I had a similar issue 3 times, 1 on I-95 and 2 on I-75, running great when the check engine light came on and the coach went into slow mode 45 MPH, each time it cleared out and went back to normal cruise.  The issue was diagnosed by P&S Road Service in Ocala, FL, turned out to be a faulty oil pressure sending unit, installed a new one and everything is great ever since.

Thanks for commenting, the first time I experienced this issue was 8/28/22, I had full service performed on 9/29/22 including all filters, and the 2 recent occurances were on 10/28/23 so just over 1 year, and approx. 2,300 miles driven since service.  Do you think this could have been the filters?

Thank all of you for your great input, you've provided much needed advice, I really appreciate it!

I'm wondering if any of you experienced folks out there can help me out with an annoying and potentially dangerous situation, I was cruising down Rt. 75 toward Tampa doing about 68-70 mph when the check engine light came on and the coach went into slow mode running 45.  I managed to get to an off ramp about a mile down the road when the check engine light went out and all was normal the rest of the way.  Same thing happened again on Rt. 75 north heading home, this time the check engine light went out while I was still on the road and I was able to get home without further issue.  Last year coming home from NY state the same thing happened on Rt. 95 in GA, I got off the road, shut the coach off and restarted and all was normal.  It seems I have some sort of intermittent glich probably in a computer that monitors all the systems.  In each case everything was normal (oil pressure, engine temp., tranny temp, oil pressure, etc.).  I know that intermittant things can be hard to detect, but can someone point me in the right direction?  Thanks for any tips!

I have no knowledge of that brand or dealer, however, I will say if you ever look at the Villa seats sold by Coach Supply Direct the Villa seats are great but don't do any business with Coach Supply Direct!  It took me 6 months to get my new captain's chairs, but I learned later that Coach Supply Direct waited 3 months to place the order with Villa.  I also ordered a new Lambright recliner at the same time, I continually asked Josh for a delivery date and he told me that the Lambright chair was lower quality and he finally convinced Villa to make my chair to expand their offering since Flexsteel was out, he didn't have a date yet but said I'd be very happy.  Months later with lots of calls, texts and emails I was still getting the run around, so I called Villa directly and discovered that they never received an order from Josh for my chair!  Since then I've called, left messages, sent texts with no response.  Putting this all together it's obvious that Josh was using the money from one customer to advance and earlier customer that he also must have cheated.  I emailed Josh telling him that I now know his scam, and to give him one more chance to deliver by ordering the chair I originally bought and paid for (lesson learned!!), with no reply.  I now have filed a claim with the Small Claims Court, and in doing so I also discovered that I'm not the only one.  I've always been the type to trust others, but have learned a hard lesson! Getting back to the Villa chairs, we just made a 1,300 mile trip from upstate NY back to FL over 2-1/2 days, and did so without a single butt cramp!  The chairs are great!

I hate to be asking this, but does anyone have information as to what is going on with this company?  Last Jan. I ordered two new Villa front seats and a recliner chair from Coach Supply Direct in Edwardsburg, MI, I had to pay in full at time of order.  I was told that delivery would be late Apr. for the 2 seats and the recliner would come later, the long lead time due to no more Flexsteel and more owners upgrading coaches rather than buying new in this market, also a long lead time on Ultraleather.  I finally received the 2 front seats July 5th, they are fantastic seats, however, one had a damaged pedistal base and went back to Villa in Elkhart for repair, got it back with a new base and all is good.  I continued following up on the recliner chair also being built as a new offering by Villa, and Josh at Coach Supply said the chair was done and would ship out the last week of August.  I was traveling from NY to FL so I told Josh to hold it a few days until I got to FL for delivery there, so when I got home in FL I called to tell Josh to ship it out.  I left phone messages, text messages and sent emails to Josh starting on Sept. 12 and every week day since, and his tel. mailbox was full.  On Sept. 14th Josh finally sent me a response that he was personal time this whole week, and that he would be in touch with me ASAP.  When I didn't hear from him on Monday 9/18 I called him, his phone mailbox was now open so I left him a message to call me to say the chair is shipping, I also texted and emailed the same, however, it's now Tue. 9/19 and his mailbox is again full and I haven't received a text or received a call.  Does anyone have any knowledge of the status of this company, and/or does anyone in this group live anywhere close to Edwardsburg that could advise me if they are even open?

I don't know if anyone has ever tried Poliglow to restore the finish on boats & RV's, but it's a fantastic process (Poliglow.com).  I used this process to restore the finish on my sailboat and the results were amazing!  Poliglow is a multi-step process that took me about 3 days to complete the very first time, but the work was fairly easy.  The web site explains the process starting with cleaning all of the oxidation, etc., off the boat, when completed the finish looks dull, they have a separate product for "stubborn" stains if needed.  After this you apply the Poliglow finish using the applicator they supply, this is very easy to apply as it's a liquid, and it dries within a minute or two.  You do one area from top to bottom, then move over about 3' and do the next area, after you've been all the way around and you inspect your job you will see a little difference where the sections were done.  Go all the way around again with a second coat and you will be amazed.  All season long walking down the dock it was unbelievable, the reflection of little waves in the mirror finish was something to be proud of!  The best part now is the annual refresher, in the spring just wash any dirt off and then apply one easy coat in a few hours, now be ready for the compliments from everyone else!  I have no connection to the Poliglow company, but the process and result are amazing!  I just ordered my products to restore the finish on my 2005 coach!

Hi, did you order these from Velvac directly or from another source, my mirror heads barely work for adjustability, and are peeling?  $150 each would be a great deal!

Sorry, I didn't read this correctly, I see now that you are selling these.  I'm interested in replacing both of mine, I'm in upstate NY for the summer, where are you located?

13 minutes ago, Gary M said:

We bought new Flexsteel covers last year for ours. We tried the Villa and were way too stiff. 

Thanks, our coach was actually built in the Monaco factory, came with extra wide Flexsteel seats and both are shot.  Plan is to put in new standard size seats.

Good morning, I'm curious to know if anyone has replaced the original front seats with ISS installing the new Villa seats, I'm just wondering how the quality and comfort compare?

Also, I'm having an intermittent problem with my Aladdin, I removed the old Kenwood system and with the upgrade I installed a new separate monitor on the dash for the Aladdin status screens which allows me to continuously monitor the engine, tranny, etc. screen full time while driving.  I connected the video cable to the new screen and all of the Alladin screens are there just fine.  My problem is intermittent data, some of the time all the data is displayed, but some of the time while all of the list is displayed (rpm's, temp's, speed, etc.) the data shows XXXX, XXXX, etc., then eventually the data info comes back on.  I'm wondering if resetting the Alladin might help this issue?  I've never touched the reset and don't want to cause something to happen in a bad way.  Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

 $74.99

6 hours ago, Tom Cherry said:

Only if you reread the post and download the picture of the SOC….and then study the Trojan Battery Maintenance Manual…I revised the original post and put in a better picture and also a link to the manual.  THEN, you get your degree.

Thanks for reading….I hope it benefits many…. 

17 hours ago, Tom Cherry said:

First.  No to yiur question.  The chassis battery kills on the large draw items, as well as the ability to start (as in the relays).  You still have parasitic loads like the “ECM” on the engine and the Transmission Control Module”.  This keeps the various electronic modules in “standby”.  Ordinarily, folks get a few weeks without any issues.

Second, and this is making some assumptions, you probably have a 8 bank House set or 4 banks of two six volt batteries in parallel.  There are also parasitic loads….and Monaco, as well as Beaver, did a whole lol of different wiring “types”. The House bank is always connected to the inverter.  You have to pull yhe jumpers to kill the parasitic load in the inverter….the house switch, with Eve bit and the inverter “off” STILL uses power as the inverter is in STANDBY. Then the House Switch kills most of the DC appliances.

Here is where it gets tricky.  There were two types of circuits for maintaining battery life.  One is the BiDirecfional Charging, where there is a large, often called called Big Boy which is actually your Battery Boost solenoid/relay or solenoid that is used for “jumpering” both banks.  There are electronic controls so if one bank starts to run down, the system opens the 200 Amp or so solenoid and whatever load is on the bank going down does not drain the other one,

The other system is a “Maintainer”, which is wired to “steal” a little bit of charging current from the House Bank and give it to the Chassis bank to keep them charged.  Unless you are the original owner, some folks had added a maintainer as a backup.

You need wiring diagrams and the ability to understand which system you have to start trouble shooting.  It also helps to have a clamp on digital meter that is accurate in tenths of an ampere as well as large loads,  Then, after both banks are charged, you start to measure the current draw and then find the component or item that has excessive drain.

Not knowing your skill level or MH experience, it is hard to be more specific.  But, I will make a few comments….or suggestions…

First, if you do not use the house bank much and keep it plugged in, then the batteries get lazy.  The suggested rule of thumb is to exercise or run them down to about half (50% State of Charge or SOC) at least annually.  Now if you boon dock, that counts.  Since you leave the MH parked without power or low capacity Solar, if you have a panel, then they should have been “exercised”.

The next question is whether you have a bad battery or a bad bank or something that is all of a sudden drawing too much power.  

ONE LITTLE overlooked issue can be the Alternator.  All alternators have diodes in them.  If a diode goes bad, then it will, in a heartbeat, drain a good chassis battery bank, I know…that happened on a boat and drove me crazy.  There is a rule of thumb that a properly working alternator will draw or back drain the battery if the parasitic load inside the alternator exceeds 40 or so milliamperes,  Mine was almost 200 MA.  The trick of the trouble shooting is to have all the parasitic loads on the  chassis battery removed….which means that the ECM and TCM and all OTHER directly connected (fused of course) have to be removed.  Not for the novice.  BUT, there are good alternator shops that can do this.  BUT, under no circumstances, if you have an alternator with bad diode(s) let them sell you a new alternator, unless it is the SAME Leece Neville and an exact replacement,  Have it rebuilt, but specify that they only use Leece Neville parts….not aftermarket.  We could write a book about folks that bought others or got “imported” parts.  

I assume that you are aware that there is a host of parasitic loads on the House Bank and you need to disconnect all of them for storage.  Your TV’s and home entertainment components are never OFF.  The standby circuits draw, combined, a LOT of juice.  Most folks knowledgeable about this have surge protectors or power strips so they plug all them into that device…THEN TURN IT or THEM off as part of the shutdown.  They also unplug the microwave and coffee makers with clocks,  They pull all the phone chargers out….but AC and DC.  That really prolongs the storage time.

NOW, the suggestion about a bad battery or set is also good advice.  BUT, many folks have replaced banks that were probably OK and could have been exercised or recovered.  Taking in a set of 8 batteries that are abused and only need exercising and having them load tested will ALWAYS end up buying new batteries.  

Exercising them is a bit of a task, but not rocket science.  You need a digital voltmeter and a good specific gravity tester.  The SG tester  needs a scale….not colors.  I have attached a .Trojan SOC (State of Charge) chart.  The left column is the SOC and the others are the SG and Volts.

If you have 8 house batteries, assuming they are Wet Cells and NOT AGM’s, then the process is fairly simple.

Disconnect a Solar charger or just cover the panel with a opaque tarp or blanket or quilt.  Check the electrolyte level and fill to half the distance between the top of of,the plates and the bottom of the “well”….distilled water ONLY!  Recharge them.  Now DISCONNECT the jumpers between the batteries bank.  You should have 4 if you have 8 batteries,  NOW. Measure each .battery SG as well as voltage.  BINGO…you now can look up the SOC.  If there is a lot of variation in SG in the cells in one battery, then that is a sign of trouble,  BUT, if one battery only measure 4 VDC or so….BINGO.  That battery is GONE.  You don’t know this unless you have the disconnected and look at each line,  if one cell is REALLY low….then that battery is SHOT….or maybe headed that way. Reinstall the jumpers.

With all the power consuming items mentioned above are off….do your own load test.  Put a 500 watt load on the MH. A cheap quartz halogen 500 watt lamp works. One of these hooked up should drain your set of batteries, if they are “GOOD” to a 50% SOC in 9 hours or so.  Hook that up.  Use the inverter remote to read the battery voltage.  NOW, understand that you will have a LOWER displayed voltage than if you measured each battery directly with a volt meter.  Rule of thumb…when the remote reads 11.9 STOP. Odds are the real voltage at the battery is 12.0/1…or close to 50% SOC.

THEN…disconnect the jumpers again.  Let the batteries sit for maybe an hour.  Repeat your readings…record all the data.  Then refill the electrolyte….recharge for several hours.  Disconnect the jumpers and record the SG and Voltages….  

Then do it ALL AGAIN.  The readings after recharging should show the  SG closer within each battery and the batteries should be closer also.  It MIGHT take one more cycle…..then after recharging….with the jumpers removed…..read and look up the SOC and each battery.  They should all be within a 10% range….if one is worse, then at least you know.  Rule of thumb, the recharged, jumpers off, wait an hour SOC should be 80 - 90%.  If not….time to think about a new set.

edit…..changed the file picture for a better and newer “view”….from the Trojan Battery Manual.  Here is a link to one of the best reads on battery maintenance…..  I learned about the testing from a member here….and thanks to him….

https://www.trojanbattery.com/pdf/TrojanBattery_UsersGuide.pdf

I KNOW this works and greater scientific minds here, as well as the Trojan tech support folks, say this this is ONLY way to know.

Assuming that you have NO dead cells in a battery or a shorted (4 VDC) battery, then your batteries are as good as they ever will be.  I had one dead cell (voltage 4 VDC) in one battery and a very low SG reading in one cell of another battery.  They were shot.  I actually pulled them out. I hooked up only the good two. They were fine.  I decided to junk the whole set of 4 OEM Interstate bank and replaced them with Trojan T105’s…I am on my third set and I have used my MH twice or three times they average yearly numbers.  I have spent t least 5 weeks out every year and done a lot of short trips….some boondocking.

NOW, many will say JUNK and get AGM’s.  I understand their logic, but it also means that you have to have a PERFECT electrical system.  If you abuse a wet cell, it is more robust.  But, if you over or under charge an AGM….TOAST.  Yes, the prices are closer.  But you need to have a perfectly working charging system and be aware of when there are problems….and our motor homes are notoriously difficult to trouble shoot.

As to the chassis batteries.  Yes…they are sealed.  You exercise them each time you start them.  A quick way to see if you have bad batteries is to drive for a few hours in summer heat.  Then shut it down….maybe 15 to 30 minutes,  Listen to the “sound” when you turn the key….if there is a hesitation…or really long lag…it’s getting that time.  The idiot “LOW BATTERY” warning light will come on with a new, totally charged bank after a minute or so….and you have no lag….

WAY TOO MUCH…but your issue is not cut and dried.  The more you understand, the more you can monitor and take care of your rig.  The Patriots wee really nice…
 

 

 

Wife had oral surgery this morning, just saw your post.  What a tremendous amount of information, THANKS, now I've got some work to do, but I'm pretty sure these "old batteries" need to be replaced, the coach sat at a Detroit Deisel/Allison Transmission house for 5 months while waiting for a part for my old hydraulic pump driven off the tranny PTO, and the batteries were dead, since then they've been dead two more times.  I'm heading out on a 1,500 mile trip and will feel better with a new set to start.  If I have issues after that I'll have a lot more knowledge on where to start!

I park my coach in the RV Lot in our community and have never had an issue with the chassis batteries going down until the last week, I went to move it to my driveway to work on it and discovered everything was dead.  Got a jump from Coach-Net, parked it in my driveway and plugged into 50A outlet, everything came up full overnight.  After a few days at home I moved it back to the lot, this time I turned off both chassis & house disconnects, went back a day later and chassis batteries are dead.  While at home I did no electrical work on the coach.  When the chassis battery disconnect is turned off does it actually kill power to everything?

I'm sorry, but my mechanic strongly advised against a used unit for multiple reasons so I'm going to have to pass, but thank you anyway.

1 minute ago, Corkman said:

Yes I still have it, the date is 1st Quarter, 2013. I bought the RV in 2015. The RV just sat for the 2 years before I purchased it, so the inverter was not used until I bought the RV. It comes with the remote and cord to go on the batteries to monitor the battery temps.

 

Selling for $500 

I'll double check with the mechanic working on my coach, but I'm sure I can use either the ME2012 or the MS2012, I have an '05 Beaver Patriot with the MS2012 installed.  I live in Leesburg, FL and can drive up to get it, I'll get back to you ASAP.  Thanks!

Do you still have the inverter, and do you know the age of it?

1 hour ago, vegaman19760 said:

Maybe this is not well known, but you can not compare insurance premiums from one state to another.  It is based on your primary residence.  Even one community to another can have a different premium for the same coverage from the same company.  Your only recourse is to check many insurance companies who can write an insurance policy in your state.  That does not mean only companies in your state.  There may be insurance companies outside of Florida that can write insurance policies for residents of Florida.  We live in NY State.  Years ago I had a Progressive insurer in Ohio (that was able to write a NY State policy) give me a lower premium than my Progressive insurer right down the street from us.  The reason is that each insurer has an overhead tied into their premiums.  You can only insure with companies that can write insurance for residents in your individual state but that may not be confined to companies outside your state.  I am only familiar with companies that can insure residents of NY State.  We have a Department called New York State Finance Services that regulates and determines what insurance companies can sell insurance of any kind to the residence of NY State.  I can go on their web site and f9nd an alphabetical list of every company allowed to sell insurance.  That Department also accepts claims if I have a problem with my instance company but that is another discussion.  No matter what state you are in only certain companies are allowed to sell insurance in your state and comparing premiums from other states or even other communities in your state is comparing apples to oranges.  You have to do some homework.  In your case get whatever insurance you can just to make sure you do not have a laps in coverage.  Than you can do a lot of homework to check around to see if another company can do better, maybe much better maybe not.  If you find someone that can do better, have them take over and drop your present insurer.  I suggest that before people move their residency not just from one state to another but even from one community to another to first check with your insurance company about your home, car and RV insurance to see what changes may be involved.  Your credit report also makes a difference on your premium and that too is another discussion.  Good luck.  Stay safe, Stay well

Dick and Sandy near Buffalo, NY

2015 HR Ambassador 38DB

@000 Ford Toad

Excellent advice, thanks for your time and your thoughts, and same goes to everyone who has taken the time to respond to my request!

Thanks to you all for your input, I'm sure I'll be able to do better with all the suggestions!  I'm told that the reason FL rates are so high is that they are making up for all of the uninsured motorists out there.

33 minutes ago, jacwjames said:

Check with a broke who carries multiple companies. 

When I finally finished our new house I asked our agent/broker to reevaluate the coverage on the new house.  We went through the appraisal software he had and increase the coverage by 50%, which in turn increase the premium by 50%.  He suggested he look at the rest of the companies he represented for a better option but suggest he look at auto & RV also.  I told him to give me a quote for all of it. 

Ultimately he recommended Auto-Owners Insurance.   I did my due diligence and did a search of the company, seemed to have good financials and ratings. 

They actually rolled the RV into the auto policy and the home owners was the same as I was paying prior to the appraisal increase.   I ended up saving ~$1K per year for all of it.

I now pay ~$550/year for the RV but this only allows for 6 months of usage, which we've never used that much anyway.  It it looks like I might exceed just have to call. 

Great suggestion, thanks, I'll definately look into this!

22 minutes ago, Joel & Susanna said:

 

Thank you for the input, I'll start in on the recommended sources.

13 minutes ago, Neil Loveless said:

We moved from NY to FL in the past year and my insurance with Progressive is up for renewal, I just discovered that the identical coverage went from $1,219/yr in NY to $2,514/yr in FL, can anyone recommend a more reasonable insurance provider?  Thank you for your thoughts.

I neglected to say that it's my RV insurance that went up so much, my car and motorcycle went up some, but not like the RV!

We moved from NY to FL in the past year and my insurance with Progressive is up for renewal, I just discovered that the identical coverage went from $1,219/yr in NY to $2,514/yr in FL, can anyone recommend a more reasonable insurance provider?  Thank you for your thoughts.

I understand, I was thinking we might be too old!  Thanks for the reply.

1 hour ago, bunlacken said:

I had this happen a few months ago. Make sure you get it to the proper engine shop.

I was towed to a deisel shop & $2000 later found they didnt have test equip.

Went to Cat authorized shop, 4 hours diagnosed ECM.  $6000 fix + hotels & first shop $2000. Hope you have insurance.

Was a choker, just bought it, no warranty 3 days before.

 

Jack, what kind of insurance did you get and at what cost?  I've been considering this but thought it was very expensive for an older coach, we have an '05 Beaver Patriot.

After adjusting my tire pressures I still experienced quite a bit of porpoising, especially at bridge joints, etc., at first I thought that shocks were my problem, however, ruled that out after learning that I had fairly new Bilstein shocks.  The solution came when I installed (4) new Comfort Control Valves on my front air bags, they are manufactured by Source Engineering, Inc., in Elmira, OR, they sell for $100 each and take about 15 min. each to install in the air lines to the air bags.  Our '05 40' Beaver w/tag has a much smoother ride and even handles better on curves and when being passed by trucks.  This has been the least costly upgrade we've made to date!  Look up Source Eng. on line, call and ask for Jim!