the starter first, then the two 4/0 ground cables, then a lock washer (Monaco didn't use a lock washer) then the nut. Pictures are worth a thousand words. Hopefully this might help someone who has a similar problem. Oh, and yes, now the engine starter spins like a top - faster than it ever did when new!

Bob, good observation. Yes, I elected to build my own scaffold. Started with a 4x8' sheet of 3/4" plywood for the deck and just framed it up from there. Added heavy duty wheels and a railing around the top and near the floor so I wouldn't slide my foot off the platform. I was going to eventually dismantle it (all screwed or bolted together) but I found it so handy when working on the coach that I just leave it off to the side when not in use. I lucked out on the 16' crank up drywall lift - found one on ebay new for about $250. It worked great for the ceiling and tilted for the walls too. I will admit that hanging 80+ sheets alone did take more than just a few weekends.

David - Thanks for the kind words. Before building my pole barn, I had motorhomes for almost 20 years. They were all winterized and were stored outside. With the new Dynasty I said no more and decided to build a pole barn. Luckily I live a in rural western NJ and the zoning laws are pretty good. I live in a min 1 acre lot size with no homeowners association and the zoning allowes for up to a 1,500 sqft detached garage that needs to be just 15' off the property line with a max roof height of 21'. The other requirements were that it couldn't have water/septic, used it to store more than 3 vehicles, or used it to store a business inventory. All fine with me for what I needed so no need to apply for a zoning variance. I considered a service pit but decided a flat floor gave a lot more flexibility in parking the coach anywhere I wanted. By driving up on wood ramps it was easy to roll around on a creeper. Very happy with having a flat floor. The other consideration was in having a wide 14x14 overhead door and the entry door on the side vs next to the large overhead door. This gave an illusion that the large square overhead door was actually smaller than it looked. A few neighbors commented about the pole barn looks much smaller than it actually is when viewed from the street. For the dehumidifier, I did drill a hole through the floor to add a drain pipe under the concrete slab and out the side of the barn where it exits a sloped grade. I do have the option to add barn heating from my house hot water boiler heating system. When I configured the 30,000 to 150,000 BTU modulated boiler I factored in an extra zones for heating the barn but I've yet to find the need to run the 20' of underground piping to heat the barn. Maybe someday I'll do that but it's not on my to-do project list right now. Because I have 50 amp power, in a pinch I could always run the aquahot heating in the coach. But some day, it would be nice to have the option to heat the barn if I ever wanted to do winter projects in the barn.

Back in 2007 when I bought my coach I had a pole barn built on the property. 24x60', 14X14 insulated overhead door, 15' high interior ceiling, conventional asphalt roof, metal siding, two side entry doors one near the front and one near the rear, 4 windows (2 on each side). The floor is flat with no drain, 8" thick, 3000 psi with one saw cut down the center and 3 other cuts across. After 13 years no cracks. Living in NJ, my objective was not to winterize the coach and keep the barn above freezing with minimal to no heat. So, I spray foamed all the metal exterior walls, added 12" fiberglass to the ceiling and 6" fiberglass to the walls. Added a 100 amp electric sub panel, 50 amp shore power for the coach, ceiling lighting and electrical outlets every 10' around the interior. I'd say that the hardest part was hanging and taping the 12x4' sheetrock on the ceiling and walls alone. I outsourced the exterior construction and floor. The rest of the interior I did myself. Objective was met with numerous below zero days in a row and no supplemental heating. Interior temps have gotten down to the mid 30's but with the well insulated ceiling and walls and the massive floor thermal mass, the barn has stayed above freezing without supplemental heating. In the summer, I run a dehumidifier to keep humidity below 50%. Even when in the 90's outside, the barn stays in the mid 70's.

I worked with Tom on this offline and I discovered that my floating posts (striker bolts), that were floating when the coach was new 13 years ago, are now no longer floating. So, I carefully removed the striker bolt and washer, sprayed trilube into the floating mechanism inside the door frame. I then reinstalled the striker bolt, waited a few minutes, and by using a wood block and with some light tapping with a hammer, the floating mechanism freed up and is now working normally. I passed this information on to Tom and offline he sent me a message that this procedure also worked for him. Looks like I need to add checking and if needed lubricating those floating striker bolt mechanisms to my maintenance list. I found that you don't need to completely remove the bolt to spray trilube into the frame floating mechanism. Included are a few pictures of what the striker bolt and mechanism inside the door frame looks like with the striker bolt removed. The allen socket used to unscrew the striker bolt is still in the striker bolt that I'm holding. If you do remove the striker bolt, be sure not to let the washer fall into the frame.

Bob - Thanks for the update. FYI - Last December I updated the downloads (files) with the updated version.

Good info - I'll add to the parts list at the next update.