New compressor

[marialee]

Have been sitting at Freightliner for 4 hours now..my 2011 Berkshire needs a new compressor. It kept loosing air and that was a bumpy ride! Started out this morning and had to wait 1 hour for enough air to get rolling. Luckly Freightliner could get us in and they had the part.

[speedmerchant]

Hope all is well once fixed. Not a typical problem. I had mine replaced under warranty as a precaution to the sound it made. Tunred out to be nothing but Cummins and dealer were excellent and took care of everything. Not a great location to get into change it for sure. Mechanic was back and forth from inside the coach to underneath. Said he got lots of walking in that day....lol.

[marialee]

It took from 11:30am to 10:45pm to get it replaced. Seems to be good so far!! Drove 200 miles. Time will tell.

[lefaivre]

1 hour to pressure up ... and you still drove the unit? ... yikes

I hope you were not on any hilly roads. Do you realize that air brakes are an open system meaning that each time you press the brake pedal you use a small amount of air (once foot is lifted air is vented to outside). Pressing the petal back to back (even with a good compressor and not leaks) will deplete both tanks in about 20 presses or less. If you deplete air down to low pressure (approx. 60 lbs) your emergency brake will engage and will not release until air pressure is restored.

This would be one hell of a thing to happen as you cross a rail line or in the middle of an intersection ... not to mention the fact that the sudden stop would be a very violent one.

A system in good operating condition should go from low pressure to high pressure shut of in less than 2 minutes at 1200 rpm.

Driving a unit in this condition is extremely dangerous.

It is hearing stories like this that I posted my previous comment that every Diesel RV driver should get airbrake certifies regardless of legal requirement or not.

In Canada the course is 2 days and the cost is about $150


Tim

ps
sorry to hear of your troubles ... hope Freightliner takes good care of you

[boowho]

Originally Posted by lefaivre

1 hour to pressure up ... and you still drove the unit? ... yikes

I hope you were not on any hilly roads. Do you realize that air brakes are an open system meaning that each time you press the brake pedal you use a small amount of air (once foot is lifted air is vented to outside). Pressing the petal back to back (even with a good compressor and not leaks) will deplete both tanks in about 20 presses or less. If you deplete air down to low pressure (approx. 60 lbs) your emergency brake will engage and will not release until air pressure is restored.

This would be one hell of a thing to happen as you cross a rail line or in the middle of an intersection ... not to mention the fact that the sudden stop would be a very violent one.

A system in good operating condition should go from low pressure to high pressure shut of in less than 2 minutes at 1200 rpm.

Driving a unit in this condition is extremely dangerous.

It is hearing stories like this that I posted my previous comment that every Diesel RV driver should get airbrake certifies regardless of legal requirement or not.

In Canada the course is 2 days and the cost is about $150


Tim

ps
sorry to hear of your troubles ... hope Freightliner takes good care of you

Agree. Air brakes are more complex than regular car brakes. I was fortunate in having a class-A CDL, which implicitly included the the air brake endorsement.

Boowho??