2013 Journey 40U Front Driver’s Slide Won’t Extend

[RickVickAZ]

2013 Winnebago Journey 40U. Four slides. The two rear and the front passenger side all work fine. The front driver's side won't extend. When we press "IN" or "OUT" there is zero movement or noise. We made sure the mechanical lock was unlocked. I've tried battery boost. There are no error codes displayed. When it wouldn't extend, I verified the circuit breakers weren't tripped (checked every circuit breaker I know of inside and outside). Hoping maybe there was a parking break interlock that didn't set, I retracted the other three slides, pulled up jacks, drove around the campsite, pulled back into our campsite, parked, leveled and ....nothing. The other slides still work fine. I found the control board in the first compartment under the rig. When the Passenger side front is moved, led's illuminate. When we try the Driver's side, nothing. No lights, no movement. I tried the reset sequence (press 6 times and hold on 7th), lights start flashing but still no movement from the slide. It's got to be a power issue, but I can't figure out where the issue is. Is there a hidden fuse somewhere, some weird location for a circuit breaker?

 

[RV_Lee]

If you can, swap the switch with one that works from another slide

 

[RickVickAZ]

So.. I realized that the controller in the first passenger side compartment only controls the front passenger side slide. When I removed the cover for the Driver's side front slide, and pressed the reset button I get nothing. On the passenger side every button press gets a red light.

 

[Journey39n]

Not the same model, but a similar problem. I was getting ready to take my then new motorhome to the dealer for some warranty service. All was working, except the driver's side front slide would not move. I learned how to manually crank the slide in manually with a socket wrench. Off to the dealer. They puzzled and puzzled over it, finally, they found a big plastic connector plug located under the refrigerator was slightly loose. They found one of their technicians with long arms who could reach under the refrigerator, in the drawer space, snap that connector shut, and no more problems. That was 15 years ago.

 

[Morich]

Not a lot of time at the moment but might start passing a few bits of info I have found?
I should warn that I may get called off the chase, however!
This is the drawing info I have found att his time showing locatin and circuits which seem to be suspect, perhaps a check of battery and ground to them may lead to some good info on what is missing?
This drawing is what they call the "installation" info:

https://www.winnebago.com/Files/Files/Winnebago/Resources/Diagram/2013/13_wire_183100.pdf

This shows the physical location more than wire-by-wire info that schematics may show.

Big question to start?

However it does give us the Winnebago wire ID which should be stamped on the wires at this switch.
We can use this list to find the "from" and "to" locations of wires and that can often lead to power locations or ground??

https://www.winnebago.com/Files/Files/Winnebago/Resources/Diagram/electrical_guide.pdf

First BIG question may be why I find no info for the driver's front slide switches? Do you know details on operation that I am likely missing?

A bit short on major points but this seems to show some of the circuit ID which may lead to looking them up on the list for info on what each wire does??
Using the ID to look up info for one specific wire, it gives us the size andf color of a wire witht eh ID being stamped on the wire. We should find a long string of wire info with the last 2-4 letters beign the ID you need to look on the list!
Maybe if you understand the switch location for the friver's front slide, you may be better able to sort WHERE to find that control and then check for power and ground using the ID?
Out of time att eh moment, see if that gets you started?

 

[Morich]

A bit more?
Looks like wire/circuit ID "VVJ" goes from switch to inline Fuse!
No info yet on WHERE to find that fuse but maybe worth a look to verify power is getting to that wire at the switch before going too far to find a fuse that may still be good? If no power on that wire, I might then begin to hunt the inline fuse??
I will do a bit more looking but that is what I have for now!

Ouch! still not up on what and how but I do find the control for front driver's slide and it looks like a solid state item. That can get out of reach for many of us DIY folks when we have no access to the good tools to sort solid state.

So is it possible to check that voltage is getting there? A single slide not working may indicate that inline fuse to this one control? But if not power, we still have little idea where that fuse might be, finding none listed on the Winnebago info, this far!

 

[Morich]

A bit worth a quick check might be this breaker panel but not what I suspect?

I see much of the top row as slide involved but not what I really feel would kill only the one slide but maybe worth a look?

 

[Morich]

My work is something of a hit and miss varriety as guys call me when they get to a site! So I get lots of time to wait and look in here to add bits as I find them? Or a way to keep my mind from totally wandering off somewhere!
ANYwho?
This small bit of what I see on the drawings when they don't give us the 12VDC wiring schematics any mre that would let us look instead of guessing!
I spotted the drawings of the breakers and this bit explains where they are picking up battery and ground to move the rams. Two rams for the larger slide.
I feel like it may not be these breakers as both rams seem dead and I lean toward it not getting a signal to send power to the rams. No signal on that inline fuse may make BOTH rams stop working,is my thought?
But for understanding what I'm seeing this seems to fit!
If you find these wire ID, this explains there are two hot wires and two ground wires tot he two different rams on the front left slide. I marked them as blue and purple sets of wires.

If you get to the control module, these wires should show up as battery and ground pairs to front and rear rams?
But what I am afraid we are missing is the info on where the inline fuse is that should send a signal to the module to power up the rams and that is the part I am not finding!

But as a folloring thought, can we assume there is no reaction if you try to move the slide further IN, rather than extend? No creaking/groaning as it tries to move in further?
If it does nothing in or out, we have a different problem than if it is only the extend function failed!

 

[RickVickAZ]

Morich, you give a guy a lot to think about!

So...Here's the latest. Contacted Winnebago Customer Support (Johnny) In rear driver's side compartment behind an access panel is the controller (Power Gear RPE PN 1510000151 Rev 0G) for the Driver's side front slide. He had me disconnect/reconnect all four cables into the controller and Viola! it worked. However, after extending the slide, I did get a 5-1 error (5 red lights, 1 green light.)

As a point of interest...We always have the engine running before operating the front slides. Ran it in and out a few times with no issues.
Three days later went to next campground and had the same issue. Disconnected/reconnected "Motors" cable, started engine, nothing. Then I screwed up my troubleshooting Dummy Me! With the engine still running, I disconnected each of the other three cables "Power", "Touchpad" and "Sensors" one at a time, trying to extend the slide after each one, no success. Killed the engine, disconnected/reconnected all four, started the engine and it worked. Two days later needed to re-level the coach. Started the engine retracted all four slides, retracted/extended jacks and extended all four slides, no problem. So...Since it's really hard to troubleshoot a faulty signal that's not faulty...NEXT time it happens (assuming it happens again), I'm going to kill engine, turn off the "Chassis Batt" disconnect/reconnect "Motors" cable, turn on "Chassis Batt", start the coach and let it run for a couple of minutes, try the slide, if not successful, kill engine and repeat sequence with each cable. Hopefully, I'll find a specific cable that has the issue and can troubleshoot further.

Morich, I did find a 5A fuse (good) on line 183118-01-000(C) VVR, running into the controller at the "Touchpad" port.

Morich, could you tell me where you found the "Wire Identification Guide" you show in your post? The only one I found on the Winnebago site, doesn't even list the wires associated with the slide.

 

[Journey39n]

Over the years, many times, I held the retract button on the big slides just a tad bit too long, and the error light starts flashing. Slide won't budge after that. I shut the engine off, turn the chassis battery switch off, wait 30 seconds or so, turn the chassis battery switch on, restart the engine, and error lights have been cleared. And the slide moves again. I figure the slide computer controller needs to be rebooted once in a while. I have done that for other chassis powered devices to clear errors or non-function a few times over the last 16 years. Stuff happens.

 

[Morich]

Yes, this sounds like one that could drive you silly! We may get lots of info but if the thing is only dead part of the time, we got problems!
And when you get into asking about the wire ID chart, that seems to be a bit of a problem itself as it has some info but not other stuff we may need. So where I've gone on that point?
When I Go here:

Wiring Diagrams

This brings up the list of drawings where we choose which year and model, etc. of RV

Down in lower left corner we get this link and other handy info!

That get us to this list!

https://www.winnebago.com/files/files/winnebago/resources/diagram/electrical_guide.pdf

But it is far from a perfect list, as you noticed!
As I've played with it more, I find more complaints as it seems to have never been checked very closely. There are places where ID are not placed in full alphbetic order!
I have found ID in odd places that seem to fit with nearby ID but not alphabetic order as we might expect!
Another big issue seems to be one that other people with more indepth computer skills can deal with far better than me! As you will likely notice, even my typing skills are pretty well gone! I had a couple years of class way, way, back and got almost 40-50 words per minute! A real trick for me but then I went four years of military where I typed code and it HAD to be right! I totally lost any normal typing skills I might have had!
But I did get my grandson to set me up with a PDF of the wire ID that lets me hit "ctrl +F" to do a search of the wire ID list! So I can pull up my "private " list and find some of those lost ID that are not found in any normal order!
Like this, for instance?

Nothing like knowing 3 letter VVH is next to 2 letter W's!!
What would really help the DIY folks like us would be somebody far better trained than me to go through this list and set it up as searchable and put it out here some place where most of us could find it!
However I have not gotten enough grandson help to get that done. Seems he has made classes a higher priority and I'm in favor of that! A simple trick that I have no idea about how to do it!
If we could get a volunteer to make the posted Winnebago list into a searchable file, we could then put in the ID we wanted and let the magic find it??
I've posted the idea at times but not gotten any good results and I know of no way to get my "personal " ID list put online!
Do you ever get the feeling we might need to go back to pen and paper to get things straight?
OR
Would it be too far out of line to ask why Winnebago has not done the right thing to run their list in the correct order, so we ALL could find things?

 

[RickVickAZ]

OK Rich,
When I go to this link
https://www.winnebago.com/files/files/winnebago/resources/diagram/electrical_guide.pdf
and download the file dated 07/03/26, I can't find what you find.
No "Slideout Module", no "VVR"
What am I doing wrong?

 

[Morich]

Okay! Part of this looked good as I now see the VVR is in alphabetical order! First try, I was able to pop down to the 3 letter section and get to"VVR" right away and in what I assume they are using as the alphapetical way to arrange them. But only one time and now when I go ctrl+F I get no response!
Popped up ion order down on page 68?

Looks like I need to refresh my link to the ID list to get the newer dated one you found?
Sometimes I get more questions than answers on first look? No real explanation found!
Possibly they are in the process of change? Currently , when on that page and search for VVR, I get no response as if the search is not working again?
Will have to give it some time to cook and maybe it fixes itself!!
EDIT? When I do a search, it shows no result on the page where VVR is listed?

 

[RickVickAZ]

Yep! Guess I was just "assuming" that the search function would work like it's supposed to and was to lazy to try and find it manually. Dummy me. Technology is great until it isn't. Thanks Morich.

 

[Morich]

Yes, tech seems to assume we are going to be able to foloow and they leave no "breadcrumbs" in way too many cases.
I did some work with this over the weekend and got a good deal of help in getting the new list converted to OCR (optical character recognition) that lest me do the search!
But now the unknown that I need to work out is how to use my new and improvd list, as I have tried sending in an e-mail and itis not wometjhings I found how to do!
Am I missing the point when I thought they posted things online for us to use? Or is there something that makes an OCR file no longer able to be sent online?
I have it on my computer but if it is only something for me to use, that is semi-useless to a guy who has no RV to look over and work on!!!

What I was beginning to get around to on the older version was how helpfull it might be for finding that trace of info we need so badly. First point was good when they had the 12VDC coach wiring online to follow. It did take some searching to find the parts item but it was there if searching long enough. Now the the online schematics are no longer posted, I am left to search for the "hints" that may have been dropped!
A handy use for the file searching could be just finding a list of wiring that goes to some specific item.
For instance, if one needed to work on the step, we could enter a term like "step" and let it pop up a list of those which go to the step. I find it shows something like 30 ID for wires going to the step but that is certainly handier to click through to find which may be the battery and ground out of 80 pages!
But that is as far as my limited training gets me! My computer trained family folks all go back to their real life during the week and I am less prone to asking them for even more help on my personal projects!
I have an OCR file after they fed it through Adobe but now I find I can't share it!

 

[RickVickAZ]

I wonder if someone smarter than I could use one of the AI engines to create something useful.....

 

[Morich]

Not well trained here! But it may be a case of them using a "free" trial of Adobe to do the change? But then as I now have the new list that was just came out and I have it in the OCR that I can search, I am now running into small points on the new list which seem to be just maddening due to the number of errors I am running into when I search!

It's like the world is just going through the motions and their head is missing! Maybe there is nobody checking what they do? Almost every job I have ever done had somebody who checked the work but it doesn't seem there is much of that doneon lots of this stuff that is meant to help us!
I would certainly hate to be an RV tech who HAD to use this list every day! I assume there is a full blown set of schematics where the pro can access better info but they likely have to pay the big bucks to get it!