2017 ACE Jacks Stuck DOWN

[justjohn57]

I've used my jacks many times, but this is a first. I parked in a location that has a low spot behind the left rear jack. After pressing Auto to level everything, the down arrow light stayed on. Sure enough, the left rear jack had bottomed out and was barely touching the ground. So, I pressed the Retract button and nothing! Cycled power, pressed all 4 buttons at once along with power button to reset, still nothing. The Auto button goes on when I press it and off when I press retract, and I can get the unit into the "reset level" mode, but nothing I have done so far will retract the jacks! I checked hydraulic fluid and there's still plenty there. Before I get my drill out and manually retract them, I thought I'd check the forum to see if there's any way to reset the system first. Is there a manual out there somewhere for this system? All I can find online for LCI Electronic Leveling is for 5th wheels. Thanks!

[javelin]

Just off the top of the head is to release the parking brake. That should automatically raise the jacks if they are capable of doing that action.

[javelin]

Not sure if this pdf manual will help....(assuming it attached OK) but hopefully it does. I assume you normally level with parking brake on and coach engine running.

[justjohn57]

Forgot to mention it beeps like crazy if the parking brake is released, but nothing else happens.

[justjohn57]

Thanks for the PDF manual. I went through the troubleshooting chart and nothing seems to apply. Looks like I'll have to raise the jacks manually and see if that resets it.

[javelin]

Unfortunately I am not a jack expert, but it is normal to get the alarms from releasing the parking brake. That should have raised all jacks as long as the engine was still running (and of course the system is operational). So if you reset the parking brake and turn off the jack control panel; turn off the engine and then restart the engine; turn on the jack control panel, can you go into manual mode and raise jacks that way? Do you hear anything from the hydraulic system electric motor at all? There is usually a 100 Amp breaker near the coach batteries which feeds generator and jack motor....make sure it has not tripped. If still nothing I would check all physical electrical connectors on your leveling module (not sure of the proper name for that unit - picture attached on my old ACE but may not be the same for your unit); check all connectors at the hydraulic pump/motor as well.

[justjohn57]

Well you get the gold star -- that 100A breaker had tripped! I though you that was surely a misprint though. A 100A breaker just to run a pump motor? It's true. I traced the wiring back to the house batteries and sure enough found a strange looking breaker with a yellow lever that had swung out of place mounted nearby. When I flipped the yellow lever all the way back over, I heard a distinct "click" and knew it must have blown the breaker. I went back inside, started the engine, turned on the unit, and when I hit the retract button, all the jacks instantly retracted.

So now in retrospect I understand a couple of new things:

• This is why the engine must be running to run the jacks. The hydraulic pump motor takes a LOT of power!

• When the rear jack bottomed out, I'm thinking the electronics kept running the motor on the one jack. The hydraulic pressure built up and caused the motor to draw too much current, snapping the breaker.

• When in doubt, always use blocks under the jack pads!

It am also glad I didn't have to go to the trouble of manually retracting the jacks with a drill, only to find out that would have done nothing to solve the real problem! Thanks again for pointing me to that 100A breaker.

[javelin]

Now, where can I mount that gold star in my coach? When you mentioned that one of your jack legs was fully extended it is sometimes possible to overextend and I suspect that may have been the high current trip on the 100Amp breaker. Glad you are back in business......never stop learning.

[MJC62]

Geez this why I love these forums!