Allison 3060 WTECII ECU problem solved

[BlueSteele]

I have been a silent observer on this forum for about a year. Over that time, I have had the chance to scan the many daily entries and sometimes read them entirely including the comments. I don't have a great expectation of finding solutions to my problems because of the age of my 38 foot1993 Monaco Dynasty. She's an older machine. Many of the issues don't apply to my rig being pre-emissions (pre-DEF, anyway). My Allison MD3060 has the WTECII shift button ECU from 1992. I have had such good fortune with this unit that I was surprised when I had an issue.
During my monthly run-up of the engine and generator, my shift pad blinked from "N" to "NoShift" then it went blank. I shut down the engine and tried to manually re-level the coach (sorry no auto level back then) but got no response from the RVA Model J2 leveller control pad, other than the power indicator light. I tried to restart the engine, but no response. Something was very wrong. I had to use a bottle jack to level the coach on one corner. I searched this forum for something to help with the troubleshooting and found a few posts that pointed me in the general direction of the faulty WTECII ECU. I called Allison Transmission with my serial number and they admitted that the older WTECII units were prone to failure, but offered no real troubleshooting guidance. I checked EBAY for parts availability and was put off by the crazy prices for used replacements with no assurance that this would resolve my issue.

Randomly, I searched YouTube and found one guy who had the same exact experience as I. He had his ECU rebuilt in the Dallas, Texas area and was extremely happy. His video gave the link to the company : Transmission Instruments (www.transmissioninstruments.com). I scanned their website with great confidence that this was the solution! John Kopalek, Owner and Senior Engineer of Transmission Instruments had prepared a troubleshooting guide that is very specific to the ECU's he rebuilds. I followed the troubleshooter and pinpointed my issue exactly! I bundled the ECU for shipment following Mr. Kopalek's instructions. Within a week, I had my rebuilt ECU back in hand. I installed it today without incident following the installation instructions included with my ECU. Everything works and my coach is completely level again.

Rick Harrington

 

[Wrayj1]

Great!  Thanks for posting Rick, always good to hear a success story as well as get some new information.My 2007 Holiday Rambler is also pre-DEF, but has auto leveling. We are getting it ready to sell if you know anyone.  I can provide specifics if anyone is interested.

[jacwjames]

19 minutes ago, BlueSteele said:

I have been a silent observer on this forum for about a year. Over that time, I have had the chance to scan the many daily entries and sometimes read them entirely including the comments. I don't have a great expectation of finding solutions to my problems because of the age of my 38 foot1993 Monaco Dynasty. She's an older machine. Many of the issues don't apply to my rig being pre-emissions (pre-DEF, anyway). My Allison MD3060 has the WTECII shift button ECU from 1992. I have had such good fortune with this unit that I was surprised when I had an issue.
During my monthly run-up of the engine and generator, my shift pad blinked from "N" to "NoShift" then it went blank. I shut down the engine and tried to manually re-level the coach (sorry no auto level back then) but got no response from the RVA Model J2 leveller control pad, other than the power indicator light. I tried to restart the engine, but no response. Something was very wrong. I had to use a bottle jack to level the coach on one corner. I searched this forum for something to help with the troubleshooting and found a few posts that pointed me in the general direction of the faulty WTECII ECU. I called Allison Transmission with my serial number and they admitted that the older WTECII units were prone to failure, but offered no real troubleshooting guidance. I checked EBAY for parts availability and was put off by the crazy prices for used replacements with no assurance that this would resolve my issue.

Randomly, I searched YouTube and found one guy who had the same exact experience as I. He had his ECU rebuilt in the Dallas, Texas area and was extremely happy. His video gave the link to the company : Transmission Instruments (www.transmissioninstruments.com). I scanned their website with great confidence that this was the solution! John Kopalek, Owner and Senior Engineer of Transmission Instruments had prepared a troubleshooting guide that is very specific to the ECU's he rebuilds. I followed the troubleshooter and pinpointed my issue exactly! I bundled the ECU for shipment following Mr. Kopalek's instructions. Within a week, I had my rebuilt ECU back in hand. I installed it today without incident following the installation instructions included with my ECU. Everything works and my coach is completely level again.

Rick Harrington

 

I had the same problem in 2013 but unfortunately I did not have time to try and resolve myself.  I was headed to Spain and my wife had a dog show in NY she wanted to go to so we had to towed to the nearest Allison shop, they wouldn't send a tech out.  Had to replace the ECU, cost ~$3500

What did the repair of yours cost?

[BlueSteele]

I thought the repair was extremely reasonable at $595. Best money I have spent on this coach!

 

[JDCrow]

That’s awesome! The 3060 was a work horse when we had them back in the early 90s. Glad your problem was fixable 

[jacwjames]

3 hours ago, BlueSteele said:

I thought the repair was extremely reasonable at $595. Best money I have spent on this coach!

 

Yes it was very reasonable. 

Wish I would have had time to do the same thing but just not possible. 

Good information for others to know!!

[Scotty Hutto]

Thanks Rick. Feel free to post a link to the YouTube video if you still have it!

[cbr046]

17 hours ago, jacwjames said:

I had the same problem in 2013 but unfortunately I did not have time to try and resolve myself.  I was headed to Spain and my wife had a dog show in NY she wanted to go to so we had to towed to the nearest Allison shop, they wouldn't send a tech out.  Had to replace the ECU, cost ~$3500

What did the repair of yours cost?

A 3 day RV rental is somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000.  Yeah, she'd be in a gasser, maybe even a Class C, but would get her through the show.  Problem is, no guarantee you could have fixed it for less. 

Just thinking outside the box.

- bob

[jacwjames]

28 minutes ago, cbr046 said:

A 3 day RV rental is somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000.  Yeah, she'd be in a gasser, maybe even a Class C, but would get her through the show.  Problem is, no guarantee you could have fixed it for less. 

Just thinking outside the box.

- bob

 She travels with dogs, dog crates, XPens etc.  And the dog show was in NY, quite a distance from E TN, so the mileage would have added up quickly not to mention the toad she would have had to pull would require air for the brakes and a rental may not be setup for that.

I do Cost/Benefit analysis all the time for most everything!!!  Trust me, I was scrambling to try and figure out how to get this fixed more economically but crapped out.  Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do so I just decided to have it towed to the Allison shop.  I met the to driver as he was pulling into the subdivision as I was headed to the airport.    The wife watched as the driver hooked it up and followed to the shop.  They tested and determined the ECU was bad, they did not have a new or refurbished one but there was one ~100 miles away at one of their sister shops.  My wife actually drove to get it so it could get the rig fixed faster.  The had it done in a couple days.

My wife hit the road and high tailed it the show in NY and pulled into the parking lot has they were taking her breed (Curly Coated Retriever) into the ring and another handler grabbed the dog and ran to the building with the dog ans showed it for my wife.  Can't remember if he won or not. 

She spent about a week going to other shows and I drove from Toronto to Niagra Falls after my board meetings and we spent a week on vacation around the Finger Lakes area. 

So I guess it worked out but definitely a cost involved.   Just another day in paradise of RV/coach ownership!

[BlueSteele]

Here's a link to the YouTube video that sent me to the Transmission Instruments website and led to the resolution of the ECU problem:  

 

[cbr046]

8 minutes ago, jacwjames said:

My wife hit the road and high tailed it the show in NY and pulled into the parking lot has they were taking her breed (Curly Coated Retriever) into the ring and another handler grabbed the dog and ran to the building with the dog ans showed it for my wife.  Can't remember if he won or not. 

That's called JITs, right?  Just In Time Showing

My parents dragged me down the Erie Canal to the Finger Lakes for many years.  Cayuga Lake was a 3 day boat ride from N. Tonawanda (Buffalo suburb).  Met my first crush there.  Talked my parents into buying a new cabin cruiser there.  Had an opportunity to meet Rod Sterling at the little marina bar there.  Hurt my back there (still haunts me to this day).  Lots of memories.  Apologies for the side-bar. 

- bob

[dl_racing427]

I had a related failure on my 1993 Dynasty years ago.
It started with erratic shifting on the way to a race at VIR.
I pulled over, and disconnected/reconnected all the transmission connectors I could find on the tranny, and it ran fine the rest of the way to the track.

Of course, on Sunday evening, after the racing was done, and everything was loaded up, it wouldn't shift from neutral.
Fortunately, we were still in the paddock, and at least had electrical hookups.
We ended up staying till Monday morning, and I finally found an Allison shop that would send someone out.
He had me do some more troubleshooting over the phone, as well as giving him my transmission ECU codes.
He brought a new ECU with him, and after some more troubleshooting on site, he ended up replacing the ECU.

My insurance roadside assistance covered the service call, and they actually gave me a pretty good discount on the ECU.
I also kept the old one, intending to go through it touching up any suspicious cold solder joints and reinstalling it, but never got around to it.
I may consider sending it in for a rebuild, just to have a spare on board.
Thanks for the reference to Transmission Instruments.