Slide Won't Close (FINAL UPDATE)

Jeanne M. · 04-25-2007, 03:00 PM

I opened our bedroom slide today to put some things away in the closet and to get some things out. It opened just fine, but now it won't close. There's no response, not even a noise like it's trying to close. Just nothing!

House and chassis batteries are good. We're plugged into the house electricity and I thought the batteries aren't an issue when plugged in. (However, I have been known to think too much! LOL).

DH is out of town for almost another 2 weeks, and while it's not an emergent situation, I just don't like to leave the slide open when the MH is not in use. Saves on the slide topper this way.

Any ideas from anyone as to what's up?

We have a 2005 Itasca Horizon 36GD
Freightliner Evolution chassis
HWH system

Thanks in advance!

Jeanne M. · 04-25-2007, 03:00 PM

I opened our bedroom slide today to put some things away in the closet and to get some things out. It opened just fine, but now it won't close. There's no response, not even a noise like it's trying to close. Just nothing!

House and chassis batteries are good. We're plugged into the house electricity and I thought the batteries aren't an issue when plugged in. (However, I have been known to think too much! LOL).

DH is out of town for almost another 2 weeks, and while it's not an emergent situation, I just don't like to leave the slide open when the MH is not in use. Saves on the slide topper this way.

Any ideas from anyone as to what's up?

We have a 2005 Itasca Horizon 36GD
Freightliner Evolution chassis
HWH system

Thanks in advance!

Savannah · 04-25-2007, 03:12 PM

Jeanne, try starting the engine and then putting in the slide. We had a similar problem and that worked for us.

Jerry Kraft · 04-25-2007, 03:13 PM

Hi Jeanne, I had the same thing happen to me today, and finally remembered that I needed the ignation switch turned on. Possibly your problem ? Good luck. We have a 2004 Suncruiser. Jerry Kraft

Wizard · 04-25-2007, 04:54 PM

Check the parking brake also

Y-Guy · 04-25-2007, 06:40 PM

As I recall on ours the Slides and the Jacks both draw off the engine battery not the house batteries. Turning the ignition switch may work, but you really want to power up the engine. If that battery is drained, which happens look for the "boost" switch which will divert battery power from the house batteries to the engine battery so you can get things started.

ichn2go · 04-26-2007, 02:02 AM

See the above post by AFCHAP, could this be the same problem? Good Luck

gMw · 04-26-2007, 12:41 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">ignition switch </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Hi,

Our Journey just had a similar problem with the bedroom slide. I spent a lot of time checking out the electrical hookup. FYI, our slides work without the ignition switch on, just need the batteries charged and on.

In our case, the jacks and front slide worked fine. There are two relays, one for the jacks, and one for the slide (both). To make a long story short, if the Jacks work, you've got power to the hydraulic pump. If the front slide works, the slide relay has power and most likely the slide relay is good. In our case, it was a defective bedroom switch, which is easy to replace. Also fairly easy to check out, if you have a meter or test light.

The HWH site has manuals and a good trouble shooting guide, though I didn't read the manuals until after I fixed it..

Let us know what ya find.

Jeanne M. · 05-04-2007, 08:48 AM

I want to thank everyone for all their suggestions. However, none worked. We tried everything and finally had to contact HWH. We talked with Steve and he walked us through a few tests and he's determined that it's the 'control board'. There's a new one on the way to us. When we've gotten that in and everything is up and running I'll make sure to post here.

I just have to say how very impressed I am with HWH and their superior customer service!

Again...thanks everyone.

Adventurer · 05-08-2007, 07:47 AM

Did you happen to ask HWH to send you an extra control board so 18 months from now when it goes again you won't be stuck somewhere waiting for another poorly made part to replace the one that didn't last 2 full years?

(Hey if that sounds like I'm bitter about the poor quality and frequent repairs of my HWH equipment, it's because I AM).

CWHTRAINS · 05-08-2007, 11:52 AM

On the rare ocasion (once about every three months or so) that my rear bedroom slide doesn't want to come in, I push the swtich to make it go out for a second or so, then push it to come in. Always has worked. Don't know why, but it has.

Jeanne M. · 05-16-2007, 04:08 PM

Well...the jacks and slides are FINALLY working again! We ended up doing the repairs ourselves. DH did the heavy work under the coach, I got to push buttons inside and I got to 'yell' at him (legitimately) to let him know what was going on up top!

HWH had DH get under the coach to do some tests - as in what lights were lit, not lit or blinking. We sent the info to Steve @ HWH an in turn he told us what was wrong. He sent us a new control board (I call it a circuit board)that took 5 days to arrive. DH installed that last Saturday. So disappoing, nothing happened! The original control board WAS bad, but this wasn't the complete fix. Soo...back under the coach to do some more testing for Steve. Sent the info to Steve and find out that now the "continuous duty solenoid" was not working! It was going to take another week to get us the part and DH is leaving again Sunday for 4 weeks. Unacceptable! So we did some calling around and found that Camping World about an hour away, had one left. We drove up to get it. Installed that yesterday and VOILA! The slide and jacks work again...BUT...now the jacks didn't level right. They lifted the front tires off the driveway. Back to the drawing board.

Called Steve this morn and he told us that there's a leveling plate in the control board that we had to tweek! He was right. Took some yelling back and forth while DH is under the coach and I'm up in the coach watching the panel. But we got it done. He told us to manually level it first then tweek it until all the yellow lights on the panel disappear. Thank goodness DH got an Ezlevel for Christmas! That saved us a bunch of guessing cuz our driveway is very sloped behind the back wheels. After getting in manually leveled, it was a matter of turning a screw bit by bit until all the yellow lights went out. Then we auto-leved and it worked perfectly! WHEW! I'm soooooo glad this is done. I was getting very tired of it! There's so much waiting involved, waiting to talk to someone, then waiting for parts, then waiting for answers when things didn't work. FINALLY...it's done! We can relax now!

Thanks again for everyone's help...unfortunately the suggestions didn't work, but it was worth a try!

John_Canfield · 05-17-2007, 01:25 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeanne M.:
--snip
Called Steve this morn and he told us that there's a leveling plate in the control board that we had to tweek! He was right. Took some yelling back and forth while DH is under the coach and I'm up in the coach watching the panel. But we got it done. He told us to manually level it first then tweek it until all the yellow lights on the panel disappear. --snip </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Good show for preserving and DIY - you two now have intimate knowledge about some important coach systems.

I had a learning curve about the auto-leveling HWH system. Unfortunately (I suppose fortunately) I discovered the hard way that many dealership "experts" have less of a clue than the average customer about some systems. In my case, I thought something was not right about the auto-leveling and supposedly the "experts" adjusted it and all was well.

Of course it wasn't and it tried to lift the rear wheels off the ground a couple of times. A little research revealed how to adjust the level sensors, I did same and now I am a much more informed coach owner, not to mention I have a coach that will properly auto-level.

If you have the tools, aptitude, physical ability, desire and the time, do it yourself can't be beat

mrmrsbb · 05-17-2007, 01:34 PM

who is HWH - I know you all know but hey I am a newbe

TomHinMd · 05-17-2007, 01:44 PM

HWH Corp. is the company that makes jacks and controls for slide outs.

Jeanne M. · 05-18-2007, 09:19 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John_Canfield:

I discovered the hard way that many dealership "experts" have less of a clue than the average customer about some systems. In my case, I thought something was not right about the auto-leveling and supposedly the "experts" adjusted it and all was well.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

John, I know exactly what you mean. From day one that we had the coach I felt like it leaned toward the livingroom slide when it was extended. Two dealers said they 'fixed' it...they didn't. I have an equilibrium problem and believe me...I knew immediately that it wasn't fixed. When we were in Forest City we had our tech investigate and he said it was off. Some plastic part had snapped and he made a metal replacement part for it and it's been perfect ever since. Now that WE know how to do it, I don't think being level will ever be a problem again! You're right...it does pay to get familiar with all the systems!

SCVJeff · 05-19-2007, 12:14 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John_Canfield:

If you have the tools, aptitude, physical ability, desire and the time, do it yourself can't be beat

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>And think of all of the neat tools you get to justify