Beeping while driving

[edju]

I'm getting an occasional high pitched beeping while driving. I'm not seeing a "jacks down" light, which some have mentioned in other threads. The beeping is intermittent and I don't notice anything consistent, like turning a corner or swaying that would trigger it. One tech said it was due to low leveling jacks fluid. Manual says fluid level should be to the lip of filler cap. TIP #140 sheet says to "rim of fill port hole just before oil starts to dribble out". I assume that means almost overflowing? Has anyone had the "beeping" experience and solved it by "topping" off the fluid?

I've been reluctant to add fluid because the troubleshooting guide also says that if a jack does not fully retract that the reason is too much fluid. I've had my rear jacks come 2-6 inches short of fully retracted. I've usually resolved this by hitting the retract all jacks several times. But having a jack partially extended is more worrisome to me that an annoying beep, so I haven't added fluid. Maybe I just need to hit the extended jack with some silicon lubricant to help it along?

By the way, I've got a 2018 Sunstar 29VE, Power Level by Lippert system.

Thoughts by more experienced travelers? Thanks...

[bigb]

On our Via we get a high pitched beeping if one of the rotating seats is not fully latched down into the travel position. Sometimes the driver's seat will only latch on one side and I have to monkey with it a little to get it to catch on both sides.

[Jim_HiTek]

I used to own a Power Gear leveling system and yes, it would beep all the time on me the first year of ownership (bought it used). When I'd turn corners to the right especially. Yes, it was easy to tell in that case that the tank was low so I'd top it off and head off again. Three, four months later, more beeping.

Got tired of those repeated refills so I added a bottle of ATF Stop Leak. Worked like magic over the next month. Stopped beeping at me unless I did something dumb like over extend the jack that had the leak. Got to be that I'd only need to add stop leak once ever 2 years or so. Jacks worked great, but I did need to lube the shafts occasionally. I use PTFE spray lube now days on my HWH jacks.

I assume you follow your book on when to measure the fluid? With multi slide rigs, sometimes you're supposed to have all the jacks & slides pulled up/in before measuring. Other rigs you're supposed to measure the fluid with the passenger slides out. Check your book for proper procedure...if you haven't already.

[Phil-T]

I had that problem with my '10 Vista once. Was low oil level in jack reservoir. To check, make sure all jacks are fully retracted and check the oil level. Fill to recommended level. My jack maintenance includes extending the jacks, spraying the shiny rams with a silcone lube (liberally) and wiping down with a clean cloth rag. My jacks also have grease fitting in the housing at the bottom seal. Just one shot of chassis lube there. If the jacks don't fully retract, pushing the retract all button on the control every half minute or so usually does the job.
If the jacks are fully retracted, you can't overfill the reservoir. You can also siphon out the reservoir and replace the oil - it would take several jack cycles to get the fresh fluid into the jacks.

[edju]

Originally Posted by Jim_HiTek

I used to own a Power Gear leveling system and yes, it would beep all the time on me the first year of ownership (bought it used). When I'd turn corners to the right especially. Yes, it was easy to tell in that case that the tank was low so I'd top it off and head off again. Three, four months later, more beeping.

Got tired of those repeated refills so I added a bottle of ATF Stop Leak. Worked like magic over the next month. Stopped beeping at me unless I did something dumb like over extend the jack that had the leak. Got to be that I'd only need to add stop leak once ever 2 years or so. Jacks worked great, but I did need to lube the shafts occasionally. I use PTFE spray lube now days on my HWH jacks.

I assume you follow your book on when to measure the fluid? With multi slide rigs, sometimes you're supposed to have all the jacks & slides pulled up/in before measuring. Other rigs you're supposed to measure the fluid with the passenger slides out. Check your book for proper procedure...if you haven't already.

Thanks Jim,
I'll top off the fluid and see how that works. I'm not sure I have any leaks, but I'll be more diligent to check. My book just says to have the jacks fully retracted, nothing about the slide and to use silicon spray as a lube, so I'll start with that.

[edju]

Originally Posted by Phil-T

I had that problem with my '10 Vista once. Was low oil level in jack reservoir. To check, make sure all jacks are fully retracted and check the oil level. Fill to recommended level. My jack maintenance includes extending the jacks, spraying the shiny rams with a silcone lube (liberally) and wiping down with a clean cloth rag. My jacks also have grease fitting in the housing at the bottom seal. Just one shot of chassis lube there. If the jacks don't fully retract, pushing the retract all button on the control every half minute or so usually does the job.
If the jacks are fully retracted, you can't overfill the reservoir. You can also siphon out the reservoir and replace the oil - it would take several jack cycles to get the fresh fluid into the jacks.

Thanks Phil,
Looks like I ned to add ATF fluid and spray the down tubes. Glad you added to keep hitting the retract button and that I can't overfill the reservoir. Good to know that from someone else.

[wyocamper]

My LCI jack panel beeps at me all the time when driving, but also sometimes just sitting in the driveway it will do it too. One, two or three beeps, one or more of the level indicator lights will be blinking and the display says: "System Ready: Jacks UP". I haven't been able to figure it out so far. The fluid is full, the jacks retract fully, and I can't find any sign of a leak anywhere. When it happens I just hit the Off button on the panel, or just ignore the blinking lights. Sometimes it does it once or twice an hour, sometimes I can go the whole day driving and it doesn't go off.

I called LCI tech support once but the guy wasn't all that helpful. "Huh, never heard that one before" is about all I got.

[gipper11]

Originally Posted by edju

I'm getting an occasional high pitched beeping while driving. I'm not seeing a "jacks down" light, which some have mentioned in other threads. The beeping is intermittent and I don't notice anything consistent, like turning a corner or swaying that would trigger it. One tech said it was due to low leveling jacks fluid. Manual says fluid level should be to the lip of filler cap. TIP #140 sheet says to "rim of fill port hole just before oil starts to dribble out". I assume that means almost overflowing? Has anyone had the "beeping" experience and solved it by "topping" off the fluid?

I've been reluctant to add fluid because the troubleshooting guide also says that if a jack does not fully retract that the reason is too much fluid. I've had my rear jacks come 2-6 inches short of fully retracted. I've usually resolved this by hitting the retract all jacks several times. But having a jack partially extended is more worrisome to me that an annoying beep, so I haven't added fluid. Maybe I just need to hit the extended jack with some silicon lubricant to help it along?

By the way, I've got a 2018 Sunstar 29VE, Power Level by Lippert system.

Thoughts by more experienced travelers? Thanks...

I had a problem and it sounded like it was coming from the dash area but it was actually the smoke detector chirping, I replaced the battery at it went away.

[Morich]

Attachment 179099

Originally Posted by wyocamper

My LCI jack panel beeps at me all the time when driving, but also sometimes just sitting in the driveway it will do it too. One, two or three beeps, one or more of the level indicator lights will be blinking and the display says: "System Ready: Jacks UP". I haven't been able to figure it out so far. The fluid is full, the jacks retract fully, and I can't find any sign of a leak anywhere. When it happens I just hit the Off button on the panel, or just ignore the blinking lights. Sometimes it does it once or twice an hour, sometimes I can go the whole day driving and it doesn't go off.

I called LCI tech support once but the guy wasn't all that helpful. "Huh, never heard that one before" is about all I got.

This is a pure wild guess but there are times when we need to try the easy guesses?

This sounds very much like a loose connection to me and there is one spot where a loose connection might be easy to check as it is right out in front if we look real close.

The Lippart that we have is easy to pop the front of the control open and find the small cable which plugs to the board.
The electronics are often prone to getting wired "ideas" if they get weird signals from the inputs a nd other parts due to loose cables, so I would consider it worth a check---just because it's so easy!

I can get a fingernail down in the tiny crack at the top of the screen and gently force the screen down enough to release the small tab that is at the center top. Once the top comes loose, you find you have lots of spare wiring and I feel like that wiring is prone to flopping up and down on every bump which tends to work the plug slightly loose in the back.
Work gently and avoid creating any headaches but a check of this plug might be worth the time and then slip the bottom back in the groove, arrange the wires to avoid pinching and closer it up!

[wyocamper]

Thanks Rich, that's the same one I have. It seems like I may have checked that a couple years ago, but I honestly can't remember for sure now. I'll check the plug and wires, and take a close look for any sign of cracks in the board traces. It would be awesome if it was something as simple as that.

[jerilo]

My tire minder beeps occasionally... I suppose when it finds or loses contact with the transmitters

[mitchoe]

Here’s one for you. I had a high pitched beeping while I was going down the highway in my Itasca Sunstar, come to find out it was one of the fridge doors ajar just enough to trigger the alarm but not enough to see. Now I push on the fridge doors before I head out and, if it “clicks” shut I know I just avoided another alarm.

[Radioflyer]

We have same issue with our ‘09 Journey 34y. Bought used from dealer 4 yrs ago w/ 26,000 mi. Didn’t happen on test drive... and I suppose like everyone, our first ‘Jacks Down!’ alarm caused a panic but careful pullover to shoulder for eyes on check! Had already read about the issue so after confirming all jacks where all the way up/ springs attached assumed it was this issue. My engineering background makes it hard to ignore alarms! Done all the recommended posted ‘cures’ check level before every trip... level doesn’t seem to be down at all but fill right to rim (with jacks up). I’ve tried to pay attention to the road, turns, temps, combinations just prior too/ after alarms... We can can go 2-3 hours with some pretty rough road expansion joint bumps and road/ bridge joints with no alarms... then with a fairly minor one it triggers an alarm. Then it seems to get super sensation... and triggers on bumps that are a fraction of those prior that didn’t trigger an alarm. Some alarms last a long time ((1-3 minutes) some alarms are short (15 sec). Sometimes an long alarm seems to end on a big bump. For no reason at all it seems to calm down for hours again tolerating pretty big bumps. On this trip there where several long alarms that stopped on a rather big road bump which started me also thinking that this might be a ‘bad connection’ issue. Hadn’t thought about at the control panel. I was mentally focused on the connection at the expansion tank. I was/ am also thinking that the float switch is also a possibility. Been my experience that mechanical things generally cause more issues than non-moving items. On my to do’ list is to check how much a new float assembly is and if not too much just replace it. That would at least eliminate one potential cause. Meanwhile, I’ll pull out the Conrol plate and ‘exercise’ its plug connections.