We've had an intermittent slide bladder vacuum problem, resulting in failure to completely deflate the bladder. At the end of a recent trip, the partial deflation kept us from getting the slide in all the way. Thankfully, the 1/4" to 3/8" that remained beyond the coach's out wall apparently was not enough to trigger the transmission interlock I've heard about?
That said, we had a repair done (vacuum switch) and the slide is generally functioning well again. However, we recently had another (minor) failure to deflate. About 12" of bladder at the rear edge of the slide remained in contact. This time I did not move the slide. A couple of days later, it DID totally deflate.
I searched the Forum. This thread has been helpful:
2003 slide bladder problem (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=19520.msg138221#msg138221)
You may know of others? Susan also has one of the pneumatics guys at her company thinking with us about the problem (she works for a company that builds robotic packaging systems). But if anyone has additional insight, it would be welcomed. I called the tech(s) who did the repair and their best guess about the recent failure is cold weather affected the bladder. I'm just worried about our next trip, when we are going to be on a schedule that won't permit a delay if the slide can't be brought in.
With thanks!
I had a similar problem with my 2003 a couple of years ago. I took it to a local California repair facility that was recommended by the factory. They contacted HWH, and determined my problem could be fixed with the addition of a simple "Y-adapter". This allowed the pump to continue to run and continue to deflate the bladder while moving the slide.
The y adapter will help and also check that the solenoid that is mounted on the hydraulic pump is staying engaged meaning that at time the contacts inside might get corroded and not complete the circuit. to get the y adapter contact hwh and also ask them how to install it