Pasadena (Inception) air-ride - stop the refill

[Inwood]

I have a 2023 Thor Pasadena 38MX and would like to figure out how to cancel the refill of the rear air suspension while leveling the coach parked at a campsite. There is an air-ride switch on the dash to dump the air in the rear suspension. As soon as the rear gets all the way down, the pump kicks on and starts to fill the suspension again. This makes leveling the coach a pain. Anyone know how to defeat the auto fill while parked?

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Inwood

I have a 2023 Thor Pasadena 38MX and would like to figure out how to cancel the refill of the rear air suspension while leveling the coach parked at a campsite. There is an air-ride switch on the dash to dump the air in the rear suspension. As soon as the rear gets all the way down, the pump kicks on and starts to fill the suspension again. This makes leveling the coach a pain. Anyone know how to defeat the auto fill while parked?

Can you level without the engine running? That could be a Thor engineering flaw.

My Accolade requires engine off to level.

[Inwood]

Originally Posted by EA37TS

Can you level without the engine running?

No. You have to have the engine running.

HOWEVER, I was going to see if the coach will level while the generator is running to keep the batteries from getting a Low Battery warning while leveling.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Inwood

No. You have to have the engine running.

That is a problem. Jayco didn’t put dump valves on the Super C’s and the ones owners put in would not work for you because our EQ Smart Level systems are Engine and Ignition off systems so there is no air flow from the compressor to tanks to bags.

Have you talked to Thor? I would address it as safety because air in the bags requires the front to raise higher to level and could result in the front wheels coming off the ground. Could also result in inadequate jack travel to enable safe leveling. Also after you level and shut down as air naturally escapes from the bags you are going to be out of level. Man, that’s a poor design that could have been eliminated by using a better leveling system.

[mkurtz502@gmail.com]

Hmm Im pretty certain our Magnitude SV34 requires ebrake set, and engine running to deploy jacks and slide

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by mkurtz502@gmail.com

Hmm Im pretty certain our Magnitude SV34 requires ebrake set, and engine running to deploy jacks and slide

Magnitude is not a Freightliner chassis with air bags.

OPs problem is dumping the bags so they can correctly level.

[Inwood]

Originally Posted by EA37TS

That is a problem. Jayco didn’t put dump valves on the Super C’s and the ones owners put in would not work for you because our EQ Smart Level systems are Engine and Ignition off systems so there is no air flow from the compressor to tanks to bags.

Have you talked to Thor? I would address it as safety because air in the bags requires the front to raise higher to level and could result in the front wheels coming off the ground. Could also result in inadequate jack travel to enable safe leveling. Also after you level and shut down as air naturally escapes from the bags you are going to be out of level. Man, that’s a poor design that could have been eliminated by using a better leveling system.

You are completely correct. The rear is higher when the air-ride is full and if not "bagged" on level ground requires the front wheels to come off the ground while leveling. We did bend a front piston on the leveling jack and thankfully our dealer swapped it out with a new one right away.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Inwood

You are completely correct. The rear is higher when the air-ride is full and if not "bagged" on level ground requires the front wheels to come off the ground while leveling. We did bend a front piston on the leveling jack and thankfully our dealer swapped it out with a new one right away.

Does you rig require engine running to operate slides?

[Inwood]

Originally Posted by EA37TS

Does you rig require engine running to operate slides?

Yes. The Firefly system will lock the slides if the engine is not running. Though, I haven't tried operating the slides with engine off and the key on...

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Inwood

Yes. The Firefly system will lock the slides if the engine is not running. Though, I haven't tried operating the slides with engine off and the key on...

Thor should have talked to Jayco. Your issue is compounded because if you could level without the engine running you’d have to dart the engine and build pressure while extending slides. My Firefly locks the slides if the ignition switch is not off. Same with Jacks.

This isn’t going to be an easy fix. TMC screwed the pooch with this design. I would even file a formal safety complaint with NHTSA. Maybe will enough complaints you can get a recall going.

One thing is certain, the Pasadena is not a Seneca/Accolade clone.

BTW did you folks get the Freightliner wiper recall on 21 and 22 units? Mine is a 20 so no recall but a friend has a 21 and his recall is being applied this week. Apparently the wipers can quit working in the rain.

[Inwood]

It certainly is a headache the way we level the coach. I'll see about putting in a complaint with NHTSA. I'll also see if the firefly will let me operate the slides with the key on and engine off. Same with the Lippert leveling system.

No recalls for wipers on my coach. Good thing they didn't fail while driving through the Black Hills back in late June. We had rain, hail, snow and sleet at 9800 feet. Yikes!

[simidrm]

You could put a remote dump valve in the air line ahead of the bags, when pulled bag deflate, there used on almost all new semi trailers, but the air compressor should only kick in when tank pressure falls to around 90psi unless Thor made a mistake and plumed your existing dump valve wrong, if your unit has a leveling valve for each air bag then my idea won’t work

[Inwood]

Originally Posted by simidrm

You could put a remote dump valve in the air line ahead of the bags, when pulled bag deflate, there used on almost all new semi trailers, but the air compressor should only kick in when tank pressure falls to around 90psi unless Thor made a mistake and plumed your existing dump valve wrong, if your unit has a leveling valve for each air bag then my idea won’t work

What I understand having read the manual about the air-ride suspension on this unit, is that once I depress the air-ride switch to lower the rear suspension, it is supposed to stay "bagged" until you either press the switch again, to raise the rear of the coach, or it raises automatically when the coach starts to move in Drive or Reverse. There is a warning to let you know that you can damage the suspension when there is no or little air in the system.

This is where I get confused to why the rear refills automatically when it gets all the way down. I have noticed that the Secondary pressure gauge goes down when I depress the air-ride switch as the rear deflates.

I am interested to know if it is Thor or Freightliner that plums the air systems on the coach. I would have figured this a Freightliner thing. Also, I'm not sure if my unit has a leveling valve for each air bag. I love to learn, though!

[simidrm]

I have the same system on my Tuscany, mine has a leveling valve on each bag, and when I dump the air off the bags they stay deflated, kinda sounds like yours is plumped wrong and is dumping off the 2nd tank which would empty the bags, but once the tank pressure drops the compressor kicks in or there is a check valve on the tanks might be bad.
You can test the check valves by draining each tank separately and watching the gauges if both tanks empty while draining one you have a bad valve

[thatswright41]

Originally Posted by Inwood

I have a 2023 Thor Pasadena 38MX and would like to figure out how to cancel the refill of the rear air suspension while leveling the coach parked at a campsite. There is an air-ride switch on the dash to dump the air in the rear suspension. As soon as the rear gets all the way down, the pump kicks on and starts to fill the suspension again. This makes leveling the coach a pain. Anyone know how to defeat the auto fill while parked?

We deal with the same issue with ours, and the last two times it has lifted the front wheels and tires completely off the ground which surely yes is not good for the leveling jacks. It is a pain. Our leveling system freaked out on us after that and we had to reset it and then my husband just leveled the coach manually after that instead of on auto. I agree there are a lot of things TMC did not design correctly that we are seeing after buying this coach.
We have been fighting trying to get a brake controller installed in our coach for a week now and Thor finally sent us a diagram that they "think" is how they put the wiring in for us to try and find the brake controller module. But can not help us out at all on what module harness should plug into their coach and when you have an expensive coach like this you don't want to just go splicing into wires. Definitely not the happiest with Thor at the moment.

[Inwood]

Originally Posted by thatswright41

We deal with the same issue with ours, and the last two times it has lifted the front wheels and tires completely off the ground which surely yes is not good for the leveling jacks. It is a pain. Our leveling system freaked out on us after that and we had to reset it and then my husband just leveled the coach manually after that instead of on auto. I agree there are a lot of things TMC did not design correctly that we are seeing after buying this coach.
We have been fighting trying to get a brake controller installed in our coach for a week now and Thor finally sent us a diagram that they "think" is how they put the wiring in for us to try and find the brake controller module. But can not help us out at all on what module harness should plug into their coach and when you have an expensive coach like this you don't want to just go splicing into wires. Definitely not the happiest with Thor at the moment.

So I did get to level the coach manually without having the engine running which keeps the air-ride from filling. I just turned the key on and not started the engine. I was plugged into shore power so that will keep the chassis battery charging while operating the level. If I had to do it once I arrived at a site, I would have the generator going if I didn't plug into shore power, yet.

Unfortunately, I still have to have the engine running to operate the slides. I think I will try operating the slides before I level if the surface is mostly level. I know I may get some kick-back from the community about opening the slides before leveling but I've also heard from some techs that it doesn't matter what you do first if the ground is somewhat level.

Could you PM me the brake controller info you received? Thanks!!